Hells Bells

*Update: Allen is home sleeping. They discharged him around 12:30am which I will count as a blessing. The blizzarding weather kept people in their homes that night, which left the ER sparce. A neighbor graciously came to house so I could be with Allen at the hospital. That was very nice. The diagnosis is a severe flu strain and stomach virus. He had a high fever upon entrance to the ER with extreme abdominal pain, nausea and dehydration. They hooked him up to an IV and pumped him full of liquids, morphine, and phenergen. After that, he was pretty happy. The CT scan showed there was no appendicitis, so in the end, it was all good news. Sort of. He still has to get over this nastiness, and Ryder woke up in the middle of the night feverish and with cough. Lovely.

Seriously, there is something terribly wrong about this day, and no matter what I try to do to improve it, something worse occurs. Let's begin.

Tuesdays a girl in my ward watches the kids for a couple hours so I can run errands or shop (ok, the purpose is to get things done...I choose to use it unwisely at the mall) and then I watch her kids on Thursdays. For this reason, I love Tuesdays. Except that the next five Tuesdays are full of doctor and dentist appointments, starting today with Linley's 18-month well baby check-up. So, there goes my free hours. To make matters worse, Allen stayed home from work sick today. That part is bad, but instead of dropping off Ryder at my girlfriend's, I just left him at home with his father. Easy enough. Linley's appointment went great. 78th percentile for weight, 98th percentile for height, 54th percentile for head circumference. Small head= my child. All is well. Got two shots. Didn't even cry for a second. Excellent.

Come home. Feed the kids lunch, and put them down for naps. I need two free hours since mentally this is what Tuesdays are suppose to provide for me. Naturally, Linley sleeps for 40 minutes, and Ryder for none.

Still, I tell myself, just a few more hours, and then I get to take the kids into Jersey City to go to a Valentine's party at Mistie's. I am most excited for this event, as are the children. And remember, Allen is home sick, meaning I have to keep my active, bored children quiet. Ha! My hours could not have gone by slower. Before I put the kids to bed at noon, I noticed it was snowing. Brushed it aside, and persevered. At two I looked outside to see inches of snow on the ground and it was still snowing, hard. Check the weather. Winter advisory in affect. Watch the news. Says it is snowing too hard for plows to keep up, don't drive if you don't have to. Crap. There goes my afternoon's saving grace. So I scrap the party. In an effort to make it up to my obnoxious non-napping and probably non-deserving children, we make sugar cookie dough and put in the fridge with the intention of baking, frosting and decorating later in the afternoon. Then we make homemade hot chocolate, and sip ourselves into chocolate oblivion. Linley had three full sippy cups. I love that girl.

(I left my camera at a friends house, so these are courtesy of my phone...sorry they suck)Next we bundle up and head outside to enjoy the weather that has put the kabosh on my afternoon excitement. The snow was so blissful. Soft and powdery, so much so it was impossible to make a snowball and thus, a snowman. The kids were once again in heaven. And so was I. It felt good to get out of the house.
Since building a snowman was not an option, we brought out the beach toys and built ourselves a snowcastle. It was pretty fabulous

After nearly two hours outside, I get a phone call from my mommy-in-law on my cell telling me I need to take Allen to the ER. Crap, I forgot about the man. The kids and I were in having too much fun. So, we run into the house, unbundle up, and head to the hospital. By this time (4:30) it is seriously blizzarding outside. What is normally a five minute drive took twenty. We waited with Allen in the ER for two hours, then the kids got hungry so I brought them home. Allen just called (8:30) to say he is scheduled for a CT scan at 10:15. My poor man. All of it just sucks.
My day is so far from over. And tomorrow is going to be no different. Piece of crap.