Do you need a REMINDER?

In our house, that's a "behavior check". Probably not a spanking, but definitely a "reminder to behave". It could be a time out, a tap on the hand, a strong look, whatever. Usually reminders are in public. They're the silent mommy language between child and adult that no one is supposed to notice in the fancy grocery store, but (since we're honest on NofSAHM3) everyone does.

Yesterday, I had a different type of reminder. The kind that all mothers need once in a while. It's the reminder of "IF you think you are just starting to get it together, something really crazy will happen." AND "You always think you know who'll be there for you in an emergency, and it's nice to be right about that".

I'd like to rewind yesterday to around noon. No, wait, till around 10:45am. That's about when things started to go weird.

Around 11ish, B fell asleep in the car on the way home from the Post Office. If I was in my right mind, I would have kept her awake in the car. So, instead, I went ahead and transfered her to bed when we got home.

A half hour after that, I put E down for a nap. And, 20 minutes later... B woke up. Which means, B slept early, and short, AND I had no down time for myself. It's the time I get things done, like chemistry, house work, and such. I flit about the house, touching things in every room. Never getting anything actually DONE, but definitely getting everything started.

So, in short, it was a long afternoon where I got nothing done. Then the kids got home from school, and C went to let the neighbor's dogs out. It's her "job". And, apparently she said, "I'm taking B!" But... I didn't hear her. So about 3 minutes after she left, I went in to the playroom to discover that B was not there. She was not up stairs. She was not in the office. She was NOT IN THE HOUSE. This entails me sprinting out the front door and looking for her in the yard while I scream her name. A neighbor hears G calling for her out back and says, "Hey, I think I just saw her go into X house with C." Oh? I can breathe again? I didn't lose my kid? So. That was my free pass for the day. REMEMBER: YOU ONLY GET ONE FREE PASS PER DAY.

After school routine went really well. We got to play outside, and then we zipped to the store to get a fresh ingredient for dinner, which I was really looking forward to, because it's so yummy. And I sent G up for his bath. It was 5pm. C was setting the table, B was in the playroom, I was 5 minutes away from plating dinner, the family is 10 minutes away from eating.

H arrives home, an hour and a half early.

Why in the world should that screw us up? Well, it just did. I don't know why. He was in the "It's 630 pm" routine, and I'm in the "It's 5pm and almost time to eat" routine. Either way, what happened next shouldn't have happened. Sean dropped B into the tub for a quick bath. Um. Dinner is actually on the table, but whatever. I didn't know he was putting her in the bathtub... where I'd showered earlier that day... where my shaving razor was on the edge of the tub.

10 minutes later, her hand is bleeding through towels, I'm calling my friend to watch the older kids (she showed up exactly 3 minutes later), I'm calling my pediatrician to find out which hospital we should go to, and I'm calling myself the worst mother in the world for A) leaving my razor where it shouldn't have been.  and B) letting my 2.5 year old out of my sight more than once in one day.  

We went to the Pediatric ER for just kids - KidMed - it's a good deal, I give them a good rating.  Not as long as the time it would take at a real ER, but not "speedy" either.  We were there for almost 2 hours and spent less than 5 minutes with the Dr.  That does disturb me.  Maybe, once I'm in the medical field I'll get that.

We got home at 7:30, I went straight from the car with B & H to the JEEP and headed to class.  I arrived at class 1 hour late.  That part of the day ended on a normal note- I didn't understand anything the Prof was saying about atoms and electron shells, but I did get an 88 on the test I took on Tues, which was the 3rd highest grade in the class.

By the time I got home yesterday it was 9:20.  The last food I had eaten was 9 hours earlier.  It'd been a seriously stressful day, and I was crashing off of the adrenaline rush from the ER and added to that a definite lack of food:  By 9:30 I was slurring my words like a drunk.

Today is a new day.  Today I will be on top of things.  

By the way, I was lucky- B's hand is fine. It was her thumb. She didn't need stitches. Mostly because there was no skin left to stitch together.