One of those days

You ever had "one of those days?"
It seems that in 2010 I've had more of "those days" than not, which makes me think that perhaps the expression is no longer valid for me.

Not that I'm complaining, because it is life. I am learning and experiencing every day, whether I want to or not. One of my dearest friends that I don't get to see often enough (like them all) recently mentioned the "interesting" life I have.

Having a series of "those days" apparently leads to "interesting."

My day today was in the "those days" category; although it's not really out of the ordinary for life as I've come to know it.

My 7 month old baby has begun to cut a tooth. His misery has further cut into the very little sleep I had been getting, so when the alarm rang at 6 a.m. to get out of bed I was not a happy camper (even though I had just by lying there since 5:30 when I last nursed baby).

It was a fast and furious morning, as it always is, to get everyone dressed, medicated, fed, teeth and hair done, winter gear on, bags packed, etc. etc. etc.

I dropped of my eldest at Kindergarten. I had forgotten my purse, so the middle child and I went back for it. I then meandered a strange way to his preschool as my mind took me inadvertently to his daycare first (even though four days of five I take him to the preschool location).

At preschool dropoff, I ran into my Dad's hair-twin - he reminds me so much of my Dad - and I hadn't seen this guy in weeks. "White Christmas" was playing on the radio and I proceeded to cry all the way to work.

I get to work 2 minutes late. I scurry as quickly as I can on projects and leave work one-and-a-half hours later to get my eldest to her appointments. We get into her audiology appointment 15 minutes late due to their patient load. We got into her ENT appointment two hours late. And although she was missing school, missing lunch, bored out of her mind in this non-kid-friendly waiting room, I am quite proud of her behavior. If we didn't love this doctor so much, and if she wasn't so highly recommend and even touted as the best in the region, and if there was any chance in hell I would've been able to get another appointment with her before June, I would've left.

She's been off antibiotics for a couple weeks and she has yet another ear infection festering and something brewing in her sinuses too. After lengthy discussion over my eldest's year (and previous history) it is decided the best route is ear tube surgery, a possible adenoid removal, and a possible nasal lavage.We have been through all this with our middle child a couple of times, but with his adenoid removal, he was overdosed on a pain med and coded. There is nothing like holding your lifeless purple/blue child while chaos moves about you. Although I know it's the right step, and our daughter's Kindergarten teacher is so glad we're finally doing something, I get a knot in my tummy each time I think about it.

She and I both missed lunch, and she so very much wanted Subway, so we quickly did that together.

I drop her off at school, get back to work and fly through as much as I can for one hour. It is then time to pick up my daughter as school is out. She is wearing holy, worn out jeans that are about 4 sizes too big. She had her first "accident" at school because she chose not to listen to me when I said "first thing you do when you get to your room is go to the bathroom." Great, that means extra laundry tonight because these pants aren't ours, and her snowpants got it too because she was out at recess. Oh, and everyone's laundry was done, except for mine which I needed to do so I have pants for work tomorrow. Laundry, the joys.

We come home and I pump as I am still nursing baby and I've neglected this chore since 6 a.m. We then head out to daycare to get my middle child for his speech appointment. He was about to go play in the snow with his class, so I practically dragged him out - much to his disgust. However, this worked out well as I was able to get speech in for him and pick up my daughter's newest prescription at one stop. I love efficiency.

Then it's home to a pot roast that's been slow cooking all day. It was frozen at 7:30 a.m. and I can't remember what I put in it. To this day, I don't think I've ever done a roast the same way twice - pretty much try anything I can find. So far, so good. Perhaps you just can't screw up a roast.

Pot roast, spaghetti and thin cut green beans. A nontraditional combination, but it's all stuff I know I can get everybody to eat. By this point, my middle child looks and sounds like he's not feeling well (and how could he be with everyone sick everywhere we go?), so an executive decision to keep him home from Kindermusik is made. With that, it's dishes and kitchen clean up, three baths, discussion on baby's mystery rash, snacks, a breathing treatment, nursing...and all three are so tired that we didn't even squeeze in a bedtime story. Good thing my daughter and I had down time during the speech appointment to fit in two books, not to mention the only two they had as we waited forever at her appointments today.

I entered a few more orders to the party I am closing tomorrow. I did quick free "Santa" video links for both of my big kids, which I almost wish I could go wake them up to see! And I have now been telling myself to go get my work computer and file out of the van and get moving. I have to turn a huge project in tomorrow so there is no way around it...yet I sit and type this. It's not an incredibly interesting post. Just simply a snapshot of "one of these days" in an incredibly busy, interesting, quite average...and yet blessed existence.

Most every day is like this. Jam packed full of stuff, and yet I can never get everything done that needs doing.
And usually there's always a few extra hoops added in just for good measure.
But I think that's the course I'm meant to be on.
And I get my some pretty cool highlights that are my favorite parts of each day...hugs, kisses, laughter and amazement.
I can always find those gifts in even the worst of  "one of those days."

The Word

I'm tired of the "R-word." It comes up far too often and I get so tired of trying to make judgement calls on eductating the current ignorant person or not. I found this portion of a blog I wrote in February:

The "r" word is such an annoying thing. I was one of the most ignorant people ever as I didn't get it either. It was never brought to my attention that the way we used it was wrong - and I obviously never took a moment to even think about it on my own. I feel so bad for the years that I used it.


 "It just means 'slow' - I can call people/things 'slow.'"


It is so abundantly clear to me now. I really don't understand how I didn't get it before. To call someone or something "retarded," you are clearly trying to put that person or thing down. You are making a derrogatory statement against them and the best insult you could come up with is "retarded." That is saying the person or thing you are referring to should feel bad that you've hurled this "insult" against them. That is saying that the people who are intellectually challenged and actually have this clinical term attached to them are less than you, are a part of our society that is lower than those who don't have intellectual challenges. How in the world is that fair? People with this disabiliity have done nothing to you, did not ask to have this disability and don't deserve to be treated like second-class citizens.


I get tired of hearing that we're "sensitive" - really? It's no different than the "n" word for African Americans, or calling things that you think are stupid "gay" - or any other word that shows complete disrespect for other human beings. Whether we understand others, or agree with how they live their lives, doesn't give us the right to make fun of or disrespect them. We're all here to help each other and make our short experiences on this earth as good as possible. I hate that human nature is to be ignorant and negative.

There is a world of difference between a person who makes unintelligent choices and a person who has a disability.
I know that when that word comes out, and I am in the group, it is up to me to step up and say something, and most times I do. But I also wish that just once someone else that is not me or my husband would put themselves in the uncomfortable spot of helping to educate on this topic for the sake of a better future for Grady and other people with intellectual disabilites. Maybe it happens within our circle when we aren't around. That definitely could be and I sure hope so, but I would be so very grateful if someone in our group would start the dialouge first for a change of pace. There's just something so energizing about knowing that someone has your back.

It is our job to be the best advocates for our son that we can be. Educating the educatable (I've learned that it is an unfortunate truth that there are some people that are a complete waste of time in this arena) is part of that job. It sometimes gets so mentally and emotionally exhausting.

Anyway, if you happen to be reading this blog, do everyone a favor. Do a self check before words fly out of your mouth. Do they mean what you think they do? What is your purpose in the words you choose? Are you being hurtful to anyone by choosing to use them? Don't teach your children the missteps you've used for so long.

The world will be a better place when we stop using other people's disabilities as "funny fodder" to put other people down.