Seriously??

Well, I think my last 24 hours (ok, or a little more) have been record breaking as far as problems that can occur and have. Let's recap, shall we?


Yesterday afternoon I came home from work for a few hours before going back to an adoption training class. Devin heads out as soon as I come home and vice versa. Basically we never see each other anymore now that school has started again. The sacrifices you have to make...So Hallie and I were going at it alone while Dev went to work like a good, nice, overworked husband.


Anyway, in this few hours, I was determined to get the house cleaned up and dinner ready for myself as well as my cousin Carlie who was kindly coming to be with Hals while I attended the class. As I was scrambling around, attempting to be super woman, Hallie was tending to herself. Basically, that means she was crawling around on the floor making messes faster than I could clean them up. Pretty soon, I heard a big fat wail coming from her direction and I ran over to find that she had crawled into the wall. She had a nice big red mark forming on her forehead right next to the big bruise she already had from earlier in the day when she pulled a big mirror down on herself. Yes, I know what you are thinking, that I never watch my child. Well, you are wrong. I do, I promise. She is just sneaky. Okay, so bruise number 2. Not even 10 minutes later, I heard another wail and she had crawled into the wall again. What do you think her problem is? Don't you think she would learn to look around before just heading full speed into the nearest thing? Bruise number 3 starts to appear on her forehead right along with the others. Fantastic.




See those two red lines and the big brown one? Yeah. Battle Wounds.

By that time, she clearly looked abused. I decided that crawling on the floor was no longer an option and put her into her high chair to watch me cook dinner. Well, she hates that. The only thing to keep her happy in there is of course, food. So I gave her some crackers and went about my business. I managed to successfully cook some enchiladas and get them into the oven. However, when I went to get them out, it is at that precise moment that Hallie started coughing/choking sounding, so I turned to look at her and accidentally tossed the hot pad right into the oven where it immediately lit on fire. Yes, full on fire (flashback to Linda's house anyone?!). I had a choice. Do I save my dying child or do I let my house burn down? I opted for the quick pull out of the hot pad, threw it into the sink (still in flames) and then ran over to pound Hallie on the back. Luckily, she was fine. I think something just went down the wrong tube. Anyway, then I ran back to the sink to turn on the cold water to douse the fire. It's a really great thing our kitchen is tiny, eh?

Did I mention that Hallie is sick? Well she is. So to top it off, she was coughing, snotty, and just an all around mess. I can't believe how rag-muffiny she looked by the end of the day yesterday. Carl came just in time to give me a breather and luckily, Hallie fell asleep while I was gone to the adoption class. I didn't have to deal with anything more until she woke me up around 2 am in full on cough attack mode. I hate that because I can't tell if she is living or dying and I can't handle the thought that I am not there to save her if something happens. So going back to sleep was nearly impossible at that stage. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much last night. I think she did though, which is what is important. Oh and Devin was dead to the world too. Lucky him.

Sick, mad, and why the heck are you taking my picture? See the bib? Snot. Lot's of it.


This morning came far too soon. I made sure to place a call to the doctor's office first thing. I didn't hear back from them until about noon, but that's a later story. Here is a glimpse of what our schedule is like almost daily. Devin had class from 10-11 today (much later than he usually starts actually), then I was supposed to go into work at 11. Hallie of course, conveniently decided to fall asleep right about 10:43, which is a problem because Devin and I meet at my work between class/work and switch her off to save time. He gets out of class at 10:50 and I couldn't be late for work because I had a client coming at 11. So, I either wake up the sick child and take her, or I leave her sleeping and leave at the exact precise moment that I can get to work on time (about 10:55) and hope that Devin is only a few minutes behind me driving back. Don't judge us. That is what we did. I HATE waking her up and I couldn't do it, so I left at the last possible second as Devin was sprinting from his class back to his car and driving home at record speeds. By the time I got to work, there was of course NO PARKING spots so I was forced to drive around until someone vacated.

I then ran inside panting to tell the receptionists that I am there and ready for my appointment. Usually it is good and professional to be there before your clients, but ya know, sometimes that is just not possible with mine and Devin's schedule. Anyway, nice to know, but apparently my 11 o'clock appointment canceled and no one informed me. Nice. So all the running, stressing, sweating, etc. for nothing. I also had a noon scheduled and then Devin was supposed to bring Hallie back to me at work because he had a 1 o'clock class. See how fun this is going to be? Well, my 12 o' clock didn't show up either. I was so mad! I called her and she just laughed and said she was sleeping. Nice. I went home quite annoyed.

Devin went to class as mentioned and then went straight to work at 4 (he gets off at midnight). In the meantime, I got said call from the Dr.'s office responding to my message. The first person said that Hallie clearly has allergies and there is no need to bring her in. I insisted that I am pretty sure she does not have allergies, so she said she would call me back. Someone else called a while later and said that after consulting with the doctor, they thought she should come in right away. I dropped everything and ran to the doctor's office, only to sit and wait and wait and wait and wait. Apparently it was our doctor's birthday, so they were all in the staff area having a big old party. Fun for them, not so fun for me when my child is screaming and hating life confined in the exam room. Finally another doctor showed up (ours was off for the afternoon after his party), gave us 1.34 minutes of his time, and headed out the door while telling me that Hals has an ear ache and he would write me a prescription.

Being the ever caring mother that I am, I decided to go get her prescription as soon as possible. I took it to Smith's, dropped it off, circled the store a few times, bought Hallie some Popsicles and a clearance blow up pool for next year (I told you I am a good mom) and then headed back to the Pharmacy to get the drugs. Well, the girl behind the counter not-so-kindly informed me that 20 minutes had not passed (it had in fact) and that it was not done, so I took my seat next to a crowd of other people and continued the waiting game. Soon, everyone around me was called and had gone to pick up their prescriptions. I was getting really bugged because I knew I had been there before all those people, so finally I went back to the ever-so-friendly girl and asked if ours was ready. She didn't even look, said no, and sent us back to our seats. Another 20 minutes passed. People have come and gone. Again, I went up and asked her if she could see if our prescription was ready. This time she looked half heartedly, came back, and said no again. Again I waited. By this time, I had nearly had it because Hallie was screaming, she clearly didn't feel well, and I am done with the waiting. I waited a few more minutes then approached another girl to ask for Hallie's prescription, telling her that I had been waiting an hour now and they told me it would only be 20 minutes. She went to look and what do you know, it had miraculously been sitting there the whole time! She came back and handed it to me and said, "you just must not have been listening close enough when they called your name." Oh man, I nearly snapped her head off. (*Disclaimer: I don't really snap people's heads off...don't be alarmed*).



I treated myself to a night off of cooking after a day like today and yesterday. To summarize: My child is ill, looks abused, barely breathing, and not happy. I am tired, feeling sorry for my baby, really full from a great dinner that I picked up, and actually quite happy that I can look back on these experiences and just laugh. Motherhood. This is what it's all about, people.

Bonus points for you if you have read this whole thing and not fallen asleep or gone crazy.