Um, how is it January 17?

I'm not quite sure how it got to be January 17th at 1:30 p.m. Nor am I quite sure how to begin a recap, so I'll just start with where I am today. Everyone in my house is screaming right now; I am too, but mostly in my head. So why not blog?

Things I have done today:

• Showered. I always like to count this one as a win. 
• Grounded two of my kids before 7:00 a.m. 
• Put a load of laundry in the washer
• Remembered that it's not only Cody's show-and-tell day, but his day to bring snack; even remembered to bring 20 spoons so the kids could eat the applesauce without having to use their hands; dropped off kids on time
• Put Emma down for her morning nap; spent that time catching up on FBI work
• Returned things from before Christmas to Kohls (that have been sitting on the seat of the car for a month)
• Grocery shopped (which was helpful, as we were down to frozen waffles and sour milk)
• Picked up Cordelia, fed the girls, and put them down for a nap

Things I have not done today:

• Managed to get Emma to take her morning nap
• Remembered that the groceries were in the car until 90 minutes after I got home (why yes, there was ice cream, yogurt, milk, and cheese in my bags, so nice of you to ask!)
• Managed to get Cordelia to stop howling, since she "cannot possibly sleep, EVER again, because you took away my Hopsy when I got grounded and YOU ARE MEAN!"
• Managed to get Emma to settle down for her afternoon nap
• Remembered to move the now-mildewy wash into the dryer
• Called Hannah back…from, maybe 5 days ago?
• Emailed Monika back…from at least two days ago
• Eaten

At first I was going to say, "Things I have accomplished/not accomplished." But "accomplish" just really seems like a judgmental term, don't you think?

So today's kind of a bust. It's been kind of a rough start to 2014. We wound up in the Urgent Care in New Jersey on Emma's birthday, because at 3:00 that morning Cordelia came sobbing into our room at Mom's with a terrible ear ache. We know how this story ended. The weekend after we got back, JVL took Cody to NC to work on the condo. Emma's body chose that very day to start to shut down. She's been so healthy all year, but finally got what was going through the rest of us. From that Friday night to Monday morning, she didn't sleep for more than 45 minutes at a stretch. (Me neither.) Cordelia had been promised a girls' weekend, and we did our best. We ironed. (She loves this.) We played a lot of Candyland. We painted our toes! We even ventured out to Starbucks for cake pops. 

 

 And we had pastina two nights in a row. : )

But poor Emma was getting worse by the minute. We took her to the doctor first thing Monday because she'd developed a rattle in her chest and was pulling at her ear. Sure enough, in addition to the ear infection, she needed a nebulizer every 4 hours for the week. 

She disliked this. 

 

It was terrible to see her struggle. When Emma can't manage a smile, you know something's really wrong. Cody and Cordelia were so empathetic. I dug out the masks they used when they each had RSV (stashed with the nebulizer I bought, figuring I'd need it again, and voila!) and they breathed in solidarity. She was more confused than anything, but it did slow the screaming.

Once she was starting to turn the corner, my immune system started openly mocking me. Now, though, we have all finished our antibiotics, and I'm thinking maybe we'll start the new year all over again tomorrow. : ) Including all those resolutions I have failed to keep for the past 17 days. 

Happy New Year!!