Disasters and Such

Sometimes writing about the bad helps you realize its not all that bad…

Yesterday started out a bit stressful. Up at 5am to drive through a mini-blizzard to Morgan to teach piano. The roads were better on the way home except for the howling snow in the canyon. But, I made it home alive and that was that.

Then I let my poor husband take a nap because he'd been up with sick kids during the night. They both have coughs and colds, which make sleeping difficult. He knew I had to be up early to teach piano, so he had gallantly gotten up with them. Who am I kidding? He's been getting up with the kids since January and morning sickness started. Thanks, babe.

While he was sleeping, I discovered we had no hot water. So I put my shower and the kids baths on hold and snuggled up next to the fire in our basement, because it was too cold to think about doing anything else. I eventually resorted to boiling water in three different pots, carrying them up our ridiculously cliff-like stairs, and filling up the tub so the kiddos and I could get scrubbed. Mostly because Will had pictures.

Sterling got an email from his professor (yes, he is graduated, and yes he doesn't go to school right now--but his professor wanted his research submitted to some thing this semester) and then a call from his buddy that they needed his outline TODAY. There had been no updates or notices up to that point, so he really hadn't worked on it. At all. So, sigh, my husband was off to the library again.

I took the kids to get Will's pictures. I debated because he has a cold, but decided he still looked cute and we could still get smiles. Nope. We tried for forty-five minutes. He has a pretty mean poker face. I did get him to smile right at the end by completely covering him with a blanket and playing peek-a-boo. But the smiles from it were a bit lost because he couldn't snap the pictures until the blanket was gone. I don't know what I want to do. In the meantime, Ruth got into chalk and helped herself to a piece of the photographer's gum he had left laying out. He must not have a 2-yr old. Sigh.

I was pretty done with the entire day by that point, so I strapped both kids into respective boosters and high chairs, handed out some edible lunch fare, and went upstairs to convince myself that I didn't need to throw up and I wanted to keep my lunch where it was. Then I came downstairs. Apparently Ruth can now get out of her straps. So what did she do with her new-found freedom? Dump almost an ENTIRE gallon of milk out. It took about five towels to soak up all the milk. And I almost cried. Why do they make you bend over when you feel so sick?

I made Ruth go upstairs to her room while I cleaned up and I thought that was pretty clever so she was out of my way and things moved pretty quickly. Never, never think you are clever when you are working with a 2-yr old. They know. I came into her room to find her diaper off and you-know-what smeared…everywhere. All down the bedposts, the carpet, the crib mattress that happened to be on the floor because they'd been jumping on it, the changing table, the blinds…you name it. Then I looked again. And it was all. over. her brand-new quilt. The one I spent months and months and months making. By my very own hands. I started to cry. I put Will in the crib, where he whined for the next hour. I put Ruth in the tub and told her she was not allowed to move until daddy got home. I filled up a bucket, what else was there to do? You can't really just leave that stuff laying around. I cried and cried and cried. Sterling walked in, I gestured to my children and said "Please take them away!" and then I cried more and more. He washed Ruth up, I finished scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing everything in sight. We packed up and went to my mom's.

My mom fed us a delicious dinner, she had arranged a babysitter, and we spent a lovely evening at a marriage conference with my parents and my brother and sister-in-law. We even had some really delicious pie afterwards. We might of had to endure a white-knuckled trip through the canyon afterwards---but it was totally worth it.

And that is how life sometimes goes, even when you had your husband bring home 8 new child-locks the week before because you felt like you just couldn't keep up with your 2 yr old. I'm sure all mom's have those days. But man. I hope I don't have very many of them.

I do have to say though, my children are still beautiful and today Ruth has the cutest froggy-voice from her cold. No major mishaps today--Ruth dumped her glass of water on Will's head and all I could think was how happy I was that it was water. My husband is truly amazing. I am so thankful for my little family. But sometimes you just have a day where you have to cry. What am I going to do when I don't live by my mom though??!!?!?