If I could have anything temporary in the world right now, it would be a free babysitter and a night out to Chili’s with my husband. Alone. And it has absolutely nothing to do with Valentine’s Day, which didn’t occur to me that it even was until I got on Facebook and EVERYTHING was about Valentine’s Day yesterday.
It has been a long week and I’m mentally exhausted. I know what you’re thinking. How does a stay-at-home-mom of two get that worn out? C’mon, grow up. Well, that’s what I thought, too, so I wrote down why I was tired. And this is what it said.
A week and a half ago I was sick and just as I was getting over it, spent two full days in Scottsbluff finishing my EMS Instructor course. Each evening, I came home to a baby who was getting sicker by the hour. He cried all the time and clung to me constantly.
Monday, I couldn’t him into the doctor, so I called back and begged. They said, “bring him right now” and I walked across the street and down the block in a light misty rain. I asked that they test him for RSV, even though he is a little too old to have it. It was positive. Since Lars is so tiny for his age (19 pounds), he still kind of fits in the category of “illnesses that little babies get”. Round that off with an ear infection and a horrible cough, and they gave him a shot and said, basically, “If you promise to keep him hydrated and bring him back first thing in the morning for another shot, you can go home. Otherwise, go over and check into the hospital.” I wrapped him in his blanket and ran out the back door, across the yard, down the alley and crossed the street into my driveway. Whew, that was close. The rest of the day, while Eden was at daycare, he cried and we rocked. Al had an early-in-the-evening elders meeting, which sounded good to me, thinking he’d be back for the bedtime routine, but alas, he came home at his usual 1030p and I was ready for bed, irritated but not surprised.
Lars was up much of the night. The next morning, we went back to the doctor, got another shot and came back home to cry and rock and sleep sitting up. Al was gone all day to his monthly pastor’s winkle (don’t ask me why they call it that) and I continued to rock Lars, who continued to cry and cling. Eden watched TV and fell asleep for two hours, claiming she didn’t feel good.
That night, Lars slept peacefully.
Eden threw up 7 times in 7 hours and I didn’t sleep at all until morning, when Al got up with the kids and I crashed for an hour or so. He had to be at work by 0900 for Bible Study, so I got up and acted like I was among the living. Al came home for a quick lunch, but had to be in court by 1p, so I was back to rocking two sick and clingy kids and wishing I had my mom. Eden crawled up on her bed about 1030 in the morning and slept for 3 hours. At least something good came out of last night. Al didn’t get home until after 9p, and I was in bed, now more than a week into being tired and/or sick.
Thursday had promises of being better. I had planned to do a bunch of long forgotten errands in the morning while Al stayed home with the kids. Unfortunately, I was the only one who was planning on that, so instead, I stayed home and Al went to work. Lars did go to the chiro and get straightened out, however. He was terrible and Dr. Mike said to bring him back Monday morning to get his ‘coughers’ put back in place. After his adjustment, he acted a lot healthier. All morning, he refrained from any major crying and spent some time even playing by him self. By the afternoon, the bliss had worn off and he was crabby again. I decided to take him to choir practice for a break from the house, but there were no babysitters there, so he clung to me while I tried to sing. Eden cut up a Christmas Banner in one of the Sunday School rooms and we came back home. At least she left her Mohawk alone…
Friday, I was up early with the kids (yes, 0600 is early for me) Al had to pack his bags for an overnight trip to Casper, Wy. He stayed home with the kids in the morning while I ran up town for groceries and ‘stuff’. The piano tuner came and gave our upright a check up, as well. Al left after lunch and Eden napped a bit. Lars was happy for the first time in over a week, and I was unsure what that meant. Should I do something fun or call the doctor?
I planned to watch the Red Wings on Friday evening and put the kids to bed. Everything was going smoothly and both kids were asleep by 8:30. Until Lars started crying. Then he got mad and chucked everything out of his crib. Then I came in to rock him and he hauled off and hit me, throwing my glasses across the room. We continued in this fashion until shortly after 12:30a.m. when I fell into bed, exhausted, falling asleep amid the sound of tears flowing through the monitor.
This is where I believe exhaustion really set in. Too many days and nights of nothing but sickness and Lars crying and no help.
Saturday, (Valentine’s Day apparently), Eden was jumping on my bed at 0700, “Mommy, the sun is out. It’s time for Breakfast! Where’s Daddy? I want pancakes!”
Ugh.
I called and talked to my sister over lunch, cleaned up the pit of a house, even sewed a new panel for Lars’ curtains, making the room dark as night during the day. Lars and Eden played quietly much of the day and, despite the finger painting snafu and the mess on my clean kitchen floor, it was an all around decent day.
I realize the majority of this sounds like a plea for pity, but it’s really not. (That was what I wanted all last week). We’re moving on to bigger and better things…like the Daytona 500 AND a hockey game this afternoon!
I can only hope that this coming week is a bit better.
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