Happy Pandemonium Day!

I learned today that July 14th is Pandemonium Day. A day to celebrate chaos and disorganization - two things I have tried to avoid my entire life and two things that now, with a 10-week old, are inevitable.

The day started like any other, I drag my lifeless body out of bed and begin getting ready. No sooner has the mascara brush hit my lashes then my Pumpkin wakes up with a scream as though she hasn't eaten in weeks. In reality it had only been three hours, but that is neither here nor there because my baby was starving. The morning continues like any other in this new mommy life of mine, nothing too exciting or stressful. At this point, I'm still unaware that it is, in fact, pandemonium day.

We get out the door without too many tears (from either of us) and arrive at the daycare. When we pull up I see lots of mommies and kids leaving the daycare. I check the clock, realizing in my exhaustion that it is not beyond me to be arriving at closing time without remembering I had been through an entire day of work. But, no, it is 7:45 AM, so I haven't gone completely crazy. Not yet anyway.

One of the exiting mommies approaches my car and informs me that the A/C is out in the daycare. At the time it was 81 degrees. At 82 degrees the state requires them to send the kids home. We are welcome to leave our children for 1 degree. In Louisiana in July, I doubt I can even make it the two blocks to my office before that change occurs so let the pandemonium begin.

Now, my job is pretty flexible. Unless I have a court appearance or deposition, most of my work can be done from home. Particularly since I've only been back to work for a week, one would think things were slow. Unfortunately, this is the ONE day that I have a midday meeting that I cannot miss concerning a multi-million dollar judgment that is being appealed. Serious stuff and stuff that cannot be done from home.

So, what to do? Typically in the summer even this turn of events would not be a big deal since my mom, a teacher, is off. However, since my mother is bi-vocational, her church job just so happens to require her attention on Wednesdays and Sundays. Guess what day it is? That's right, humpday! I try to call her anyway and no answer on either phone.

I start driving towards her house in the hopes she'll answer and she does. She can take her, at least for a little while. I get on the interstate and start driving towards Westlake. Just when I pass the last exit before the bridge I realize there is an endless line of cars stopped in front of me. We're down to one lane of traffic and, in case you missed it, I passed the last exit...there is no way off.

One traffic jam and one train later, I finally make it to mom's and drop the baby and my car off, grab her keys and rush to the office, now late, to prepare for a meeting that I couldn't prepare for yesterday because I was at the Literacy Council telethon. Meanwhile, I'm furiously dialing numbers trying to figure out the day's baby-swapping so mom can work, I can work, Aaron can work, and somehow, with all that working, Aly can be supervised. In my head it is so simple, I will bring her to mom, who will bring her to church, until Aaron can bring her to our house so I can go to my meeting after which I will go to the house and get her and either return her to the (hopefully air-conditioned) daycare or stay at home so Aaron can go to work until...WAIT, who's on first base?

So I get to work, still completely unsure of who is going to be with Aly at what time. I'm not there an hour before my phone rings. A/C at the daycare is fixed. Of course, now that Aly is 20 minutes away across the lake.

Here's wishing you all a happy pandemonium day...may your chaos be as utterly enjoyable as mine. That little smile makes it all worth it!