So correction to my last post, my husband was not on a 72 hour shift, no no, he was on a 96 hour shift. Yep, that’s right.

After three days of being with my girls 24/7 while they are both battling a very nasty stomach virus, I have a pretty good idea now of what a caged animal feels like. I’ve never smelled or changed or wiped so much dirty bootie in my 6 years as a mommy.

By 10:00am yesterday I was about to lose my marbles again. It’s real funny how it happens, the girls start bickering, Elysse has a mini-meltdown, I text my husband my own rant (which he didn’t get until he walked through our door, no joke, I actually saw the mystery of iPhone glitches with my own eyes haha) and of course by the time my husband walked in, Elysse had calmed down and Celeste was asleep. I was like, I swear there was just a mini storm here!

While my husband prepped us lunch I went to walk Elysse in the stroller and although it took her a little longer than usual, she did fall asleep. I got back home, ate, did some cleaning up, laid down on the couch and low and behold as I was falling into deep sleep, Celeste (our 5 year old) woke up. Bloody hell. So I warmed up her rice and got her all situated and then got myself ready to bolt out of the house because I could feel the anxiety rising through my bones like boiling water getting ready to spill out the sides of a pot.

My husband was asleep on the reclining chair and I whispered to him that I was making a run to Trader Joe’s and Target and just to keep an ear out for Elysse (that’s our 2 year old). I bolted out of there so fast and felt this rush of relief as the gates of our community opened and I saw traffic and life and other people zooming past on their own little journeys.

The beauty of where we live is that there’s a shopping center just down the street lined up with, among other stores, Dollar Tree, Target, Trader Joe’s. Well you best believe I made a beeline to RITE-AID!!! I grabbed myself a single scoop of Mint & Chip ice cream and went merrily on my way to Dollar Tree for some arts and crafts the girls needed, then I stopped at Trader Joe’s for some food we were low on and from there I headed to Target.

That was hands down THE BEST hour and fifteen minutes of my life. No joke it gave me the fuel I needed to go back home and take on the rest of the day without any mommy meltdowns.

Sometimes that’s all you need to keep your sanity.