Yesterday Happened

Clifford always comes

The girls were off of school yesterday for Presidents' Day (I think it was teacher prep day or something more official sounding. But it was Presidents' Day.) Instead of enjoying the day together with fun activities, we scheduled a minor surgical procedure for Fiona. She has a prolapsed rectum, which means that a small ball of rectum will come out of her bottom. Mike and I are quite adept at putting it back in - but it bothers her when it comes out. When we were in the Dells last year, she actually scraped it up in the pool. So not something that we wanted to ignore.

We had arranged for Quinn to spend the morning with the neighbors and had all our stuff stacked and ready on the table when we went to bed Sunday night. That was the last time that everything went as planned for the day ...

We had to get Bugs up even earlier than normal as we needed to be at Children's at 8:00am - and there was snow in the forecast. After I showered, I went to check something on my phone and saw a message from Dec's day care provider, saying she was sick and would be closed for the day. That should have been our first hint. Luckily, Ms. Katie was willing to take both Q and D, so we packed breakfast for each of them and dropped them off with their buddies

Meanwhile, back in the 'hood

The roads were fine on the way to the hospital and we made good time. Bugs was unhappy about the inability to eat breakfast and was pretty nervous, but overall in decent spirits. We got settled in her room and discovered a new Disney Channel Original Movie that we knew nothing about ... Zombies. So we watched singing and dancing zombies. As one does.

Surgery itself went well. We made it a "three for" as we did the procedure on her bottom plus got her button switched out plus drew blood for tests that endocrinology wants. She was pretty torqued that the IV was still in her arm when she woke up, but otherwise seemed to be holding her own. We got out of the hospital right around noon and dealt with snow-covered roads on the way home. Luckily they weren't too bad yet and traffic wasn't too heavy.

So miserable

Bugs wanted to go to bed, so Mike dropped us off and headed to the neighbors to retrieve our other children. I wanted to cath Bugs before she went to bed - and I'm glad I did. While we were doing that, the anesthesia aftereffects really got to her and she threw up all over her bedroom. We got her cleaned up and she came out to the living room to say hi to her sibs. And then threw up all over the living room. The carpet steamer was clearly going to get a workout. (Side note: two days later and I'm still steaming to try to get the smell out of the carpet!)

She did a lot of wandering around, wanting to sleep but not being able to, being hungry but having an upset tummy, and wanting to sit but having a sore butt. Meanwhile, Q and D were fighting cabin fever. And Mike was packing a suitcase to head for the airport. He wanted to be sure he wasn't late with the weather.

I made mac and cheese for dinner, but even that wasn't working for Bugs' tummy. About 5:50, she decided that she wasn't up for going to skating (Q's class). And Quinn told me how sad she would be to not go to skating. Lucky for me, Mike's flight was delayed so I sent him a text and he lined up one of the neighbor girls to come over at 6:15 and stay with Bugs while Q, D, and I headed to the rink. (Side note: it sounds a lot easier and less panicked than it really was. It was much more of 15 minutes of "will we, won't we" while I called half our neighborhood and then 10 minutes of "hurry and get your stuff on. Everyone go to the bathroom. Oh my gosh, I almost forgot the skates." But against all odds, Q was on the ice with skates and helmet at 6:29 for her 6:30 class. Whew!)

Feeling better today

As I drove toward the rink, I realized I had no cash to pay the sitter. So I brokered a deal for a loan from Quinn and her piggy bank. I don't have interest, but I did have to write "Mom owes Quinn $5" on the whiteboard and my repayment terms are "many days." She was very willing to loan me the money, but her terms and conditions would have made Gpa J proud!

Mike's flight ended up being delayed for over four hours because of the weather and he landed in Austin, Texas about 1:00 am. Fortunately he was the only Vanneste with a short night's sleep. Bugs got a good sleep and seemed more herself this morning. That is, until just before we were ready to head out the door. Luckily she has a tell and Quinn is wickedly fast. So we got a bowl to her just in time. And with that, she spent today home with me.

A six inch sub at lunch and the fact that she was bouncing off the walls tells me that she is back to herself and our wild experience may settle back down to the normal amount of chaos. Now I just need to find $5 to get the 5-year-old loan shark off my back.