Oh What A Week!

This week really started off well.  I knew it was going to be a bit hectic, but I didn't think it was going to be anything I couldn't handle.  But, really who looks at their weekly planner and sees lots of blanks and thinks "Hey, this is going to be one of those weeks where I feel like I can't win!"  Not me.  I see a week that doesn't look over scheduled and I think I'm going to have a relatively enjoyable week.

Tuesday is when my week started to go south.  I'm the sort of person who seriously dislikes arriving late.  So I was annoyed when Elisabeth was jeopardizing my arriving to Mass on time.  Add to that that it was raining lightly, which makes me want to leave the house even earlier.  Once we pulled into the parking lot the rain started coming down a little harder and there was lightening.  Getting struck by lightening is NEVER on my to-do list.  But I still wasn’t deterred.

After dodging heavier rain and loads more lightening on our way back to the car after Mass, I did what every good Catholic does and I tried to get out of the parking lot as fast as I could.  Only my car wouldn’t start.  Sigh.  Lucky for me, Bryan was working from home that day so he was able to come and get us.  He wanted to jump the car, but getting struck by lightening is pretty high on his things not to-do list.  So after taking a quick look under the hood in the downpour, he got back in the car and informed me that I had a lot of corrosion on my battery.  Fun!  Four hours later my car started up without needing a jump, but it didn’t sound right.  This is where the week started to take a less than favorable turn.

Bryan didn’t want to leave me for three days with no working car, and we didn’t have the time to get my van repaired.  So we came to the decision that I would have to get up with him shortly after 5AM and drive him to the airport.  I’m telling you, my martyrdom crown is on it’s way.

In order to get myself together and out of the house by the ungodly time of 5:30AM, I had to shower the night before.  Showering when I came back from dropping him off wasn’t an option since I had to take the girls to Mass shortly after getting home so they could go to the youth group breakfast afterwards.  This is one of those instances where I can claim that my Mom of the Year award must be lost in the mail. (I’ve given up hope of getting any awards for my humility.)  So back to the shower.  It was cold at first and then polar bear ice cold.  Guess what?  The pilot went out on our hot water heater and since Bryan can’t smell, he couldn’t light it until I got out of the shower and confirmed that I didn’t smell gas.  Cold shower, car that broke down, getting up at 5AM.  Yep, I’m getting that martyrdom crown! 

Dropping Bryan off went well.  I was home before any of the girls woke up.  It was probably Madeline’s easiest babysitting job to date, and I’m sure our babysitter across the street was happy she didn’t get a call from Madeline.  I was convinced by around noon on Wednesday that everything was going to go well for the rest of the week.  I just knew that it would.

Of course, that wasn’t the case.  Madeline was scheduled to altar serve for the 4PM vigil Mass for the Assumption.  It didn’t hit me until around 2PM that I was taking Katie to Mass twice in one day.  Bound and determined to eliminate any chance of meltdowns, I made sure I had Cheerios for her as a last resort, pacifiers and a sippy cup since I knew she’d be thirsty after her nap.  Oh, and since Madeline had soccer camp starting at 6PM we needed to do some super quick turnaround to get her fed, dressed for soccer and out the door by 5:30.  So all that awesome planning to keep Katie calm had one pretty big flaw.  I left the all-important sippy cup on the kitchen table.  And since I didn’t have my car, I had no way of grabbing any sort of backup for her like a bottle of water.  Somehow we made it through Mass with no meltdowns.  I spent plenty of time praying that she wouldn’t lose it as she rummaged through my bag looking for her cup.

Once the girls were in bed I felt like I had made it through a marathon day.  Oscar and I crashed in the family room.  I put on a movie after taking to Bryan and woke up to find that it was nearly 3:30AM.  Ugh!

I was hopeful when I finally made it up to my bed that I’d get to stay there until at least 7 or 7:30.  We didn’t have to go to Mass this morning since we went the night before and we didn’t have anything on our schedule until 6PM.  What could go wrong?  Well, for starters, someone could put her alarm clock on for 6:30AM which in turn could wake up Katie.  I stayed in bed hoping she’d go back to sleep, which I thought she did.  Fifteen minutes later I heard the alarm again followed by the baby.  A few minutes later Madeline who went in to get Katie was yelling for me to come quick.  We had a poopy disaster complete with a poo covered pacifier.

To say that I had a royally crappy start to my day would be a huge understatement.  Katie’s bedding had to be stripped, her crib had to be cleaned and she needed a bath.  All this before 7AM.   On the bright side, I became very grateful that Madeline had to serve the 4PM Mass.  I don’t know that we would have made the 8AM Mass this morning with our less than stellar circumstances.

The day seemed like it was looking up when I was able to get my friend’s husband to drive the van over to the dealership for service.  Both Bryan and my father-in-law didn’t want me driving the van in case it was the alternator so I needed someone who would know what to do if the car died to drive it.  A few short hours later, the car was ready.  Thankfully it was just the battery and another part that needed to be replaced.  A friend was able to take me over to get the van while Madeline stayed home with a napping Katie with yet another neighbor on emergency stand-by.

I was feeling pretty good about things looking up when I got home.  That’s when Madeline started yelling for me.  Katie was up and it was another poo incident.  This one wasn’t as bad as the morning one but it was bad enough to warrant bath number two in 9 hours.  Sigh.

I figured by 4:30 things that we were close to the end of the day.  Just four and a half hours to go until the kids would all be in bed.  What could go wrong?  Have you noticed that I stupidly keep assuring myself that I must be in the clear?  Well, you know this isn’t going to end well, right? 

I sent Madeline out to snip a few basil leaves so I could get dinner started.  Then out of nowhere I hear Katie screaming and Ellie is frantically telling me that she’s hurt.  We have no idea what she touched, but she sliced off a thin layer of skin on two fingers.  One of them was bleeding a little but neither of them look great.  So I did my best to patch her up and amazingly, I didn’t freak out.  Calmly handling hurt children is not my forte.  Katie spent most of the evening fixating on her band aids.

At this point I’m spent.  I just need to make it through the next fifteen hours or so and God willing, Bryan will be home from his trip and our little world will hopefully go back to normal.