Good Days and Bad Days
3:51 PMOh there are both. And I have had both. But yesterday and the night that followed it were bad. Oh so bad.
I felt very much like Alexander (and his terrible, horrible no good very bad day (or night as the case may be). I wanted to move to Australia. Except that I'm sure it wouldn't help anything.
Yesterday started out innocently enough except that my kids were sick. Not horrible, but with a pretty nasty snotty nose, cough and a little fever. Dorien excluded. Yeah, breastmilk!
So they stayed home from Bible study so as not to make other moms angry with me.
And we hung out, picked up Bailey from the vet, and laid low. The day started turning ugly right around the time Kyle got home from work. No real connection implied...
I was working on the DD&F blog, trying to test out different backgrounds/layouts when suddenly, after pushing some button, everything I had been working on disappeared. Poof! I thought I'd just go back a screen and undo it. Unh-uh. Nothing doing. It was GONE! I almost cried. I sure enough got mad at myself! And this is what Kyle walked into, poor guy. Me fuming at my laptop. He made several suggestions about how I could fix it, when what I really wanted was for him to just sit down, tap some keys and make it all better. But even he couldn't do that. So, hours of work, gone.
I decided at this time I should just start dinner. By the time I made it into the kitchen after feeding Dorien, it was around 7ish. Pick up your jaw...this is normal for us. We eat late and go to bed late, etc. I had a menu planned and was going to make Vegetable Hashbrown bake. And so I (grumbling under my breath and kicking the air in frustration over the blog issue) started chopping veggies and going down the list of instructions. 30 minutes in, I happened upon the following instructions:
"Cover dish and refrigerate overnight."
You have got to be kidding me! I called Kyle in, "Uh, hon. Change of plans. Fire up the grill."
I jumped ahead to Thursday night's planned meal (Pineapple Chicken) and we at dinner around 8:45.Sigh.
During this time period, Dorien made it perfectly clear that he wanted me and only me. No one else would do, so I was zipping around the kitchen wearing him in a sling and trying hard not to bonk him into the counter as I prepared the night's meal (and finished up the casserole which would be the next night's meal).
Fast forward a few hours. Kids washed and in bed. August sleeping with me, B in her bed, Kyle (absolutely exhausted from waking up at 5am for his Wed am Bible study group) sleeping in August's room. Almost immediately I should have guessed things wouldn't go well. Dorien puked on me big time almost immediately. And then pooped. And then demanded more food to replace what he'd lost. August fell asleep. Dorien didn't. He kept waking up every hour to eat. And then poop. And I got so tired that I forgot to burp him. I was doing good to try to make sure he latched on correctly. And around 3:00, I was startled awake by Brooklyn's little voice croaking from the side of my bed. She wanted to sleep with me. As I sat up, I realized Dorien was also awake and wanting to eat. Again.
I tried to convince B that she couldn't sleep with me and to please go back and get in her bed. As we talked, I was changing Dorien who had pooped and was, in fact, pooping as I was changing him. And I didn't have my contacts in, so my face was way too close to the action. Fortunately, I didn't get peed on. But as I buttoned back up his pjs, I heard a strange sound and looked up to see Dorien looking suspiciously like Santa Clause with a big white beard. Baby puke. I scrabbled around to find a burp cloth and lift him up so he wouldn't choke. And it registered in my head that Brooklyn wasn't sounding right. I put my hand to her forehead. She was burning up.
Temp: 102.5. Sigh. I told her she needed to get Daddy because I needed help. She came back with Kyle who gave her Motrin and we tried to get her comfortable. Dorien, meanwhile, was awake now and hungry again and mad. As I finally got settled back in with him on the Boppy, nursing and going back to sleep, I felt something wet on my leg. More puke? No.
This time, August's diaper had leaked and there was pee all over the bed. Of course there was! I changed him, threw a towel under his behind and fell back asleep. Until about an hour later when August screeched like a banshee in his sleep. Apparently, bugs were on him in his dream. I tried to convince him there were no bugs and got him back to sleep. At which time Dorien woke up again.
And by now it was around 5 or 6 and Kyle was getting up to get ready for work. And I was exhausted, stressed, delirious and not making any sense to myself even in my thoughts. I was alternately praying and sleeping and praying and sleeping. And I decided that I would sleep as late as I wanted, dad burn it. So we all did. We rolled out of bed at 11. And I feel very little shame at that, because I had the night from hell.
But I realize life is like this sometimes and you have to take the good with the bad and rejoice in spite of it. And if you're lucky, you'll find some humor in it or in SOMETHING. And I happened to recall something that made me laugh in the middle of it all, and I thought I'd share it with you because it never fails to make me laugh. So, should your day turn sour and you're thinking life stinks and it's a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day...you can laugh or cry. But I prefer laughter.
5 comments
So baby D is a spitter, huh? Yuck, I had 2 of those. Hope and pray those 3 precious babies will let you sleep soon.
ReplyDeleteI have had days like that!! Praying that tonight is much better! Love you girl!
ReplyDeleteOh no! Nights like that are the pits...well, if you decide to move to Australia, I'd love to join you;p
ReplyDeleteThat Tim Hawkins video is hilarious!
Oy-that sounds like a doozie! Glad you could sleep in.
ReplyDeleteOh Ashley--I feel your pain--my 4th has reflux and tracheomalacia--I don't think I slept much at all making sure he was still breathing the first few weeks:-) Praying you have very few days/nights like that. And I will admit is made me laugh a little--only because I remember some nights like that. I love Tim Hawkins--if you haven't seen his Kids Rock video--it always makes me laugh, along with things you don't say to your wife. Hope your weekend goes well and you get rest whenever you can:-)
ReplyDelete