And the day is not over yet

Sundays are usually so routine, so comfortable, so dependable. It just seemed like one thing after the next. I'll see if I can remember it all.

It started out great. We actually got all of us dressed and in the car at the right time. Praise team rehearsal went well. I filled in for one of our sopranos who just had back surgery. I got the kids to class. Sounds great so far, right?

Today was the blood drive at church. A few weeks earlier, I had signed up to donate during class time. Since I wasn't scheduled to sing on the praise team, I would have plenty of time to get back to church. Even if I did have to fill in, I should still have plenty of time, since I signed up for an early time.

I forgot that I had to have my driver's license in hand, so I had to run back to the car, which was locked. My keys were in the diaper bag in the nursery, so I just ran and grabbed John's. No big deal.

I returned, filled out my crazy questionnaire and held my breath while they pricked my finger to check the iron levels. There's always a part of me that hopes my iron will be too low so that I won't have to donate, but that's only happened once, and it wasn't the case today. 14.2. Yea me.

"Definitely my left," I answered nervously when they asked which arm. I had a bad experience with the right arm once in college, so I've done the left ever since.

I had a jacket on, so I asked if I should take it off. The lady asked, "Do you have a shirt on underneath?" Really? Would I offer to take my jacket off if I didn't?! I really wanted to answer, "Nope! Is that a problem?" but I refrained and just said "yes" with a smile.

The lady next to me was donating for the first time. "It's no big deal!" I reassured her, hoping to reassure myself as well. "We've given birth! This is nothing!"

The "blood sucker" prepped my arm and then I felt "a little stick." "Hmmm ..." she said as she turned the needle. I started feeling a little bit queasy. "Hang on a sec," she said as she went to get the person who really knows what they're doing. Why couldn't I have just started out with him?

He came over and took the needle and started moving it around some more. I started wondering if I had accidentally signed up for liposuction in my arm. I told both blood suckers that I was feeling pretty queasy, and the first one hurried over to get two ice packs and put one behind my neck and one on my chest. Then they flung my feet up in the air, because I guess that helps.

The second blood sucker said to the first, "I don't think this side is going to work. If she's willing," as if I weren't sitting right there, "you could try the other arm." The first shrugged and then went to work getting the needle out. "Do you think we could try the other arm? This one doesn't seem to be working very well." she said as if I had missed what the other guy had just said. "Sure," I said, and managed a smile.

Of course that meant I needed to gather my stuff and walk over to another chair for "right arm-ers." I hadn't lost too much blood at this point, so I wasn't light-headed, and most of the queasiness had gone away.

Thankfully, the right one seemed to work beautifully and my bag was full in about 10 minutes.

Unfortunatly, I was running late for church. Remember, I was supposed to sing on the praise team. I got in there as John was asking everyone to stand for the next song, so that made my entrance with two neon green bandages on my elbows a little less noticable.

But when I got down to the front row (we don't stand on the stage just yet ;)) Chelsea was filling in for me, which was great! But I didn't know what to do! She quickly slid out of the pew and handed me the mic and I tried not to be obviously light-headed. I had rushed out of the gym after giving blood without eating a snack or getting a drink to try to make it to church on time. Perhaps not the best idea.

Thankfully, I made it through the service without fainting, although I did have to take some pretty deep breaths when we "stood and sang" right after the sermon. I was seeing a lot of black there for a while, but got it to go away!

Then we went to Fazoli's for lunch. Yummy. What could go wrong there? We got water for the kids, but unfortunately there were no lids for the water cups. You see where this is going.

Two spills later I was regaining my composure when I tried to take the cap off of Jonas's bottle. Apparently the lid wasn't screwed down all the way, so the entire top came off and the botttle contents landed in my lap. I could hear Jonas screaming back at the table as I headed to the bathroom to fix another bottle and try to dry off my pants. John gave him a breadstick and all was well.

We finished up lunch and started heading home.

The bluebonnets in Tyler are just beautiful right now. Every spring since we moved here I have wanted to get a picture of the kids in the bluebonnets, but always forget or it's inconvenient for whatever reason, and then they're gone before I know it.

However, today, I planned ahead! I got my camera AND extra batteries so that after lunch we could swing by a pretty patch and take some pics.

When I got Jonas out of the van, I could smell the diaper. I couldn't see anything, so I just figured it could wait until we got home.

I told Johnathan to "come sit right here," as I pointed to the perfect spot. He did and then yelled out, "OUCH!" He sat down right on some really sharp sticker burs. We pulled them out of his pants and moved over slightly. No sitckers there, thankfully. Kalleigh sat down beside him and then I put Jonas in front. John and I make all sorts of goofy faces to get their attention. When I thought the time was right, I pushed the button and heard a weird "beep." "NO CARD," my screen said. Amazing.

We got back in the van and went home. By the time we got there, Jonas's diaper had leaked out and gotten all over his onesie. Of course it had.

It is now 1:40 pm. I think all of the children are asleep. John and I are going to play Batman on the Wii and chill out for a while before we head back into town for Life Group.

Wish us luck. There are still 6 more hours before we put the children back to bed and try to tell ourselves that it's okay to have three kids under 5.