There’s a saying, when it rains it pours. Last night must have been a hurricane for my family then. But as someone who has recently started a gratitude journal, I know things could have always been worse so I tried to remember what we had in the situation and how bad it could have been. But there was a moment where I was breaking inside and subsequently, outside.

Two nights ago my son, who loves to cook with me, reached out and put his hand on the hot stove eye just as I took the spaghetti off to cool. Why he did this is beyond me, and to be cliche yet again, curiosity kills the cat. He knows not to touch the stove top but of course the moment i turned, he did. The shriek and gasp of his pain was heart-wrenching enough, but then trying to remember the first aid I was once certified in was difficult amid the confusion and crying. We were able to put aloe on it, dress the burn and get him to calm down after a good hour or so. My heart broke a little to see his finger blister up so quickly and knew it would be painful for him. However, I know he will never, ever touch a stove eye again and am thankful he didn’t put his whole hand down (just the finger) nor rested his arm or something.

After what was a wacky evening I was looking forward to last night things going back to normal. I picked up the boys from daycare which is always a 30-minute process. Any parent I’m sure can agree that getting two kids out of daycare is a feat in and of itself. Potty breaks, one still needing a bottle, the other wanting to watch the movie the daycare was showing, trying to get a coat on the older one who doesn’t want to wear his coat and then trying to get the baby in the alcatrez-like car seat was a battle. When we FINALLY made it out to the car, I was so thankful.

We ascended up the hill of the parking lot and my car died. I restarted it and again, just puttered and died. It turned over so I thought it wasn’t the battery or alternator, but wasn’t sure past then. I put it in neutral, coasted down the hill backward in reverse praying i didn’t run over any kids and was trying to make sure I didn’t block the entire parking lot by being in the middle. Somehow i maneuvered a dead car to right in front of the daycare door, only blocking one person who was gracious enough to not curse me and could still try to get out (with an 8-point turn). Damn, we were now heading BACK into daycare, where I had wanted to leave and just get home.

My husband, aka knight in shining armor, shows up as I settle in to the big arena holding block where all the kids whose parents work past 5 must congregate. this was by far the best part of my evening. The baby was asleep and my older son was showing me his dance moves on the big screen to One Direction. Quite entertaining and cute. Fast forward an hour later and we are still at daycare, not sure what is happening with the car. The lights are starting to dim and it’s time to leave. We get everyone back up and bundled in the car, now about 6:40 (daycare closes at 6:30) and as we are about to shut the door to get moving, my baby starts vomiting profusely. Now when i say vomit, I don’t mean spit up. I’ve had a reflux baby and those are some crazy spit-ups. But this was pure bile, vomit, projecting everywhere, spraying me. I was panicking for a second, trying to lean him forward so as to not choke and it just.kept.coming. Like niagra falls.

Now we prayed to the director to let us back in because I wasn’t about to try and change the baby in 10 degree weather so she let us in where it proceeds to happen again. Seven more times. I’m now covered. Poor poor baby. We get him changed and the director says “oh yea I had to send two of his friends home with the same thing today. ” Uhhh, thanks. Good to know. So i guess a 4-month old vomiting profusely is now contagious.

We finally get all cleaned up and go through the drive-thru for dinner because it’s close to 7:30 now and I’m not about to start dinner at the same time we’re normally winding down for the boys’ bed.

Get home to get out and the vomiting continues, at least 7 more times. how this baby can hold so much is beyond me. I’m now frustrated and broken hearted a little bit. My car is stranded at daycare and my baby is clearly sick. I’m immediately thinking of dehydration at this point and not sure what I should do. We call the nurse who says to give him 5 ml of Pedialyte (which we don’t have on hand) every 5 mins for 4 hours. WHAT? i didn’t even see how that was possible. I think i was missing something she was saying.

my husband goes out to get the pedialyte and i’m now trying to get the oldest boy to bed with a burned finger. A bath was out of the question at this point because I was trying to just keep the vomit from dripping out of my hair. I ran through the checklist for dehydration: No wet diapers: check. No tears when crying: check. dry mouth: check. I was getting worried. Finally i get oldest to bed and baby settles down but of course he is hungry because he hasn’t had a bottle in four hours. My husband comes back with the Pedialyte and we try to get him hydrated quickly. Around 9 he finally falls asleep, at which point my oldest wakes up again for various reasons.

