Shots and Christmas!

What an odd title you might think. After the day I've had, it makes perfect sense.

The day started out normally, for us. Hope woke up, wandered into our room, and bugged us to take her potty. Matt groggily walked her into the bathroom, where she of course wouldn't pee. Took her back to bed only to have her appear at our bedside again to go potty. A more reasonable time too quickly arrived and she finally went pee on the potty. Matt decided he needed to stay home because of a bad cold.

We got the kids up, dressed, and fed. Then came the fun of dragging all four of them to the doctor's. I should have woken Matt up and left Hope home. The kids are forever trying to convince us to get a puppy. Often they play at one or more being puppies. This morning they all were puppies, except Amelia. I walked out the door to the accompaniment of barking "puppies." This set off every dog on our street, because everyone's windows were open.

The examine rooms in the pediatrician's office echo. My children know this and thus our stay is pierced by high pitched, loud noises. A normal visit for us. Amelia had her 9 month check up. Samuel and Elizabeth had their school physicals. Then came the shots. Samuel received one. He took it well, although he gave the nurse a disgruntled look. Amelia started screaming when the nurse wiped her leg with the alcohol wipe. She calmed down shortly. Elizabeth I had to hold down and she did not calm down for a long time.

It is a terrible thing to hold your screaming child. While the whole time they are begging you not to do something to them. It almost broke my resolve. I couldn't let her see me cry and I couldn't back down. I've seen how horrible viruses can be if you are not vaccinated. While I may hate myself still for causing her pain, she's forgotten all about it and proudly showed her sparkly band aids to Daddy.

To de-stress I started working on a Christmas present. I've found that playing the piano or working on needle work is relaxing for me. Playing the piano used to be, now I play a quartet, not relaxing. I'm making most of my Christmas presents this year, which I've found I enjoy. It's not necessarily cheaper, but more rewarding.

Now onto something currently stressful, writing. I feel immense pressure to get everything out, but it does not come very well. I equate it with giving birth, at least the horror stories of giving birth. I've never been in labor longer than 8 hours from first contraction to holding the baby. There is something inside of me that is wonderful and it needs to come out. I'm built to get it out, but it's not very easy.