The Chocolate we Keep in the Kitchen

Some days, like the one when your husband is at the airshow taking some rare time to himself, the baby will take the poop to end all poops and will let you know just as the dog rolls in a pile of something you'd rather not know the origin of in the yard and the cat will have made a home on your clean pile of laundry that is the only thing you have managed to clean in days and only because you ran out of clean clothes to wear, or that night when the baby won't go to sleep unless he's laying on your chest while you're sitting up in bed wishing you had those extra pillows to prop behind your back because this position is really not working for you, the dog has a tummy ache and whines to go out but won't actually go until the fifth trip to the yard where you find yourself standing in the middle of the wet grass surrounded by mosquitos, refusing to budge until she empties her bowels, and the cat paces the hallway yeowling because how dare you close any of the doors, not to mention you spilled an entire bottle of pumped breastmilk on the bed because you were trying to juggle the upset baby and re-fill his finger feeder at the same time and oh, if he would only latch on this would be so much easier. On those days, you may want to yell and cry, and fondly remember the days when you only had to worry about yourself, and THAT'S OK, but instead you think about how amazing it is that there is a baby, and a dog, and a cat, and it's you who can fix these things. They want you! You can change that baby bum and calm him down, hand him to Grammie for some cuddles (thank you, oh thank you for grandmas!) while you throw the dog in the bath, and the furry laundry? Well, there are sticky brushes for that and who really cares if you have a bit of cat fur on your jeans? The husband can spare a few moments of sleep to hold the baby while you take that dog outside over and over, and give the cat some attention. There's still enough milk for the baby, and a towel over the wet spot on the bed will do until you change the sheets in the morning. Life may be a little more intense now, but there is chocolate in the kitchen and things are good. So very good.