The Track Suit

The day started ordinary. Henry woke up first. He's been sick for about a week and last night was the first night in at least five that he's slept through the night. He woke up happy at a quarter to seven. He's been throwing up most of his solid food but keeping down his formula so I got him a bottle and brought him into bed with me. Jay was already up and going out the door so he snuggled with us for a bit and then headed outside to scrape the layer of ice off of his windshield.

Today was the only morning where I could go to the mall and look for a red top for my Friday night performance and Sunday choir (gotta get more bang for my buck). I put Henry on the floor and took a quick shower before the boys woke up. When I got out, they still weren't out of bed so I went and got dressed. My options were few as I hadn't finished my laundry from our Thanksgiving trip so I put on my one and only "track suit". This is usually a "stay at home" outfit for me but all of my jeans were dirty or still in the washer (I know....but they hadn't been in there so long that they were starting to smell. Just overnight). I'm just not a track suit type gal. When I wear it, I feel like I should be moving more than normal. Like heading from shop to shop doing the jazz walk. I didn't but I could have. I felt that free.

The boys still weren't up at this point so I went and got Henry dressed. He was so happy. We were playing peek-a-boo and I got him all big boy looking in jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. I made Seth's lunch and finally Sammy came out of bed. It was eight o'clock! I hollered at Seth to wake up and eat and he came stumbling out of bed too. While they were eating, I decided to feed Henry some solid food so that he'd be full and happy during out shopping outing. I chose Fruit Medley. Harmless. 3/4 of the jar into it and up it comes. Everywhere. All over his clothes and high chair seat (which is just the foam cushion since he threw up in his high chair two days ago and his cloth cover is in the dryer -- I am a laundry goddess). Henry's illness just wasn't part of my well-orchestrated morning and I started to using my outside voice. While I was bathing Henry and cleaning up, Seth and Sammy were supposed to be getting dressed. Do all kids get super hyper when they are naked or just mine? As soon as they are down to their skivvies it's like dance party usa/world cup finals. They're playing and laughing and totally off task. My outside voice turns into my stadium voice (there's only rock concert voice left) and I can see we're late. Henry is screaming because while in the bathtub, he crawled over to the drain lever and his hand slipped and the lever caught his cheek on his way down. You get the point. Seth missed the bus and we were late. So now we have to get Seth to school, Sammy to preschool and I want to be ready enough to not come back to the house so that I have enough time at the mall.

It's so cold here. 15 degrees. The roads were still icy this morning and my driveway is particularly bad. I always have to peel out to get over the ice that forms when the snowplows push it back into my driveway. Seth gets to school right as the bell rings and Sammy is five minutes late for school. Not awful but I'm a bit sweaty which is appropriate in my track suit.

Mervyns is closing its store here and everything is on clearance so I wanted to go to the North Mall which is further away than the Valley Mall. We got there and luckily Mervyns was open but most of the shops didn't open until 10:00. I didn't like any of the clothes there for me but did get some Christmas shopping done for Seth. On his wish list is a sports jacket/suit coat. Funny huh? He's different, that kid. I found one for 40% off and some Christmas pajamas for Christmas Eve. Finally at 10:00 I went to Macy's and found a nice red sweater that has a bit of shimmer to it and a new black skirt. Also some new nylons because I don't own any that don't have holes in the toes or runs down the legs. You'd think I'd throw them out when they get in that condition but they are always good for a few more wears.

It was time to leave but I knew Seth's friend was having a birthday party tomorrow so stopped at a game store to see if I could find anything quick. I bought a chess set for Seth for Christmas and a puzzle for this girl. Henry was unhappy in his stroller so I'm holding him at this point while pushing his stroller. Again...kind of sweaty.

I'm about five minutes late again to pick up Sammy but no big deal. We come home and Henry has diarrhea, Sammy breaks his glasses and its just going to be that kind of a day. I called the pediatrician just because Henry has been throwing up for 7 days now and diarrhea for just as long and he's such a peanut that it worries me. He was only 17 pounds at his 10 month check-up so I don't want him to lose weight. They could get me in at 2:00 so I put him down for a nap and made Sammy lunch. Blogged about my book real quick and took clothes out of dryer so that I could put clothes from washer in. (I'm not saying anything about when they finally got folded).

We got to the Dr.'s office and waiting for the elevator is a woman who is, I am not joking, wearing the exact same track outfit. I can't even get on the elevator with her because it is too weird. We are both in black outfits with a double white stripe running down the outside leg. With a matching jacket with those double white stripes running along the outside arms. Like I said....too much. I catch the next elevator and get to the pediatrician office. Of course, she is there signing in. I don't know why it put me out so much. I already felt so fake but now I just felt ridiculous.

The doctor didn't have any helpful advice other than to "keep watching him". I can't blame her. He shows no other signs of illness. He's happy and has no fever, had actually gained some weight from two weeks ago. She suggested giving him mushed up people food instead of baby food since some kids don't like the texture of baby food. I didn't have the courage to try again today so just kept feeding him formula the rest of the day.

I didn't think I'd make it home by the time Seth got home because I also had to stop at the Optical shop to get Sammy's glasses fixed. I called the school and told them to give Seth a message to call me on my cell phone as soon as he got home. I was going to tell him to lock the door and watch the Monday Night Football game from the DVR. I thought it would be more realistic than trying to coordinate something with a friend or bus. But I got home 5 minutes before he did so I'll just hand that "totally unsafe mother of the year" award back, thank you very much.

I picked up the house (getting it cleaned tomorrow - yippee!) and read the mail. Thought about doing quesedillas or something but opted for Taco Bell instead. Less mess. In theory. That would have been before my little Raccoon (aka Henry) tipped over the garbage can and my wrapper for my supreme taco with the tomatoes that I had picked out along with shreds of lettuce spread all over the floor. I finally got the boys in bed and fed Henry one last bottle. He fell asleep eating it, which he never does, and my heart just melted. He's such a busy, busy baby but oh is he cute! I just sat there and played with his little fingers for a good 10 minutes. Then I put him to bed and he woke up and screamed because his pacifier wasn't in his bed because he always throws it over the edge now and I scrambled on my stomach looking for it somewhere under the crib. Once plugged up and content, I shut the door and the doorbell rang. My lights were still on so I couldn't fake "not home" which I sometimes do and I answered it. There was someone from my ward, video camera in hand, ready to videotape me saying two lines to "Twas the Night Before Christmas". He asked me if anyone else was at home and feeling hopeful that he'd let me off the hook, said "no. Jay is on call and the boys are in bed." He said, "Looks like it's just you then." Seriously. Me with my 8:00 at night makeup in my track suit reading some lines from a book. That's what I call fun for the whole family. At that moment, both boys came running out to see who was at the door and he said, "Great! Boys, you're going to be in a movie!" We we all sat in front of our fireplace and read off his of yellow legal pad. He did two takes. When he left I checked a mirror to see what loveliness I bestowed for the film and found a big black smear under my left eye. But do you think he said anything? Can't wait to see that footage. Why, oh why, did I have to wear a track suit today?