whew!
June 23rd, 2007 |Sometimes, at the end of the day, you just shake your head and wonder how you got through it all.
When Toddler Smithers was born I was operating on insufficient sleep due to the fact that I decided to install new firmware on my Treo 650 the night before he was delivered. I had plenty of notice that he was on the way, I just decided to get this project done because I thought it would only take 30 minutes and ended up taking 4 hours. Dumb-ass.
I was determined not to make the same mistake this time. Mrs. Smithers was scheduled for a c-section on June 29th and I figured this would give me plenty of time to bank some sleep before the new baby made her arrival. I have been sleeping in the spare bedroom for the last few months as Mrs. Smithers’ pregnancy induced snoring has made it impossible to sleep in the same room with her. So, with advance notice, lots of rest and my own room in which to sleep undisturbed I knew that I would be fresh and ready for the new little baby!
There was just one obstacle in my way, a late planned business trip out to California. I had some things to get settled out there before the fall trade show and I knew that my only real opportunity to get out there was before the birth. I was scheduled to fly out Sunday evening and arrive back home Tuesday night. It was awfully close to the delivery date but Mrs. Smithers and Baby were testing in the green at every doctors visit and so I had the all clear from Mrs. Smithers to make the trip.
I stayed up past 1am Thursday night trying to wrap up some projects that I wanted to get done before the trip and finally got to sleep around 2am. At 5am Mrs. Smithers came busting in with the announcement “Baby Today!” Holy crap, three hours of sleep. WTF!? I guess little baby does not want me to travel this week.
I fell out of bed and drug myself to the bathroom in order to relieve my three hours full bladder, flushed the toilet which then proceeded to flood the bathroom. We have owned this house for over 5 years and this toilet has never overflowed until this morning. I mopped up, cleaned up, got dressed and then took on Toddler Smithers.
He sleeps pretty sound until around 7am most mornings and if there is one thing he hates it’s being woken up. Just like his mother. Never-the-less, we had to get a move on. I can’t say that he was totally stoked to be awakened but, sensing that something was going on, he seemed to make the best of the situation.
Off to the hospital we went and everything went smooth as glass in regards to the delivery. Toddler Smithers was picked up by his Auntie Smithers to spend the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Smithers and our brand new Baby Smithers was birthed without a single hitch or hiccup.
After a few hours of getting settled in to our room and getting baby cleaned up and fed I decided to go home for a couple of hours to take care of the dog and grab some items that we had forgotten to take with us in our haste to leave that morning. The first thing I did upon walking in the door at home is to let doggie out in the backyard to blow off some steam from being stuck inside all day. I then spent the next hour collecting items that Mrs. Smithers needed, cancelling my travel plans and wrapping up a few things around the house.
It started to rain outside so I went to whistle doggie back into the house. There is not a clear view of the whole backyard from our back door so I yelled for doggie and whistled for a few minutes but he was not coming to the door. A thought flashed into my head and my heart sank thinking of the possibility that the side gate to our backyard fence might be open. We have been having a lawn service come by and sometimes they don’t close the gate when they leave. A quick peak out the side window of the house confirmed my fear, the gate was open and doggie was gone.
The rain was coming down now in buckets and I had no idea how long the dog had been out and where he might be. I struggled to keep my composure as I put on my rain jacket and walked outside to try and find him. Checking the busy streets, side streets and alleys I spend nearly 30 minutes walking around in the pouring rain whistling and calling his name to no avail. How was I going to be able to go back to the hospital and tell Mrs. Smithers that I lost the dog? Approaching the point of lowest moral I walked down one more alley calling his name. Suddenly I saw, way down the alley, his doggie face pop out from behind someone’s garage. As soon as he saw me he came running towards me with, it seemed, just as much relief to be found as I had in finding him. It was raining so hard that he must not have been able to hear me calling for him and by the time I got him back in the house we were both completely soaked. At least I did not lose the dog.
Everything else for the balance of the evening went just fine. Baby is doing great, Mrs. Smithers is up and walking around. The grandparents brought Toddler Smithers down for a visit and he seemed to have a good time but was not too interested at all in his sister. Just you wait little dude, you got no idea what is coming.
Ah life, what an adventure.
