I Had Such Hopes

I had such hopes of the day turning out well. After my smooth morning, I was anticipating smooth errands.
We dropped Nick off at Urgent Care for another round of IV meds and went straight to the salon for the boys' haircuts. They were very busy, but other than it being a bit hectic, things went smoothly. It was so sweet to watch Ethan on the way out to the truck, because he was turned around waving back at the salon saying, "Bye, sanks" the whole way. (He has such good manners sometimes.)
We headed back towards Urgent Care to wait, for however long, for Nick to be done. While we were just down the street, Nick called to say he was done. Yeah! We didn't have to wait at all.
Errands went off smoothly.
Since it was lunchtime, we headed home. I still had grocery shopping to do, but I was going to do that later in the afternoon, perhaps when the boys (yes, all of them) laid down for a nap. I was planning on taking Andrew and that would give Nick a chance to rest as well, since that is a crucial part of his recovery.
I was going to make Noodle Soup for lunch (Top Ramen) but Nick wanted macaroni and cheese....so I decided to make both. Joey and Ethan would have soup, Nick and Nick would have mac 'n' cheese.
While I had the water coming to a boil, Ethan reached up to point at the pretty, bright orange, glowing burner. He pointed too close. I was right there, and I still could not stop it from happening. Immediately, I wrenched him away and threw his finger under cold running water. It was just the quickest of touches, but that is all it takes. Poor Ethan couldn't even catch his breath, he was screaming uncontrollably. He didn't like the water, but I had to be the mean Mommy that made him keep it under. After that, he didn't want me anymore, he only wanted Daddy.
Since it looked like it could be a third degree burn, I was advised by my wise Mommy to take him to have it looked at, because it could get infected easily.
So, back to Urgent care I went. We were there for over three hours! Ethan was so well behaved, we were entertaining each other as best as we could. At one point, Ethan asked where Daddy was. I told him he was at home. He asked again. I told him, again. He asked a third time. So I said, "Daddy is hanging upside down!" Ethan said, "No way! That's apossible!" I laughed so hard.
But the longer we were there, and the closer he got to seeing the doctor, the more upset he became. Ethan is afraid of going to the doctor. When I told him in the car where we were headed, I asked him to be a big boy for me. But after getting hurt so bad, he can only be a big boy for so long, and they took too long for him to keep it up. I was so proud of him, though. He did his best, and even though the situation wasn't pleasant, I loved spending one on one time with him.
When we left home, it was cool but dry. I didn't bother grabbing coats. When we came out of Urgent Care, it was pouring down rain; buckets of rain. And we still had to do the grocery shopping. In the car was a flannel and one of Nick's pull over coats. I wore the pull over and I buttoned Ethan up in the flannel. I rolled the sleeves up about seven times, and I tied the bottom in a knot to keep it from dragging. We looked great! I realized on the way that I had forgotten the coupons for Costco, so I decided to skid Costco for today, and just hit Freddy's. Ethan was a very big helper; he held the list for me. And every time we passed something, he would say, "Mommy, my see..." He was very observant. What an absolutely precious child he is.
By the time we got home, it was almost 6pm and we had been gone a total of almost five hours! Neither of us had eaten lunch, and I hadn't eaten anything before that either.
Nick was supposed to be resting, but he was stuck watching the other three boys while I was gone. So as soon as I got home, he fell asleep on the couch and got some much needed rest. Hopefully he will be able to sleep better tonight than he did last night.
Well, the first child of the night is up and wanting to rock for a few minutes, so I better go. Motherhood is no 9-5 job; it's 24/7.