When it rains it pours. That is always the case in my book. Being a Stay At Home Mom allows for me to do so many things with the kids. It allows me to clean the house whenever I need to (just to have my family mess it up again). It allows for me to make hot meals for my family, to save money on childcare, and to keep their [nap] schedules. It does NOT allow for me to take sick days. Nope, I don’t get those — I get “sick hours”. When I reach my point of no return, I can contact my husband and he can come home. We are so very fortunate that he can leave early when needed.
Patrick turned TWO on September 15! TWO!!!??!! But how??!!!?!?!! Anyways, I had been planning a Monster themed (appropriate, right?) birthday party for him for weeks. I had ordered the Monster decorations and party supplies in JULY! I was so ahead of the game, doing so well. I sent the paperless post invites out to family members in August. And most everyone replied within a week.
Things were moving swiftly. But then, shit started to hit the fan. My uncle who lives in Virgina was in a motorcycle accident on September 1st. He was placed in a coma which he is now out of, he is still on the ventilator, he broke all the ribs on the left side, has a broken ankle, stitches on his face, deflated lung and we know there is brain damage – but we don’t know how much or to what extent. My entire family has been in an utter state of helplessness in terms of what were supposed to do. Should we be going to Virginia before we know his mind state? Should we be planning a funeral, because we know he doesn’t want to live on a ventilator? It has been an agonizing 3 weeks.
Needless to say, and completely understandable, half of my family would not be coming to Patrick’s birthday party. So no big party, basically just immediate family, the same people that come to Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at our house. So I decided to scale back Patrick’s party. Make it a BBQ – hot dogs, hamburgers, rubbed corn, taco salad… and homemade cupcakes. Less decorations, we’ll just use some balloons.
Fast forward to week of party. I have a dentist appointment on Wednesday for a filling. While I’m there, the dentist says, “Oh, the surgeon is here today, so he’s going to take out that wisdom tooth’.. umm excuse me, WHAT??!?! Yes, I have completely grown up since I had kids. The dentist no longer makes me cry and I am doing sooo much better with needles, but I FREAKED OUT. Full on panic attack. I know I could have said no, but I figured – why not. It was an option, I had the time and babysitters – how bad could it be? OH MY LORD, BAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was awake, given Novocaine, and I could feel everything. I was hysterical and shaking and didn’t know if anything was hurting.. I felt all the pulling, but was it hurting? I DO NOT RECOMMEND BEING AWAKE TO ANYONE! The entire time there, filling to tooth coming out, was minutes, but my time in that chair felt like 3 days.
Thursday was ridiculous. I don’t ever want to feel that pain again. I have had 2 C-Sections and have never felt that pain before. I straightened up as much as I could and prepped the sunroom for the party, on top of my regular Mom Duties – dropping off and picking up Anthony from school. Keeping Patrick entertained while Anthony was gone – there were lots of snacks involved. Oh, did I mention that we had to go to our first Back To School Night for Anthony?! Yep, did that too! But I made it through the day with the help of Motrin and Tylenol.
Friday, I woke up and I knew my mouth was in pain but I was also aware that I was waking up with a HEAD COLD! Great. Add that to my list. So there I was, setting up for a birthday party, Wisdom Tooth removed, head cold, drop Anthony off at school, had to go to the grocery store and to Costco, pick Anthony up, make lunch, get the boys to nap, prep and clean for the party, make dinner, tubby and bed…. because MOMS DON’T GET SICK DAYS. After doing all that, Friday night was the WORST night in my Wisdom Tooth journey. I had thoughts that I was going to have to cancel my baby’s birthday party. But luckily, when I woke up Saturday morning I felt almost normal and was able to set up for the party, pick up balloons, decorate and make food and cupcakes! Patrick’s party was a success, my mouth is healing nicely and my head cold hasn’t progressed.
There are some days when I get so much extra accomplished in addition to my daily obligations and errands and I feel so amazing, like Superwoman! After writing this all out for you, I realize that I should feel like Superwoman, but I don’t. I feel like I have so much on my mind and on my shoulders. So much weight. I know that what I accomplished this week, with all my minor setbacks, should mean more to me, it should show me how strong I am. And maybe next week, it will. But for now, I will make a new list of things that need to be accomplished this week. (Sorry for rambling – it’s difficult to explain how I’m feeling)
Mamas – I hope you all feel empowered by yourselves and your decisions and what you can accomplish in ONE day. If not, drop me a line of what you have accomplished today and I will send you positive affirmations.
Thank you for stopping by and reading my Mommy Blog post!
Christina