a day
I recently had a conversation with a friend & fellow mom (she has 2 kids) and it came up that I don’t often talk about having a tough time / tough day / tough week as a mother. So was this because I’m not being “real” or do I really not have tough times? I’ve considered it for a few days and I figure some of it may be pride - as I don’t like to go telling people when things aren’t going well, but really, for the most part - things do go rather smoothly for us and also, little bumps don’t really get me that worked up.
ah, invevitably after having that conversation I was due for a day. And a day it has been. It began at midnight like all days do and I wasn’t asleep. I was about to head that way when my son woke. He’s had a strange combination of symptoms - not sure what it is, but it’s clear he’s not feeling well. No fever, but it took a while to get him back down to sleep. So I go to sleep, only to wake up around 5:00 a.m. with my hated pregnancy back pain. It took a good 1/2 hour to find a position in which the pain was bareable enough to go back to sleep. It was practically lying on my stomack, poor squished Elizabeth.
I woke up shortly before eight w/ Charlie’s reminder that I must get his boss a gift and bring it to him at work since we forgot to pick one up this weekend. Elliot is making noise so I can’t go back to sleep. We get ready and head out the door to starbucks for a MOMS Club event. As always, we arrive right on time, but equally predictable no one else does. So we wait and finally the host mom arrives, but for some reason can’t think of a thing to say to me so I kindly chat w/ her son and Elliot while she ignores us. We wait for a long time for our coffee (well I had cider & Elliot got hot cocoa but I mentioned it was hot so he wouldn’t touch it even though it was only warm). We get outside and other moms arrive just when I’m having a good time chatting I realize we’d better go if we’re to deliver the gift to Charlie. Because Elliot is under the weather he’s impatient w/ the car so I drive up to the storefront, crack the windows of the car - lock it and peek my head in the door of the store (all the while w/ my eyes on my son who is still in the car) and ask if they have what I’m looking for. Yes he says, they do. I get Elliot & my purse & head back into the store - only to find that while they have the item it’s in the wrong size. So in order to get Elliot to go back into his carseat I cave & give him his “night night” (pacifier - but it’s reserved for nightime, hence the name he’s given it). He’s calm, I’m just praying the next store will really have what I need. I mean that literally - praying. Praise the Lord, they do. And they’re on sale so I get two. Now, to deliver it to daddy. I had thought ahead & brought a box, wrapping paper, tape, sissors, etc. so Charlie could quickly get it taken care of in the car. My plan was for him to do this while I ran to a restroom b/c I really had to pee. Unfortunetly Charlie was in a hurry (busy day at work) so I had to skip the restroom & wrap the gift myself. Gift delievered - I notice on the way home that I’ve got 1/4 tank of gas, so I take advantage of the opportunity and head to a gas station w/ a carwash (I never seem to need gas when I pass it) but it’s closed down. Forget the gas. We go home and I impatiently gather all my crap that’s accumulated in the car, and get Elliot out and RUSH into the house to relieve myself. Phew.
Okay, time to shower. Elliot has missed his bath the last few nights & I still have makeup on from lastnight on my swollen tired eyes. Plus it’s an activity that will take us to lunch and after lunch is…. nap! So we shower. And we have a bad drain so while we shower we stand in 3 inches of water. No big deal really - except that Elliot’s current illness includes diareah. ANd that’s what happened in our shower. What can I do but finish rinsing the conditioner out of my hair and procede to rinse myself off - dry off - all the while making sure Elliot doesn’t drink any of the water and then get him rinsed off & dried off. He peed before the shower, he could use some “air time” so I leave him w/out a diaper while I close the bathroom door (I’ll deal w/ that MESS later) and go to my room to dress. In the next ten minutes, Elliot goes pee like 5 times on the carpet, on some toys etc. and he also goes #2 - on my bedroom floor. Blech. So that must all be cleaned before I can even think of cleaning up the (still draining) shower.
At least it was an excuse to put his toys through the dishwasher - sanitized. Next we have lunch. I need to go shopping so we end up having quesadillas and apple juice. He’s not interesed and most of it ends up on the floor. Que to let the dogs in to clean up that, as well as the cheerios that he threw on the living room floor before we left for starbucks - yep, I’d ignored them.
okay, lunch is over, off to nap. He’s down, I deal w/ the shower and decide to avoid the rest of the housework staring at me until later b/c I really need to sleep. Ah, peacefull sleep. WAAAAAA…way to early he wakes from his nap and therefore wakes me from mine and all the pleading in the world won’t put him back to sleep. So we’re up. I decide we need to stay inside b/c he really is under the weather, even though he’d love to be out playing. So we play inside. Which in this case means lots of messes.
Activity time - we’re going to decorate christmas cookies. Now this was fun. I set him up w/ his own 3 small bowls of colored frosting, several things of sprinkles & some cookies - what fun he had and what a mess we made!
I called my friend and left 2 messages (my story was too long for just one) and let her know all about my day, how I was so tired I could just cry and how as much as I love my son I want nothing more than for him to be in his bed sleeping so I can do the same.
There you go, I have them too.
just getting started:
the aftermath…
