Hugs

My cousin recently sent me several pages of inspirational quotes and ideas for harried Mothers.  (I think the papers actually stated "BUSY" Mothers, but I FEEL harried, thus I used the term.)  One of my favorites, which I have posted prominently at the top of my refrigerator, says this:  "Hug your child as many times as you serve him meals today.  Children THRIVE on touch."

Wow!  It sounds like an easy goal to master.  I have noticed, however, that I have to be conscious to get at least 3 hugs in for J each day.  Miss Love Bird L, loves nothing more than to snuggle up on a lap, so she is frequently in my arms.  I wonder if the girls notice anything different - not that we don't touch around here - but that I am touching them gently more often?

I am feeling particularly harried today, my first work day of the week.  After struggling through a busy afternoon at the office on my own, I brought home plenty of charting to finish up on.  Miss J clicked on a pop-up on her computer during her afternoon school work, and inadvertently downloaded malware.  As soon as I got home, I started (unsuccessfully) working on righting her computer.  (Good news!  JP was able to fix things up once he got home after 9 PM!)  At the same time, I had the other lap top out working on my charts and dinner in the oven.

The girls have been begging for me to get their summer clothes out for weeks, and I have resisted.  I do not enjoy the work of pulling bins of clothing out of storage, sorting and trying it on, then clearing out the dressers to make room for the new stuff.  Of course, both of them are ill, causing increased volatility, nasal discharge and sluggishness.  After working for over an hour through big piles for both girls, I sent them off to the shower already late for bed.

In the meantime, the puppy had over an hour upstairs, with no supervision other than Kali's.  She managed to chew through a surprising number of things in that time, then piddled on the sofa when JP snuck in from the garage and caught her in the act.

Poor JP got stuck cleaning up puppy messes and the dishes (that I left for later) right after walking in the door from a long day's work.  And after that I plopped the ailing lap top on his lap.  Did I mention that he is feeling under the weather too?

On the bright side, we managed to get all of the seedlings planted out in the garden, as well as 4 beds of corn, beans and beets before all the rain.  In addition, the chicks, now almost 2 weeks old, are growing by leaps and bounds.  They have most of their tiny wing feathers, and are growing tail feathers, and some on their backs.  They are also eating enormous amounts, I have to replenish their food and water 2-3 times a day. 

Every day I worry that I am forgetting to give some animal food or water, or clean out their cage.  Today I decided that after a winter's worth of use, the kitty bed needed to be washed.  It looks slightly better since its been through the washer and dryer.  The appliances, however, had to be washed out afterward, as they had a thick coat of cat hair all over inside them.  J, of course, is allergic to cats.  Next year, remind me to just pitch it and buy the kitties a new cushion!

This week was supposed to be the Week-of-Three-Field-Trips on top of work and school and violin lessons.  We skipped yesterday due to illness, and the violin instructor called today to cancel lessons because he is moving.  We'll have to see how everyone is doing by Thursday for the next outing.  Hopefully by then I haven't succumbed to the Virus Du Jour as well!

All this to say "thank you" to my cousin for her thoughtfulness in trying to calm my harried...er BUSY...mind.  Think this week about how many times you hug your kids.  It might surprise you!