Horrible Mother

Last Thursday I woke up with a bad case of the stomach flu. As I stumbled through the morning routine I remembered I was supposed to chaperone a field trip to the Arch for Katy's class on Friday. As the day wore on, I tried to convince Jared to take a day off and go in my place. Just my luck, he was training 2 new payroll assistants and had to be in the office. Friday I awoke feeling much better and ventured off with the second graders to the Arch. All in all I felt pretty good considering that I wanted to curl up and die the day before. By the time I got home though I was EXHAUSTED. I put the two little kids down for a nap and curled up under my covers with a good book. Hoping for a little rest before the older 2 returned home. At 3:20 the phone rang. It was the school nurse. She informed me that Katy was in her office for the second time. (I had only left the school after returning from her field trip an 1 1/2 hour ago. I had noticed she was clingy during the excursion but this was ridiculous!). The nurse continued to say that Katy didn't have a fever but was complaining of a stomach ache. Katy had requested that the nurse call me so I could pick her up. I looked at the clock- school was over on 10 minutes. I thought about my options. Option 1- Be the nice mom. Drag my tired aching body out of bed, wake up the little kids, load them in the car, unload them to go in the school, reload them after getting Katy, bring Katy home so she doesn't have to ride the bus, maybe beat the bus home (though it would be close), and then have the privilege of dealing with two grumpy, whiny, nap-deprived children all evening OR
Option 2- Let Katy sit in the nurse's office 10 more minutes until she boards the bus for the short trip home (we're one of the 1st stops), stay in my warm bed, let the kids sleep longer so we can all have a peaceful evening later, and HOPE that Katy really isn't sick and that she won't puke all over the bus. Decisions, decisions. I heard myself asking "will I be the worst mom ever if I don't come get her?" To which the reply was "No, I think she'll be fine" "Okay just put her on the bus then" I answered.

Twenty minutes later I heard the groan of the bus brakes. I opened the door to let the girls in to find my 5 yr old staring at me with a disgusted look she is famous for, and no 7 yr old to be seen. But then I heard her! Xandy stepped out of the way just in time for me to witness Part 2 of Katy puking all over the front porch. When she finally stopped she looke up, glared and me, and sobbed "thats why I needed picked up!". I felt like a million dollars. Aren't I the best mom ever? People are lining up to give me awards for my selfless acts of motherhood. I helped her inside, brought her a change of clothes (comfy sweats even), made her a makeshift bed on the couch, retrieved her Slider Kid's meal pail aka the puke bucket, and turned on "Twitches". Now it was time to be a great wife! I picked up the phone, called Jared and said "you might want to come in through the garage when you get home. Oh, and by the way, Katy left a present on the porch that needs cleaned up when you get here" With that, I got the other kids settled playing in the toy room, drug my tired body up to my bed and slid under my warm blankets, hoping no one would drop by to visit until after Jared got home.
Bet you are all glad I don't have a camera anymore!!