Motherhood: Drop Cloth and Bucket Required

Thank you Desiree for the title of this unbelievable day...

(Please note that this post is probably TMI...but well...it's life in the land of Motherhood.There are intentionally no pictures attached to this entry.)

Before I begin the unfolding of today's events. Let me start with the lessons I've learned (been learning) and had the opportunity to practice.
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Lesson 1: Sometimes God does give us more than we can handle.  I texted a friend today and told her that I knew God
doesn't give us more than we can handle but I'm at my limit.  She texted back a surprising, but wonderful response: "Actually, I think God does give us more than we can handle so that we see our need to depend on Him."  Thank you! That set the stage for me today.  I listened, I leaned in, I survived!

Lesson 2: Godly friendships are imperative.  I can't do this journey alone.  I know that I can text several of my closest friends and ask for prayer and I know I will be prayed for in that moment.  That's so reassuring...and life giving.  I'm thankful for interceding friends. 

Lesson 3: You can either laugh or you can cry about a situation.  It's much more pleasant (and makes for better blog material) if you laugh!

Lesson 4: Blue and red icees are not as fun coming up as they are going down...but I am getting ahead of myself here!  On to the fun (??) run down of my day.

After a terribly hectic and long day, we arrived home late, put the kids to bed late...and went to bed late ourselves.  Around 1 am I hear the familiar "thump thump" of Caveman's foot steps (he's never been one to pitter-patter around the house).  I groan "Why can't these kids stay in their own beds?"  Then I hear "Momm....blahhhhh"....next is Hubby, "Ugh! He just threw up on me!"  (and we later found that he also got the entire basket of freshly washed clothes).

Yes, my 2 year old son was standing near the doorway of our bedroom and projectile vomited onto my husband. (I'm so glad that I sleep closest to the window!)  We break into clean up mode.  Wonderful Hubby cleans without ever a complaint.

Caveman now on the bed rolls all over my pillow and sheets while I'm getting a rag. <sigh> I just washed those too!

I go to his room to get fresh clothes and it's a regular slip-n-slide in there.  Yes, I had to change my clothes. I return and  flip on the light to find that he had apparently been facing the wall when his belly began to feel upset...yes...all. over. the. wall....but surprising not on his sheets.  Thanks buddy!

Finally all are settled back in bed and an hour later I'm awakened by Caveman who is complaining that he peed in his pull-up. Now is the time he wants to potty train???  I feel him. He's soaked.  We go to the bathroom only to find that it's not pee. Apparently his mouth is not the only thing that can explode during the night. <sigh>  Really regretting those oreos I gave him earlier in the day.

Back to bed and 2 hours later...same routine.

Hubby gets up at 5:30 and goes to his office (also the home of the zapped cat ). The next thing I hear is frustration as several trips ensue to the bathroom and the sun porch (in which the cat was deposited).  Yes. The cat had, in fact, pooped on Hubby's chair. Not knowing this, he sat in it.  The cat is not  currently  a favored household member.

Everyone is up and groggy by 7.  I finally get breakfast scrounged together by 8:30.

Hubby is planning to go out of town with his boss today and we have to leave the house by 9.  I'm feeling frantic because I've had no sleep. One child is sick. The other is in high gear. And my husband is leaving for 3 days.

My doctor's office calls just as I'm about to start crying.  "We got your tests back. You have an infection. We called in a prescription, but you need to know that these meds will give you side effects that we cannot treat until your 2nd trimester. Have a good day."  Of course that call would happen today. In that moment.  I'm 8 weeks along...it's going to be a long 4 weeks.

We get out the door, make the 30 minute drive to the house of Hubby's boss. Say a goodbye to him and off I go to pick up my prescription (fighting back silly tears in effort to be strong for the kids).

Once arriving at Target, one kid is winding down. The other is screaming his head off and wanting only to be held. Poor kid. He's sick. I get it.  In effort to keep them quiet and hydrated, I buy them icees. A red one for Blue Bird. A blue one for Caveman.  All are happy. I decide to glance over the clearance section of clothes in effort to find brown pants and a shirt for Blue Bird's lion Halloween costume.

At which point, Blue Bird says, "Mommy, I feel sick. My tummy hurts."  I'm sad to say that I didn't at first believe her, thinking it was only attempt to be like Caveman.  She proved her point when she deposited all her red icee into my lovely purple jacket...in the clothing section of Target.

She  tends to get insanely embarrassed. So I managed to hide her and clean her up without anyone noticing.


