The Sun is Brighter After the Rain

Ahhhh....That's the exhale I'm letting out this morning after a CRAZY day yesterday. It might be right up there as one of my craziest mom days. If you are my friend on facebook you know some of this already because you saw my S.O.S's go up...but for those who are not, here is a little re-cap of the day:

- At 6 a.m. Scott left for Salt Lake City, Utah to go rock climbing with a good friend. I prayed that God would get me through the day.

-Ella was MISERABLE all day. Stuff coming out of her nose like crazy, a horrible cough, not eating or drinking, throwing herself on the ground. She was not feeling well. I tried my best to feed her, hold her, give her juice in bottles, sippy cups, paper cups, through straws, anything I could think of. She took a little here and there-- the container didn't seem to matter much.

-I tried my best to take care of her and Ava all day. It was not easy.

-At 5 I called the Doctors office again: "I know my husband just brought my daughter in on Tuesday and the Doctor said she just had a cold and was teething, but is there a point at which perhaps I should be on the look out for an infection?" I mean there was blood coming out of the poor kids nose.

"Bring her in," they said.

-Fortunately my mom only lives a couple of minutes away. She came over to watch Ava while I took Ella to the doctor. It's a relatively big practice with quite a few doctors and I was hoping to see someone other than who Scott has seen on Tuesday. We did. Guess what Ella's prognosis was? DOUBLE EAR INFECTION, 102 TEMPERATURE AND POSSIBLE BRONCHIAL ISSUES.

Are you serious? that other doctor should be fired!!! Come to find out, he never even looked in her ears or took her temperature!!!! I'm planning on getting my co-pay back, but that is a whole other story!

-We went straight to Target to buy a new humidifier and paid $18 for a digital ear thermometer. I was DONE messing around with those cheap under the tongue things...no matter what the cost!

I also bought 2 bottles of pedialyte, 2 tubes of antibiotic ointment and two bottles of children's tylenol. I now have first- aid kits stashed ALL over my house. I had reached my mommy medical frustration limit and was not going to be caught without something I needed for a LONG time.

$80 later we wandered over to the grocery store where I picked up Ella's antibiotics and $9 worth of magazines for myself, including the current issue of People (which I never buy because I usually feel so guilty about spending the $4.50 on trashy gossip, but the nice picture of Sandra Bullock and her new baby boy gave me the warm fuzzies so I gave in). I'm not always a big t.v. person, but I'm a sucker for light magazine reading when the going gets tough.

-I finally get Ella home, give her her antibiotics, get the humidifier set up, put new sheets on both girls beds (Ava had peed hers the night before and Ella's had yucky, slimy, gook all over them), feed Ella a bit of food and get her to bed.

Just when I'm starting to think about sitting on the couch to read my magazines and eat some food I walk Ava upstairs and hear the slightest thunder....

Crap. I thought. Ava HATES thunder. She screams like crazy no matter what I say.

"Mommy, was that thunder?"

"Oh, honey, no I think that was a loud airplane."

She buys it. Perfect. We're upstairs reading books, happily, when BOOOOM.

Yup. No hiding that one.

"Mooooommmmmyyyyyy! The THUNDEEERRRRRR!"

I try to tickle her arm, get her back to sleep. She buys it for a few minutes, but the next 45-minutes are up and down the stairs. Me hoping against all odds Ava will buy my story about the clouds just clapping because they like to make noise sometimes, just like she and her sister do.

It works for a minute or two and then another BOOM and she's screaming again.

I even tried to bribe her with Tinker Bell fruit chews. "If you're brave, like Tinker Bell, and there is no more crying, you can have fruit chews in the morning."

"Does Tinker Bell wear her dress to bed?" She wants to know.

What in the world does THAT have to do with thunder.

"Yes honey."

"Ok," she says.

I'm in the clear I think.

Not so much.

At one point, against all mothering instincts, I went upstairs, and yelled:

"Ava. You HAVE to go to sleep. We're in the house. The thunder is NOT going to hurt you. And mommy is very, very, VERY tired. Stop the crying or I'm going to close your door."

Yup. She'll be seeing a therapist for that one in 20 years. The poor girl is whimpering in her bed because she is scared and I'm yelling at her.

Finally, at 10:15 I bring her downstairs and put her on the couch to watch Madeline because I know it will buy my 20 minutes to be able to sit on the couch and read.

She finally goes to bed at 10:45. I crawl in and read my People magazine and finally fall asleep at 11:45.

She crawls into my bed at 6:50 this morning.

"Good morning mommy. I'm WIDE awake."

"Yes, you are. Come here and sleep with me for a few minutes."

And so, today, day 2 without daddy begins.

Fortunately, my babysitter is here this morning giving me a much needed time-out.

I'm going to finish this blog and then get the heck out of the house. I'm going to sit and read a book somewhere and eat some lunch by myself.

Today feels like a MUCH better day than yesterday. Ella is smiling again. YEAH! I love when she smiles for SO many reasons.

Truly, as awful as yesterday was, it is making today seem like a breeze, which is probably exactly what I needed...perspective....A really crappy day makes a not so bad day seem really good.

Off to read a book....and eat some lunch...by myself...

Being with kids all the time also makes reading a book by yourself the ultimate luxury.

Oh, the things we took for granted before becoming parents!


Cheers,

Lisa