Last Sunday was very busy, so by the time I had time to sit down I was exhausted and just went to sleep.
Part of the reason it was so busy, and stressful, was that we got reported to CPS. The reason for that was that our toddler's leg was broken while he was jumping on a trampoline with his older brother. This is actually a very common thing, and the CPS agent who came said that if they had been told it involved a trampoline they wouldn't have bothered coming. The person who reported us is a mandatory reporter and took that seriously to the point of giving up on reason. There were numerous other mandatory reporters (doctors, nurses, etc) who knew about the situation and decided that there was no risk.
Anyway, so we knew they were coming on Monday. That's not usually how it works. Usually they just drop in unexpectedly, but we were told ahead of time, likely because they already suspected it was unnecessary. When they came Monday it was no big deal, but Saturday and Sunday were stressful, and there was a lot of cleaning involved. We struggle to get our children to clean up after themselves (like most families I've seen), and it had been building up for a while. This was the spark that made us do a massive purge. On the plus side, since then it hasn't been quite so hard to get the kids to pick up their rooms. They have an easier time cleaning when it doesn't look like a hopeless cause.
The other reason that it was more stressful than a typical Sunday is that we had taken in one of our daughter's friends. This friend had been left with a babysitter while the mom took a trip out of the country. The dad lives across the state, and doesn't seem all there. And the babysitter had a traumatic brain injury from a car accident a while back, leaving her not all there either. We noticed there was a problem when the friend seemed incredibly sad all the time. After finding out what was going on we had her spend more and more time at our house. By the end she was staying with us overnight (with the babysitter's permission). We pretty much adopted her for most of a week until her mom got back. We spent the weekend considering and praying about whether we should report her to CPS. We did end up reporting it. Even now, with the mom back, we're trying to do what we can to help her to be happy and safe. She's not ours, but I feel like we care about her more than her own parents.
I know I'm not a perfect parent, but I love my children. I try to be there for them. My wife and I take care of them, feed them, and if we ever leave them with someone it's with family members we know will do a good job taking care of them until we get back. It's easy to forget how big that is.
