Oh what a day....

Ya'll, it has been a day.

It began inauspiciously (sweet word usage) enough.  Got up with the kiddies around 6:45, toodled about the house doing this and that.  Checked some blogs, looked around facebook, what have you.  Then Maggie informed me she was hungry and that she'd like breakfast.  I asked her what she'd like for breakfast, to which she replied...
"I like some eggs."

Let it be known that most mornings, when I suggest breakfast, her reply is...
"I don't want anyfing...ever, never ever!"  Which is a total lie, because I'll just make it anyway, leave it on table, and she's usually on it like white on rice.  Yeah, I got your number kid, whatever.

However, for her to be requesting, clearly she was famished, and I needed to get on this breakfast making STAT!  So, I whipped up some delicious scrambled eggs with tomatos and cheese and some yummy strawberries, 'cause you know, gotta represent all the food groups and all.


Breakfast is eaten, we're all doing whatever it is we do.  I think I may have been plucking, 'cause well, you KNOW that's what I do. You may find evidence of that here:

I got all ready EARLY because Jere and I had to be to a little church service at the nursing home, OR SO WE THOUGHT.  Jere got ready, we practiced his song (he was singing, I was playing) and then we left.

Here is where we take our first wrong turn on the day.  As we're driving, I ask if he knows where we're going, he tells me yes, it's at this sign at the curve.  Well, that sign at the curve was for the mental hospital, NOT a nursing home.  I start commenting on it, telling him this is where I sang at Christmas time.  There are locked doors everywhere and you have to leave everything out front, etc.  And he starts getting more disturbed.  I assured him that the people wouldn't "hurt" us.  He was still very unsettled.  When we pulled into the parking lot, he said he was NOT going to do it.  I talked him out of his tree and made him go inside.  Well, going inside did nothing to alleviate his fears.  I guess right here I should explain something, in shortest form as possible.  There IS a reason that he was reactiing this way.

When Jere was young, he was difficult, hot tempered, angry, etc. and his Mom didn't know how to deal with him.  Life was not exactly ideal growing up.  Unfortunately, his Mom made a decision when he was 13 that was perhaps not the best, and would forever affect him.  She chose to have him admitted to a mental hospital, unbeknownst to him and completely against his will.  She thought it would help, trying to figure out why he was "depressed".  Instead, it scarred him and nearly irreparably damaged their relationship.  He was in there for 3 months, and it was a VERY difficult, scarey experience for him.  SO,  that is why going into a hospital like that today was NOT on his list of to dos.  It sent his anxiety into overdrive.  It hurt my heart to watch him, as I was playing piano and then during the first talk, because I could see him "hanging on" for dear life.  The stress, and anxiety was overwhelming.  But, I was SO proud of him, because he stood and sang his song, and he sang it beautifully.  And then, he had to conquer another fear (praying out loud) when one of the patients asked him to pray with/for him after the service.  While he got through the hour there, it really threw him off for the rest of the morning.  It's hard for me to understand fully, because I've never suffered with an anxiety disorder, AND I have no idea what his experience in the hospital was truly like.  But, I'm just proud of him for getting through it, and hope that he will be stronger for doing it.

I was once again moved as I sat in this cafeteria watching patients shuffle in for a church service.  Many came with Bibles, they had comments and questions.  I wondered what their stories were, I hurt for them, to be "broken" to such a degree, to be in this situation.  And I was also once again grateful for all I am blessed with, not the least of which is the gospel, and a true knowledge of who I am, and that there is a loving Heavenly Father. Experiences like this are so good for me, to help with that ever illusive "perspective." To read about my last experience, click here:

Anywho, this is already ridiculously long....

We got home and not to long after Maggie came in and said her tummy was hurting.  She told me she was gonna barf and needed the red bowl.  I got her the bowl and didn't think much of it, 'cause really, she's been known to be a little dramatic in her day.  Especially since she had her first official barf a couple of months ago, and was old enough to understand it.  So, a few minutes later she said her tummy hurt and she needed a bandaid ON her tummy.  I dutifully put a band aid on her belly and that seemed to appease her.  She said something about barfing again, and Jere asked if I was gonna do anything.  I snidely commented that "she was FINE" this is a little game she likes to play (and in my defense, she has done this and been FINE) and that she was not gonna barf. 

Needless to say, a few minutes later, she came walking down the hallway, blanket in hand, made a sad moan and proceeded to barf on her blanky and her clothes.  I grabbed teh red bowl, shoved it under her mouth, held it there for a minute or two, no barf was coming, so I put it back on the table.  Then, she decided to unload her eggs and tomatos all over the floor and her.  It was "precious."  In moments like this, I totally lose the Mom ability.  Instead of acting, I just stand there frozen, just watching the barf.  Thankfully, Julie sprang into action, got her a towell and the bowl and then I started cleaning up.  Suffice it to say, she has spent the entire rest of the day alternating between happy and fine and barfing, all over the kitchen flooor, on the cabinets, on two more outfits, on the family room floor again, AND in the garbage can in her room, my room and the kitchen (multiple times).  So awesome!!  The good news is...she is a completely silent barfer!  Score one for the team there.

Needless to say, we didn't make it to church, and our 3rd Sunday dinner plans were severely altered.

Here's to hoping that she's done with that, and tomorrow is a new day. (all my nieces and nephews have been doing this in the last week, usually only lasting 24 hours)

And that my friends concludes my fabulous Sabbath.

Ralphing and rocking,

Allyson

P.S. totally got the new stroller....love it!