I wish I could say I didn't groan about having to go back to Waco yesterday, but I'd be lying. The day was tiring and overwhelming, with the need to finish preparations... and laundry... before my sister and brother-in-law arrive late tomorrow night. No matter how I tried, the good attitude wasn't sticking. I was just tired.
So last night, we agreed to hit the sack by 9:30. We did, and it was great! Even when I woke up at 4:00 AM with the stunning silence of a power outage I felt more rested than I had in a few days.
After laying in bed for an hour or so checking emails, the weather, etc.... because what do you do without electricity at four in the morning... Eric's alarm went off. After I knew he was up, I went back to sleep. I guess knowing he was up was comforting. Anyway, he looked online and found a white noise app and turned it on for me.
What a great guy.
After sleeping until about seven, I woke needing a shower. It hit me that we likely wouldn't have much if any hot water. The power was still out. But no problem, I just dressed the kids in warm stuff and threw on some warm ratty clothes and a ball cap to run Richie to school. Eric was able to take Ryan, which was helpful so that I could finish making the ornaments that burped paint all over me the night before.
Aack. And Richie's lunch. Poor kid.
Eric even went and got donuts. Usually Ryan loves chocolate donuts, but the no-power thing was too weird and he just wouldn't eat. Last night he acted like he didn't feel good, resulting in a dose of ibuprofen and an early bedtime, but he seemed just fine health-wise this morning. So off he went, toting his donuts in a sack with an explanation of why he hadn't eaten. Because he's always eaten.
Once I was back from taking Richie, I dug into getting Maelynn ready for the day. I kept plugging away at laundry, picking up the living room and kitchen, that kind of thing. Then the phone rang.
Is there anyone who likes seeing "Elementary School Nurse" on their caller ID?
Or am I the only one who keeps her in my address book...?
Anyway, there Ryan was, on the day of his Christmas party, in the nurse's office. They said he looked flushed and just wanted to lay around. Of course he wouldn't allow them to take his temperature.
Ball cap back on, grab Maelynn, start calling the doc's office, head to school.
The sweet classroom aid, Miss K, brought him out not only with all his classroom gifts, but with the sign-out notebook from the office. I love these people!
At home, I continued the flurry of calls. He kinda slumped on the couch and said, and I quote,
"I'm in saaaad shape!"
Oh, that boy. He still didn't want to eat. Still didn't want to do much other than lay around for a while. Determined to rescue his and our holiday, I called and called the doctor's office until I reached someone. Our favorite doctor was booked, but they're all good, so we went to one who had never seen him. I have, but Ryan hasn't.
And as you might have guessed, that's quite a difference.
The only catch was that the appointment was at 1:30. Richie's preschool Christmas party was to be from 1:00 to 1:30.
Enter Granny.
My Mom took Ryan and I took Maelynn to Richie's party. Then as soon as the party was over, I ran the littles over, met Granny, and traded kids and vehicles.
Once Granny and the littles were on their way home, this happened.
After buzzing around trying to touch and/or mess with everything he could reach in this tiny room (including the trash can... eew) he picked up the Gideon's Bible and said, "Holy Bible."
He stood at the counter for a minute with it open, saying something about shepherds... I really thing he was trying to act like Linus in the Charlie Brown Christmas show. Then he sat down and started to kinda flip through it.
Soon, the doctor came in. He asked Ryan to get up on the table and sit up, he didn't want to sit up. Then he did.
It was the usual person-not-used-to-autism thing. But in a good way. He was interested in the best for Ryan, didn't want to misunderstand anything that was important, listened to me, believed me, listened when Ryan spoke, talked to Ryan, and was generally all of what I expected. He was a good doctor. Maybe not the very most comfortable with him, maybe not the most comfortable with kids, but a good doctor. And a nice guy.
And Ryan was as good as he could be. Oh, he had issues. He didn't want the doctor looking in his ears. He obviously didn't answer a single question, but did loudly proclaim, "I don't like medicine!" when the doc told him that he'd give him something to help. Come to think of it, the doc might have been a touch weirded out when I half-celebrated Ryan's clear dislike of medicine. I did explain, though. And he listened.
Once I was home, I realized how much I'd already cancelled just in case this was the flu. Thankful that it's just allergies and/or a cold run amok, I started to relax.
I started to hear that voice saying, "You have to do the responsible thing. This is the responsible thing."
I began hearing my own advice. My own admonishment even to myself to not miss Christmas amid all the, well... Christmas.
You know what? I believe that God sees what we're doing. How tired we are. And although I hesitate to call my son not feeling great mercy, I believe that the unexpected forced vacation is just that. It's mercy. He's our Father, and knows best.
The fact that it seems half our school district has the stomach flu, the flu, or something else nasty... and we just have snotty ick... is mercy. But so is the fact that we have a little forced time to be home.
I was tired. I love the things I needed to do, but I was overwhelmed with the good things I had on my plate. There are so many things to do still, and they are all things I want to do for my family. But there are times when we need a trip to the corner. A minute to stop and think... or maybe something to make us stop and think.
So tonight, we'll hang out and watch a movie in the living room instead of what we had planned. I was looking forward to the plans, but I have to admit that I needed rest. This year I wanted so badly to enjoy the season, and it's already the 20th.
Hang in there, and Merry Christmas! If you're one of those families hit by the bug, we're praying for you. May all be well in time for festivities!
