If you follow Motherhood on a Dime on Facebook, you’ve already heard quite a bit about our vacation.  For those of you that aren’t on Facebook, we went on vacation last week — and it was quite an experience.  Here’s a little bit of the story…

We were so excited!  This was going to be our first “real” vacation with all three of the girls.  We were going to visit museums and attractions and stay in hotels and swim in pools and have a fabulous, relaxing time.

I really should have known that our vacation was not going to go as I planned (nothing ever does anyway, right?)!!

When you least expect it (or want it), something will go wrong.

The Wednesday before we left on a nine-day road trip to Indiana, I was having a bad day.  I was grouchy.  The girls were grouchy.  I couldn’t seem to get anything done that needed to be done.  

It was late afternoon, and I had just started a load of laundry.  I was trying to get caught up, so we would have clothes for our trip!  I had also begun filling up the sink to wash the breakfast dishes (at 4:30 PM!!), when the sink basin backed up with water.  

(Our washer and dryer are in a closet in the kitchen, and I turned quickly when I heard a terrible sound coming from them.)

Yep.

Water was pouring out from under the washer.  Then, I heard a gushing sound in the basement.  I ran over and looked down the stairs.  There was water coming through the ceiling and dripping on the new basement carpet. 

Thinking quickly, my six-year-old rushed a laundry basket under the leaking ceiling while I shut off the water.

Thankfully, the carpet wasn’t too wet, and the water under the washer and dryer cleaned up pretty easily. 

I’m so grateful I was right there.  It could’ve been way worse.

We got things cleaned up fairly quickly.  I was slightly stressed — but doing okay.  I was ready for vacation…and believed that little incident was just a fluke.

I did not realize it was foreshadowing the rest of our vacation.

Driving and visiting family

We headed out to northwestern Kansas on Saturday.  My husband’s family was having a reunion on Sunday, so we thought we’d stop there first.  The trip was uneventful.  The girls traveled well, and we had a great time with family.  On Monday, we headed to my sister-in-law’s house outside of Kansas City.  It was a long day of driving, but we enjoyed a cook-out that evening.  A visit to the local children’s museum and an afternoon jaunt to the pool filled up our Tuesday.  Things were going well.

{Enter Monday night.}

Bad Mom of the Year Award #1

Monday night, I slept with my two older girls upstairs.  I headed to bed a little bit late, because we had stayed up talking and watching some TV.  Somewhere around midnight, I fell asleep.

1AM — C (my oldest) wakes up and needs to go to the bathroom.  While she is using the bathroom, my sister-in-law’s two (large) dogs hear the commotion and decide to add to it.  They come into the bedroom and do not want to leave.

2AM — I hear a thud.  I hear crying.  Apparently, the chair and ottoman my middle daughter thought would be fun to sleep on are not quite big enough for her endless tossing and turning.  She’s on the floor.

3AM — C wakes me up.  She needs a drink.  The dogs again think they need to see what is happening.  I have to drag them out of the room.  I’m beginning to feel sleep-deprived.

3:30 AM — C keeps rolling over and kicking me.  She likes to snuggle when she sleeps.  I hate snuggling when I sleep.

4AM — C is tossing and turning.  She keeps talking LOUDLY in her sleep.  My frustration level is rising.

5AM — I’ve had enough.  I get a sleeping bag and put C on the floor.

6AM — C tells me she can’t sleep anymore.  I tell her {not so nicely} to go lay on the couch downstairs.

7 AM — I go downstairs and find C crying on the couch.  That’s when I finally realize — she has a fever.  A few minutes later, she runs to the bathroom.  She vomits.

I kick myself.  No wonder she had such a bad night.

You can find Part 2 of our vacation here!