And My Baby's Home Again

Brady is home tonight from his field trip. In one piece, not that I was terribly worried he wouldn't be. And the first thing he could say was that he had a horrible day. All because I forgot to send him $5 to spend in the gift shop.

I forgot. I even stopped by the bank yesterday specifically to get money so that he could take it with him. I still forgot to get it out of my purse and put it in his pocket. And I felt horrible when I realized it this morning, but short of chasing down the bus and hoping it would stop after leaving twenty minutes late was asking a bit much.

This is the third year in a row that one of my children have taken this trip to Nashville to the science museum. This is the first year that we received a last minute note about the field trip. It seems that the flu has taken hold of the kids school and has hit third grade especially hard. Because of this, they would be taking the kids temperatures before they boarded the bus and any student with a fever would have to go home. If your child got sick while on the trip, someone had to be ready to come and get them at a moments notice. I cringed just knowing that Brady would either get up sick or come down with it while in Nashville. Lucky for us, he didn't. Last night, I argued with the kids. The boys mainly.

"Go to bed! We've got to get up early in the morning."

"Get back in bed! You're not going to want to get up."

You get the picture. It was like that until 9 when I finally threatened to call Brady's teacher and let her know that he would not be going on the trip. I didn't see him again for the night. I spent the evening struggling to stay awake as I put them to bed, tried to get them to stay in bed and talked to Hubby. Finally at ten, I made my way to bed only for my eyes to pop wide open as soon as my head hit the pillow. Again. It was almost twelve before I finally gave up my fight and fell asleep only for the cat to wake me at 1:30 to go outside. I could've cried when the alarm went off at 5:30 this morning. So I got up, showered and made myself presentable so I could drop three kids off at school without looking like a rag-a-muffin. I made sure all three kids were fully dressed, hair combed, teeth brushed, deodorant used and book bags in tow. I fixed Brady's lunch for his field trip and made sure he walked out the door with it and the books he was taking to keep him occupied. But. I. Forgot. His. Spending. Money.

Overall, he enjoyed the science museum. The minute I asked him about it, the tears stopped, his eyes lit up and he couldn't wait to tell me about everything he did and saw. Then I heard where they ate for dinner before coming home. Usually the teachers plan for the kids to eat around the Kentucky/Tennessee line but this time they had a surprise for the kids. This year, they got to eat at the Rainforest Cafe. He got a part of the field trip that Bryce and Belle didn't get to have. And he loved it.

Tonight, after I finally got him out of the shower, Brady came into the living room, sat down on the couch beside me and said, "Mom, I'm hungry and I'm cold and I don't know if I'm going to make it." The power of hunger. It's so powerful, he may succumb to it by breakfast. So I cut him an apple and put him to bed, which is where I'm now headed for the night.