Pick-Me-Up

I needed a pick-me-up last week. I was feeling run-down, ragged, and unappreciated. A lot of things that moms do are unappreciated - cloth diapering, nursing, pumping, cleaning, cooking, working, staying somewhat sane, laundry, making the bed, and keeping everyone alive. It's tough work, but I don't usually get thanked for it! (Note: My husband does most of these things and more as well. He doesn't get thanked either. He's a better person than I am because he doesn't get grouchy about it!)

Jarrod knew something was wrong when I started to calculate how much money we were saving by nursing and pumping versus feeding Wesley formula. Obviously I nurse him for other reasons besides financial, but that's not what I was focusing on last week. I needed to be appreciated.

My boys love me so much and laughter, helping me, and saying thank you is usually all the appreciation I need. But every once and a while (I told Jarrod to count on it every quarter!) I need to really be shown appreciation or I'll go crazy. I'll tell you more about what I did to pamper myself later this week, but for now I'll tell you what my sweet hubby did...

He came home from the grocery store with these beautiful flowers. I can count on one hand the number of times Jarrod has given me flowers. I'm typically not a flowers kind of girl. They are expensive, die, and you can't eat them. :-) But flowers on occasion can definitely make me feel appreciated!

These particular flowers have brightened our kitchen for several days and are still going strong! The fact that Jarrod remembered I was having a tough time and bought them for me almost means more than the flowers themselves. Really, all I need to be appreciated is to know that Jarrod was thinking about me and went out of his way to do something special.

It's hard to remember to appreciate your spouse when you spend so much time cleaning, running the house, and helping each other on the mundane tasks. Jarrod is an excellent partner in the household chores and caring for Wesley. Thankfully, with a little reminding, he's also excellent at appreciating me with flowers. :-)

Do you ever feel unappreciated? How do you handle that in a healthy way? What does your family do to show you how much they appreciate you?