What a day and what a guy!

Well it did not start out as the best day. I had to be at work early today because I had a meeting I could not miss. I had it all planned out in my head how things needed to go (what time I needed to get up, what time I needed to get Kaiya up and fed, so I could walk out the door on time, etc.), but as you mother's know, planning with a baby is something to laugh at! I got myself up and ready and got Kaiya all changed and started feeding her and then things went downhill. She was not eating well at all. In fact most of her bottle ended up spilling down the sides of her mouth while she was grunting and fussing and pushing, red face and all. So, I would pull the bottle out, burp her a bit, and wait till her body relaxed. But then it seemed that the moment I put the bottle back in her mouth, it was spilling out the sides again. She only made it through half of that. At this point, since it took me an hour to try to get her to swallow down only half the bottle, I was running out of time and needed to be getting out the door. I strapped her in, she seemed pretty asleep, so on our way we went. As I'm sitting at the light to turn into UVSC, while talking to Chris telling him about Kaiya's not so good feeding, I hear this projectile hurl from the backseat, followed by the coughing and choking that makes your heart stop. So, I drop the phone and with the one-handed mommy reach from the front seat, tried to help Kaiya catch her breath. Poor thing. You have to understand that she has spit up MAYBE 4 times since she was born, and this one was HUGE! Hence the reason it caused me major panic. I'm surprised it didn't cover the back window! So, with nowhere to go, surrounded by cars on both sides and stopped at the light, I sat there and waited for the light change, then hurried and parked at UVSC and rushed back to see the damage. Spit-up everywhere on the clothes and the carseat and blanket, Kaiya back asleep like nothing had happened, and me with about 10 minutes to get to my meeting. In the hurry of it all, I forgot to call Chris back and let him know that everything was ok. So, I got Kaiya as cleaned up as I could, left her with my good friend at work (who was a life-saver at this point) and ran off to my meeting, holding back my tears so I wouldn't have to deal with the "what's wrong?" questions. I was so wishing that I could just be at home, instead of having to rush off to a meeting or even be at work at all. When I came back to pick Kaiya up from my friend, there was Chris, standing there with a smile on his face. I don't think I have ever been so happy and relieved to see him. Once again, fighting back my tears, I gave him a hug and he just says, in his gentle and relaxing way, "I just came to take Kaiya for awhile so you could get the stuff done that you needed to today." He had left work, told his boss he needed the day off, and drove all the way home from Salt Lake an hour after he had arrived there, just to help me out. It may seem like a small thing, but for me today, it meant the world. I felt so much gratitude for my sweet guy and love him so much for all that he does for us. He took Kaiya home, got her all changed (she had also had an explosion out the other end) and when I talked to him a little while ago, all I could hear was baby Kaiya cooing in the background. Maybe she just needed her daddy today and he definitely came to the rescue!

I realized today that being a mommy and also trying to keep up with work is hard. I am fortunate to be able to take a lot of time off, but that also means that on the days I do come in, there is about 5 times as much stuff to do in about a fifth of the time. And Kaiya is usually sooo easy and sleeps the whole time so I can get my work done. But then there are also days when she wants to be awake and needs her mom when work needs her mom too, and those are the times when things get complicated. Don't get me wrong, I am one lucky girl and have very little to complain about. But today, I think I am feeling and experiencing what I'm sure so many of you have felt over and over and over again -- being a mom is the most rewarding and wonderful experience ever, but it is also HARD work!

And that's it. Just needed to get that out! It's funny, though, because now I can't wait to get back home and hold and kiss my baby girl! Ahhh....breathe!