Routine Interrupted

So that routine I went on about on Sunday got all screwed up Sunday night when Cora woke up every 15 minutes from 2 a.m. to 7 a.m. all sniffling and sobbing and feverish. She was definitely not herself and I thought for sure it was an ear infection, so I called the pediatrician right away this morning to make an appointment and then Cora and I spent all day- ALL day- snuggling on our rocking chair watching reruns of Season 5 of Top Chef.

I didn't really mind, but each arm did go numb several times and any attempt at shifting Cora to a cozy papasan chair or boppy pillow or heaven forbid her own beloved crib was met with immediate whimpers and epic sad face, so we continued the cuddles. I took the occasional selfie just to keep myself company and wished that my highly anticipated new JR Ward book was coming out today instead of tomorrow.

I did go to barre this morning, proving the completion of an epic change in my personal mindset regarding exercise (this form of it anyway)- when I realized I'd need to stay home because JP is super busy on Mondays and Cora was too miserable to be anywhere except in one of our arms, my first thought was, "Alright! Now I can go to [super hard teacher's] 8 a.m. Monday class!" And it was super hard and then I sat for hours and froze all my muscles and now it hurts far more than necessary to do things like walk. On the upside, I got to wear the new maxi skirt outfit I bought on Saturday, which I adore, and makes me wonder why I took so long to ever buy one. So cute! So PJ-like! And despite spending the last decade convinced they look terrible on me, I no longer find them offensive, and even if I did, I wouldn't care, because they are SO COMFY. And they're comfy-cute, which is my favorite kind of comfortable.

Pajama-like and casual chic; it doesn't get better

I even got Claire a maxi dress from Old Navy because I couldn't resist and when she saw it she exclaimed, "Oh Mommy, it's just like you, AND the princesses!".  Just like.

After a forever-long trip to the pediatrician, Cora was diagnosed with "definitely not an ear infection- maybe a cold? maybe just mad about the antibiotics she just finished taking? hard to say." She is definitely not herself, so I'm not sure what we'll do tomorrow. I do know that despite sleeping a grand total of 2 hours today, all in tiny bits and pieces, and all within my arms, she is TOTALLY ready to party right now at 10 p.m.

This evening, after dinner but before JP got home (Mondays are his latest night), I sent the kids out to play, finally got Cora to pass out in her bed for a half hour, and went to start on the dishes. As I was holding the first plate, I thought, what am I doing? And I set it back down, picked up my half glass of wine, and took it outside to sit by the kids' playground. They were delighted, "Mom, you're HERE!!" and I got to see every single trick they have, and many more I'm pretty sure they made up on the spot. The weather was gorgeous- 70 with a slight breeze, and the evening light was perfect. I watched and sipped and clapped and only occasional yelled out, "careful!!". JP pulled up at 7:30 and even though that's usually when we're on the books portion of the bedtime routine, he just came and sat next to me so we could talk and watch the kids some more. Everyone was in bed by 8:15 and he ate dinner standing over the counter while I did the dishes.  It was not the routine, but today, it was perfect.

Now if we can get more than 4 hours of cobbled together sleep tonight, we'll hopefully jump back to the usual routine tomorrow.  But even with the sad baby and arm tinglies and the using up a precious post-maternity leave sick day, today wasn't too bad of a detour.