Crummy Day

Yesterday was a bad day. Matt went back to work. I thought I could handle things here on my own. I had a few errands to run in the morning and as usual it took me longer to get out of the house than I wanted. Joel's care has added even more time to the usual schedule--to be expected. Grace has been a trooper through all of this. She's handling Joel like an old pro. I told her I wouldn't be gone long and that Joel had already had a poopy diaper. "Turn on Veggie Tales for him," I said, "and do a little school work." The littles (Paul and Lydia) and I loaded into the Suburban and headed over to the cousins' house.
I dropped off the littles to play while I ran to two stores. Matt wanted me to pick up some vinyl table cloth covering and batting for Joel's "eating enabler," so I headed to the fabric store first. Of course my pregnant brain had forgotten to grab the 50% off coupon before I left the house--oh well. I spotted some fabric with "Lightening McQueen" on it and grabbed it--a no brainer. The littles love the movie Cars. I figured Joel wouldn't care one way or the other. I paid for my supplies and headed to the sporting goods store. I bought some tennis racket grip tape to put on the stick of Joel's spica cast. The fiberglass on the stick was making Matt's hands raw, so I thought this would be a good solution.
I went back to the cousins' to pick up the littles and called Grace to see if she'd mind if I took them to McDonald's. This sounded good to her--I'm sure in part because it meant what little leftover pizza there was wouldn't have to be split between the 5 of us :) All of the kids have had a difficult time with all of this and I thought letting the littles play on the Play Place would be a welcome diversion.
When we got home (just 2 hours from when we had left) Joel had poopy--again! What a mess. The doctor warned us to catch his messes very quickly. Well, it took me 45 minutes to get him cleaned up. As I was struggling to get him cleaned under his cast, he peed. I cleaned him, blew him dry with the hair dryer and proceeded with the cast clean up. Well, he peed again. The third time he did it, I burst into tears. Elizabeth ran to her room, Grace brought me some Kleenex and Joel just looked at me like, "What's wrong, Mom?"
I then went to open the package that had been delivered to me from the maternity store. The woman at the store in the mall had ordered two skirts for me last week. I opened the package only to find 3 bras for Tyna in PA. I called the 800 number and the woman told me she could send me the skirts, but I'd have to be charged again for them. I kindly told her that it was their mistake, not mine. She insisted that until she received the bras back, she couldn't send me the skirts. I knew the skirts were in low supply, so I grudgingly told her to go ahead with the order. She said she'd credit me the money back after I repackaged the bras and sent them back. When Matt got home, he tried calling to reverse what he said was a "dumb" policy. They wouldn't budge. In the overall scheme of things, I know this isn't a big deal, but it felt like the straw that broke the camel's back.
I was so glad when our friend Tammy walked in the door with a beautiful meal and flowers for me, too. After dinner, I settled down with Joel in the recliner and watched the Baby Einstein video that Tammy let us borrow until we receive the ones we ordered. Joel, who had been fussy all day, finally became quiet as he watched. At 7 pm he fell asleep. Matt called the hospital to talk with his Nana for a bit and then he got the littles in the bath tub. We were all tucked in for the night by 8:30.
As I read in the book of Joshua about the failed battle of Ai, I felt like the Israelites, defeated and confused about what God was doing. After the sin of Achan was exposed and dealt with, the Lord told Joshua to go up against Ai again. He said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land." (Joshua 8:1) So today I will put on the full armor of God and prepare for battle once again.