One of those Mornings...

Remember how I mentioned in my last post that sometimes I have bad days? And, sometimes the kids have bad days? Well, I just sat down with my first cup of coffee and it seems as though an entire “bad day” has already taken place. 

I want to preface the morning with a description of my mood. 

I have been fighting a stomach bug of some sort for a while now. I think I may have gotten whatever tummy stuff is going around; but, my body is doing an okay job of fighting it. I’m avoiding the vomiting, but got all the other fun stuff a sickness brings. I am also particularly moody this week, if ya know what I mean (today is day 3). And, I have been having a hard time adjusting to a regular sleep schedule again; this means that I hit snooze a total of….six times this morning. Overall, I’m a freaking peach. 

The kids were fairly cooperative at least. They got out of bed and got dressed at a decent pace. Olive did wander around, sleepy-eyed, wrapped in a blanket much longer than I would have preferred, asking, “What do I wear?” (as she stood right next to the clothes I had laid out for her). But, it wasn’t much of an irregular morning at that point.

Then, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach that doubled me over. I realized that I should probably not go to my MOPS meeting scheduled for this morning. I wanted to go. But, I get livid when people knowingly share their germs/sickness with others. And, I have another Christmas this weekend; so, I’m trying to get better and stay as healthy as possible. The idea of missing the meeting bummed me out. We only get to go to meetings once a month and I truly enjoy them.

I continued on.

It didn’t take long before I noticed that Olive had a sore of some type between her nose and mouth. I don’t get cold sores (knock-on-wood); so, I wasn’t sure if that was all it was or not. I decided to ask her about it.

“Did you scratch your face?”

“I don’t know.”

“Does this hurt?”

“What?”

“You have a sore on your face. Do you know anything about it?”

“Momma, don’t touch it.”

So, things were going well. I was gathering a lot of helpful information.

I began a short, but civil lecture about washing hands and touching faces, etc. I then told her to wash her hands with soap and water. It turned out to be an impossible task, which was easier to lie about than actually do. After a bit of back-and-forth, I finally got her to wash her hands – I’m a horrid mother, I know. I then wet a wash cloth with the intention of cleaning her face.

This was at about 7:35 AM, everybody. So, if you heard the blood curdling screams, that was coming from our house.

You would have thought that I wiped her face with sand paper. So, after the one wipe, I left the scene to throw the washcloth into the laundry room. Walking back past Olive, I just turned my head and threw my hands in the air.

I made my way to the kitchen, meeting the blank stares of the other two kids. They were sitting at the island, eating their breakfast. That is when I made the grand statement of how stupid the situation was – one of my prouder moments of the morning. I then started rummaging through our “pain reliever” container, looking for some triple antibiotic. Olive appeared at my side, and quickly realized what I was doing. She started pleading, “Momma, no!”

Over her yelling, I tried to explain that it wasn’t a painful medicine. But, just her luck, I couldn’t find it. I let out a huff and put the container back in the cabinet. While there, I saw the dogs’ Heartguard that I was supposed to give them yesterday – oops. To remember, I took the box out and threw it on the counter. That act was enough to send Olive over the edge. She collapsed on the floor and started to wail.

This was when I made the second “this whole thing is so stupid” declaration of the day. 

After getting Olive composed and cleaned up, I threw a snack cake at her and begged everyone to load up. We were now running late.

Six out of the eight blocks to school were filled with my huffs and statements of anger. Literally, I just repeated, “Ugh. I’m so mad.” - switching out the “ughs” for sighs or huffs, and switching out “mad” for “angry” or “frustrated,” whichever synonym came to mind. 

I don’t know why I do it. I guess it is part to make me feel better and part to ‘bring Olive to the realization that her behavior is irrational and unwarranted, making us all a bit grumpier and late this morning, when all I was trying to do was help her and keep her healthy.’ You know, as one could infer…

It was on block seven that I realized that we didn’t have Henry’s winter coat, just a light fleece. He didn’t even have gloves or a stocking cap. As I whirled around to look for it on the floor of the car, I almost clipped another car who was turning onto my street. I immediately mouthed, “Sorry!” to the other driver. I think I knew her too…dammit.

The coat is not there and I was well on my way to ‘Mother of the Year.’

I finally pulled up to the curb. The kids barreled out. And, I yelled, “I love you!” in their general direction, as they ran up the sidewalk. I watched until they were safely inside.

I then closed the van door, locking in the silence of my solitude. I took a deep breath.

“What in the hell…” I whispered to myself.

Now, on with the day…