I promised I wouldn't do this again. I promised I would update more often. Life just seems to be getting in the way. I know, excuses, excuses....but in all honesty, it wasn't just a week, it was the week. The week that will go down in Family O history. The week of extreme highs, lows, excitement, and stress. There was no gray area, just either or. I'm glad it's over and I'm beginning to feel somewhat normal again. Thank goodness for that.
I did know in advance that it was going to be one of those weeks. We were scheduled to close on our house that Thursday and the large home loan entity we had chosen to go with (although a great deal as far as our pocketbook, not so much well known for customer service) was not holding up their end of the bargain by communicating with our realtor or the title company. I knew each day was going to be filled with frantic phone calls between everyone involved, but I really thought that if I could stay on top of everyone and gave it my all, it would happen on time. And in my mind, it had to happen on time, because Baby O had a doctors appointment the same day, I had an appointment the next day and was also trying to coordinate another Kindergarten event that was to take place that Friday afternoon.
NERD AT HEART
Anticipating the stress, I started off early Sunday morning with a long solo run. It was pretty fantastic and everything was going my way. On the way back home, I happened to spot a somewhat flattened coral snake on the side of the road. Having only ever seen this elusive species in pictures, I ran home with an extra skip to my stride, excited beyond belief to share this with the boys. This is where it's pretty awesome to be married to a fellow biologist-because as soon as I entered the house yelling, "You won't believe what I just saw on the side of the road-A CORAL SNAKE!", my husband didn't blink an eye, didn't try to dissuade me, he responded by saying, "Cool, where are the keys to the car? Let's go check that sucker out."
And here they are, still in their pajamas, checking that sucker out. Even though it had clearly kicked the bucket, coral snakes are venomous so we kept our distance and used it as an opportunity to educate both boys on why it's smart to keep your distance and maintain a healthy respect for all things wild. Then we went home and ate some pancakes.
Monday started off great. No stress, nothing too scheduled, just house related phone calls. Not even getting the e-mail that soccer practice would start the following day threw me off. I was on top of it and proud of it.
Tuesday was also right on target. More crazy back and forth phone calls about closing, but again, not unexpected and still in control. We got good news that someone was coming to look at our rental the next day and the first soccer practice went great. As always it was fun to watch Boy O enjoy himself and in his element.
THE UNRAVELING
Then came Wednesday. In my mind, I was still on top of it...and then I remembered someone was coming to look at the house. I had time, they were coming around 11am, so I dropped Boy O off at school, put a 'Thomas' DVD in for Baby O and began to clean house. I skipped breakfast, treated myself to a coca cola and cleaned until I could do no more. Baby O and I even reorganized each closet by color (yes, I have been told that I'm nuts, but it just looks better), re stacked the pantry to give the illusion of order, placed all the extra toys into the garage and swept the front and back porch.
We were exhausted by the time they came to check out the house and as I lay down for a nap after they left, I received the call from our agent saying the title company still hadn't received any paperwork from the bank.
Well, poop.
Then I had to call the bank, who insisted the paperwork had been sent. Then I had to call the title company who said they still hadn't received it. Then I called the bank who blamed it on the underwriters. Then I called the agent. Then I called the title company again who gave me the deadline of 4 pm or no closing the next day. Then I called the bank....
This went on until about 5 pm, everyone insisting they had either sent the paperwork at the eleventh hour or not received it. I finally called our agent in tears and said I had done everything possible and that we should just reschedule for the following Monday. I was done.
Almost magically about an hour later, our agent called and said everyone had gotten what they needed, was staying late and closing would occur at 10 am as scheduled. Sighs of relief all around and I sat down. I was still feeling a bit stressed and had some lower back pain from running around like a crazy lady all day, but things were going as planned and it would all be over soon anyway. Distractions came easy that evening-Boy O lost one of his front teeth after dinner-he was so excited and mighty cute with the large gap in his smile. Baby O was excited too and was also sure the tooth fairy was going to pay him a visit as well.
UNRAVELED
It had been a long day and we called it a night. I tossed and turned for a few hours and at midnight knew something was wrong. I had a lot of back pain. I have a history of kidney trouble and have become very adept at identifying infections before medical intervention is needed, but this time the symptoms were different and I didn't recognize it was too late. Or maybe I had just been to busy. Long story short, I drove myself to the hospital (I didn't want to make everyone come to the ER in the middle of the night) and thought that worse case scenario, I would be back in a few hours with a dose of antibiotics and in need of a few hours sleep. Apparently, kidney infections are much more serious when the person is pregnant, and by three o'clock in the morning I was informed that I would be staying for a minimum of 48 hours. We were lucky-the infection had not spread to any other organs and Newbie O and I were just fine. It scared me though. I had no idea that a kidney infection could spread to my lungs and cause preterm labor.
Unraveled complete. I was alone, had at least six needles stuck into my body by that point, an IV, a catheter and hadn't slept in almost 24 hours. I had taken the car with the car seats, forgotten whether I had remembered to play tooth fairy, knew that closing on our house wasn't possible, doctor appointments and play dates would need to be rescheduled and someone else would have to take over trying to organize volunteers for Kindergarten. On top of that, Daddy O (deep sleeper that he is) had fallen back asleep and was not stirred in the least by the phone ringing beside him. Certainly not one of my best moments-sniffling to anyone who came into my room and leaving increasingly desperate/not so nice messages on Daddy O's cellphone.
All was forgiven when Daddy O did wake up and since I had taken the car seats with me, we thought it best to go on as normal as possible, drop Boy O off at school and a wonderful friend down the street offered to drive Daddy O and Baby O to the hospital. Both of us were just so tired. We let our real estate agent know that closing would not be possible and took care of everything else in a matter of minutes. What a relief to just let it all go.
It's a funny thing when you let things go like that-in our case, we needn't have worried, our agent (who is amazing) took over and arranged it so the closing came to us. By 11 am everyone marched on into the hospital and Daddy O and I closed on our new home right there on the tray over my hospital bed. Done and done.
Daddy O took over from there, taking off work, making sure the boys were doing well and of course visiting me several times a day. I was worried about the boys and their reaction to such a sudden change, but they didn't miss a beat, they enjoyed my new digs-especially the cable television and adjustable bed. By Friday, Daddy O was a well-oiled machine and took care of getting the boys ready for Texas Day (yes, another Kindergarten celebration....it never ends). I think he did one heckuvva job.
He called me that afternoon during the boot races, lassoing contests, saddle and hay rides to tell me that he was exhausted from all the Kinder chaos. Needless to say, the boys had a blast and I got to hear all about it later that afternoon.
By Saturday I was feeling much better and was released after my last dose of antibiotics. I made it just in time to see Boy O's first soccer game of the season. As always, he was amazing and took control of that ball from the moment he stepped onto the field. I stopped counting after four goals. The other team didn't know what had hit them.
IT'S ALL GOOD
And finally after all the stress and strange events of the week, we made it out to the new house, sat on the porch, took a deep breath and enjoyed our view. They say Texas is a state of feast or famine and I
can say for sure that we were full after the events that passed so quickly during
the week. In time we can hopefully catch our breath and prepare for the big move into our new home. I'm looking forward to it.
