Utter Exhaustion

I keep thinking it's almost the weekend because the last few days have held enough activity and drama for a week or more.

After a week of VBS, we literally dove into the weekend with a swim meet, then the beach, then some time at the pool on Saturday. Then, instead of a quiet Sunday at home, we spent several hours driving around looking at neighboring towns and local subdivisions. That's been our fun weekend activity of late, to feel out where we might want to buy a house. We drove until I was seriously feeling carsick and my husband was asleep.

On Monday morning, we hosted a book club here with 6 moms and 23 children in all! Crazy! Just as the lunchtime chaos was finishing up, I left my older kids at home with the friends still here, and rushed off to my first dental cleaning in 2 1/2 years. With Thomas. (Yes, that was a bad idea, but I had a plan that included a sleeping baby in a stroller I couldn't find.)

The best part of the visit: the kind receptionist who was encouraging those of us in the waiting room that we'd never regret having another baby. She was sharing about how much she loved growing up in a big family and how close she is with her siblings.

The good news of the visit: my track record of healthy teeth continues! I really thought my luck was going to have run out. But I've got to get to an orthodontist to get my permanent bottom retainer wire put back on. My fancy electric toothbrush loosened it more and more until it fell out.

The worst part of the visit: Thomas waking up in his stroller in the middle of my cleaning. He was hysterically crying and scared of all the equipment and people wearing masks! No stickers, Oreos, nursing or holding him would help, so they finished my cleaning while he sobbed in my lap.

I came home to a zoo of a house with my kind friends trying to help clean up. But 23 kids=a huge mess! Somehow I threw together quesadillas for dinner before collapsing into bed before anyone else in the family. Only to be woken up maybe 10 times in the night with kids who were thirsty or crying.

So what better way to continue my week than to take all four kids to the dentist Tuesday morning? At 8:00am. Instead of the 1:00pm for which we were actually scheduled. They graciously offered to squeeze in two of them. I misplaced the paperwork they'd mailed, so I spent half an hour filling that out while my kids had one of their first experiences with video games in the waiting room. They were so loud yelling at each other and the games, I could hardly think straight. I'm guessing at least one of the kids was given the wrong birthdate or phone number on the forms!

The kind office staff once again went out of their way and were able to fit the boys in after the girls had been seen. It took two hours in all, and Thomas wanted nothing to do with the evil mask-wearing, teeth-checking people, and was screaming hysterically again. I had to bribe Steven Joseph with a toy.

So let's continue the adventure and take the crew to Academy for the pool toy for SJ and Puddle Jumper floaties for Thomas! Why not? Let's throw in a beach ball, too. Maybe I'll survive the afternoon swim outing after all.

The kids were whining of hunger when we got back in the car, so a stop for a healthy (haha) snack at Sonic might help. Wrong. I got our grease and sugar and was ready to pull out and rush home before the much awaited swim lesson and pool playdate. But the car wouldn't shift out of park and some dash lights came on.

Daddy came to the rescue and after some time, he was finally able to disengage the dash lights and get the car to move. We drove it over to the dealership and are still awaiting diagnostics.

So as to not ruin our lunchtime plans, Daddy rushed us over to the pool where more kind people had mercy on me. The swim teacher gave SJ his first swim lesson even though we were over an hour late, and we all wore ourselves out in the sun! My ever-generous neighbor friend who I'll never repay drove us home so I didn't have to walk in the 100 degree heat. So thankful for that. I think SJ actually ended up with some heat exhaustion and spent the evening and entire night with fever and/or crying. Another great night's sleep for mom!

So now we're stuck at home without a car and I couldn't be happier. I'm hoping the rest of the week is much less eventful. We started the day off with poop in the tub, so it can only get better from here, right? I'm thinking of creating some great bribe to get the kids to do some chores, or at least pick up the wet swimwear and towels that are all over the house. Any ideas for rewards?

If you've made it this far, you are a true blog devotee and I thank you for humoring me with your readership. And now I must finish this post typed with my thumbs on my phone that I started last night. I think the animals might need to be fed. There will be a reward at the end of this week for all of you, but especially for me. It has something to do with my camera conundrum I've been whining about for months! Oh I can't wait! Hope your week is going better than mine!