How do Mothers do it on days like these?

The following story happened to Christy this past week. She shared it with me already and then she had to share it with her professor for a class she is currently taking. I am amazed at how much stress she can handle and how calm and collected she can be. I'll stop talking now and just paste the email that she just wrote her professor.

Hello Professor Ringel,I am writing to inform you that I have the flu as well as a sinus infectionand therefore am not going to be attending class tomorrow evening. (1/30/08)
I did do the assignment however and will just type it now for you to sharein class or just for yourself- however you were planning on us using theseexperiences.
My stressful "event" was more like a stressful day. I have two little boys-one who is three years old, and the other is one. After waking the baby upto take my 3 yr old to pre school, we pulled into the parking lot to realizethat there was no school that day and somehow I missed the memo. Since wewere all up and out and about, we proceeded to Costco to get our list ofitems. Costco is never a fun place for anyone and even less fun with twokids. AFter shopping for over an hour, having a big bottle of pine sol fallout of our cart and spill all over the floor all while the baby has beenscreaming for the past 20 min, we proceed to checkout. The checkout linewas long and after ringing up 450.00 worth of merchandise, I swiped mycard. The machine said my pin number was invalid. Yes, the baby is stillscreaming and my 3 yr old saying repeadedly, "when are we doing to be done?"I begin to sweat. The noise from all the people and crying from my baby isdeafning. I try the card again. Still not working. I don't have acheckbook. I call the number on the back for customer service which justtransfers me to more and more voice machines. I just wanted to talk to aperson!!!! At this time, I am frustrated and angry already with whomeverI'm going to speak with on the other end b/c there is no way this should behappening. We have money in our account, and it wasn't like the card wasdenied, it was a pin number error. Was I supposed to have changed it in thenew year or something? I would have appreciated a letter or phone call ifthat was the case...... (so racing thoughts as to what is possibly going onand what I can do about it).After 15 min and the woman telling me to go to an atm and put in my pin andit'll work, I do that. I push my full cart to the ATM and wait in yetanother line. The baby has lost it by now. I pick him up and hold him inone arm and try to use the ATM with my other. ATM is not working- says it'san invalid pin as well. I pull out another card to just take out cash topay and get the heck out of there and the ATM says it's all out of cash.So, now I have a baby who is falling out of my arms b/c he is throwing amajor tantrum. Luckily the 3 yr old was a good trooper. I go over to thecashier, explain my situation and apologize. They now need to empty my veryfull cart. I have wasted over 2 hrs at costco. I get the kids coats on andrealize I had opened a box of granola bars and given one to each of my kidsto distract them while shopping. I tell the cashier I owe her for thegranola bars b/c they are opened and have just enough cash and change (tothe penny!!!!! ) to pay. So, I leave costco with one box of granola bars.The lady tells me to go to another ATM and come back with cash. They'llwait a while until they unload my cart. So, that's what I do. But, but thetime I come back and walk the mile it seems to take from my car to the storewith my cranky kids, the cart has been unloaded.During my costco fiasco, my emotions cycle rapidly. After I get off thephone with the lady about my pin number, I start to tear up and feel sohelpless and out of control. When I see there is no cash in the ATM, Istarted to laugh and said to my self, "of course....why not?" in a sarcasticmanner.It's nap time for the baby (and has been for a good hr) and yet I have nomilk to give him b/c we were going to buy some at costco. I stop by aneighbors house and fill up a sippie cup of milk breifly explaining my sagaand promise to repay her the few cups of milk I'm borrowing.Once at home and warming up the milk, the baby begins to scream from theother room and the 3 yr old shouts "Bryce fell on the toy!" Blood isgushing from his mouth. I pick up the baby, run to get a wet rag andpopcicle for his mouth to stop the bleeding an swelling. After calming himdown a bit, I check the damage and he's cut his stringly thing on the toplip that connects his top gums to his top lip pretty badly. Bleeding is notstopping. We call the pediatric dentist. She tells us to come in rightaway b/c he may need stiches. Back in the car we go. Still no naps......I grab the sippie of milk for the baby, a couple pieces of bread and abanana for lunch for the 3 yr old and baby - (if he is able to eat.)While driving I realize I haven't eaten all day and my stomach starts togrowl. I am surprisingly calm. I think more exhausted than anything atthis point. At the dentist, she determines that he doesn't need stiches andno teeth are loose. Back in the car, home, nap time. Baby in bed aftertylenol and the 3 yr old watches a movie and I crash on the couch. Ithought I had lots of energy which I did at the time, but after sittingrealized how exhausted I really was. I fell asleep- so did my 3 yr old.Upon waking and realizing I still had no milk or ingredients to make dinnerwith, I went to the store. I felt like a walking zombie. SO TIRED!!! Notjust sleepy tired, but whole body tired. Carter - the 3 yr old was up until10 that night b/c he took a nap, but after he was asleep, I slept sosoundly. Two days later I got the flu. 103 fever, aches, cough, chills,sore throat, runny nose, congestion, headache..... My body feels like I'vebeen hit by a truck. More stress b/c now my husband needs to take off workto care for the kids when he has no vacation days left and we need to savefor this summers trip to see his family in Idaho. More stress b/c I don'twant to get my kids and husband sick. More stress b/c I'm missingclasses.... So, my life seems like a big ball of stress right now and I feellike there is nothing I can do about it. I'm being forced to rest by beingso sick and hate it. Oh well....what do ya do?So, there you have it Professor Ringel. Probably more detail than you'dlike, but writing about it has actually been pretty theraputic. HopefullyI'll be in class next Wed. Thanks Christy.


It's moments like these that I realize, I am married to Superwoman.