One of Those Days

Yesterday was just one of those days around here. My alarm went off at 5:30, and I hit snooze because we had just been up with Maddie at 4:30. The sad thing is I do even remember now what in the world she thought she needed at 4:30 in the morning! But none the less, I thought my list of things to get done before the girls got up would have to wait for 10 more minutes. But apparently instead of hitting snooze I turned the alarm off,  because the next thing I heard was Maddie not so quietly shutting the door to her room (one of those things with an old house).  I asked her what she was doing downstairs (still thinking it was 5:30). Her reply - but mommy my clock says its time to get up. My eyes quickly dart back to my clock and see it is 7:04. Oh yes- 4 minutes after Chris was supposed to be in Franklin -which is of course 30 minutes away - to go on a work trip for the night. Chris jumped out of bed, flung his bag onto of the bed, and started throwing clothes in it for Chattanooga. I'm still sitting in bed thinking of everything that I need to have ready to go for me to walk out of the door in an hour and a half -  both of the girls dressed, bags packed, lunches packed, shower for staff meeting at church, pack a lunch for myself b/c I have to leave the staff meeting early to make it to a neurologist appointment. And actually think to myself, maybe I'll have about an hour after the doctor to run one or two errands before I pick the girls up. Ha!

I hear Emalyn start waking up, Chris grabs her as he walks back from the bathroom and hands her off to me. I immediately notice her eye is red. I had seen a little red dot in her eye yesterday when we were at the pediatricians office for an ear infection, but thought surely it was allergies. Oh but it was even redder this morning. So my mind starts racing, okay if I can get her to the early morning walk in hours at the doctor, maybe they will tell me it is just allergies and she can go to school as planned. But that means we have got to be walking out the door in 45 minutes - which would be a small miracle in and of itself! I grab two cereal bars for them to eat for breakfast, dart upstairs to grab Maddie's dress out of her closet, race back downstairs to start getting my clothes on, get Emalyn dressed, grab a sweater for Maddie, and remind her we are not going to wear her brown boots with her cute smocked spring dress. She gives me a look - I'm sure trying to decide if I really mean that. And thats when I notice her eye is red too! At this point I am pretty sure it is pink eye since they both have it, but I am still hoping for allergies and off to school.

Oh but the Lord had other plans for my day. He was so faithful and knew exactly what I needed even when I didn't know it - a day at home where I couldn't get one thing on my list done! Our past few weeks have been crammed full, that it was so nice to have a day at home where we could not go anywhere. Maddie and I played 2 board games together while Emalyn slept. The girls put on their bathing suits and played outside (what? yes it is still February - but after it has rained and I know they are going to get their clothes wet - I figure may as well having your bathing suit on!).  And we finished the night off by making a cake after dinner, and they got to decorate it with sprinkles - which was the highlight of their day.

As I am working on my third load of laundry for the second day in a row (oh yes all the sheets and anywhere that they laid their heads from the past two days needs to be washed), thinking back on yesterday it was a very sweet day with my girls. Not that we did not have our moments - and actually probably one of my worst moments as a mom in quite a while. What brought us crashing to that point? Eye drops. Cold, stinging eye drops. Three times a day, two drops in both eyes. And no daddy at home to help! I think what made it worse was that whichever one of them went second had to watch the other go through it and the fear built as she was waiting. The first time went okay - not easy, but that's when I'm glad I'm a nurse because it doesn't phase me to put them in my lap hold their little hands down with leg and pry their eye open. Not what I like to do - but it gets the job done when you have to. Or at least that's what I can do with Emalyn. Maddie, however, my 80% percentile 4 year old is mighty strong for her 47 pounds! And the second round of drops was horrible. Maddie was crying, I was crying, she was yelling, I was yelling, I threatened to take anything and everything I could think of to no avail! And thats the point when I remember one of the moms from our church saying when she had to raise her voice, she knew she had let it go too far. So off to her room - Still have not gotten the eye drop situation down pat but I will say last night and this morning were better.

I laughed last night when when a friend of mine texted me "what book did you read on discipline?" Because yesterday was humbling, it has been a long time since I felt that helpless and that one of my children were completely out of control. But it is always a good reminder of why I spend so much time working with them. And the best part is daddy comes home tonight! I think I'm more excited about that than the girls are!