This weekend was a nightmare. It was really one of those times when the saying "loving your kid is not leaving them outside for the wolves" really hit home. We arrived at 8:30. I fed Athena and left to go see my Mom for a little with the baby while Tim settled Morella at the hotel and put her to bed. It was already way past her bedtime.

Making this quick.

I went to Mom's, had a visit and left when it was apparent she was tired and needed some sleep. PLus it was like 11:30 and Athena and I needed sleep as well. I get back to the hotel and was shocked when I opened the door to see Morella climbing out of her pack and play and running around, yapping -- wide awake. We got ready for bed as fast we could. Tim said that he tried earlier and she screamed bloody murder. Well, she did it again. We tried ignoring her, giving into her request of turning on every single effin' light ... her demands were ridiculous and wouldn't stop and waiting her out would have meant more than the hour and half of screaming we put our neighbor hotel dwellers through. Did I mentioned the hotel was booked up? It was because of college and high school homecoming.

Finally, I turned off all the lights except the bathroom. Told Tim to lay by Athena, and took Morella out for a drive at 12:45 in the morning. We drove around for about 20 minutes before we got back. She slept for the drive but was awake immediately upon parking. I picked her up and walked the halls a little before going in the room. Then I put her in the pack and play and laid down in the bed next to it without saying a word. She was awake for another 30 minutes or so -- but not hysterical and eventually went to sleep. Four hours later she was up yelling hysterically at 6:00. Sigh.

She finally settled down after Tim took her for breakfast (she didn't eat) and a drive and they returned at around 8:00. IN fact, she barely ate or drank all day. She was on the edge and would meltdown for 10-20 minutes at a time for the smallest infraction. Clearly she was extremely overtired. Thankfully, she did fall asleep in the car for two hours or so in the afternoon while I stayed at my Mom's and visited. My brother Shane was totally awesome and held Athena (along with my Mom) and talked the whole time. Meanwhile I worked on helping her clean up the kitchen a bit and tried to clear off some spaces. I thought it was a good visit despite the fact that as the day progressed Mom started to fall asleep halfway through things -- a lot. It was like she was a narcoleptic. Shane told her to take her blood sugar (she did) and eat (she did). But she was so tired and then at the end admitted to external bleeding that started up yesterday AND to taking vicodin, which had 500mg tylenol per pill in it. Shane asked her how many she took and she said "10".

Ten in the course of 24-36 hours. :( The doctors has told her to quit taking it and she thought they did that because they were "being mean." She did have another pain management medicine but forgot about it because it wasn't in her name. As in, she and Frank have the same pre...oh I'm just gonna stop. The point is, she is taking more tyenol and ... and ... oh the nurse had called to do a followup that morning too and she told them she was fine and dandy. Even though really, she is in a lot of pain, extremely tired, no appetite and experiencing external bleeding.

So in sum. I was feeling better about the visit, thinking I had really nothing to worry about and that she would make it juts fine to Thanksgiving, but now I am not so sure. It's so hard for her to follow doctor instructions and take medicine appropriately. It's as if she needs a constant nurse there to keep track of all these things. At that point however, we had to go because it was almost 5:00 and Morella was melting down again.

We made it to Eau Claire with Athena howling the entire way and spurts of Morella joining in. Stopped for dinner at Noodles and went on our way. This time Athena cried for 35 minutes before passing out and eventually Morella went to sleep around 8ish. Got home, put her to bed, fed Athena and then realized the thrush is back on me. I have a huge red rash, very itchy rash on one breast -- oh it just sucks. So I am treating myself with gentian violet. Morella isn't showing any signs of it so I am going to skip her -- besides she is getting GV from me.

This morning Tim walked into Morella's room to discover she had vomited a big white, gooey mess. I guess it's a good thing she didn't eat last night? I don't know. Maybe she is sick with the thing that is going around, maybe it was stress from the weekend...who knows. In any case, we are staying home today. I hope Morella takes a long nap this afternoon.

Athena is awake now. My purpled face little baboon.

ETA - Had to do a complete outfit change because of a giant diaper failure on Athena's part -- for both her and me. Yuck.