Dear Friend,
This isn't the story I was going to share with you. I had a plan to writing about riding bikes and being adventurous, and well, then the baby pooped all over the carpet.
Let me rewind.
We were eating pizza during our movie night - watching "Planes: Fire & Rescue," if you must know - and I started hearing Sweet T make some interesting noises. We were going to head upstairs for bedtime soon, so I gave him a couple minutes before scooping him up and heading up for a diaper change. Big mistake. Big. Huge. Turns out the diaper was leaking by his chubby little thigh. Rather, it had already leaked. So there was poop on his leg. On his arms. His hands. His other leg. All over my shirt. Oy.
Into the tub he went, and I was handling well, if I do say so myself. Sweet T was squeaky clean and smelling like lavender when I realized that I might need to go downstairs and inspect the carpet. This realization occurred around 7:30pm, when the kids usually get tucked into bed. I decided to survey the mess, and...wow. The baby had left some poop presents for me all over the carpet. It was not limited to the carpet, however, as several of his toys had also been contaminated.
I will stop sharing all of the details, but let me just summarize (am I supposed to say "TL;DR" here?) and say that I spent my Friday evening shampooing the carpets and bleaching baby toys. I am in a long stretch of solo parenting right now, so I was sure to capture a video of the carnage for Kyle, just in case he was missing us.
I had a couple of observations during this situation...first of all, it did not stress me out nearly as much as it would have if Sweet T was my first kid. (Here is another story I wrote about poop in the carpet, in case you want more.) Also, and I should have known this, always pick up the baby ASAP once the diaper music starts playing. That would have been a good life choice for me.
The crap in the carpet did confirm that buying a carpet cleaner last year was, in fact, a great life decision. If you do not own one and have carpet in your home, I would highly recommend getting one. Even when things didn't go according to plan, I saw several small mercies for which I could express gratitude. It's something I'm working on...during this stretch of taking for the kids alone 24/7, it's something I have to do: find the good. It's also been a great practice during the crazy high temps we are having, and (let's be honest) during all of military life (helloooo, surprise move to Japan!).
Even when expectations aren't met, for a Friday night writing session or something bigger, let us do our best to never cease giving thanks. I admit, I have not been historically good at this, show it is one of my summer goals to cultivate an "attitude of gratitude" in our house, starting with me.
Here's to summer, giving thanks always, and clean carpets.
Journal Prompt
Write about a time when your expectations were not met. How did you react?
Can you think of a time when you had to clean up a huge mess (literal or figurative)? If so, write about it with as much detail as possible. Then, write about the emotions you felt while doing the work.
What are some ways you cultivate an #attitudeofgratitude in your home? What are some ways to improve this?