We all need grace.

I knew today was going to be a jam packed day, so I spent yesterday afternoon and evening doing all my "chores" so that I wouldn't be stressed today. I cleaned the house. I put away the 5 loads of clean laundry that had piled up in the basement. I baked homemade bread and made homemade tomato soup to feed 20 people at my house tonight. Heck, I even got a bit of sewing done on a baby gift for my dear friend Mary (whose shower I am going to next weekend in sunny Southern California!)

This morning P5 had a joint speech and OT appt at our house. Thirty minutes before the appt I was rushing to get the kids breakfast, helping M2 find something for show-and-tell at preschool, and making myself coffee. I glanced into the bedroom to find Mr.P laying in bed surfing the web on his computer. Rather than yell at him for not doing something to help, I just let it be. He's had a stressful week at work and there are still two days left. He needed a little grace and a moment to himself.

An old friend of mine I haven't seen in months was scheduled to come for a play date after P5's therapy. As the clock ticked along I didn't think anything about her being late - she has a 2 1/2 year old and 5 month old. Soon it was an hour past the time she had planned on arriving. I sent her a text asking if they were running late. Fifteen minutes later she called to apologize and tell me that she simply spaced out and forgot our play date (she lives 45 minutes away so we ended up rescheduling for another day). At first I was a little bit annoyed - had I known she wasn't going to come, P5 and I could have gone to the gym before preschool pickup during the gym's childcare hours. But rather than stew about it, I decided to give her some grace for forgetting and appreciate the one-on-one play time I got to have with P5 during that time.

I think of all the little things that often annoy me - not just things my family and friends say or do, but also the person who cuts me off in traffic, the slow grocery checker, the mailman constantly delivering the wrong mail to us, the condescending look from another mom at the park...these are all such little things I shouldn't get so irritated by. I need to work on giving people more grace, and in doing so it will release me from feeling negative.

I also realize that I need to give myself grace. I've been frustrated because our schedule seems so full these days - preschool, ballet, gymnastics, soccer, mom's group at church, speech therapy, OT, ABA therapy - we have something every day of the week. Because of this, I haven't been able to work out 6 days a week like I used to. I'm still working out maybe 4 days a week, but having that daily hour of "me" time really made a difference. It gave me more energy, allowed me to eat something junky without guilt, and helped me get a bit of daily mental clarity. For now I'll give myself some grace while we adjust to our busy days, and hopefully soon I can find a way to prioritize that hour of "me" time each day.