What today was supposed to be:

• Take Katie and Millie to art class
• Run a few errands with E3 while waiting
• Finish packing for our trip to see my parents
• Pick Maddie and Chloe up from school
• Drive to Owasso and celebrate my mom’s birthday, one day late

What today actually was:

• Get call from Craig just after 8am to tell me Maddie fell down the stairs at school and could I pick her up and take her somewhere?
• Dash to school to pick up Maddie
• Turn around and head the other way to drop Katie and Millie off at art class thinking, “Wonder if I can squeeze an urgent care clinic visit into that hour and a half?”
• Halfway there, discover E3 is in process of throwing up all over himself in his carseat
• Continue driving to art class thinking, “I still wonder if I can squeeze urgent care into that 90 minute slot?”
• Drop Katie and Millie off, do a quick exam of E3 and determine there’s no way on the planet we’re heading to urgent care next
• Head home, strip boy off completely in the driveway, thank God for warmish weather today, pick up naked boy and put in bath
• Get clean boy redressed and settled on the couch with a pillow, sleeping bag, Thomas the Tank Engine via Netflix on the iPad, and Peaches on his lap
• Deal with vomit. Discover the cover will NOT come off the car seat, determine that the best way to clean the car seat is to put it in the bathtub as well
• Check on Maddie
• Continue dealing with car seat
• Load everyone back up in van (with a different car seat) and go pick up Katie and Millie
• Head to urgent care
• Check in and wait. Get called back and wait. Get seen and told an x-ray is forthcoming, but then be told their x-ray tech just left for lunch and we’d be waiting another 45 minutes until she came back. Play the Phineas and Ferb movie via Netflix on my phone, hope everyone else is okay watching that in miniscule, crawl up on the exam table and fall asleep. True story.
• Wake up 30 minutes later with a noticeable sweater imprint on my forehead from where my arm was shielding my eyes from the exam room lights. Imprint does not go away for another 45 minutes.
• X-ray at last.
• Diagnosis: Torn MCL in her knee, given knee immobilizer, crutches, prescription ibuprofen, and a ticket to see her PCP and Orthopedic next week
• Get in car. It’s now 1:30 and everyone is hungry, including vomit boy, who is crying for chicken.
• Take my chances on that and stop at Chick-fil-a. Go inside. Seat girls just in time for E3 to vomit again all over the restaurant.
• Look up in despair and make eye contact with manager who graciously tells me he’s got it and not to worry about it.
• Immediately leave restaurant and get back in car.
• E3 throw wild fit because 1) he’s covered in vomit again and 2) where’s his chicken?
• Go through drive through and order some chicken.
• Get home, feed the boy TWO nuggets and a little bit of Sprite.
• Tell boy it’s time for a bath and then a nap. Boy screams because he wants neither. Nor does he want to be covered in vomit. But he does want more chicken, to which I have to decline for fear of more vomit.
• Put him in the tub anyway. Screaming at me.
• He finally settles down until I pour water on him. Screams again.
• Crying, but clean, I tell him it’s time to get out. Now he doesn’t want to get out so he continues crying.
• I pull him out anyway because I NEED HIM TO TAKE A NAP.
• (he needed to take a nap.)
• Get him redressed again. He’s still crying.
• Take to room, read Snuggle Puppy (his new favorite book). He is happy to be in bed. But don’t ask him to go there.
• He falls asleep almost instantly.
• I’m now in a daze, semi-exhausted and with a not-so-faint whiff of vomit which I’m beginning to get used to.
• Go downstairs and get bombarded by one of my kids whose homeschool day got derailed by the chaos and thinks she needs to get it all done right NOW. And can I help?
• I help with Latin. I help with math. She doesn’t get the math and is getting frustrated with me explaining it to her and I’m getting frustrated explaining it to her because, oh, let’s see, it’s now 4pm on Friday and DID YOU JUST READ WHAT THE DAY HAS BEEN LIKE?
• Finally make her put it all away and take a break in her room for a bit.
• Craig comes home and I practically beg to be allowed 15 minutes alone in the car to go pick his shirts up from the cleaners.
• That trip doesn’t really restore me the way I’d hoped and he leaves again for another meeting.
• He comes home again and I suddenly remember I need to go pick up Maddie’s prescription from Walmart, so dash there before Craig has to leave again for another meeting.
• On the way to Walmart get a call asking if we might be willing to take a 3mo baby tonight who was just placed.
• Call Craig and see what he thinks.
• We decide we’re okay with that because baby in a shelter = not okay with that
• Call back and find they’ve already placed the baby elsewhere. Sort of sigh in relief. But then get asked if we’re okay being on the weekend pick-up list instead. Yes.
• Go to Walmart for Rx and also get some diapers, bottles, formula, pacifiers, and all that really expensive jazz.
• Get back home and desperately reheat leftover pizza from yesterday’s pizza day at school and fry a few eggs for those who aren’t interested in day-old Cici’s Pizza.
• Hobble through the night, sort of edgy. Okay, really edgy.
• E3 does not have a good end to the day and screams at bedtime. For a long time. Not a happy time for any of us.
• Read more Snuggle Puppy. He goes to bed happy.
• Shower at 10:45.
• Hope for tomorrow.

Lamentations 3:22-23: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.