sometimes, it starts with a fall ...

Thursdays have a reputation of being a bit of a challenge for me. I'm constantly running around like a chicken with her head cut off. Usually, by 5 p.m., I am ready for EVERYONE in my house to be tucked away in bed. But in the past few months, I have been trying to simplify my life. Preserving the things that I hold closest to my heart and eliminating the things that are, well let's just say, less important. And this has paid off. I have greatly reduced the amount of stress in my life, which makes everyone around here happier.

Until yesterday. Yesterday was a completely different story.

I probably should have known it was coming. I was scheduled to work in the classroom at the girls' preschool. That means that we need to be there even earlier than usual. And the girls (a.k.a. my alarm clock) woke up late. This left me scrabbling for help. Fortunately, J hadn't left for his business trip, because his help got me out of the door only two minutes behind schedule.

I had planned on squeezing in my run after I dropped off the girls (I needed to be back there at 10:40 to be in the class), but on my way there it occurred to me that Doodle's birthday party was Friday afternoon. As in one day away. And I had done NOTHING. The house was a mess. Nothing was prepped. I hadn't even figured out what we were going to do at said party. So, I changed my mind and headed home with Dilly. I put her down for a nap and tried to get organized. It kind of worked. But Dilly wasn't really cooperating.

45 minutes later we headed back to the preschool (it's a 20 minute drive from our house), and things calmed down. I was mentally prepping for the afternoon and all I had to accomplish. We were seconds away from leaving school, when Doodle had to go to the bathroom. I ran back in with her and left Dizzle with friends on the playground (hers and mine). The next thing I know, I hear crying. And I am positive that it is coming from my child. I lifted my head to find the President of the school with a crying Dizzle, who had, and I quote "taken a pretty hard fall."

FANTASTIC! I cleaned her up and headed out to the car. But on the way, I realized that she was holding her arm weird. All up against her body. And she was favoring the other side. I had seen that behavior before. It was last January. Also after a "pretty hard fall." That time, she ended up looking like this: (For the story click HERE)

Um, yeah. Fun, right? Long story short, I called up G. Asked her if she could take my other kids. And took Dizzle to the ER. This time, she ended up looking like this:

And again, they told me it was not broken BUT elbows fractures are really hard to read, especially on someone her size. (SHOCKER!!) So, we should have a follow up appointment in a couple days to get another read (in January, this follow-up appointment showed a break). Until then she is rocking a soft cast.

Things got better after that. Doodle only threw a 10 minute tantrum when leaving G's (biting, hitting and pinching included). It was super! I was half expecting G to rip me away from Doodle and strap her in her car seat for me. Eventually, I got her in. But the screaming continued. THE.ENTIRE.WAY.HOME. It was 5 p.m. and I was so DONE.

Sick and tired of all the whining, I fed them all and put them in bed. EARLY. At which point, I headed to my treadmill. I needed to burn off some steam. And I did. 6.2 miles in 50:38. Hardest run of my life. (But, that's just a teaser. More on that run at a later date.)

It was a long day. Ever since Dizzle fell, I felt like I, too, was falling into that abyss called negativity. The party is still not planned. Nothing is done. I've barely cleaned. I kind of feel like today is going to be a climb ...