Calgon, Take Me Away

If any of you have recently been on Facebook, you will see that my status says "This is not how I pictured my weekend". I can't say it any better than that. I was so looking forward to a nice, beautiful, long weekend. I got the long weekend, but not the nice part which is making it hard to enjoy the beautiful part.
Let's just recap here:
Friday: Wake up late, my back is killing me from being up with Cooper most of the night. He's obviously not feeling well but I really need to go in to work to get a few things tied up because I'm off Monday. I take him to my mom's armed with a couple of donut holes and a movie. She e-mails a few hours later to ask what she can give him for his runny nose. He's not eating, not playing much and miserable. Great. I leave work early to take him to the doctor. Diagnosis: what else but bilateral ear infections -AGAIN. So we're off to CVS for antibiotics. I realize that I'm for sure getting what I had coming since I plagued my own parents with countless ear infections when I was a kid. By now Cooper is completely miserable and I have yet to pick McKenna up from my mom's and get at least a few groceries. I give up and come home...both will have to wait. At home I plan to put Cooper in for a nap, but he's not having any of that. He cries so I hold him. He cries some more, so I try rocking him. He continues to cry so I put on a movie. Nothing is helping. Soon we're both going to cry. I try singing to him (for what that's worth) and it works a little. After about an hour he's fallen asleep. Unfortunately that lasts for all of 20 minutes and we're right back where we started. This goes on for most of the evening and into the night. Both Cooper and I sleeping fitfully in all rooms of the house until the morning when Earl gets up and sends me back to bed. I wake up Saturday morning, my entire body stiff from sleeping on the couch half the night...but I'm ready to go. Silly Me!
Saturday morning is met with tears from not only Cooper, but McKenna too. She's sick is what you're probably thinking. I can almost say that I wish that were the case. No, she's 5 and she's apparently going to start arguing with me about what she wants to wear. In the case of Saturday morning it was a tank top that led to our demise. I want more than anyone else to put on summer clothes (well, maybe that's a stretch. It would be nice to lose a few pounds first) however it's a little too soon. So, after much argument McKenna found herself punished to her room until she could turn off the tears and get along with everyone. Let me just tell you that it's Sunday afternoon and we're still working on that. Today it wasn't the outfit, but the fact that she wanted to wash rocks in a bucket of water at 10am.
To some of you it might not sound like an all together bad weekend, and I guess it isn't. I guess maybe I'm just tired of cleaning up mud, washing clothes (that have mud on them), wiping noses, doing dishes, cleaning up yogurt raisins that Cooper tried to feed the dog, cleaning up more mud...I'll spare you the rest of the details. Let's just say I've not been able to get a single thing done. We've been in damage control mode since Friday. So, there you have it, the reason for the title of my post. Which by the way...do they still make Calgon or am I really dating myself?
It's good to remember that I am lucky to have kids and a dog and a brand new muddy front yard. I am, deep down, thankful for all of these things. Thankful that Cooper only has an ear infection and not something much worse. Thankful that I have three days to spend with them even if they are driving me crazy. Thankful that I have friends like you who will surely laugh at me when you read this, but are just there to listen. Thankful that I have been blessed with everything I could possibly ask for...except maybe less mud and someone to come clean my carpets. But that too will come with time (Earl doesn't know it yet, but he's going to be cleaning these carpets next week during his vacation. Sounds fun huh?)
So, I guess I'll check in on Facebook and change my status to something a little more upbeat...at least until the next time Cooper is crying and the dog tracks in more mud.