One of those days

Yesterday was one of those days. I guess it all really started the night before. Thursday is Bible study night so we were out late at our friends' house. Our son had a little bit of a runny nose but seemed to be feeling alright. In fact, he was in a pretty good mood during our study, even as it approached 9:00. When we got home, he went to bed fairly easily and I felt satisfied that I had such an easy baby who could just go with the flow and not be too affected. My mistake.



It all started going downhill around 11:00. I heard him crying on the monitor but decided to let him cry a little bit; maybe he would go back to sleep on his own. After about 15 minutes his screaming got really intense so I went to get him. Of course, my first plan of action was to nurse him back him to sleep. That was NOT what he wanted. He was arching his back and screaming, refusing to nurse. This is when I start to semi-panic. Something must be really wrong if he isn't going to nurse. And how am I going to console him? Rocking didn't work. Walking didn't work. Changing his diaper didn't work. Watching TV didn't work. Going outside didn't work. My husband and I were desperate. As soon as we would get him to calm down a little, he would start back up again. Eventually I was able to nurse him, which did calm him down briefly. But soon, the whole thing started again. So, I had no other choice but to put him in the car and drive around. That's right. At 1:30 am I was driving around town. I think the last time I was driving around at that hour was in college. In fact, I drove by all the bars and was just amazed at all the young, dressed up folks out in the middle of the night! It seemed like such a different world that I barely remember being a part of.


Any ways, the drive worked and we finally got to sleep around 3:00. But then, wouldn't you know it, he was up at 7:45 ready to start his day. I was exhausted so I decided we would have a very low key day. We were going to stay home and make sure the kids (and myself) got good naps in their beds. In fact, I even decided to skip a birthday party at the local wading pool. You know it's serious if I decide to not take an opportunity to get out of the house and do something fun to make the day go by faster. The morning went pretty well - we played in our little plastic pool and my son took a decent nap.



The afternoon went downhill again. By this time, I was so tired that all I could think about was sleeping. I hadn't showered all day, and I honestly didn't care. My plan was to have the kids down for naps as early as possible and go straight to bed. I got my daughter in bed and then my son went to sleep after only a few minutes of crying. Once again, I was celebrating. I closed my eyes and as soon as I fell asleep, I hear crying. I tried to ignore it. I put my finger in my ear and turned over. I didn't care if he was crying; I just needed to sleep. But I couldn't. I just cried. And then decided I had to suck it up and go get him. But I was mad. So I decided another trip in the car was in order. My daughter was playing in her bed instead of sleeping (no surprise) so I grabbed her and we all got in the car. He was asleep immediately and I wanted Sonic for the drive. I got a Coke for myself and a slush to entertain my daughter. I honestly wanted the biggest cheeseburger and french fries I could find, but I was somehow able to not destroy my diet through emotional eating and we drove for about an hour. After a short trip to Hobby Lobby, my son woke again. He was briefly happy but soon started the wailing again.

This continued most of the evening and my husband and I were completely convinced he had an ear infection. For all you non-moms out there, if a child isn't teething, his pain is probably caused by an ear infection. So, we filled him full of Motrin and put him to bed, prepared for another long night. But amazingly, he slept well most of the night, only waking once to nurse and went easily back to sleep. In fact, he slept until 9 the next morning and woke as happy as could be. Guess he didn't have an ear infection.

We better get a tooth out of this....