A week not worth remembering

*Edited: I remembered what happened on Tuesday!

But here I sit typing about it anyway.

It started out well, with Amy having her baby. Unfortunately, I have a hard time coping when I get less than 8 hours of sleep. (Amy, you have my heartfelt empathy!)Even missing one of those hours makes for a very bad day(s). Every night this week I got less than five hours. Right now, if it were at all possible, I would like to go down to my room and sleep until Tuesday. Oh what bliss!

Most of the week is a complete blur. I took Isaac in Monday to get a second opinion on getting his cast taken off so soon. I called around specifically asking for an orthopedic pediatrician, and one lady finally assured me they could help. I got there just barely on time due to having to go to the other place to get all of his x-rays and records. I'm so thankful that Amanda was able to watch the rest of my kids. I don't even want to think how terrible it would have been otherwise.

The first thing the doctor said when he walked in was "I think you're in the wrong place. What I mean is, I don't think I'll really be able to help you." Great. Just great. He called an orthopedic surgeon, and said that what I was describing is very common and that Isaac should heal just fine without his cast. All this without looking once at the x-rays. I hope he's right. And I can't help but wonder how much he's going to charge me for for walking in and out of the door twice in less than five minutes.

I don't remember Tuesday at all. *(I can't believe I forgot about this! Tuesday Nathan drank Benadryl out of Josh's hiking pack like it was juice. I had to call poison control for the fourth time since January about him. This was after reading about a babysitter who was on trial for murder because she gave kids in her care benadryl to make them sleep! Poison control said that he'd be hyper, then sleep for about six hours. I had to be sure to shake him, and make sure he responded every twenty minutes for the first two hours that he slept. Once I knew he was out of danger since the three teaspoons he drank was way under the normal red flag amount, I was actually looking forward to the reprieve. Apparently, Benadryl affects him the opposite of the rest of the population. He was hyper and didn't sleep for more than twenty minutes the entire day.

Wednesday was, well, a typical Wednesday in the Bothwell home. From the time we got up in the morning 'till we went to bed I was putting out fires. Once I finally got into bed, I felt like I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Antique Mommy pretty much sums it up. Minus the martini part. Although....if I didn't have the Lord, it would totally have been enough mayhem to drive a person to drink, it would.

Thursday I don't remember at all, except that I had a terrible headache. Josh called and decided we needed to get a babysitter for the kids so that I could be his soul-winning partner. He's missed the last couple of weeks due to work, and at least wanted to make the effort. Praise the Lord again for Amanda. She took them without hesitation for the evening even though she had a big party at her house the next day. We didn't get very far since the smells from the apartment buildings weren't helping my headache.

Friday was pretty much a rerun of Wednesday only instead of a jasmine green tea stain on the white carpet as the catastrophe of the day, it was a flooded bathroom. Apparently, Dillon had stuffed the drain with toilet paper, and Nathan, in an attempt to be a good boy for a change, washed his hands after going potty but..... failed to remember to turn off the water. Josh's bathroom is directly below the kid's, and got a good soaking too. I'm just praying that no permanent damage was done.

In an attempt to give me a break to catch my breath, Josh insisted that I go to Amanda's party, and then out shopping and getting my hair done all day Saturday. Alone. It was wonderful. I got some great deals on really cute and needed things.

And then I got my hair done.

The day went into a tailspin from there. I knew I should have waited for an appointment and paid more for my regular lady and even taken my kids with me. I probably could have done a better job myself. I then went out to lunch, with my hair dripping wet, and decided I wanted a nap more than anything else.

So I came home and rested before making dinner. I got a progressively bad headache throughout the day, and after supper I realized I had a full-blown case of food poisoning. Oh. my. soul. I was so sick. Dying would have been a mercy. Even sleep would have helped, but nope. The insomnia from the week prevailed. So I'm staying home with the boys from church this morning. If you can imagine this week and this post with background music of one very fussy baby, sometimes two, you'll get the picture. Everything would have been infinitely more bearable minus that.

In spite of all this, please rest assured that I'm thankful for all the blessings in my life. I know that joy truly is a state of the heart and mind, not of the circumstances. It's a choice, and I really am completely content. I'm constantly amazed by the fact that no one ever "arrives" spiritually. I find myself relearning the same lessons over and over again, and anticipate it being that way for the rest of my life. It seems like such an accomplishment to get the victory in a certain area, only to find that it's not enough. The Lord has you constantly building on the things that you learn; always growing and changing and tweaking things here and there to get them just right. I wish He would just hurry along to the finished product; this molding and making isn't much fun.