When Things Go Really Wrong....

If ever I thought I've got this motherhood thing figured out, this morning's events have totally unseated me from atop my perch. They say God doesn't throw more at you than you can handle. That's debatable, but I did stop short of calling the fire department.

It began at 3:20 this morning. I awoke to Libby's screams over the baby monitor. In an instant I knew she would not be "self soothing" so to speak, and calmly drifting off on her own. So I went and got her. We snuggled in daddy's chair for a few minutes before she insisted on reading her daddy book. It's a book of photos of Libby and Shane. She loves it. We read it once. Then, we read it again. Then, we flipped the pages and talked about the pictures. Finally, at 4:00 she was back in bed. I prayed as I climbed back in my bed that Peyton wouldn't get hungry until about noon.

She didn't wake to eat until 7:00 (not bad) and then she actually fell asleep again....Hallelujah! At nine I fed her again, got up and fed Grunny and started to get dinner ready to put in the crock pot. Mind you, I've NEVER in my life started fixing dinner earlier than five minutes before we eat. Just yesterday I decided to give the crock pot a whirl, so I went to the grocery store, stocked up on enchilada fixins and I was ready this morning. By 9:30 I decided to wake Libby (stupid decision......NEVER wake a sleeping baby!) and when I went in to get her I was greeted by a booger trail a half mile long. She's sick.

Usually when I fix breakfast in the morning Libby sits at the table, talks to me, plays with toys, looks at books or whatever. If you've ever had a sick child you know that this was not the case this morning. Today as I tried to fix breakfast and dinner simultaneously (what was I thinking?) Libby whined, cried, wrapped herself around me, threw herself on the floor, sneezed snot all over my computer keyboard, pulled magnets off of the refrigerator, kissed her sister....aauugh, and boogered every Rubbermaid container in the cupboard. Oh, and she poured pear juice all over the counter and finger painted in it. It's still sticky as I sit here. I just let her. What are you supposed to do when you're fixing two meals? Poor Peyton was content to begin with, and when she did decide to make her existence known she was met with total neglect.....from everyone. Even Grunny was hiding in the bedroom to avoid the pandamonium. So she screamed until her head was the color of Tickle-Me-Elmo.

I picked her (Peyton) up from the excersaucer, laid her on the floor, and said, "I'm sorry honey, mommy will be right back. I just have to go wash the pear juice from your sister. Then, we'll snuggle, okay?" That was met with more screaming. Poor kid. Next, I stripped Libby down to a diaper and left her sticky clothes on the kitchen floor. "Let's go get you clean Libster!", I said. We went to the bathroom, rinsed her hands and face and sat her on a blanket in daddy's chair to watch Caillou. Then, apologetically I picked up my little red faced Peyton, put her on my lap, shushed her, told her I loved her and then asked, "Honey what is all over your feet? Wait, that's enchilada sauce. How did you get Enchilada sauce all over your.....oh jeez, I've got it all over my sweats. Wait a minute. I didn't use red meat, I made chicken enchiladas. So if that's not enchilada sauce....then.....it's.....(sniff)......(gag).....okay, WHO POOPED!!!? And I set Peyton back to to commence screaming once again. Before I ran to my room to change my pants I told everyone, "Don't anybody move. Mommy will be right back."

I put on clean pants and started looking for poo. I didn't have to look far to discover the leak at the leg of Libby's diaper. At this point she's rubbing her boogery face and who knows what else she's touched. After all, she's sitting on a blanket that is covered with poop. At that point we went straight to the bathtub. What was Peyton doing? Screaming, of course. I got Libby soaped up and rinsed and left her, yes left her, in 1.5 inches of water to go and get her sister. I rinsed Peyton's feet, but she was so wound up at that point that I had to feed her. That was the only thing that would stop the crying. After a little snack and some singing, Libby in the tub, and me in Libby's little chair everyone was clean and happy once again. Aaahhhh. I put Libby in clean dry clothes first. Then, took them both into my room to get Peyton dressed. While I was dressing Peyton, Libby turned a cup of water upside down on my bathroom counter.....fabulous. I brought them both out to the living room and quickly gathered up everything (I think) covered in poop to put in the wash. Shortly after, Peyton fell asleep in her swing, but not before I had to change the batteries as they were dead. Then, I shot off a quick email to our Birth To Three group cancelling the play date that we were supposed to host tonight.

That's our morning in a nutshell. Do you want to know the best part? Dinner is done. And if you weren't sure what we're having....chicken enchiladas.