The theme for MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) this year is "A Beautiful Mess: Embracing Your Story." And my particular MOPS group gives a prize each month to the mom with the best messy story. Maybe I'll win with this one!:
So I'm getting the twins ready for bed tonight in their room, like we do every night, and halfway through getting all the layers of cold-weather pj's on, Evelyn choked, coughed, and then threw up a decent portion of smoothie and white bean chili from supper. On the carpet, herself, the twin breastfeeding pillow that's only been used as a giant donut to jump on and sit in (and which I was hoping to sell, oh well), and into my cupped hands. I ran toward the bathroom, struggling to turn the doorknob on the closed door with a handful of vomit (sorry, but you asked for a messy story), and yelling for Steve to come upstairs. Which he did in lightening speed, since we used to do this all the time when Annelise was spitting up large portions regularly. With a roll of paper towels of course.
He let all the kids jump on the guest bed in Cora's room while I cleaned up the carpet in the other room. We have this special kit that takes any stain out, but that carpet may still be green in the morning and require another round. Finally I went into the room full of jumping, squealing little girls and a watchful daddy looking on, making sure no one fell off the bed. I finished getting them dressed and they played a little more. Then I offhand said to Steve, "Could you go get the sleep sacks and humidifier....ahhhh!!! ahhhh!!! the humidifier..." We were both thinking the same thing as he raced lightening speed back down the stairs.
You see, last winter when we had to fill up a million humidifiers every night for the kids' rooms (at a time when that was the last thing we had time for), Steve had the brilliant idea to rig up a hose that attached to the spigot on the fridge (where we get filtered water) and ran down into the humidifier basin, and that way it was hands-free and you could, say, do the dishes while it filled up, keeping an eye on it all the while lest it overflow. This really was brilliant, and sure beat standing at our slow fridge spigot, filling up glass after glass, and pouring each gingerly into the humidifier, usually spilling some.
Of course right before Evie had spit up, I had asked him to fill up the humidifier for her room, and of course he left the water running when he lighteninged upstairs (with little lightening at his heels).
My fears were confirmed as Annelise called up the stairs, "There's a lake in the kitchen."
Daddy mopped it up while Mommy put both twins to bed. When I came down, he was in the basement. A bad sign. Sure enough the lake had replicated itself on the floor below, but much smaller thankfully. When I asked if he'd pulled out the fridge yet, he said no. Oh good, I said, because months ago a bottle of wine rolled off the top of the fridge and got stuck behind it. And that's when God's mercy was impressed upon me. One mess averted, at least! That would have been bad.
We got all the snacks and recipes and spices racks off the top of the fridge and I climbed on top (that was fun! after dusting it of course) and retrieved the bottle of wine...before we pulled the fridge out. It was pretty nasty under the fridge too (think vitamins that had rolled under and goodness knows what else, soaked), and probably needed to be cleaned out anyway. So now we have a mopped kitchen floor and a clean fridge, top and bottom, and one more good story to tell. I think we'll have another laugh, another sigh, and then pour ourselves a glass of wine! (if only we drank...so, filtered water?)
