Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This

A very LOOOOONG day...which started Sunday night when Jacob woke up crying several times after putting him to bed.  He was burning up with fever.  102.9 to be exact.  So lots of loves, juice, and children's Tylenol were in order.  But when Jake is sick, he is usually pretty inconsolable.  Then Vessel woke up cranky Monday morning, as did Jacob.  Haven woke up an hour earlier than usual and was off his eating/sleeping schedule all day.  The missionaries called late Sunday night letting us know that "we" signed up to feed them Monday evening.  I say "we" because I never see the sign up calendar go around in church since I am in Primary.  Mike is the one who signed us up but failed to mention it to me.  Such is life.  So, Monday morning while Vessel was at preschool I thought I better get some groceries because I had NOTHING to feed the missionaries, let alone my own family.  I debated about taking the children with me because A.) Jacob wasn't feeling all that great  B.)  Vessel was starting to act like he was getting sick too, and C.)  I didn't think I could handle taking 3 little kids to the store with me.  I considered getting a babysitter to stay with the boys while they napped, then I thought I could get it done quickly for sure.  Unfortunately it didn't work out.  I doubted I could wait to go until Mike got home from work because I had to have something ready for the missionaries to eat.  So I sucked it up and decided to just go with all my kids in tow.  Now, I've gone places with all 3 of my darling children.  But it wasn't a 2 hour trip to that horrible, hellish place, otherwise known as Wal-Mart.  Yes, it takes about 1 1/2 - 2 hours to go grocery shopping for me because A.) I have to get an entire week's worth of groceries  B.)  The check out lines are always long, no matter what time of day  C.)  and loading and unloading kids takes time, not to mention, driving there and back, and little hold ups like a 5 year old needing to relieve himself, etc.  Okay, so, I get in the store and search for one of those ginormous carts, the kind with 2 little seats and a cart attached to the front.  They only had 2 carts like that to choose from.  So I started putting my kids in one, then realized the straps were broken.  So I switched to the other cart with semi-working straps.  Okay, sorta strapped in is better than not at all.  Haven was in his car seat on top of the cart, a diaper bag shoved on one side of him and my purse on the other.  I soon realized I was in for quite a treat as I began wheeling that heavy, woebegone, cart around the store.  It was so incredibly loud that I honestly couldn't hear anything but the rattly, squeaky wheels that looked and felt as if they were about to fall off.  Mike called during my so-called adventure and even said it sounded like I was on a train.  Let's just say I got a lot of bad looks.  Besides practically falling apart, the cart was incredibly massive, like I was pushing a bus.  And I hadn't even put any groceries in it yet!  But I trucked along.  First stop: non-food items.  Wow, was I going to have enough room for everything?  I didn't really plan this out well, did I?  I had to get some bins for putting the boys' miscellaneous toys in.  Not the real big kind, but big enough to fill up the back half of the cart.  I'd be danged if I had to make a second trip later to get those bins, so I was going to make them fit with the rest of the stuff on my list.  I also needed a new pillow because the filling in my old one just wasn't cuttin' the mustard anymore.  I stuffed that down between the older boys, as if they had enough room as it was.  Okay, now the cart was really starting to annoy me.  I convinced an employee to go get me another cart since I had merchandise and couldn't go past the first set of automatic doors.  She acted put out and took her sweet time.  While I waited I got to listen to the boys fight over the bag of snacks I brought with me to keep them occupied. When the employee got back, I unloaded the kids, the diaper bag, my purse, the bins, the pillow and began to strap everyone in again.  But, BAH!  It was the cart with the crappy straps that didn't work!!  I'd have to deal with it though.  Okay, onto the baby section for diapers and wipes.  2 big boxes of diapers and 1 big box of wipe refills.  Geez, Jake, can't you be potty trained already?  I attempted to put the boxes below the cart, but guess what?  My new cart, although not as rickety and falling apart as the last one, did not have a rack underneath for putting things on like...diapers.  