Do you go to counseling? Would you ever consider it? I have been going to a counselor, and it has been helpful. Recently, there was a subtle suggestion that Taylor and I have been thinking on. It goes a little something like this.

When the kids start screaming, I can’t handle it. When there is an argument or a disagreement, my mind gets focused on it. Processing the issue slowly and objectively is skipped.

It was suggested that this is anxiety. I always considered myself to be the opposite of anxious; fairly laid back. The counselor put it this way: when the “alarm bells” go off in your brain that there is an issue of some kind, it needs to be addressed. This is normal and healthy. However, there can be times when the “alarm bells” are going off too often, or in a disproportionate manner. This is what might be my reality.

How and why does this happen? Sometimes, earlier in life, the body can “learn” this in the wrong way. Divorce, arguments with my brothers, and other things happening in my life as a child might have been the cause to learn how to navigate stress the wrong way.

I don’t know, and I am not fully convinced how far to run with this label; but it seemed to sound as though it is accurate to some degree in my life. Maybe it is impacting some friendships and relationships, I am not certain. That is my vulnerable moment for the week. Moving on…

Home Again.

Taylor went on a work trip this week. She doesn’t travel often for work, but she was gone the week before. And two weeks before that. Somehow, all the trips piled on in the month of October. In addition, some unexpected things came up and Tay had to spend a few nights away outside of her trips with work.

While she was gone, the kids were fed and taken care of, to some degree. We got a good chunk of our healthy food for the day from smoothies in the mornings, as seen above.

The mornings had some spare time, so Mercy and I did scooter time before she went to daycare. As a video, it is a little funnier. Mercy fell, but dont

Kids were picked up after school. When Tay is gone, the dog gets put outside so often as we come and go from the house, I decided to take her along with us this time for something different. Everyone enjoyed seeing Stormy in the car.

We even at a few healthy dinners. Also, we had mcDonalds one night when I forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer. So, it all evens out, right?

We ate healthy dinners, in front of the tv.

At the end of the day, we even did bedtime stories. Mercy is getting really good these days (at memorizing the story she asked for 6 dozen times)

Before she came home, I took the afternoon off of work. What would I do with such free time? During the daylight hours, only 2 things:

1. Take a nap. It was glorious.
2. Clean up after the crazy hailstorm we had last week by spending 2-3 hours getting leaves in the yard:

When momma came back, both her and I were whipped. What is harder, 13 hour workdays on a trip, or single parenting for many days out of a month for kids this age?

The fun things of fall still await. We went to the pumpkin patch, and the fall harvest festival at our church. The travels are over for the foreseeable future.