Just Write: Consequences

Her baby took 90 minutes to settle down and fall asleep for the night. The resulting late bedtime meant that Mom was pleasantly surprised when the baby didn't wake up again until 3, two hours later than her usual mid-night rendezvous. Her pleasure was short-lived, however, as it became increasingly clear that the baby was not settling back down quickly. In fact, it soon became obvious that the baby was tired, but cheerful and quite awake!

At 5:15, the tired Mom finally returned to bed. By then, her side of the bed was completely cold, so she carefully scooted her pillow over next to her husband and curled up, back touching his, trying to warm up enough to fall asleep. It was a slow process, as the birds were already awake and chirping happily outside her window. She catnapped until 7:30 as the house began to stir around her.

She could especially hear her rambunctious son, giggling and running around. She groggily lurched out of bed. "Ssshhhhh!! Baby is still asleep!!" she urgently whispered. The noises downstairs quieted. A bit. She pulled on some clothes, and came downstairs. No energy to chat, let alone smile, she carefully set about getting her breakfast and packing her older daughter's lunch, shushing the other children as needed. When her husband left for work, he kissed her on the cheek. "Bye, grumpy pants." *kiss* Ouch. But she couldn't deny it was true.

As the children tripped over themselves, tiny feet pounding on the floor, to get to the garage to say goodbye, she told herself, "It's fine. Their breakfast can wait. They have time." When it was obvious they had found a game to play in the garage, she told herself, "It's fine. Their breakfast can wait. They have time." When she heard the crying, she simply stood still to listen.

Her rambunctious son, the one she had shushed and ordered and directed, had found a box of thumb tacks. "I was just looking at them!!" he wailed. He had forgotten he held one in his left hand when he momentarily lost his balance reaching for something behind him. He buried the tip of the tack into the thick muscle at the base of his thumb. "Owwwww" he cried. She stoically brought the kids back inside, with only the smallest "I told you so."

She marched them through the rest of their morning routine, and thought about the situation. This happened so often to her sweet son - he ignored directions, pleas, and suggestions until he ended up in tears, either hurt or holding something that he accidentally broke. She tried to explain - Heavenly Father loved him very much, but she was pretty sure He was going to continue letting him get hurt, or break things, until he eventually learned to follow directions and suggestions from his parents and leaders. He nodded, and seemed to understand. They carefully cleaned out the small prick mark on his hand. "Mom, can I watch my morning cartoon?" "Sure, hon. Sure."

The Midnight Miracle

Christmas, with its hundred plus pictures, is still on my camera. The tree is still up, and there are still remnants of wrapping paper hiding in odd corners of the living room. But I am not here to tell that story. There is another one that needs telling, before it is forgotten.

Yesterday was Lo Gung's first day back to work. It was a short day - it began with an oil change and ended with an afternoon tennis match. Last night was my first Game Day Party. University of Washington vs Brigham Young University. The game pitted wife against husband, and in-laws against in-laws. In the end, BYU played better, but UW got lucky with two incredible runs, and the Dawgs took the day.

About an hour before the game ended, I disappeared to put the baby to bed. I changed her, nursed her to sleep, and put her down for the night. Around 10, the rest of my family headed home, keeping their celebrations quiet both in deference to the sleeping baby...and the losers. It was the least they could do. Lo Gung and I did our end of the day chores and settled down on the couch to relax. I've discovered a new-to-me-author (Julie Kagawa) and Lo Gung has a new-to-him show (Arrow). We were both content.

At 11, he announced he was going to bed. I finished my chapter and followed him upstairs. As I climbed the stairs, I could hear YY crying. Uh-oh. She is working on a new tooth, and for my kids that always means a cold. The tougher the tooth, the nastier the cold. And this one is a bugger. I didn't want to make her cry it out, so I ran into our room to change into my PJs then ran back out. I accidentally slammed the door to my bedroom as I rushed to get back to the crying baby. "Oops...sorry!" I whisper shouted through the door. I went into the baby's room and glanced at the clock. 11:18. I scooped her up and tried to doctor my moaning baby up. It was dark, but I can do Tylenol with my eyes closed. Literally. The bottle never leaves her bedside table. I measured out a dropperful and tried to give it to the squirmy, crying baby. I finally found her mouth and squeezed out the purple goo. "There, baby...you will feel better, soon!" I carefully unzipped her sleep sack and pajamas, rubbed some oil on her belly, and zipped her back up.

I tried to nurse her, but it was just a moment before she was screaming. Weird. I tried the other side. More screaming. I finally scooped her up and started patting her back. A few burps later, I tried to feed her again. More screaming. Violent screaming. This wasn't working. Half an hour later, she was still moaning into my shoulder, chewing on her thumb, falling asleep, only to wake up with a jerk and start crying again. The Tylenol should have kicked in by now! Another ten minutes passed, and I realized that perhaps my Tylenol dropper...had been empty. I remembered that the bottle on the bedside table was nearly gone, which means that the strange gurgle I had heard when I dispensed it into her was actually just bubbles. I looked at the clock. It was nearly midnight. I grabbed my phone and sent a text to Lo Gung. "If u r awake I need help." Two minutes later, he rushed in. I explained where to find a new bottle of Tylenol. He came back, measured out the correct amount by the light of the nightlight in the hall, and carefully squeezed the medicine into the baby's mouth. As he did that, I explained, "She cries whenever I tried to feed her or set her down. Her teeth mud the killing her!" He stuck out his arms, and I gratefully handed over the baby.

Babies are my territory, especially at night. None of my babies would tolerate a bottle, and I could never see the point in pushing the issue when I was always on hand to feed them myself. I think Lo Gung always regretted that he could never comfort them at night or get those cuddles in during the day. . I ran across the hall to brush my teeth and wash my face. A came back five minutes later, ready to send Lo Gung back to bed and take up my post. It was going to be a long night. The baby was sitting up in his arms, her head lolled off against his shoulder. "Is she asleep??" he whispered? I carefully used my cell phone screen to sweep the dim light across her face. Her mouth was hanging open. "Yup! She's out!" He slowly lowered her into her bed, holding his breath, and she didn't make a peep.

As we walked out, I put my arm around him. "How does it feel to be her hero tonight?"

"Pretty good" he replied.