What a Day!

Today has been a crazy day! James is out of town this week, so our day started later and crazier than it usually does. After getting the kids on the bus, I was off to my annual -- and you all know what I mean by annual. Fun. It occurred to me in the office when answering my annual questions that I have had three of my four losses all this year. I lost Ainsley a week after my last annual last October, then Zachary in April, and my most recent baby in August. I knew I had had far too many too close together, but I guess I didn't think about three dead babies in less than twelve months. I don't know why that revelation surprised me so much, but it did.

On the upside, James then flew home between clients to have lunch with me. We hardly see each other on Mondays because of our long CR day, and then he left Tuesday early morning to go out of town. With the exception of this lunch date, I would not have seen him again until tomorrow night. James travels, but not this often, and not this many days at a time, so his being gone has made the week more difficult. Poor me.

Anyway, we went to Cheddars and each ordered the veggie plate. That meal is a soup and four vegetables along with a croissant. Hard to mess up, I think, but both of our plates were. My plate was missing a bowl of red beans and rice, and when that missing side was replaced, the bowl of red beans was missing the rice and had to be replaced again. James wasn't given his croissant. The waiter then stuck his finger in James' water. Blech. The service was painfully slow and the service providers were really peculiar. All in all, not a fun lunch experience. James flew out again (after a stop at the office) and I went to campus.

I stopped by there to check on something I've been waiting for, but it turns out my stuff was processed through the wrong campus, and I still have to wait. Not a big deal, just an added frustration to an already crazy day.

I came home and had some down time before the kids' bus arrived. When they came in, we did homework and then they went to the backyard to play with a water soaker gun we got for a quarter at Dollar General in Lewisville on Monday while we wasted time between pediatrician visits. They were having the best time until Gracie came running in screaming. Evidently, she ran barefoot through a fireant hill and partly because they were biting her and partly because they were stuck to her from the water-gun water, she had about 7 ants on her foot that she couldn't get off. I quickly knocked them off and stripped her in a running bath to ensure no more bites. So far, we've counted eleven bite marks on her little foot.

Bub was just bitten by several fireants this past weekend at James' brother's house, so we talked to the pediatrician about it on Monday. Because of height and weight, he recommended one Benadryl 25mg capsule for either child should something like that ever happen again. Because we just finished treating Bub, I had capsules on hand, and gave Gracie one. She swallowed her first pill today!

She was really concerned to take one, because Matthew makes faces every time he takes his ADHD meds. They're tablets and they evidently taste bad. She didn't want that experience, but we both assured her that Benadryl doesn't taste bad, particularly if swallowed quickly. I have to admit that I was worried for her, because when Bub learned to take pills, it took about four tries to get the first capsule down. By then, it was gummy and opening and tasted bad. I hoped that wouldn't happed for Gracie (because she never forgets), but it didn't -- she swallowed that capsule on the first try. Yahoo! Then they had a good laugh at me because I revealed to them that I couldn't swallow pills until I was seventeen years old. Until then, I took liquid everything. They loved to know they could do something way earlier than their mommy. Now, I know it's the goal as a parent to have our children surpass us, but the taunting sure makes it sting! :)

So, that took care of the antihistimine needs for the bites, but we ran over to the local Dollar General (one of two stores in our wee little town) for some Hydrocortisone cream to control the itching. We were there for a few minutes looking through their 75% off summer toys, and loading our basket up with quarter frisbees, bubble sets, water guns, pail and shovel sets, etc. We were getting ready to leave when a woman ran into our aisle and said, "Hurry, get some help! Someone has just fallen off a ladder!" I ran to the front and grabbed the manager, who called 911, and we headed to the back -- her to help the lady, and me to stop the kids from getting in the way. As I ran behind to grab Bub, I saw the lady sprawled out at the base of the ladder, not moving, with a pool of blood around the back of her head. Of course, as I'm pulling them away, both kids wondered aloud if she was dead, if she was going to be dead, were those her guts on the floor, and so on. I rushed them to the front to pay for our things, and urged them out the door and out of the way just as the paramedics were coming in.

After all that fiasco, there was no way I was making dinner. I was exhausted from the day and additionally from the onslaught of questions that I had just been bombarded with, so we stopped by a little Mexican place on the way home. We ordered our food, and though it was delivered quickly, just enough time had lapsed for the Benedryl to kick in for Gracie. I spent all of dinner telling her to open her eyes, to swallow her bite before going to sleep, to get her hair our of the rice and beans. She ate a tortilla and half a quesadilla and then fell asleep across two chairs.

Bub, who is normally my speedy eater, decided the time that his sister was slumbering precariously perched atop two dining chairs was the time to enjoy every savory morsel of his meal. He dipped a chip in queso, and licked his fingers. Every single one of them, after every single bite. He ate his quesadilla, her quesadilla, two baskets of chips and all of the tortillas slowly and intentionally. I think it may have been his best meal to date. Meanwhile, I paid for our food, packed up our belongings, and readied myself to haul my sleeping sack of potatoes out the door. We left with me carrying her, but she fortunately awoke again and was able to walk the distance to the car before my right eyeball ruptured under the pressure. She dozed the rest of the way home, but is wide awake now, and probably will be all night. But, her foot isn't itchy. That's good, right? I'll remind myself of that as I begin to hallucinate in my own lack of sleep.

We made it home to have some safe and quiet playtime, just before bathtime and bedtime. (For Bub, anyway. Gracie had an extended bathtime bathing Barbies, and is now working diligently towards her 100 book reading goal.) James comes home tomorrow, and if things go my way, tomorrow will be much more uneventful.