just kate: FRAZZLED

Tell me, friends. Do I look frazzled?

Because, by the time I took this picture, I'd already had quite a day, and it wasn't even 2:30.
Good thing I ran this morning. That's all I have to say. I felt confident and energized as I rolled back to my street, but was stopped by the ROAD CLOSED sign at the end. A gruff City of Lufkin worker motioned to me to roll down my window, and I found out from him that when they said they were re-surfacing the road, they meant that they were starting at 7:00 a.m. and no one could use the street. I told him we'd be out by 7:45 for Nate to go to work and we'd plan on going to my sister's for the day, and he sent me on my merry way.

Everyone was still sleeping when I walked in my house at 6:50, so I headed out back to water the garden. Well, they weren't sleeping for long, because another city worker decided to ring our doorbell until his finger was tired, and then proceeded to bang the door down, wake Milo up, and get Nate out of bed. After he was finished with that, he hollered over the fence to me, telling me that I would have to drive our car to the end of the street and then we would have to walk to it when we were ready. Excuse me? Nate was going to walk in his work clothes a block and a half? I was going to haul my baby and all his stuff? And did I mention I'm mommynanny again this week, this time to my nephew Cody who had baseball practice at 9 a.m.?

I'll be honest. I was in a tizzy for about 3.5 seconds, and then I calmly got into the shower instead of moving my car. Luckily, I'd already had an outfit in mind for today, so getting dressed was a snap. I packed the car with everything we'd need for the day, including every single one of Milo's toys, his boppy, his bumbo, Cody's giant bat and equipment bag, the stroller, a cooler of water for practice, and a bag full of groceries for Jen's house. We made it out in time, got Nate to work, and headed to Jen and Mike's for breakfast. No problem.

And then the car ride to baseball practice in Diboll (15 minutes away) happened. We were running a few minutes late, and I tend to have a tiny bit of a lead foot, but I felt I was quite reasonable this morning. Officer Young thought otherwise when he clocked me going 68 in a 55 (ooops!). I handed him my license as I apologized profusely, and then dug in the glove compartment for our insurance cards. After shuffling through a stack of papers, all I could come up with was the card that had expired in February.

"I don't know what to do, Officer. How can I prove that our insurance is up to date?"
He responded, "It's fine, ma'am. I'll take this and verify it from my car. But did you know that your registration is expired?"
At this point I threw my hands up in the air and cried, "Are you kidding me? I'm so sorry..."

Thank you, officer, because I got away with a verbal warning on the speed and a citation for the registration that will drop off as long as I register the vehicle in the next 10 days. Cody was only 5 minutes late for practice, and at this point, Milo had begun his nap in the car. I drove at a very reasonable speed to Jen's to get him into his pack and play to finish the nap, but of course, as soon as I got him out, he woke up. I tried to entertain him for a while, but let's face it, the baby needed his nap. He was fussy and whiny, but still sweet, and we hung out until close to 11. Then I happened to think, "Wait a minute, Cody doesn't have my number to call me when he's finished with practice! I'd better head back there!"

I drove at, again, a reasonable speed back to the field, and Milo managed to fall asleep for another couple of minutes. And then we waited. We waited 20 minutes and Milo woke up screaming. I got him out of the car and into his stroller, and we walked around in the 100 degree heat for 20 more minutes, and finally practice was over. Cody and I got Milo into the car, and he'd just plain had enough. He screamed all the way back to Lufkin, all the way to Nate's work to pick him up, all the way to Jen and Mike's, and I thought for a second about screaming right along with him. When we finally got him there, he was crying so hard I didn't think I'd be able to get him to eat, but he finally calmed down. Nate took a drive over to our road, scouted it out, and decided that he was taking us home no matter what happened or who tried to stop him. He's my knight in shining armor, by the way.

Finally, after a loooooooong morning and a headache the size of my Texas hair, I am home. Milo is napping; Cody is watching tv. I'm headed straight for my bed for as long as Milo will sleep, and when I wake up, I will feel rational and under control. Right?