the daddy effect

we've been sick in the johnson household since... um... 2012.  yeah.  it's been a rough winter.  last week peyton and i came up with a brand spankin' new cough and cold and i just about flipped over it.  i'm usually the one to suck it up and just keep moving, but this cough of ours came at a time where i was so hopeful to be done with the sickies that instead it just made me angry. 

and i was angry for 3 days.  monday, angry.  tuesday, angry.  wednesday, angry (thankfully only until 5pm when a dear friend of mine lifted my spirits with her sweet smile and encouraging words.  mind you, this friend of mine was in day 6 of now having 3 kids in her family, and i'd gone to her to help encourage and support her, but it's times like those when God does his little flip-flop-thingamajig and you find yourself in an unexpected, yet welcomed, situation ...) 

oh, and not sure if you know this, but nobody likes an angry sicky.  as it turns out, toddlers don't love 'em either.  especially sick toddlers.  so to say that the peanut and i weren't quite jiving is putting it lightly.  for 2.5 days i was mostly convinced she was trying to do anything and everything that would or could possibly make me mad.  and it was working.  peyton: 46, mommy: 0.  no wins--not one.  i was snappy and had THE LOWEST tolerance for messes.  i was tired and didn't want to clean or pick up.  i lacked excitement to play games, pretend things, or watch her not eat the meals she'd asked for a mere 5 minutes before. it was a VERY challenging 3 days, physically and emotionally.  and sleep?  what in the world was that?! 45 minutes here and there between middle of the night cries was not sleep.  she was crying--not me--although i wasn't far from it.  

thankfully, i woke up thursday morning feeling refreshed, energized, and overwhelmed by the feeling of the day's newness.  why that feeling couldn't have shown up tuesday, i'm not quite sure. but i was grateful for it.  peyton and i started jiving a little better, and our good health was slowly creeping back.

friday afternoon came and it was DADDY TIME!!  can i just tell you how excited i was about this!?  i always adore, adore, adore the days and moments josh is around to be and play with peyton and i, but i was especially excited as i was still feeling left over weariness from the long week that had preceeded. so friday, saturday, and sunday, moment after moment, i witnessed a patience and calmness that had been so foriegn to me in the recent days of sickness and short tempers.  with daddy, forts were built, messes were made, cleaning was enjoyable, tickles were constant, everything was a game, laughter was prevalent, and all that emanated from our home was JOY. a joy that i, mommy--the usual mrs. fix-it-all (insert pat on back here), had had such a terribly hard time producing just earlier that same week.  it was DADDY JOY. :)

no, you cannot have my husband.  he's mine.  i picked him out of the crowd years ago and i get to keep him.  peyton can share with me, but THAT'S IT. he's amazing.

monday morning came bright and early at 6:15am, but it came with a new perspective and a recent experience of how to practice real, true patience.  josh had been my just-in-time, life-sized example of patience in parenting and the impact it makes on our entire family.  he is my extreme to my extreme, and he evens me out so well.  so neat how God had crazy Team Johnson planned from the very beginning!

it's "only" wednesday, but our whole week has been different so far, and peyton is my little, sweet pal all over again just the way it should be!  it helps that i can breathe without coughing and that we're all sleeping better at night, but nonetheless, the lesson daddy taught us (okay..."me") this weekend was exactly what we (okay..."I") needed.  and i'm especially thankful that in these special moments my pride doesn't get in the way of learning something new from my OH-SO-VERY-WISE husband.  (alright, babe, this last plug is me looking for points... remember, i like peanut butter squished between my chocolate and any flower that doesn't stink!!! :) weeeeee!!!!)