The First Week
Now, I was brought up with a dad that traveled a lot. He worked on oil rigs in the Gulf, Texas, Oklahoma, and in Africa. So, I am used to seeing my mom do it all. She was a wonderful roll model on how to survive without your husband. I kind of take some pride in being like my mom. Despite this I also didn’t want to have my husband gone all the time. John and I both agree that a lot traveling for work is not worth it, and being home every night is important. Yet, we can do an occasional needed business trip. This wasn’t my first time being on my own with all the kids. I used to do it while working, so I’m not working and this should be easy. I have this “I can take on the world attitude” and yet, sometimes the world wins! Friday March 23rd
We ate dinner with friends, Jeff, a coworker also going on the trip, his wife and two little girls. We leave the restaurant and drive five minutes down the road when Makaela gets sick! YUCK! Should have known something was up when Makaela didn’t eat much for dinner. We made it home and I cleaned out the car. Makaela seemed okay and even played outside while I was cleaning.
Saturday
Makaela was doing fine, little issues; but nothing like the night before. We mowed the back and front yards. I ran out of gas in the middle, no big deal, and went to get the gas tank. No gas! Well, time for a quick trip to the gas station. Starting to feel like this week was not going to go smoothly.
Makaela was my mowing buddy sitting in my lap and “helping” me drive. The boys helped pick up rocks, toys and move the trampoline. They were such good helpers, they got to take a popsicle break.
Sunday
Church took some planning since, Makaela is not well known for letting me stay in pew the entire time at church. I don’t like sitting in the back because the boys tend to play more. Also, they complain they can’t see anything. We decided to sit towards the front, but near a wall. This way I could stand close to the boys and be out of the way for others. Makaela seemed very sleepy and should have taken a nap, but big brothers were not letting that happen. They would fidget or play with her feet and wake her up. She did okay and after communion I had to stand with her and she fell asleep. Never fails, they fall asleep the last few minutes of church!
The readings and the Deacon’s homily that Sunday basically focused on the verse “whoever believes in Me will have eternal life”. As the Deacon was saying this in his own words to go along with his story “if we believe, we will live forever,” Caleb looks over with a HUGE grin and says “I believe”. Thought it was pretty cute!
Since the boys were good, we had lunch out at the park. They ate and then played a little.
Makaela got sleepy so we decided to leave. She slept on our way to Lowe’s where we got mulch for our new trees. Once we got home we added the mulch around the trees and watered them. We need more water hoses! Then ate dinner and got ready for bed.
Things seemed to be going well until right after bedtime. Eli woke up sick. Then Ian. It was a back and forth someone sick, clean bathroom, see-saw until about 10. Then everyone seemed to sleep. When anyone would whimper I would scoop them up and head for the bathroom, but no more “sickness”, thank goodness.
Monday
Got the big boys up for school. Tried to keep the little ones in bed, but no luck. Eli and Ian wanted to eat, but I wasn’t sure they could keep it down. So, I finally let them have a very small breakfast. I kept thinking I would hear from the older ones but never did. Survived Monday.
Tuesday and Wednesday
Nothing too interesting went on. The kids felt fine so we ran a few errands on Tuesday. We took a picture of Makaela before we left since she actually put on sunglasses and kept them on long enough to snap the pic. The boys want to get her some “girlie” sunglasses, but she doesn’t keep them on yet. If she does put them on it is usually around her neck.
I was tired from lack of sleep and just felt like all the little potholes were adding up. I had planned on going to my parents for the weekend and now I was really NEEDING to go. I thought it would be a good break. I prayed no one else got sick so we could go. I was even planning on leaving Thursday and letting the boys skip on Friday. I know, not a good mommy, but I really needed the break. Don’t know why this week was so hard on me. We cleaned, packed, and did the normal stuff. We had one more pothole when I got a letter from the school about Caleb’s absences. He had only missed a few, but this note sounded like I wasn’t going to be able to let him miss on Friday. Of course I didn’t check the mail until after the school was closed; so I would have to wait until Thursday to call. As a teacher, my only experience with absences was with the kids that were out almost every other day. I didn’t think mine had become that type of student. Caleb had had strep this year and I don’t know what else; but both times we had doctor notes. Again, I was stressing. I REALLY wanted to go.
Oh and did I mention through all of these little crazy stuff, the boys were being less than their normal helpful selves. They seemed to just want to fight, not listen to anything I said, and do the opposite of what they know they should do. I think that is why the little things kept hitting me so hard. So, yes, I really wanted the break.
Thursday
I had everything ready to go, just in case. I called Caleb’s school and asked them about the letter. The lady was very nice, she reminds me a little of Ms. Marcy at LEMS. It was just a standard letter that goes out to parents after a kid misses so many days, to let them turn in excuses if they had forgotten. Caleb was fine! I was not that parent!!!
YEAH! The trip was back on. I had two major to do’s before we left- pack the car and give lady a bath. When I turned on the water, the water pressure seemed low. Not wanting to run out of water bathing her and not be able to take a shower after; I looked around for any possible explanations. I found none, so I called the water company. They said they would check and get back to me. Hours past. No call back with a reason, so I called them. We were getting close on time. I had to pick the boys up at school with the car packed. I found out they were fixing a leak and should be turning it back on that moment. I waited and then tried it. Water pressure back- proceed with plan.
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| Ready for Grandma's if mom stops taking pictures! |
The rest of the evening went fine. Made it to mom’s in record time.
Survived week one!!