When I walked into the house this afternoon, it looked like
a) someone had ransacked the place
b) a tornado had blown through
c) an earthquake had knocked everything down
d) all of the above
The correct answer?
A.
Let's rewind the day to 8am. The phone rang. Yes, I swallowed a bit as I picked up the phone (see the next entry, "I Dread Phone Calls").
It was my husband, who was really having a morning. He is leaving work early today to go to a visitation tonight and funeral tomorrow (again, see the next entry). So he had to pack for an overnight before leaving for work, plus drive instead of riding the bus, plus find enough cash to pay for parking both today and tomorrow. But first he had to pick up some clothes at the cleaners, for the pants that go with his suitcoat were there. He went to the wrong cleaners, then went the wrong way after first deciding not to go after all and then changing his mind after realizing if he didn't get it, we'd completely forget to go at all. Confused yet? Yeah. So was he.
He called to find out where the correct cleaners were. Then he asked, "Did you remember we have that appointment at 10am?"
Oh Crap.
Not only did we all have an appointment at 10am, but I had an appointment for Elli at 9am, a 45-minute drive during the best rush-hour conditions.
Crap.
I quickly assess the situation. Sam is dressed and eating breakfast.
Ok, that's good.
Anna is in her pajamas and eating Cheerios. Her diaper is not changed.
Double crap.
Elli is in her pajamas and still needs breakfast. Her hair is still tangled from the night before. Her glasses are nowhere to be found.
Crap Crap Crap Crap!
I am dressed. Good. But I have not eaten breakfast. Nor have I brushed my hair. Nor have I put any makeup on. This is non-negotiable since we are having our photos taken.
Crap crap crappity crap crap!
(For all those offended by the word "crap," please note that I did not say it outloud to the kids. It's much harder to stop thinking something than to stop saying it aloud.)
I start grabbing things in between shoving bites into both girls' mouths and frantically brushing my hair. I also actually thought ahead to get the van started - it was covered with a thick layer of ice. The last thing I needed was to get everyone loaded up and then discover I had to scrape ice.
Anna kept grabbing Cheerios, so shoving yogurt in wasn't working too well. I finally gave up on breakfast and tried to explain to Elli that I would pack her breakfast and she could have more when we got there. She was upset, but as I rushed her into clothes, I kept telling her and I to calm down and roll with it and I promised I would give her the rest of her breakfast later. As soon as I turned her Dynavox on, she was fine.
Carnage ensued as I tried to find clothes, diapers, coats, shoes, and food. Racing around is just not a tidy business. And cleaning up was out of the question. I was lucky to get my hands washed after changing diapers.
We finally pulled away about 15 minutes later than I needed to in order to arrive on time. Breakfast was still strewn all over the kitchen. Clothes and diapers lay everywhere. I grabbed a Diet Coke and a stale half bagel to eat on the road. That's what I get for not checking my planner last night!
Traffic was horrible, of course. I knew it would be bad - it's Murphy's Law after all. Nothing I could do about it, and I had a long morning ahead of me. No sense wasting energy being impatient! So, despite being half an hour late to the appointment, I was remarkably calm, though totally out of breath. I had to carry a 23-pound 1-year-old, a 5-pound wheelchair tray, diaper bag, and purse, while pushing Elli in her chair with her school bags hanging on it. I had to stop about every 10 steps to hike Anna back up on my hip. (Who needs a gym?)
The result of the appointment? We're going to order some new equipment for Elli's wheelchair. She needs some more supports for when she's doing fine-motor skills like school work. Then we also learned some ways we can take the supports away to encourage her to use her muscles and get stronger. They also managed to fix things so we could use Elli's tray and her computer, which meant I had one less large item to carry.
I finished giving Elli breakfast while they adjusted her chair. In the process, Anna's yogurt tipped over in the diaper bag. She had to content herself with Cheerios, half of which are now scattered all over the Durable Medical Equipment office floor.... nice little mementos of our visit.
Our next appointment was at the Family Resource Center to take some photos for a new brochure to promote the service to families. Sam and I in particular have spent hours there and been adopted by the staff, so they asked if we would be willing to be in some photos. Since we were already going to be down there, it worked out well.
I wanted to change Sam's clothes before we went down there. He had dressed himself this morning, but he didn't really match. So we ducked into a Family bathroom. I forgot to lock the door. Anna insisted on crawling around on the icky hospital floor (have I mentioned how germ-o-phobic I am?). Mid-change someone walked in on us. Fortunately, no-one was going potty. We got everyone set and off we went again.
We were supposed to get started doing the photos as soon as we arrived. But the photographer started with photos of someone else. So much for finishing in time to get Elli home for lunch and the school bus. I had forgotten my list of phone numbers and can't bring my cell phone in because of hospital policy. I actually managed to retrieve the right phone number from my memory and let the school know I would be taking Elli to school today.
Meanwhile, the clock was ticking ever closer to lunch time. Anna usually takes a morning nap. I began to worry that this photo thing might dissolve into a tearful tantrumic nightmare. But the kids really rose to the occasion. In fact, the photographer and marketing person both commented on how impressive it was that the kids did so well for so long.
Sam is so good with his sisters. Elli and I were writing on a magna doodle, and at one point, Sam came over to see what we were doing. I showed him that we wrote "Elli sees Sam" (working on Elli's sight words), and he replied, "Well thank you!" Everyone just roared. Then when I announced that we were getting lunch at McDonalds, Sam started cheering and dancing around and chanting, while Elli beamed and tried to stand up she was so excited.
So all in all, this potentially disastrous day turned out really well. It's amazing what can happen if Mommy can keep her cool. Or reclaim it quickly if she loses it.
We're not home free yet. I still need to get dinner together early so we can all get to church early enough for me to prepare the music for Sunday morning before prayer meeting starts. I'm not sure I'm going to stay for choir practice - everyone's nap schedules are completely out of whack and I think choir might just be pushing too far. It would be awesome to avoid a disaster for an entire day!
