I Think I'll Move to Australia

Yesterday was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day (and if you don't know that reference, read this book immediately!). It was one of those days that truly wasn't so bad when you try to lay it out, but when you add in the pregnancy fatigue and hormones and stress, just pushed me to the brink.

First there was the no sleep. Doodles woke up twice, but was relatively easy to get back to sleep. What wasn't so easy to fall back asleep from was Adam has these incredibly vivid dreams--usually that Doodles needs something--that cause him to leap out of bed and proclaim something loudly, which he did. It always startles me into alertness. And then, just as long as I'm awake at 3:42 a.m., I might as well stress about all the work I've got to get done and the fact that we're going to have a baby, and who did I think we were that we could handle a second baby, and how are we going to afford a second baby, and damn! I forgot to call back the folks from Early Intervention...

So yesterday morning, I barely was able to force my eyes open. I realized that it was more than simply sleep deprivation. My throat was sore, my head was stuffed, and I was oozing more mucus than Doodles's Friday playgroup. "Ugh!" I moaned. "Can't move!" But when you have a toddler, you have to move whether you want to or not.

We headed to our Music Together class, where I was forced to dance, swing my child, sing loudly while discreetly trying to plug up my nose and save my poor voice. When we got home from our morning, I called Adam to complain. "I have so much work to do! Three deadlines next week. But I'm exhausted. I know I should work during Doodles's nap, but I'm probably better off sleeping and then being refreshed to work tonight." Adam offered to come home and work so I could rest up, but I felt bad asking. Pregnancy and illness and toddler isn't a fun combination, but I thought I could manage it. Besides, I could make it through nap time.

What was I thinking!! Did I actually utter those words out loud? I should have known better. Because I put Doodles down for his nap, crawled into my bed, and waited for him to stop crying. And I waited. And I waited. Normally, Doodles cries for about fifteen minutes at nap time and then goes off to sleep for anywhere between one and two and a half hours. But yesterday, he wanted nothing to do with the nap. And he screamed for forty-five minutes. "I need this nap," I thought. "I can power through and sleep through the screams." Um, yeah right. So I gave in and brought him into bed with me. Do I need to say that this didn't work at all?

Then we got his charming mood. The "No no no no no! Mine!" mood that involves much screaming and kicking the floor because I'm certainly not giving in once that starts. And what did he want? Who knows? Because nothing I gave him was what he wanted. He pushed and kicked and got himself two timeouts because "When we're frustrated, Doodles, we can kick the floor, but we can't kick people." And you certainly can't kick your poor unborn sister who hasn't done anything to you (yet).

Sigh. Well, I needed to go to the store and buy him bed railings anyway, so might as well get a start on it. Decided to go to Right Start as the selection at Babies R Us is pretty minimal. Packed us up, put him in the car, and made what Mapquest said was a twenty-four minute drive. Which it would have been if it weren't for the construction. And the fact that I got lost. I'm tired. I'm sick. And I'm determined for one--one!!!--stupid car ride I'm not listening to the Music Together c.d., which isn't truly accurate because all Doodles wants to hear is the "Hello" song. Over and over. The second it's done, he starts with, "Hello? Hello? Hello?" So for the entire 18.63 miles plus whatever zillion miles I covered when I got lost, I got, "Hello? Hello?" until he realized I wasn't giving in and I got a full-fledged temper tantrum. Screaming, yelling, flailing in his car seat until literally one block away from the store, when he finally fell asleep (and I never use literal in a figurative sense, so you know my timing is accurate here).

I managed to transfer him to his stroller and at least got to roam the store unbothered. Which would have been great if they had had stock on bed rails. They had one, which wouldn't fit our style bed. But I wasn't about to ruin a good nap, so I browsed the maternity store next door. Finally, I decided I'd risk the double transfer and move him back to the car. Since I was having such a lousy day and I was already not too far away, I decided to splurge and go to Zaftigs and get us chicken soup and rye bread for dinner. Nothing is better on a sick day than chicken soup!

I got Doodles in the car--no luck keeping him asleep--and he began his fussing. I drove to the corner, about to get on the highway, when I noticed the light saying my trunk was open. I put the car in park, ran to the back of the car, waved quickly to the car approaching, opened the trunk, and slammed it shut. Which is when the rear glass shattered. Just completely. No reason for it to happen. The window didn't have any cracks, it didn't hit on anything. It simply just shattered into a zillion pieces of safety glass and a huge gaping hole in my window. I'm stuck in Natick, about twenty miles from home, with a screaming toddler, a runny nose, total fatigue, a gaping hole in my car, and flying glass if I try to drive over five miles an hour. This is when I gave in. "Adam," I wailed into the phone. "Come get us!"

Adam, thankfully, did, although I was worried he wouldn't find us, as I could see him drive right past us, and when I went to call him to tell him so, remembered that he'd forgotten his cell phone that day. But he found us and he took the gaping-hole car and let me drive Doodles home in his intact car. And to avoid any problems, I put the "Hello" song on repeat. No Zaftigs, but at least the day was over and I could relax.

So, this morning, Doodles actually slept till the more-than-reasonable 6:30 a.m. (believe me, 6:30 a.m. is cause for celebration in this household). Adam brought him into bed with us so Doodles and I could have a little chat.

Me: So, Doodles let's talk. Yesterday wasn't a very good day for either one of us, was it?
Doodles: Yeah.
Me: Are you going to nap today?
Doodles: Mia, burbble, burble.
Me: I couldn't understand that. Are you going to nap today?
Doodles: Yeah.
Me: Are you going to be nice to Mommy today?
Doodles: Nasty.

And, not too surprisingly, I'm more annoyed at Adam for that response than at Doodles.