Friday, November 14, 2008

Wheels on our "Bommoms"

Man, people, have I had a day! Man oh man.

It started innocently enough. I was tossing random clothes in the general direction of my kids and taking a cursory glance at Seth to make sure he was presentable enough in last night's pajamas, as we were heading out the door running late for Seth's pediatrician appointment. Just before we walked out the door, the power...went...out.

In case you didn't know, we live in Florida.

It was 80 today.

I knew immediately that I was an idiot and had forgotten to pay the bill, so to make myself feel better, I called John to make him feel like an idiot along with me. He did, we did, it was fun. He called to fix things while I schlepped the kids to the pediatrician. We had to drive to a neighboring city for this appointment, about a 40 minute drive.

We got to the office for what was supposed to be a super quick visit, one simple shot, in and out.

Yeah. About that...they had to weigh Seth, then we had to wait in the room for the nurse to bring the Synagis shot. Ava was perturbed.

"But Mama, he cannot get a shot! He is  a baby! He is JUST a BABY! Babies cannot get SHOTS!" With each word, her voice slid up higher, until it sounded like a dogs whistle (A whistle you use to call a dog, not an actual whistling dog, of course).

"Ava, you are not getting a shot. Seth can take it. He will be ok! Get back on the blue!" (Yes, I had employed my classic strategy, that of making my children touch a certain colored item in the room and not stray from it.)

Finally the nurse came in and gave Seth his shot. He was not pleased.

"OK, you just have to sit here for 10 minutes to make sure he doesn't have a reaction! I will set the timer." The nurse smiled and was out of the room. I decided to nurse the baby while we waited. The kids were supposed to be sitting in the blue chairs.

"Mama, can we tap? If we are touching the blue, can we tap the floor with our shoes?"

"OK, guys, I guess. Just stay touching the blue."

"Yes, Mama!" They both chorused sweetly.

Ten seconds later, the kids were leaping around the room, running from crocodlies, which were the green tiles on the floor, and trying to get to "dry land" which were the brown tiles.

Finally, I heard the ten minute timer go off. I waited a few minutes for the nurse to release us, but she doesn't come. Maybe she meant we could just leave after ten minutes? I unlatched Seth, burped him, got him in his car seat, and got the kids wrangled, sighing a huge sigh of relief as the kids celebrate getting to leave. As I opened the door, the nurse looked up.

"Oh, I meant to tell you! I looked in the notes, and it says that they prefer you to stay for 20 minutes. Just a few more minutes!"

I stared at her in disbelief for a moment, then just nodded and headed back into the room. Ava and Jace looked at me, incredulous.

"But you said we were...leaving! This is not leaving! This is staying! Have you ever heard of opposites, Mama?" Ava thought it was a good time to educate me. Jace was quivering, trying to physically hold himself back from leaping onto the spinny doctor's stool and making himself so dissy he'd throws u. Seth looked hungry.

It was a loooong few minutes.

At last, we got the green light to leave, and I walked out the door. I had missed a bajillion calls. The power was still not back on, because the card did not work. I needed to head for the bank to make a deposit.

I have GPS. I looked up a nearby branch. Even though I followed the directions, I got lost. The kids were freaking out because we were supposed to be at playgroup, and they had become convince they would "never ever never never" get there.. I kind of had to agree with them.

Finally, I found the bank, deposited the money, and headed to playgroup (40 minutes in another direction). I was late. By the time we reached the mall, they were already eating. Power was still not on. I started to stress out. I am not amish, people! Even if I did want to be Amish when I was young, I have now come to the realization that I need power! Electricity! I need you!

I headed to my Grandma's house to nurse Seth, unable to face nursing him in the heat with nothing to distract the older kids, who were beginning to get tired and cranky.

In ten minutes flat, they stressed her out beyond relief. They tried to use a blanket as (gasp) a blanket, when obviously it was meant for a showpiece! They reclined on pillows! They brushed crumbs from their clothes onto the floor and moved pictures.

We needed to get out of there before she stopped loving us all (disclaimer: My grandmother is lovely. She just likes things the way she likes them).

So we headed out again, this time back to a spot nearby the aforementioned pediatrician...meaning 40 minutes away again. Ava had an allergist appointment. On the drive, the radio station we listen to was playing mass (this will be important later).

We got to the allergist, where Jace was singing a song he composed called "We all love shots." With every line, Ava was retorting "We do NOT love Shots! At ALL!" When we took a seat in the waiting room, the kids grabbed a couple of handy pamphlets on constipation.

"See, Jace? This is the inside of a girl's body! Do you want to see?" Ava asked, flashing the illustrations at Jace.

"Yes! And this is the inside of a boy's body! Look at all this stuff!" He answered, pointing excitedly at someone's lower intestine.

We finally got called back into the room, and my kids spent the next twenty minutes, through the entire appointment, spooning on the exam table. I think it took the doctor half the visit to figure out who the patient was.

Eventiually, we headed home, and the power was finally ON! We went to dinner to IHOP with my mom to celebrate, where we had the worst waitress in the entire world. Not even kidding. After 30 minutes of waiting for our food (pancakes), I started to flag our waitress down, and she yelled, over the whole restaurant "It's not READY yet!"

She also left my drink empty for 15 minutes, forgot to bring the kids silverware for ten minutes, and messed up the check. Fun times!

But eventually we got back home, and as I was putting the kids to bed, Ava told me she wanted to pray with me. We pray every night, but tonight, she wanted to pray on her own.

"Dear Lord, please do not seperate yourself from me. Keep me on your path, and lead me in the right direction. Cleave yourself to me and come to me spiritually. Amen."

I stared at her for a few seconds, my mouth open. Normally, her prayers consist of praying for her best friend and Eli.

"Ava, what a nice prayer! Where did you learn that?"

She looks at me, smiling.

"On the radio!"

Apparently she was paying a looot of attention to the catholic mass. =)

What. A. Day.

I have a bunch of stuff I want to post about Seth, but it will have to wait, because of the day I have had, and now I need a drink.

5 comments:

E @ Scottsville said...

Ahhhh, to be a mommy! I guess I shall have to go post about my lunch. Or wait...do I save it for a "Not Me Monday"? No, I shall post it today! Check back in about 20 minutes for it.

Your day INSPIRED ME TO WRITE! "The Mommy Chronicles".

Loved, loved, loved your blog!

E

Sew a Fine Seam said...

Isn't it amazing how crazy our lives can be with children? When you write down your whole day like this it makes you wonder how you ever got through it!
Can't wait to hear more about Seth too.
God Bless,
Jill

Les said...

Whoa! I feel for you girl... can you believe we mom's can make it through a day like that! As we would say in my fam... "I need a nerve pill"! Enjoying your blog :)

Julie said...

You poor thing! Hopefully today will be SO much better. At least you had one special moment that made some of the day worth it. :)

Jessi Dawn said...

Oh. My. Goodness. Yes, I get ya. Get ya, good. Check out my "Mommy Meltdown" post. Good stuff. Your day was quite a kicker. Wow. Good story. I totally laughed outloud. I get it. I so get it.

Blessings,
Jess

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