SAHM I Am

On our way to preschool today, Audrey told me I was the best mommy in the whole world. Hot dang! If that isn’t a good way to start your day, I don’t know what is!  The thing of it is, I haven’t felt like the best mommy lately, but it really hasn’t been my fault.  I’ve been sick, really sick.  It’s going on almost 3 weeks and I’m still sick.  What started as just a little cough, which I thought was due to the drastic change in weather we had a few weeks back, has progressed into multiple infections. 

Last week I went to Urgent Care and was told that I had a sinus infection and a double ear infection.  The sinus infection I totally understand because I get them all the time, but the ear infection was really weird.  So I get put on antibiotics for 10 days and a decongestant and usually after a couple of days on antibiotics I feel better, but not this time.  No, this time I got worse.  I told my husband that it felt like my chest was rattling when I took a breath and my cough kept getting worse.  I went back to the doctor on Saturday and was told that I now had a bronchial infection and that I sounded completely restricted when I breathed.  After a breathing treatment and a prescription for a new antibiotic and inhaler, I was sent home and told to get some rest. HA! How could I possibly rest when I had a birthday party to attend to, trick-or-treating (we had ours on Saturday night), and a house to clean since we’d be having guests on Sunday.  Oh and not to mention the fact that my husband decided to paint our kitchen, mud room, pantry and powder room over the weekend so I was left to attend to Audrey as well.  Yep, the best mommy in the whole world couldn’t even muster the strength to play Candy Land. 

I only have one more dose left of this second antibiotic and I am thankfully starting to feel a little better.  I still hack like I’ve been smoking for 20 years and I still have no sense of taste, but I do feel like I’m on the mend. My loss of my sense of taste was confirmed by my husband last night when he asked if I had put any seasoning in my always savory pasta sauce.  To me, everything tastes the same.  The best mommy in the world made Audrey’s favorite dinner and she didn’t touch it because she said it was yucky.  Oh well, I’m sure her meal of a banana and string cheese was just fine.

I don’t exactly know what prompted Audrey to make such a grand statement, but I’m determined more than ever to get back to being healthy.  Then she’ll see just how great I really am.

The dictionary defines the word “Miracle” as “an effect or event manifesting or considered as a work of God.”  To my friends, Tarisa and Jeff, the definition is one word “William”.  Today is Will’s first birthday; his first birthday should have been January 7, 2009!

I clearly remember when Tarisa told me she was having a baby.  We were at Jose’s Blue Sombrero and after I spent 30 or so minutes rambling on about nothing, Tarisa told me that she “had ice cream in the freezer”.  That was a phrase that was used when we both worked at the MS Society.  Whenever someone was expecting, they brought ice cream in for the office and the receptionist would announce “There’s ice cream in the freezer.”  I was so excited for her and Jeff.  If ever someone wanted to be a mom, it was her. 

A couple months went by and then came the 19-week ultrasound.  They found out they were having a boy and that there may be some complications.  Tarisa had an incompetent cervix.  At 20 weeks her water broke and she was sent to the hospital to see if anything could be done to stop the progression of labor.  At 21 weeks, it sealed itself.  Tarisa was sent home to be on bed rest.  For 7 weeks she hung out on the couch as friends and relatives dropped by with gossip magazines, books, and pages for her to scrapbook.  I paid her two visits during this time and expected to make many more. Then came the day I called and got no answer.  The day I called, she was in labor with Will.

The birthday invitation for Will’s first birthday states “You can’t tell a hero by his size.”  This, I know, is true.  So to William Miller, Happy Birthday Mr. Miracle! Your friends and family can’t wait to see what you do next!

Audrey seems to be adjusting more and more to school.  I, on the other hand, am a little sick of it already.  Yes, I know that sounds horrible, but I’m peeved about a few things.

One, my checkbook seems to be on constant rotation.  Field trips, school pics, Scholastic Books, teacher’s wish lists, fundraisers, oh and the pricey tuition that comes with a private school.  I’m not complaining about the tuition because I knew what it was when I enrolled Audrey in the school, it just never seems to end and this is only PRESCHOOL!!!! 

Two, we received a nice little notice in our mailboxes that there were 16 confirmed cases of head lice within the elementary school (the preschool is located in a K-8 school).  Again, this happens everywhere, but I was totally not prepared to be looking through my 3-year old’s hair to look for lice.  This is a girl who whimpers and hides under the bed when I tell her it’s time to get her hair brushed.  Yes, looking for lice was pleasant.  What’s best is that when I told my husband about the situation, he said (in all seriousness) “Yuck. Doesn’t that stay with them forever?”  What the heck does he think lice is, and what’s more, are you flippin’ kidding me?  Turns out, we’re all lice free so as long as no one else in the class has it, we should be clear for now.

Three, I haven’t seen Audrey’s non-snotty nose since September, 16. I know that’s the date because she started school the week prior to that and it was the last time I saw her not wiping her nose on her shirt or worse, her arm.  Again, I know that kids are going to get the sniffles from school; fact of life.  HOWEVER, when your child has an autoimmune system disorder like mine does, it just sucks.  There’s not much more to it, and I’m not going to keep her in a bubble, it just sucks.  Did I mention the last time she had an on-going virus, that’s when her JRA reared its ugly head?  Oh, and did I also mention that she hasn’t been sleeping again and she’s complaining that her knee hurts.  The left knee is where the arthritis started and of course that’s the one she says is bothering her. You see, it kind of sucks.

I need to look on the bright side of things.  She doesn’t cry when I drop her off anymore (knocking on wood).  She has learned the days of the week and songs that I don’t know the words to. She enjoys having jobs at home (from helping hands), has taken her first field trip (the one I paid for) and got to see her first live musical and oh how momma loves a musical.  She’s making new friends and even has a play date for next week.  Most importantly, she’s getting to be a normal preschooler whether her mommy likes it or not.  I will never take that away from her, but I’m always going to be ready with a tissue and some hand sanitizer. 

Time/Date/Place

10:30 AM/Friday, October 3, 2008/Somewhere between Oconomowoc and Waukesha

Plaintiff

Miss Audrey N. Cairns

Defendant

Neighbor girl

Mediator

Niki A. Cairns

Charges

Miss Audrey N. Cairns spins a good yarn and inadvertently has accused her neighbor of not only inflicting physical pain but has somehow managed to have her “feelings hurt”

Opening Arguments

On our way to another day of running errands, I (mediator) heard a slight whimper from the back seat. I asked the Plaintiff what was wrong and she told me that her thumb was really hurting.  I asked what happened and she told me her finger was pinched.  I asked how the finger had become pinched.  She told me that her neighbor (6 year old female) had pinched her and when the Plaintiff started to cry the neighbor told her to stop crying and in turn that hurt the Plaintiff’s feelings.

Facts

*The Mediator knows exactly how the pinch occurred.  It was pinched in a DVD case when the Plaintiff was putting away a Charlie Brown movie. 

*The Plaintiff had not played with the neighbor that morning as said neighbor was at school

*If the neighbor had been the one who pinched the Plaintiff and made her cry, it is with great certainty that she would have not stated to “Stop crying”

*The Plaintiff is a bit of a drama queen and that is why she stated that her feelings were hurt

Closing Arguments

Ladies and gentleman of the jury, I implore you to find the defendant, Neighbor girl, not guilty.  I also ask that you explain to the Plaintiff that no one likes a tattle tale, especially a tattle tale who falsely accuses an innocent child of physical and emotional harm.