My Mantra These Days: This Too Shall Pass

Well, friends, it's official. Each Monday I will be confined to my house due to some intense allergy attacks. Seriously. I step outside and it's like I can feel the mountain cedar being sucked into my sinuses as I breathe. In fact, I woke up at 4:30 this morning all stopped up, and just when I thought I was getting back to sleep, you know who decided to wake up. Usually we let him cry it out until he goes back to sleep because, let's face it, no one should know that 5:00 in the morning actually exists. However, today was an execption. Let me fill you in on our weekend.

Saturday evening I noticed that Austin felt a little warm so we took his temperature even though the little man was screaming and WRITHING in protest.

Sidenote: I could understand this reaction if we were taking his temperature you know where, but there is no way I'm going to subject my son to that so we take it under his arm and add a degree. I have absolutely no idea why he chooses to be dramatic when we use the least invasive method you could possibly think of. But anyways...

After much debate and discussion followed by a phone call to my mom, we decided to head to the urgent care clinic. Once we got there, we checked in and hoped for a short wait because we're optimistic like that. OR we just prefer our rose colored glasses to being realistic. While we waited we walked outside with Austin, watched coverage of Barak arriving in Washington, and read a few books about a stuffed bear and the cow jumping over the moon. Riveting, I know. You're probably thinking that with all this activity I wouldn't have time to observe the interesting people around us, but you would be wrong. For the most part, the other patients looked just about as thrilled to be waiting as we were except for one young man who looked like he was about to explode. I became a little concerned when he started expelling some major sighs and hitting the back of his head on the wall behind him. I wonder if he realized that somewhere during the waiting process he'd taken a turn to Crazytown. Anyways, no one was more relieved to see his girlfriend walk back into the waiting room than I was. What I was not relieved to hear, however, was the phrase...What the f...? come out of his mouth. Listen, sir, if anyone understands how frustrating it is to wait this long to see the doctor it would be the couple with the 18 month old, but you don't see us uttering profanities now do you?

We continued to wait. And wait. And wait. I thought we'd hit the jackpot when I heard the nurse say,

Mrs. Kelfer?

I will admit that I did feel a little sorry for her mispronunciation of our name and the fact that it was actually Austin that was the patient that day. But who was I to complain? I just wanted to get back to a room. Unfortunately, she was not mispronouncing the name and I didn't realize this until after I had gone to get Luke. NOW who felt like the idiot? Two thumbs pointing back at this girl. So we waited some more. FINALLY they called us back and we were able to see the doctor. Turns out little A had an ear infection...in BOTH ears. Luckily, we live in an age where there is medicine to treat such infections, and while Luke ran to pick up said medicine, I fed Austin a scrumptious dinner of applesauce and a peanut butter sandwich.

Bless his heart. He's had a rough month. And while we're on the topic, bless our hearts. Luke and I are exhausted from all the germs floating around this time of year and the effect it has on our son. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to be a single mom. In fact, I'm going to say a little prayer right now for all those amazing women out there that do this parenting thing on their own. Come to think of it, I'm sure there are some dads out there going it alone too.

So now you know why I could not just let him cry this morning. I wanted to check on my little boy and make sure he didn't have a fever or was feeling worse. If you think about him, I would so appreciate a little prayer on his behalf for good sleep and a healthy little body.

You know, this intense season has taught me alot. Parenting is not for the weak of heart...or stomach for that matter. What all OBs should say to their expecting patients is,

I hope you're not a big fan of sleep because you're about to lose more than you ever thought possible.

or

You just thought you were smart. You won't want to admit it, but you won't know what the heck you're doing half the time.

Thank goodness God intervenes and gives Luke and I the wisdom and energy we need to make it one more day because heaven knows we need it!

Ok, since this post turned out way longer than I intended I'm going to call it a day. That and the fact that Austin is literally hanging from my arm as I type this. Plus he has a dirty diaper even though I just changed one not 10 minutes ago. This too shall pass, right?! Happy Monday, everyone!