Meanwhile in between all of this we were still trying to figure out the car situation. As well as talk with the triage nurse about when to go to the ER (dehydration can be pretty serious if it gets bad enough). Sean finally left about 9:30 to go see if the car would start and call AAA for a tow. It does not but AAA gives a 30-min estimate. During this time I am able to lay on my bed for a few minutes and catch my breath but I’m so scared about more vomiting that I was afraid to shower or be away from my son for too long. After 45 mins, AAA calls back to say it will be at least an hour. So Sean is now gone for two hours sitting in his car waiting for the tow. Meanwhile, both kids wake up for various reasons. The burned finger being a problem when the eldest hits it in his sleep.

Around 11:45 Sean calls to say that AAA won’t tow the car because my tags are expired. Seriously? Well they aren’t expired because my taxes were due Dec 31. So i paid them around the 29th i believe and they have not mailed me a new decal for 2015. There is a 30-day grace period specifically for this purpose. But AAA says it’s their policy so they won’t tow. Sean proceeded to chew out the manager and lo and behold they tow us to a place a friend recommended for Volkswagens. Of course, my car just went out of warranty 4,000 miles ago or else we’d have gone to the dealership. This was when I hit the breaking point and just had to shed a few tears. I felt like we couldn’t catch a break.

Midnight, Sean is home and we try to go to bed. This lasts for about 2 hours until oldest baby gets up for various things (water, potty, scared of dark, etc). At 4 i have to get up to check on baby and give him more fluids. still no wet diaper so pretty worried but I drown him in pedialyte and a little bit of formula. He goes back down. At 5am, oldest is back in for various things and at 5:45 Sean is up for his work day. I have to work from home today to still monitor baby and have no car.

Around 7:30 I check the baby again for fluids and signs of urine, which I finally see. I even spied a tear. I think he is turning around. No more puking and seeming to start the rehydration process.

Of course, the kicker was that today after Sean stopped by the mechanic he found out that they do not, in fact, work on VWs. So now we have a dead car at a mechanic who won’t work on it. The VW-approved place is nearby though and they thankfully said they’d work with the place to get it there.

So, here we are today. Home with a sick baby who is seemingly doing much better but still needs some TLC. a car that isn’t going to be fixed anytime soon.

But I am grateful my husband could come rescue me last night; grateful for two cars, a warm home, access to medical care, and God who helped me somewhat keep it together. But wow, when it rains, it pours.

in 2004 I was involved in a minor accident with major repercussions. I lost complete vision in my right eye with a total of 14 injuries all caused by airbags. Due to the blood in my eye, I wasn’t aware I would have permanent vision loss until three weeks after the accident. From there, my life seemed to be turned upside down and I had to see life through a new lens. Things wouldn’t be the same, but I could either dwell on it or get up, change my attitude and make the most of it. So i chose the latter.

After being out of shape and overweight for many years I decided to make 2005 “The Year of Bacon” and make some real progress. Needless to say a change in attitude really paved the way for so many wonderful things. I lost weight, became healthy, started dating my now husband, got an incredible job as a writer, bought a house and so on and so forth. Things were looking up. By Christmas, I decided to make 2006 a year to do something big and bold and signed up for a triathlon on Jan 1.

Fast forward 8 years. I have now purchased another house, have had two jobs since that last one, married, and have two kids. Finding time for workouts became quite hard and weight slowly crept back up. Steamed vegetables and hour-long prepped meals turned into oven-baked tater tots and way too much fast food. Sadly, I knew with every bite that what i was eating was not good for me. I could not claim ignorance. And with each missed day’s workouts, I knew those same bites would stick around longer than they used to.

But i have two young children, I always argued. I dont have time for workouts or creating elaborate healthy meals. But in my mind I knew they were excuses. So now we are in 2015 and on the last day of last year (three days ago) i decided to start over in 2015 and cut myself some slack but only if I really say I tried. I signed up for ANOTHER triathlon. It has been six years since my last one (i’ve done 4 total) so i might as well be a novice again. I convinced my sister to do it and it is going to be quite an adventure. I have a goal in mind and the only way to get there is by practice. So now, I am signing up for the gym again, re-committing myself to more days than not of exercising, and forgiving myself if I can’t spend as much time with my kids because i’m going to stay late to go to the gym. I know my 4-month old is in good hands if his dad picks him up or if he has to stay at daycare 10.5 hours instead of 10. Yes, those numbers kill me to write, but that’s what working parents do. We barely see our kids during the week and for some reason, they seem to love us even more.

So, here’s to starting over. May 30th will be here soon!