I was sitting at my desk the other day when I looked up and noticed that I hadn’t replaced any of the pictures in my frames in quite a long while. I stared at the photographs and soaked in the smiles of C and Big E long before Baby E was even around. So, on a whim, I went through a few of my recent photos, printed them out, and replaced a few.

The one I replaced on the desk next to my computer was a picture I took only a few weeks ago of Baby E on the beach, mouth wide open in an excited scream. For the first few days it made me smile. But then there was today…

You see, I was REALLY tired today. Ridiculously tired! My allergies have made it difficult for me to sleep lately, and by the time I got to work this morning my eyes were stinging. Throughout the day they would randomly water up to the point it looked like I was crying. It was during those moments, when my eyes were tired and my vision was somewhat blurry I would catch sight of the photo out of the corner of my eye, but instead of seeing my dear, sweet baby boy, my blurred vision and foggy brain kept translating the image into Tim Curry as Pennywise the Clown, also known as IT. Ridiculous, I know!! So had you been sitting over my shoulder today, you might have noticed me glance over to the photo and do a little jump before shaking my head and settling back into work! I’ll see how it goes tomorrow, but if Pennywise keeps showing up, I might need to rethink my decorating choices.

I wish I was more organized! 

I got an email from one of C’s teachers a few weeks ago in the middle of the week asking me to send in materials for a project and I needed them in by that Friday. The kids were going to make an animal habitat as a follow up to their trip to the zoo. The list was quite extensive, but we could pick and choose what to send in. The items ranged from stones to grass, photos, cotton balls, paints, construction paper, duct tape, and animal figurines. But the problem was that I got the email on a Tuesday, and I needed to send in the stuff by that Friday morning. Getting to the store is pretty much impossible for me during the week because of my and my husband’s work schedules, so I had a little freak out before emailing the teacher and begging to send everything in on Monday. She agreed, so when the weekend rolled around I scoured our local Walmart for all the things I was willing to purchase for the project. The most difficult thing to find was small animal figurines and I  spent quite awhile pacing up and down the various aisles in hopes of catching a glimpse of them. I found dinosaurs. I found giant bugs. But no animals. But by some spark or miracle, I found one small package of them misplaced in the Easter section. Victory was mine! I sent C in with her bag full of supplies, confident that I had done my duty and provided for my kid.

A few days later I picked her up from school, and she came out carrying her habitat… which was without a doubt, completely void of tiny animals. And she handed me her bag of leftover materials, most of which were not even opened. When I questioned her nicely about her missing animals, she said she ran out of time and forgot to put them in. (I personally wonder what kind of grade you get for an animal habitat if you don’t actually include animals, but I digress.) Needless to say that that was a lot of time and money wasted.

Fast forward to this evening… when I got this note in C’s folder. She is scheduled to go on a field trip tomorrow. We had gotten a permission slip a few weeks ago and I sent it in. Along with the slip, there were instructions given about sending in a ‘waste free’ lunch, but honestly we were in the middle of one of those sicknesses and it didn’t stick in my head, so when I noticed this paper tonight I shook my head. I really have nothing against the waste free lunch. I think it’s a great idea. I really do. My problem is that I received this note the night before I needed to send it in. I went shopping on Sunday for this week’s lunches and if I had gotten this on Friday I would have been sure to be prepared. But as I’m staring at this paper I can only promise a reusable lunch carrier. Mom confession here… nearly everything I bought for her lunch this week is prepackaged!! (I know, I know!!) So… do I empty all her single serving things into reusable containers? That seems like an extra step cause now I’ll have to toss the trash from those things and then end up washing the containers later. Do I send her in with the lunch I bought, just as I bought it and risk humiliating her in front of her classmates? Hmmm… Or maybe I could just send her with a lunchbox full of bananas. BOOM! Problem solved. *gracious bow*

I’m not frustrated with the teachers, but rather myself! I’m sure there are parents that can keep up with everything, but I’m certainly not one of them! I’m the kind that needs just a little advanced warning! 🙂 

I felt​ the pain before I even opened my eyes. It was Saturday morning and there was a work event I was scheduled to be at by 8:30. I felt around for my phone to see what time it was… 4 am. The house was silent, save the sound of Tim’s rhythmic breathing beside me. 

The pain. What was that pain? I tried to sit up and intense pain radiated throughout my abdomen. Incredible pain. What’s wrong?? I finally got to my feet, but I couldn’t​ stand upright. The pain was so intense. I made my way downstairs where I was sure I wouldn’t wake anyone, and for the next two hours I sought every position possible to ease the pain, but it wouldn’t break, and I ended up throwing up from the discomfort. 

As I laid on the floor of my living room, it felt so very familiar to the pain of the ectopic rupture. Not as bad, but very, very close. And when the pain started to localize on my right side near my belly button, I began to wonder if it was my appendix. 

A little bit of PTSD kicked in as I started down a multitude of rabbit trails that all ended in internal bleeding or emergency surgery. By the time Tim woke up I couldn’t tell if the nausea I was feeling was from the pain or the anxiety. 

One of the many things I love about Tim is he can talk me down off almost any bridge, and I was high on top of one when he found me. He calmed me down and got me into bed. He convinced me to wait a little while longer to see if it improved before heading down to the ER. As I spent the day in bed the pain gradually (very gradually) eased, while my temperature increased and I started getting all the symptoms of a stomach bug. By evening I could stand (even though it hurt) and the center point of pain moved, taking it away from my appendix area… The first definitive sign that it wasn’t appendicitis.  My fever came down by bedtime and I slept through the night. 

In the morning I felt exponentially better than the previous morning and was able to function again.

When I talked to my mother on the phone she said my father described the same intense pain when he had the stomach bug earlier in the week.

So there it was, the stomach bug… Twice, in one week. Perhaps because my first time round was much milder than everyone else’s, I was susceptible to getting it again. I’m not sure. But it was horrible and I’m glad it’s over and I still have my appendix!!

So Lord willing, we will be done with sickness for awhile. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we could use a break! 

I’m grateful for my awesome husband who looked out for me and wrangled the kids while I was quarantined in our room. He did a great job! Now we just need to reschedule our birthday date!!