This week in mommyland...

It's funny how when things happen in my life now, my first thought is 'I have to put this on the blog.' The other thought I have (and only those of you who know Megan or are Megan will understand this) is that these are the kinds of things Megan would call and share with me happening in her life and I'd laugh histerically as I listened to the mishaps. Well, it seems Megan must be having a good week and I have taken on all of her craziness - love you Megan!

Well, it all started Monday morning when Avawoke up with a patch of red skin on the back of her neck that she was scratching incessantly. I kept looking at it, but couldn't tell what it was or where it had come from. Within a couple of hours her neck and shoulders were covered in little red bumps and within several more hours her legs were covered as well. So, I called the doctor and left a message with his nurse. What can I put on it? Do I need to bring her in? How do I relieve her from the scratching? A couple of hours later the nurse called and said the pediatrician was prescribing cortizone cream. Greg put her to bed and I went to pick up the prescription and called grammy to assure her that Ava was fine. To help assure me (as only a mother could) she reminded me of the story I've heard a million times about when I had an allergic reaction when I was a baby. My mom and dad put me to bed and when we woke up the next morning my mom found me with my eyes swollen shut and my body swollen and purple. Ahhhhhh... now I felt better. When I got home she was asleep, but awoke 3 hours later wide awake and scratching. I brought her downstairs and tried to distract her from the itching and finally got her back to sleep (with me in the guest bedroom so daddy could sleep) 2 hours later.

I was relieved to see she awoke with less bumps and eyes wide open. However, 2 hours later she had bumps all over her chest and back. Again, I called the doctor and went to see him that day. He checked her over and recommended to continue the cortizone and if it got too bad he recommended children's benedryl. Again that night Greg and I put her to bed but didn't put on the cream or give her benedryl as she had less bumps and was no longer scratching. HUGE mistake! Again, at 11:30 she was wide awake and this time hysterical. At 1:30am in the morning Greg and I were at the end of our rope as I slathered on the cortizone and he headed to the 24 hour pharmacy. I rocked and rocked her as she tried to catch her breath between sobbs and prayed he would be back quickly. I waited and waited and waited... where was he? Suddenly I had a terrible thought - what if he doesn't come back? What if he's had enough and can't take our craziness anymore? Lord knows I'm not a perfect wife and this screaming child (two nights in a row) would make anyone run. I know at sounds crazy, but at 2:00 in the morning and as tired as I was it seemed the only logical explanation as to why he had not yet returned. Truth was, he was probably only gone 25 minutes, but rocking in that chair with my crying child I felt like I had been there for hours. And then she stopped crying and went completely still. She was absolutely exhausted and didn't move a muscle as I layed her down in her crib, took a deep breath and headed to my bed. Greg returned 5 minutes later and I ran down the stairs anticipating his explanation... the pharmacy wasn't open 24 hours, so he had to detour to Walmart. He just laughed at me as I recounted my panic attack and assured me he's not going anywhere. We went to bed (didn't even give her the benedryl) and he was up 3 hours later going to work. What a guy...

Okay, so to top off our week we have last night. The rash had somewhat subsided, but mommy and daddy had already decided that we were going to give her the benedryl... we all needed a good nights sleep. Last night was bath night, but in the middle of the bath I realized I didn't have a towel. Greg was downstairs working in the garage, so I couldn't call him to help me and I wasn't going to leave the bathroom because we've all seen that horrific commercial where the parents leave the baby in the bath tub (for just a second) and the voice over says "a child can drown in only 2 inches of water." If you don't remember it - let me assure you it's terrifying. So, I grabbed the hand towel hanging on the rack above me, pulled her out of the tub and headed to her bedroom to get her ready for bed. Within two seconds of leaving the warmth of the bathroom and walking into her room I felt my side get incredible hot... and wet. Oh yes, she had peed all over me and herself. nice. I screamed for Greg to come help me and those of you who know Greg know that he is not always quick to respond - ha! After several calls to him from the top of the stairs my groggy husband, who had fallen asleep on the couch, came to the bottom of the stairs.
"huh?"
"She peed on me and I smell - get up here!!"

He took over and I cleaned up and we gave her the benedryl and put her to bed. However, we didn't get to bed early. Why? We were digging through our garbage looking for our car registration stickers. Yes, you heard me right, digging through our garbage! Two weeks ago they had come in the mail and had been sitting on the island in our kitchen day after day. Yesterday, Greg realized that they were no longer there, so we started looking. At midnight I had finished digging through our last junk drawer, exhausted, and realized I didn't know where Greg had gone. I looked all over and found him in the garage... digging through the garbage. I know it's our garbage, but disgusting nonetheless. You will all be relieved to hear that is exactly where he found them. My understanding husband laughed at me as I looked at the pile of mail he found them shuffled in with and had to admit I was the one who had thrown them away. Despite my emphatic statement when we started looking, "I know I didn't throw them away!"

So, there you have it and it's only Thursday.