A Week Without Sterling--HELP

"My First Sprain"

 

Thursday at school Lachoneus sprained his ankle on the playground. Around 1:30 the school called to let us know he was in pain claiming he could not walk. Luke is sensitive about his legs and claims he can't walk (due to fatigue or getting hurt) every now and then. We thought he was just being dramatic again. Sterling picked him up and helped him with leg stretches. Then he rested until the evening. He tried walking and was in so much pain I knew it was not fake. By then the military medical clinic was closed. We had to wait until morning.

Friday Luke did not go to school. He went to the clinic. He got xrays but there was no dr or technician who knew how to read the xrays. They had to send them out to be examined. We have not heard from the clinic so we assign everything is fine...aside from his ankle being sprained.
The clinic lent us some child size crutches. Those are hard for a child to learn! Luke has fallen many times.

"Goodbye Daddy"

Early Saturday morning Sterling set off on a trip to Provo. To visit his family and see Abi fresh off her mission. I was so happy for him to be able to go but wished somewhat that I could have gone too. Luke can't miss any more school. And I would feel bad leaving Luke for five whole days. Plus Athena and Ty would hate the 10 hr drive. Without us Ster could drive almost straight through and make good time. And he did.

But then I was home with a sprained ankle Luke, a sick baby and a truly horridly messy house.
Saturday I had a baby shower cake to finish decorating and deliver. It was awesome and fun but put me behind in my house cleaning. Then with the three kids and all our current obstacles the kids have not allowed me to catch up on the cleaning. Oh, and to add to it, I am cutting out Athena's nap for a week. So I have a terribly sleepy, cranky baby.
Athena wakes up at 6:15 every morning and demands to get up. We refuse to let her have breakfast until 7:00 but she still gets up that early.
Having a 2 hr nap a day and going to bed at 7:30pm she wakes up too early. I want to sleep in 'til 7! So for a week she gets no naps during the day until she gets in the habit of sleeping in.

It's been less than two days without Sterling and it was been a crazy experience.

I have been without Sterling many times before. He leaves for TDY's and there was that 4 months of training almost two years ago. Usually I miss Sterling but I do fine while he is gone. We keep our routines, the kids and I, maybe adjusted a bit. But I can keep up on the house cleaning and keep my sanity. I don't need any help. I just need a weekly time away from the kids ...get a babysitter. Maybe go out with girl friends.

Maybe it's because I now have three kids?

Today was horrible. Yesterday I knew I wasn't going to catch up but I thought I would get a little more done than I did. I expected yesterday to be unorganized and difficult.
Today I should have known was going to be a disaster. I took my children to church!

For Sacrament meeting we went and sat on a bench... Luke with his crutches getting everyone's attention. After the passing of the bread and water Athena refused to stay with us. I could not contain her. So I let her go while I gathered our belongings to head out to the foyer. I then realized Luke would be disruptive with his crutches leaving the room. By then Athena had made her way up to the piano by the bishopric on the stand. She is adorable and everyone smiled as I had to go up and get her.

I finally got my children out to the foyer. But not even Luke would behave there. He wouldn't stay in one spot. I wanted him to ...to avoid injuring himself more. He kept crawling and moving around. And I let Athena walk up and down the long hallway. I thought "I should have stayed home today." I didn't get to listen to the speakers' talks.

2nd hour Sunday School: Athena was grouchy because she was so tired. She was difficult all that hour and 3rd hour. I didn't not hear much of the lessons. She fell asleep in my arms the last ten minutes of church. We got out of there. Athena woke and never went back to sleep. (She did crash yesterday and sleep 40 minutes on the livingroom floor with us playing around her)

We got home and all the rest of the day I couldn't get anything done. My house is a disaster! But it's Sunday so I feel guilty doing much cleaning. Plus Athena was so grouchy all day.

I felt so worn out all day. These kids just draining me of energy. And the disastrous house weighing me down.

I miss my husband! Usually I get things clean in time for him to come home. Usually Athena takes a 2 hr nap so I can do all the cleaning! Usually she is rested because of her nap so that when she is awake I can get stuff done and not have a headache from her crying.

Tomorrow is Monday. Luke goes to school with his crutches. That will be a challenge for him. And hopefully he doesn't wet his pants from not being able to get to the bathroom fast enough...he is so slow on those crutches taking teeny tiny strides.

Tonight after Athena went to bed I started cleaning. Tomorrow I hope to catch up on the house. Maybe I will get things organized and calmed down by the time Ster comes home ...Thursday.

My Visiting Teachers are coming tomorrow afternoon. We will see how I am doing then. Usually there is nothing my visiting teachers can help me with. But there is a chance I might need them this month.