Don't Leave Home

I always said I would never have more than two kids. When you have two kids, one person can leave town and life is still manageable. After all, you have two hands, so you can still grab on to each one and keep them from running into traffic. That was before I had two kids.

Mike has been traveling for business more frequently. Since I am the one who takes the kids to daycare/camp every day, I wasn't expecting life to be any less convenient. With Mike home, my day typically consists of: wake up, get ready for work, wake up Mikie, get him ready for camp, pack lunches for both kids, wake up Hannah, get her ready for daycare, load all kids and accessories into SUV, drive 40 minutes to daycare, drop off Hannah, drive 10 minutes to camp, drop off Mikie, drive 3 minutes to work, work 8 1/2 hours, pick up Mikie, pick up Hannah, drive home, unload car, make dinner for Mikie, feed Hannah, make dinner for grown ups. By the time Mike arrives home and we have eaten, we can then divide and conquer: Mike bathes Mikie and puts him to bed; I bathe and feed Hannah and put her to bed, then Mike typically cleans up from dinner and empties everyone's lunchboxes.

So, when Mike leaves town, my schedule becomes even more complicated. Both kids have ended up in the tub together (which they both love, but is a little nerve racking since Hannah is little and slippery, and Mikie causes tidal waves with all the movement and splashing). Both kids read bedtime stories together. And, I end up doing all the dishes by myself.

On its own, all of that makes for an EXHAUSTING day. It's hard to imagine it getting any worse, right?

WRONG. On Monday evening, Hannah had a meltdown. Never in my life have I heard a cry like this. If I closed my eyes, the image it conjured up was that of someone on fire. When she would BRIEFLY stop crying, she was hyperventilating. I tried everything: food, lukewarm bath, checking her toes for hairs wrapped around them, taking her temperature, a suppository in case she was constipated, baby Tylenol in case she was teething. After two hours, I broke down and called the pediatrician, knowing they were going to have me drive to the pediatric ER 40 MINUTES AWAY.

In route, Hannah settled down and fell asleep. Before going all the way back home, I decided to stop at Target and see what happened when she woke up. As with all Target trips, I ended up buying a lot more than I intended. Probably in large part because, for the first time all night, Hannah was happy and smiling. Boy, if impulse shopping cheers her up at 4 months, we are going to have problems when she hits 16. . .

Unfortunately, the moment we left the store, Hannah was hysterical again. All the way to Worcester, through the parking garage, and into the revolving door to the ER. And, Murphy's Law, the minute we emerged in the waiting room on the other side, silence. Not just silence; after she stopped hyperventilating, she was smiling and flirting with the staff.

The resident in the ER was useless, and we went home close to midnight with no conclusive diagnosis and instructions to follow up with our pediatrician in the morning.

I fell asleep around 1:30am, only to be greeted at 6am by Mikie, announcing that he had "a barky seal cough". Surely this was a joke. He could not possibly have croup. He just got over an episode not two months ago. He must be lying in hopes of eating a popsicle for breakfast. Then, I heard him cough and realized he wasn't lying.

To recap, not 24 hours after Mike left town, I had two sick kids on my hands. Dr. Mikie was correct in his self-diagnosis of croup. And, Hannah ended up with a mild ear infection and a head cold.

And so, I have decided that, as with most of my preconceived notions on parenting, my thoughts on being able to handle two kids by myself was naive.

Thankfully, Mike is back home, and hopefully won't have to travel again soon. If so, I may seriously consider hiring a babysitter to move in for the week.

Love, The Trahans