Frazzled and Fried

Jeff left Sunday afternoon, and it has been nothing but chaos around here ever since.

Charlie woke up from his nap Sunday afternoon complaining that his right ear hurt. By Monday morning he was pretty miserable, so I called the doctor. We were lucky enough to get a 6:40 appointment, where they confirmed a raging infection, and sent us off to Walgreens with a prescription. When we had handed over the paper, the pharmacy tech smiled at me sweetly and said in a sugary tone that the wait would be 35-40 minutes. I am sure that smoke started pouring out my ears and I wanted to shout, "DON'T YOU SEE ME HERE ALL BY MYSELF WITH THREE BOYS?!!!!" But I just turned and walked the boys around the store for as long as they were good. After about 20 minutes they were pulling things off the shelves, so I sat us down in the waiting area, where Charlie and Sammy both launched into heartfelt temper tantrums. I totally understood their frustration-it was late (now about 7:45), they were out of patience, and Charlie was feeling sick. I did my best to comfort them, but stuck to the waiting room chairs. The pharmacy tech looked over at me with firm disapproval, but I just looked back at her with the same sugary sweet smile she had dosed me with earlier. Lo and behold, our prescription was done in about 5 minutes-the toad.

Meanwhile, I had known Monday morning that I was coming down with another of my bladder infections. I decided to be noble and take Charlie to the doctor first, so Tuesday afternoon found us at yet another doctor. Luckily for me my mom took the boys to her house so I could go by myself, as when I picked them up from daycare their teacher said that they hadn't napped all day. Not a good sign! It made the doctor appointment more peaceful, but it still meant we weren't home until around 7:00.

Today was spent taking Evan to choir practice after school, then racing to swimming lessons, and comforting Charlie who's ear still isn't feeling any better. And tomorrow-joy of joys-I have to do parent teacher conferences at school for a mere 13 hours straight. Does anyone know of a way to get Prozac in an IV drip? Cause I seriously need a little somethin' somethin' around here. Why does everything always happen when you are on your own with the kids?

The one redeeming point of today was when we were waiting in the narthex of the church for Evan to be done with choir. The toddlers were overcome by a well timed, yet totally unnatural fit of goodness and patience. They sat nicely together on a bench, holding hands, as calm as could be. An elderly gentleman walked past, and stopped to admire their breathtaking cuteness. "These are the cutest darn kids I've seen in a long time!" he stated. "Do they always have those shining halos over their heads?" Hardly ever, but I wanted to give him a great big smacking kiss on the lips for saying so. It made my day-and made up a little for the rest of the week. Maybe it was like a little hug from God coming right out of his mouth.

Now, if you all could just send me some energy, pep, happiness through the internet, maybe I can make it through tomorrow. And God, could you just make Jeff's plane land safely on Friday in time for him to help me with the trick or treating? It would be the best thing ever.