Well, so much for that "diving in" idea. You know when you're cruising along, making your grand plans...
and then...
they fall completely apart? #Kaboom
Zachary fell ill (he's getting better now) and mommy had to cancel everything. Suddenly my most amazing accomplishment of the week was getting that kid to take a sip of water. He would do it only by squirting the water into his mouth with the measuring syringe that came with his baby Motrin. I had to do a "happy dance" (jumping jacks accompanied by a song), then advance to handstands (that looked more like downward dog with kicks) to get him to take bites of oatmeal!
Am I speaking in hashtags? Yes. I am too tired to think straight and I'm not even going to check this blog for spelling. I have to take him back to the doctor in the morning, it's after 11pm, and I am sitting on the floor in his room with him on the chair behind me, looking over my shoulder. Every time I turn around to see if his eyes are closed yet, he laughs at me. (Smile.) Laughing is way better than crying.
So anyway, this week I'm reflecting on the fact that things don't always (or ever) go the way you might expect. I'm just going to keep the music playing and get through it.
I've resumed the workout and by the time this gets posted, a professional assembly person will have arrived to put together my new exercise bike. #notfoolinaround. Swimming laps was fantastic exercise AND I started Zachary taking lessons! It feels like I'm finally getting it together.
Sometimes it's a long, slow climb just to get to the other side of the room.
But I know at the end of that long tunnel is...
four monster trucks, a dog's butt, a blue bouncey horse and a kid that refuses to say "cheese" LIGHT. So this week is all about "KEEP GOING!" One of my favorite authors reminded me that our true power has to come from within. #ThanksElla
"It never occurred to me to ask advice or assistance of others.
I am glad I did not, for the moment we lean upon any one
When I raced into the doctor's office for blood work, I was happy to see that the waiting room was empty. Then the receptionist handed me this card and told me I was number eight. I sat down and waited for my turn.
Sometimes waiting doesn't make any sense. I guess we just have to do it anyway.
Last night I decided that we would make it to church this morning. I kept telling Zachary that's what we would do, so it was important for us to go to sleep early, and "get up and get going" in the morning. I already had a blog idea in the works and the computer was out and ready to go. I would get a head start on it after we came home from church and he took his nap. That was the plan.
All did not go well in the night. Despite having gone potty before bed, he got up three times with a wet diaper and then again several times after 2am. Maybe it was the howling winds. I finally brought him to bed with me because I couldn't stay awake holding him in the chair any longer. He twisted and turned next to me and in between all that commotion I worried he would fall off the edge after waking up to find my pillow wall had fallen (or been kicked) off the side. Eventually I heard, "Mommy! Your phone!" as my alarm went off this morning and he stared, wide-eyed at me as if he had lost no sleep at all. Luckily, he stayed there quietly, watching car videos, while I made my way to the bathroom and out into the five-degree weather with the dogs. We were still on track to make it to church.
He got cleaned up, dressed and through breakfast without any fussing and I still had a half hour to get ready for church myself - simply amazing. I kept thinking that it was a miracle. I told him that we were going to church for enlightenment, positivity and the spirit of gratitude. We slowed down looking for something, that I can't even remember right now, but when I checked the time in the car, we were still making it. We would only be a couple of minutes late and might even make it on time if we didn't hit red lights.
When we got there, the parking lot was empty. Shaking my head at the irony of there being a power outage the day we finally made it there on time (well, almost on time), I wondered what else we should do as long as we were in the car. "Where else can we go for enlightenment, positivity and gratitude? It's too cold to go someplace outside." I asked Zachary what he would like to do instead. He suggested we go to a hotel. I decided to narrow the parameters of the choice. Would he rather go to the other church or to the children's museum? (I first had to pull over and check the website to make sure it was open on Sundays.) He opted for the museum, so I made a left turn at the next signal.
I must have caught a glimpse of something on my phone that gave me a clue. The museum is only about a mile away from that left hand turn and it still didn't make any sense as we pulled into the parking lot. There were plenty of cars. I called Russ. "What day is it today?" My phone said it was Monday, but that couldn't be right. (Because the children's museum is closed on Mondays and the lot would be empty.)
Yes. It's Monday. Russ confirmed it. I guess we WERE late for church! SMH. How could I have lost an entire day? Wasn't it Saturday yesterday? I'm still not clear on where I went off the track. (Sigh.) ANYWAY, the museum was open because of the holiday. Zachary and I went in. He had yelled, "Whoo Hoo! We're here!" enthusiastically as I pulled into a parking space.
After successfully navigating an exceptionally crowded museum/playground, the cafeteria, and two cranky meltdowns on the way home, the kid is finally asleep for his nap and the blog is almost done. If anyone is trying to reach me later, I'll be busy saying Hail Mary prayers and reading the "I Have a Dream" speech to atone for my obliviousness, and will probably be unavailable.
#WheresTheCoffee ?
Backstory:
“What do you want from me?? I have a two year old!”
Earlier this week, I was too tired to drive all the way home from video editing sessions and had to stay in a hotel, where the check-in girl informed me that the fifteen dollar “resort fee” included two free waters in my room. (Can you just repeat that please?) I drove straight to physical therapy from there and finally arrived home, too tired to even eat, and found that the dog had diarrhea while no one was home (Russ had taken Zach to school and was still out). Luckily, the carpet cleaners arrived within the hour and the house was thoroughly disinfected and sparkly by the time the interviewer from the Au Pair agency arrived the next day. (They were coming to make sure our home was suitable for a foreign student residence.) Russ had left for the airport just in time to miss the two terrible weather storms, I had a cold, Zach wasn’t sleeping through the night because he kept asking for water right before bedtime, and somewhere along the way – I actually lost track of an entire day.
These were my thoughts at 7am this morning when I was staring at the popcorn ceiling, trying to pry myself up from the hotel bed. It's now almost 18 hours later and I am still thinking that.
Now, as I rest for a few hours until it all starts all over again, I wonder when I will actually be "there" and where is it anyway??? I think I'll arrive at a point when I can relax for a little while on Thursday afternoon. For now, I'll just keep going.
