Do you ever just have one of those days that makes you laugh because the trouble doesn't seem to end? As soon as one thing is over, the next quickly pops up. That was my day yesterday!
It started out with a happy, sunshiny breakfast with my boys. A little laundry and straightening. And an expected phone call from Matt so he could talk to the boys. When he called, they were so cranky!
Then, Tracey and her kids (Matthew 2, Rachel newborn) came over for a playdate and lunch. Lunch was great, though a little tough because of four kids and two adults (how do large families do it??). We had some visitors during lunch who I won't divulge because it's a surprise for Matt's return. ;-) That went well too. So then we headed out on our walk to a nearby park.
Enter "Eventful." Hot, sticky, humid. Two 2 year old boys who don't always listen to their mommies' commands. A newborn who wasn't happy unless she was sleeping. A car seat stroller and an umbrella stroller being pushed over bumps and mud puddles. And praise the Lord for happy-go-lucky Elijah who not once had any issues. I love that boy! The walk was going ok (though Judah did fall and get a knee strawberry) up until this one particular spot. There was a mass of mud on one side of the path, so I strolled Elijah to the other side and looked over just as Judah started walking into the mud. He stopped, and just about the time I started to tell him to walk "this way," he slipped. PLOP! He went down flat on his rear. Now, if you know Judah, you know being dirty/messy is NOT cool with him. And now he had a wet and dirty rear as well as mud all over his shoes. One foot had mud squishing through the slats in his sandals onto his toes. That's what bothered him most. I helped him up and tried to get him to keep walking. With each step, he cried more and more and eventually just stopped. He could feel the wetness seeping and the mud squishing. From a previous walk last Saturday, I knew that just up the way was a clear, shallow part of the stream that was easy to get to. So I left Elijah with Tracey and baby-carried Judah to the stream. Matthew wanted to follow of course; but thankfully, through Tracey's persistance, he stayed on the path. As I neared the water, I saw the ground changing over to the same kind of mud Judah has slipped on. I was in flip flops. I had visions of myself slipping and falling in the mud and water which would mean Judah would get a double dose. I did slip. But I didn't fall over! ::whew!:: I squatted down with Judah on my knee, took his shoe off, and rinsed both foot and shoe in the cold, clear water. Judah had issues with this, but I managed to calm him by explaining it was getting the dirt off. Up we went back to the path to put his shoe back on. The only problem was that his shoe was still
wet. He still didn't want to walk in it. So I took both our pairs of shoes off, and we walked barefoot to the playground. I'm glad the path is paved! However, the path started getting quite hot once we left the woods. Judah didn't seem to be affected; but I didn't want his feet to burn, so we walked on the grass as much as we could. We were at the park...finally!
Things went well for a while. Judah and Elijah enjoyed swinging -- especially Elijah. It was his first time! He giggled alot and was just adorable (as usual). The swinging allowed Judah's feet to dry off so I could easily brush all the dirt off. The sun dried his shoe. We were all good! Until we realized what time it was. Past nap time. And we still had to walk all the way back. Tracey had to change Rachel on the park bench, and she continued to be quite unhappy. So Tracey had to carry her newborn while pushing her carseat stroller and directing Matthew who was not listening. I wanted to help her, but I had my own stroller to push and toddler to direct who was not listening. I think both Matthew and Judah were getting tired and therefore not obeying as much. I don't even know how long it took us to get back home. I got two mosquito bites -- the first ones in years! I don't think I'm as allergic as I used to be 1) because I haven't been bitten in so long 2) only one of them is still bothering me a little this morning. Thank you, Lord! Tracey didn't even come in. She just put her kids in the car and got her bag. I would have done the same! I changed diapers, wipied down little bodies, gave some water, and put the boys down for their nap. Then SHOWERED. Gah, it felt so good after all that sweating and wiping mud off of Judah.
Things went well again. I sat down with a snack to chat with Jaclyn for a little while.
After some time, I realized that "5 mintues ago" it was sunshiny and now it was incredibly dark outside. I knew we were expecting afternoon storms, but getting that dark that fast is not good. So I checked the weather online. We were in a severe thunderstorm warning and tornado watch. I still haven't quite figured out what to do when I'm home alone with two children who have never experienced bad weather and I myself have gotten un-used to it. Jaclyn said not to get the boys unless the tornado watch became a warning. I tunred on the TV to check for any reports. Yep. A tornado warning for a city next to ours. So I called my mom to ask her what I should do; and after she checked the radar online, she advised to go get the boys -- which I knew was going to be the answer. Adrenaline pumping, I woke up two heavily sleeping boys, grabbed the laptop/cell phoen, and crowded into the little half-bath. Adding to all the fears of being a mother alone with two young sons in bad weather was the fact that I only have that little half-bath as the best room in the house. It seems so close to the front wall of the house. The door seems like it would just fly open at the slightest push. I'm so used to having a big basement to go to! :-P I kept the door cracked so I could keep listening to the loud TV and watch out the living room window. After a few minutes, I decided to shut the door. It looked terrible outside! Fierce winds and torrential downpour, more thunder than silence. Of course, we eventually came out when things died down. The lightning strike radar showed a huge mass of white -- and I believe it from all the thunder!
Things settled down and started returning to normal. We were expecting Laura to come over for dinner/bathtime, which we seriously have been trying to do for a while. Something has
always come up that is totally out of anyone's control but God's. We've even joked that God must not want us to spend time together! So we were excited it was going to work this time! Then I get a call from Laura. I say "hello" in a not-so-excited tone, expecting her to say something came up. She said, "Just let me explain..." Woah. The sirens went off in DC and a voice-over explained to stay inside due to the severe weather. So what does Laura do? Grabs her stuff and heads for the train station because "it's close by." :-P She said that as she was running, she felt a big whoosh of air and immediately hit a wall of rain. As soon as she stepped under the train station awning, it started hailing. My response? "Don't ever do that again, Laura!" :-) She got on her train only to learn it was cancelled because a tree had fallen on the tracks. So she got off, took the metro, took the bus, got picked up by her parents, and eventually made it back to her car. And she still came over -- arriving half an hour earlier than she originally planned! Thank you, Lord!
So we went to Target, had a fun bathtime, and were about to lay the kids down when it started getting quite weathery again. Yep. Another severe thunderstorm warning. We kept the boys up for a little while, then bit the bullet and laid them down. We finally sat down to dinner. Then Matt's mom called to ask if we were safe because she had just heard we were in a tornado warning. After a few phone calls to family and some TV checking, we concluded that we were only in a thunderstorm warning and tornado nothing. Whew! I debated for a while whether to accept the offer to go stay at Laura's for the night, but declined because I knew in my mind that nothing would get serious enough throughout the night to warrant waking the boys and transferring them across town to finish the night in pack 'n plays. Good choice! I'm not sure we got ANY weather last night. :-)
So now I'm just wondering whose responsibility it is to pick up all the tree debris in our neighborhood. Leaves, sticks, twigs, small branches...thankfully that's all it is. I won't have to water the yard for a while because both storms caused about 1 inch of flooding in the backyard, but it all soaked in. And all the plants appear to still be ok.
On top of all of it, my allergies are going nuts even though I'm on claratin and sudafed. I've never had such problems with my eyes before. Please, Lord? Relief?
And don't even get me started on the Sears saga. The latest from that was a phone call at 9:30 last night. What business calls someone that late to set up an appointment?? Just...don't even get me started.
Praise God for sleep.
So, how was YOUR day? Matt got to see the Mona Lisa....
