Today was one of those days. OK - I planned too much AND didn't really think about the fact that last night was the 4th. It was late - really late - by the time we got home. I don't know if the kids had ever been up until 10:30 before but they have now! We sat in line at Gate 4 waiting to get onto post for about 20 minutes. No one was happy about that.
Taking extreme exhaustion into consideration this was our day today. I had to get them up early (for them) at 6:50 this morning - after going to bed at 10:30 instead of 7:30 - in order for everyone to be clean (finger and toe nails clipped as well - see below), fed, dressed and walking out the door at 7:50 am. We had to take Aoife to hourly childcare (it opens at 8 am) and then go to the kids' physical appointments (hence the nail clipping) at the hospital at 8:20. Why on EARTH would I have made an appointment at 8:20 AM you ask? When I called 5 weeks ago it was the ONLY appointment available during the first 2 weeks of July - and they hadn't opened up appointments for the second half of the month. FAN.TAS.TIC. Oh - and did I mention that the hospital has a new policy that extra children are not allowed at appointments so that means that if I brought Aoife to Emmy and Aidan's appointment then I would get turned away AND charged for a missed appointment. 3 of those in 1 year and you get kicked off post for your medical care. Again - fan-freaking-tastic.
The appointments themselves were fine - 25 minutes late - but fine. Aidan is 57lbs (87%) and 4 feet 1 inch tall (89%). Emmy is 35 lbs (49%) and 3 feet 6inches tall (89%). No abnormalities and Aidan spent the entire time quizzing the doctor on the various instruments/posters/supplies in the office. Then came time for the shots. Emmy had been telling me that she was going to be brave and take a deep breath. She tried - she really tried but it proved too much. She took one look at the 4 needles sitting on the bed waiting to impale her and she started screaming. Aidan said he needed to stand outside the room because he didn't want to see Emmy cry. She didn't resist being put up on the bed and she didn't even need to be held down, which kind of made it worse for me. She just looked at me and cried and cried like I was betraying her in some horrible manner. I dosed her right after with Tylenol and we headed out the door. She may only be in the 49th percentile but 35 lbs is a lot to carry all the way to the car.
Back to the hourly care to pick up Aoife and then home for a quick snack. Change into bathing suits, slather on sunscreen and back in the car. It's the first day of swimming lessons because what is better after shots than physical exertion in freezing cold water? We show up to the pool - Aoife's in Mommy and Me, Emmy's in level 1 and Aidan's in level 2. Great - except they've canceled the level 1 class because there weren't enough kids and they've forgotten to tell me. What do I do now? I convince Aidan's teacher to take Emmy in the class promising him that it won't stay that way if it's too much work for him - knowing full well that's a total lie. This is the only time slot where Aoife can take lessons so Emmy's staying right where she is - a foot in the door so to speak. Emmy's totally freaking out because level 2 is in the deep end and she can't swim. The teacher said he'll do level 1 stuff with her and she can sit on the side until it's her turn. Surprisingly, everything actually turns out fine. Aidan said that swimming lessons were "the best hour of my life" and Emmy told me that she thought she was going to cry but she took a deep breath and didn't. Not too bad for a late night, 4 shots and now a fever.
Oh - and Aoife barfed on the way home.