Dang it!  So, by this time my whole cart was filled and I hadn't even started getting food yet!  But I pressed forth.  And as I went I got that "look" from other shoppers.  That look that seemed to say, "You are so annoying with your gargantuan cart and your 3 kids and your disheveled look."  Or maybe a look of sympathy.  Somewhere along the way I realized that Jacob dropped his bag full of snacks.  Oh, that's just great, I thought.  I'm sure we left a trail of goldfish crackers and raisins behind for someone else to step in.  Then the kids became thirsty and started begging for a drink.  They never want anything to drink unless we're at the store.  So I got them each a juice and figured I could just pay for it at the check out.  Jacob just spilled his everywhere.  But I kept shopping.  And as I shopped I got more and more frustrated.  The store was out of, or no longer carried, many of the items on my list!!  C'mon Wal-mart, I thought you were a one-stop shop!  You are gonna make me go to ANOTHER store!  With food and other items practically spilling out of the cart, I eventually made it to the check out line.  Of course every register had people already lined up with carts as full as mine.  So I waited...  By this time Haven and Jacob were both crying from being tired and hungry and the pacifier just wasn't working for Haven anymore.  2 people commented, "Three boys, wow, you really have your hands full!"  Ya think?  Luckily a nice man pushed my 2 cart-full of groceries to the van and helped me load them in.  I was so happy I almost cried a little.  I ended up giving him a tip.  When we got home the real fun began.  I had to make 5 trips up and down three flights of stairs.  I left Haven in the van as I unloaded and he was crying so hard the whole neighborhood probably heard him.  A man in our complex walked in the building as I walked out to get the last load of bags and he just gave me a disgusted look while shaking his head.  Really, dude, you wanna judge me like that?  As soon as we all got into the house Vessel threw up on the carpet.  But I couldn't clean it up right away because the baby was starving to death and I had to nurse him.  Meanwhile, Jacob started freaking out and crying even more because Vessel wouldn't let him play on the swivel chair with him.  I finally finished feeding the baby and put the groceries away.  All the frozen stuff was pretty much thawed by then.  I had just thrown a paper towel over the barf on the carpet until I could get to it.  Then I became aware of the fact that the nasty barf soaked paper towel was stuck to the bottom of Jacob's foot and he was walking around the house with it.  Oh, superb!  I got that cleaned up and started making dinner for the Elders.  I made the kids their own special, little pizzas but they wouldn't even touch them.  Neither of them had an appetite.  So we just put them to bed with empty tummies.  Haven (the baby who is usually the best sleeper in the world) would NOT go to sleep.  That night I ended up nursing him AND giving him 2 bottles because he was still hungry.  For the love of humanity!  The missionaries came late and I didn't finish the dishes until 10:30 pm.  At this point I started feeling sick myself.  I was certain I had caught whatever the boys were fighting.  Blech.  A hot shower, salt water gargle, and saline solution up the nose (Thanks for the advice, Rachel!) and to bed I went.  But I couldn't sleep.  The room felt boiling hot and I was sweating like a hog.  When this morning came I felt completely unrested and worn out.  Awhile later I was in the boys' room helping them get dressed when I saw something weird on the side of Vessel's bed.  Was it?  Could it be?  Ewwwww!  A pile of chunky barf on the carpet!!  Seriously?  How long had that been there?  Apparently Vessel threw up in the middle of the night and didn't tell us about it.  Not sure if it was caused by a stomach bug or from coughing so hard.  Anyway, I snapped on some rubber gloves and worked that gross, nasty stuff out of the carpet until it looked decent again.  I'm not gonna lie, I gagged several times.  Anyway, I suppose I should end my whining here.  Although, I'm not so much telling this story to complain, but more to give you all a good laugh.  I love my kids and they bring a lot of joy to my life.  Yes, sometimes we have rough days, but that's just the life of being a mama.  My own mama said there would be days like this.  I shouldn't complain.  I was warned, after all.  :)