I finally stopped!

Whew, what a whirlwind week it's been. Monday was the first evening with my mother's helper (yeah!), so I got to take a short bike ride with Sam after supper. Monday night, all hell broke lose. At 10:30, I went in to check on the boys, and Micah had peed in his bed. So we had to change him and all the sheets. At about 3am, Sam started throwing up! David changed the sheets while I helped Sam, but unfortunately David ended up spilling some of the puke onto Micah's bed, too! Sam slept on our floor for a few hours, and then threw up again - I got to do clean-up this time while David helped Sam.

Of course we were exhausted, and I knew Sam couldn't go to school, but when Micah was bouncing around in our bed at 8am, I realized there was NO WAY I was letting him stay home all day! So I got David to stay with Sam while Sofia and I took Micah to school and I went to my dentist appointment. David wanted me to take her, because the staff there always asked about her. Poor Sofia is a bit terrified of the dental hygenist's gloves, so she just sat quietly in the corner while my teeth got cleaned.

Relaxed and napped with Sam and Sofia (Micah went to gymnastics with his friend, and then back to their house for a while). Got my neighbor to watch Sam while I picked up Micah. Unfortunately, it was an awful pollen week, so poor allergic Micah's eyes were practically swollen shut from allergies. Apply Benadryl... which of course makes Micah BOUNCE.

David got home in time for me to leave (but I had to make dinner for the kids first). I showed up at the restaurant for Girl's Night (with J, R & D), and all I could say was "I really want a cigarrette and a Jack Daniels!" Ok, so I don't smoke, but the JD was good. Nice evening out (although for once the service at The Agean was less than great; the bartender was downright rude).

Wednesday I took the boys to school, along with their new sleeping bags (I'd picked them up before dinner) and suitcases, then took Sofia to playgroup. Then we got home, packed, Sofia had a bath, and we headed down to New York for Toby's dinner (see previous post). We got back home around 1:30 on Thursday, just in time for me to go pick up the boys from school.

Friday was a complete whirlwind, too. I dropped Sam off, picked up my friend's daughter, and took the kids to nursery school. I had to run the Friday Night dinner. When I'd checked the reservations the previous Friday, there were only 8 people, but somehow I ended up with 62! I did a little prep before school, then took Sofia for a quick errand and then home for Occupational Therapy (J said "You never stop, do you?" when I told him our schedule). Of course Sofia wouldn't nap after that, so we rested a bit but then I put her in the car to run errands...and she promptly fell asleep.

I ran into the local Judaica store to get birthday presents for the evening, leaving my sleeping child in the car for the first time (fortunately, the store is tiny and the parking space was right in front). Then we went back to the shul to get ready for the evening.

The caterer for the next day was using most of the kitchen, so I only had a tiny counter over the meat sink to work on. This was the caterer I had thought was doing this dinner, but it turns out my predecessors had not told her the date. But she did help me by getting the meatballs and eggplant, and gave me instructions for what to do.

Sofia woke up as I was setting the tables, so I retreived Micah from school and had him play with her in the Social Hall while I cooked. D picked up Sam from school and dropped him at shul so I didn't have to go back out. I cooked until about 3:15, at which point all three of my kids were absolutely melting down.

We went home to rest. E showed up at 4 to tutor Sam, and I asked if it was possible for her to stay as Mother's Helper until David got home (fortunatley she said yes!). Sam wanted to come back with me, so we got to shul at 5:15.

The dinner went off great! The food came out yummy, everyone seemed really pleased at the change in menu (no chicken!), and the storyteller was a hit. The only problem was that the service went too long, and another couple who had come to say Kaddish got really angry (they had to leave by 7, when we hadn't gotten to Kaddish yet). But the rest of the evening went well.

I do have to learn to ask for help, 'tho! I promise, here on my blog, to make a better effort to get people involved. I am very grateful for everyone who did pitch in when they arrived.

So we were all exhausted when we got home, and it's been pouring rain since Friday morning. So today was a good pajama day. Micah is still miserable from allergies, and it's definitely affecting his mood. David took him to today's birthday party, but I guess Micah was very anti-Daddy in the car, saying things like "The 10 commandments says we have to love mommy and daddy, but not the same amount"!

I ran to the grocery store, and made a yummy dinner (talapia, honey carrots, corn on the cob, and bisquits), but it was marred by Micah's screaming fit (he was fine once he ate, but it took a while to get food into him), and Sam's meltdown (hey, if my brother can get attention that way, so can I!). Then Sofia did a strip-tease in her high chair, which at least made everyone laugh.

Sofia had a late nap, so she's still up (drawing on David's notepad), but the boys both passed out quickly. Tomorrow Micah has yet another party, and Sam is going to the zoo with our old nanny and her boyfriend. David has to drive up to Montreal tomorrow afternoon, until Wednesday.

I did get to sleep a bit more today, with a nap late in the afternoon too. I needed to just hang out and watch TV all day!

This week, Wednesday I have to lead children's services for Shavuot, and then on Thursday we are driving back down to NYC for the weekend (staying with C&R in Forest Hills). Sam is really looking forward to going to Ellis Island - his class just finished a multi-month unit on Immigration, cumlimnating with a big "arrival" ceremony at Ellis Island on Thursday. He had a lot of fun (although he was annoyed that his character's name got changed from "Samuel Ferraro" [an Italian soccer player] to "Samuel Fenton").

I got my copies of "Gifts", and have handed several out, to CK, JLB, the EI office, and Toby. I also have a copy for my Pediatrician's office, my OB office, and JS, who spent so much time with me that day after I got the amnio results. The book looks terrific!

Ok, I have to get Sofia dressed for bed. G'night!