Fresh Eyes

Do you know how when you're tired of your house and then someone comes to visit and tells you how much they love your kitchen or the paint color you chose or something else? They're looking at your house with fresh eyes instead of your eyes that look at your house day in and day out. All of the sudden you see things a little brighter than you did only moments before. I feel as though today I had a similar experience with Jack. Lately Jack has been a little tougher than normal. He and I have both been sick which doesn't help anything, but he's also learned that he has a mind of his own. I find myself short on patience a lot lately, like when I want him to sit down so we can put on his shoes but he's too busy dumping out the toy basket again. Or when I want to look up the temperature on the computer before we head outside and he comes and slams my laptop shut. His agenda and mine are rarely one in the same these days. And, the kid has started to whine A LOT!

Today I took him to Sarah's baby shower. There were a couple of pairs of fresh eyes there because we hadn't seen Sarah and Erin in awhile. When Mr. Baby Crazy (a.k.a. Jack) immediately went over to Erin's baby and started cooing at her, I barely noticed because he coos at Luke all day long. But I was mentally stopped in my tracks when Erin said, "Ellie, look how sweet Jack is." And with that I was forced to pay attention. How could I have been failing to appreciate how good and kind Jack is to babies? It wasn't much longer before Sarah said something nice about how Jack just goes with the flow. Again, why do I get so caught up in the negative things that Jack does that I fail to appreciate all the many positive things about him? Is this the curse of the stay-at-home mom, or is it just a me problem?

Thankfully, I'm heading into a busy week with fresh eyes. I needed that.