Today was a beautiful day, and all I wanted was to take a walk with my mom. I had originally planned to take the boys up to visit my friend Shoshana at her new apartment, but she is sick with a cold, and so we decided we'd go some other time. I tried to recruit other friends for a walk, but everyone else was busy. Then I decided I would get some errands done, like hemming a new pair of jeans so that I have jeans to wear with flats and sneakers while I run around with my boys (prior to pregnancy, I wore 3+" heels everyday. I still won't buy heels that are less than 3", but I also won't wear heels while I cart my babies around). All my pants are hemmed to be worn with heels (and yes, all my pants are hemmed, I'm 5'2" and have a long torso) so I have very few choices.
Anyway, we went out to run errands. And it just seemed like nothing went quite right. There weren't any major disasters, but I parked next to a planter, and had to move the car so that I could open the door and take Benjamin out. Then, after getting the boys strapped into the stroller, I found that the meter was broken-- after I had put my quarter in. So I had to scribble a note on the back of an old shopping list so that I wouldn't get a ticket. In the meantime, Benjamin and Asher are just sitting in the stroller on the sidewalk, and all these other moms and kids were walking up and down the street, and I worried that they were thinking, "what kind of a mommy is she?!?" Oh, and I hadn't brushed my hair, so that is pretty scary looking.
We went to the dry cleaner to get the pants tailored, and their door wasn't wide enough for the stroller. One of the women that works there had to come out and stand with the stroller on the sidewalk so that I could do my business inside. Now, the fact that I could trust this woman is one of the benefits of living in a friendly area like we do, but I was definitely frustrated.
The rest of the morning had some other similar frustrations, but we made it home in time for naps, and picked up some wine along the way. Of course, afternoon naps did not go well. Neither baby slept well, or for very long, so rather than eat lunch, take a shower, fold the laundry, and get some quiet time, I got to just eat lunch.
We went out again for another walk and to the playground around the corner (Benjamin still doesn't like swings; Asher still does). By 5 pm, the boys were starting to get cranky because of their lousy naps. I thought, "great, Eric will be done work and can come help me!" Wrong! Eric is suffering from some kind of strange stomach ailment-- I have heard from him that it feels like gas, he feels nauseous, he feels like he is going to have diarrhea... but none of the above has actually happened. So at 5 pm, Eric stopped working and went to take a nap.
I played with the boys, read them a story, fed them their cereal and sweet potato, and then started getting them ready for bed. This meant that I stuck Asher in his jumperoo while I took care of Benjamin, who was in worse shape. As I was nursing Benjamin, Eric came to the door of the nursery and said, "You're putting them to bed already? It's only 6:30!" I told him that when I am doing it alone, and they won't stop crying, 6:30 is late enough.
They were in bed by 7, and I took off to CVS to get Eric some Pepto-Bismol. I came home and had dinner alone while Eric languished in bed, and then joined him to watch some TV. But at every point today, all I could think was how much more fun, and how much easier, things would be if my mom were around. Of course I survived, but today will not go down in history as one of my favorite days.
I am hopeful for tomorrow. At the very least, our nanny will come and I am sure to take a shower, brush my hair, and get out of the house. I told Eric if he isn't feeling better tomorrow he has to see the doctor. Which is funny (ha, ha) because he doesn't have a doctor-- in the 5 years since Eric has lived here, and the 6.5 since we met (oh my goodness, today is actually 6.5 years to the day since we met!) he has never once been sick enough to warrant medical intervention. But I told him no sitting around waiting to feel better because I need his help!
Here's hoping tomorrow is a better day, and Eric feels like a new man when he wakes up.
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