We rush over to the pharmacy to get my meds before any more red icee revisits us.  Just as I'm paying and saying "Thank you" to the pharmacist, I notice a look of utter disgust on her face. I turn around to see a steady stream of blue icee coming out of Caveman.  Blue icee everywhere! Blue icee....all over the pharmacy area. All over the clearance clothes that I  had in the cart. (I guess I'm committed to them all now.) All over the cart and Blue Bird's feet and shoes.

The pharmacy worker gave me a bag and some paper towels, all the while Blue Bird is crying out "He got some on my foot!  Please clean off my foot!"  And the other pharmacy workers could all be heard "It was a blue icee?"  "Do you think the icee made him sick?"  "I stay away from the blue..."  Yes...all duly noted.  No, it's not the icee. He has a vicious stomach bug and my husband is out of town and I have to have this medicine so that it can give me side effects that will linger untreatable for 4 more weeks.  Thank you!

So I strip Caveman down to his diaper and proceed to the check out.  Yes, it's fall. Yes, my kid is naked. Yes, he has a stomach bug. Yes, I brought him into a public place. My husband is out of town and I needed this medicine...oh forget it...just stop staring at me. I'm not a circus routine!  <please someone tell me they have been in this situation before!>

I survey the checkout people.  I avoid the mean ones and head straight for the one that is always smiling and happy.  So thankful that at this point a friend from church joined me in line and distracted the half naked, icee covered kids while I explained to Friendly Cashier that I would hold the tags of the soaked clothes while she scans them with her scanner-wand-thingy.  She was so. very. kind.  And I bagged my own items.

I was so glad to get home.  I'm so thankful for friends and their encouraging words and service to me.

Currently, I'm typing in the dark in the living room.  The kids are asleep in their sleeping bags, on their mattresses,  on the living room floor, with a trash can between them.  Tonight was supposed to be our "fun camp out" night. (a tradition of ours when Daddy goes out of town).  Maybe tomorrow will be more "camp out-ish".

But for tonight, I will sleep, with my drop cloth and bucket handy...


side note: 3 loads of laundry, 3 pillows, and a set of sheets was the total count for the day.

Curiosity Killed the Cat...Almost...

Yesterday started out as any normal day (these days).  Caedmon wanted to dress up in his Iron Man costume and Abby was carrying the new kitten all over the house like a baby.

It all happened so fast.  Iron Man somehow attained Purrsia and had her in the baby carriage. She jumped out, Caed ran forward after her and the dog followed Caed.  Purrsia ran into the pantry and one second later I heard her pitiful little meow simultaneously with the a "zap".  I knew in an instant what had happened. Purrsia was in the electronic mouse trap.  I hate that thing now. I had totally forgotten it was in there!

I dug it out from the back of the pantry and to my horror all I could see was Purrsia's tail and one foot twitching.  I pulled my now limp kitten out of the trap and cried for PJ. The kids went running to his office. As soon as he heard my voice he came bounding out knowing something was terribly wrong.

PJ held our twitching, wet kitten (she peed on herself when she got electrocuted) while I called the vet. I'll never forget that sound (I think it's called a death rattle) as Purrsia gasped for every breath. We had a little hope as she began to move a little, but she was still gasping for air and seemed to be blinded now.

I loaded the kids into the car to rush to the vet. Through tears and sobs we prayed for God to heal our 12 week old kitten.  As soon as we said "amen", Purrsia let out a loud "meow!"  We laughed with joy. But she seemed to be getting worse, with her mouth wide open wanting air.  Once I got her to the vet, they did not seem very hopeful as I dropped her off.   I couldn't stay to see the doctor because I had to drive PJ to LU for an intensive.  So we left her and prayed.

I sobbed the entire way to Liberty and then back to the vet.  A thought occurred to me at some point that Abby was totally calm. She wasn't crying but rather seemed to be enjoying the ride and singing along to our Veggie Tales cd.  I wondered at this.  My child who cries when you look at her wrongly.  The one who cries when things do not go as expected. She was so calm.  I decided in the moment to have faith. We asked Jesus to heal our kitten, and so I would expect it. I knew He could heal Purrsia...but for some reason I worried that He wouldn't.

When we returned to the vet we were told that they needed to keep her for the day. Her bodily systems had shut down. Her lungs were full of fluid and the vet was concerned about her vision, but she was doing about 50% better.  There was hope.

Long story short, we brought Purrsia home that same evening and she was perfectly healthy and playful as if nothing had ever happened.  Her sight was returned, she was eating, drinking, purring and playing.  A-MAZING!

I asked Abby why she was able to remain so calm during the whole ordeal.  She said simply: "We prayed for her!"

So grateful for her childlike faith.  So grateful that God heard a 4 year old's prayer and that He healed even a small creature like our 12 week old kitten!

It's just a shame that Purrsia is so young and only has 8 lives left. :)