Oh, and by the way... the power came back on around 9:00, and I had a nice hot shower right after I got Ryan.
Thanks be to God!
So last night, we agreed to hit the sack by 9:30. We did, and it was great! Even when I woke up at 4:00 AM with the stunning silence of a power outage I felt more rested than I had in a few days.
After laying in bed for an hour or so checking emails, the weather, etc.... because what do you do without electricity at four in the morning... Eric's alarm went off. After I knew he was up, I went back to sleep. I guess knowing he was up was comforting. Anyway, he looked online and found a white noise app and turned it on for me.
What a great guy.
After sleeping until about seven, I woke needing a shower. It hit me that we likely wouldn't have much if any hot water. The power was still out. But no problem, I just dressed the kids in warm stuff and threw on some warm ratty clothes and a ball cap to run Richie to school. Eric was able to take Ryan, which was helpful so that I could finish making the ornaments that burped paint all over me the night before.
Aack. And Richie's lunch. Poor kid.
Eric even went and got donuts. Usually Ryan loves chocolate donuts, but the no-power thing was too weird and he just wouldn't eat. Last night he acted like he didn't feel good, resulting in a dose of ibuprofen and an early bedtime, but he seemed just fine health-wise this morning. So off he went, toting his donuts in a sack with an explanation of why he hadn't eaten. Because he's always eaten.
Once I was back from taking Richie, I dug into getting Maelynn ready for the day. I kept plugging away at laundry, picking up the living room and kitchen, that kind of thing. Then the phone rang.
Is there anyone who likes seeing "Elementary School Nurse" on their caller ID?
Or am I the only one who keeps her in my address book...?
Anyway, there Ryan was, on the day of his Christmas party, in the nurse's office. They said he looked flushed and just wanted to lay around. Of course he wouldn't allow them to take his temperature.
Ball cap back on, grab Maelynn, start calling the doc's office, head to school.
The sweet classroom aid, Miss K, brought him out not only with all his classroom gifts, but with the sign-out notebook from the office. I love these people!
At home, I continued the flurry of calls. He kinda slumped on the couch and said, and I quote,
"I'm in saaaad shape!"
Oh, that boy. He still didn't want to eat. Still didn't want to do much other than lay around for a while. Determined to rescue his and our holiday, I called and called the doctor's office until I reached someone. Our favorite doctor was booked, but they're all good, so we went to one who had never seen him. I have, but Ryan hasn't.
And as you might have guessed, that's quite a difference.
The only catch was that the appointment was at 1:30. Richie's preschool Christmas party was to be from 1:00 to 1:30.
Enter Granny.
My Mom took Ryan and I took Maelynn to Richie's party. Then as soon as the party was over, I ran the littles over, met Granny, and traded kids and vehicles.
Once Granny and the littles were on their way home, this happened.
After buzzing around trying to touch and/or mess with everything he could reach in this tiny room (including the trash can... eew) he picked up the Gideon's Bible and said, "Holy Bible."
He stood at the counter for a minute with it open, saying something about shepherds... I really thing he was trying to act like Linus in the Charlie Brown Christmas show. Then he sat down and started to kinda flip through it.
Soon, the doctor came in. He asked Ryan to get up on the table and sit up, he didn't want to sit up. Then he did.
It was the usual person-not-used-to-autism thing. But in a good way. He was interested in the best for Ryan, didn't want to misunderstand anything that was important, listened to me, believed me, listened when Ryan spoke, talked to Ryan, and was generally all of what I expected. He was a good doctor. Maybe not the very most comfortable with him, maybe not the most comfortable with kids, but a good doctor. And a nice guy.
And Ryan was as good as he could be. Oh, he had issues. He didn't want the doctor looking in his ears. He obviously didn't answer a single question, but did loudly proclaim, "I don't like medicine!" when the doc told him that he'd give him something to help. Come to think of it, the doc might have been a touch weirded out when I half-celebrated Ryan's clear dislike of medicine. I did explain, though. And he listened.
Once I was home, I realized how much I'd already cancelled just in case this was the flu. Thankful that it's just allergies and/or a cold run amok, I started to relax.
I started to hear that voice saying, "You have to do the responsible thing. This is the responsible thing."
I began hearing my own advice. My own admonishment even to myself to not miss Christmas amid all the, well... Christmas.
You know what? I believe that God sees what we're doing. How tired we are. And although I hesitate to call my son not feeling great mercy, I believe that the unexpected forced vacation is just that. It's mercy. He's our Father, and knows best.
The fact that it seems half our school district has the stomach flu, the flu, or something else nasty... and we just have snotty ick... is mercy. But so is the fact that we have a little forced time to be home.
I was tired. I love the things I needed to do, but I was overwhelmed with the good things I had on my plate. There are so many things to do still, and they are all things I want to do for my family. But there are times when we need a trip to the corner. A minute to stop and think... or maybe something to make us stop and think.
So tonight, we'll hang out and watch a movie in the living room instead of what we had planned. I was looking forward to the plans, but I have to admit that I needed rest. This year I wanted so badly to enjoy the season, and it's already the 20th.
Hang in there, and Merry Christmas! If you're one of those families hit by the bug, we're praying for you. May all be well in time for festivities!
Oh, and by the way... the power came back on around 9:00, and I had a nice hot shower right after I got Ryan.
Thanks be to God!
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