...but I'm not complaining!

I truly hate being that frazzled mom with her huge diaper bag thumping innocent bystanders as she chases her kids in circles, one of whom has a saggy dirty diaper and a missing shoe, the other has a plastic sword that he's using to beat the crap out of someone else's dog. 


That was almost me today. 

We had a lovely, slow start to our day today.  The boys ate their toaster waffles while I sipped my much needed coffee and Daddy read their devotional book to us.  Today's entry was about "doing everything without complaining or arguing."  Listen up, little men! I thought. 

The only thing on the calendar for us today was Isaac's dentist appointment at 11:30.  We had plenty of time to play, shower, get dressed, etc.  We left with 30 minutes to get to the office which is more like 15 minutes away, so I felt good that we weren't rushing.  I had looked up the address before we left; I've been there only once before and it's in Evanston, which I don't know well. 

I've been to Evanston quite a bit, having gone to grad school at Northwestern, but my route was routine and I rarely deviated from it.  The dentist's office is right downtown, where, to me, everything looks vaguely familiar but I have no idea where things are in relation to each other. 

I found a metered parking spot near the address and grabbed the boys out of their seats.  As soon as I found the address, I knew something was wrong -- this building did not look familiar at all.  The next intersection looked promising, so I decided to haul the boys over to it. 

We ended up tromping around Evanston for 30 minutes.  I had opted not to bring the stroller because I figured we'd be just walking less the a block to the office and had plenty of time to get there.  Bah! No one who might have internet access was answering their cell phones, so I just kept dragging the boys one block this way, one block that way, only to meet disappointment at the next intersection -- no dentist office.

Anders was wearing his new rain boots, which seemed smart considering the weather.  However, apparently they are too big.  He wanted to walk "my SELF!" but he didn't want to go in any direction that was helpful to our purpose or at a speed conducive to getting anywhere on time.  If I picked him up to carry him, he whined, his boots fell off, and my back soon hurt.  Isaac was mostly fine, but was "too tired" to walk a few blocks and got a little whiney himself...until he discovered the multitude of puddles to jump in. 

Finally my dad answered his cell and found the correct address.  Not at all the first address I found online.  While I talked on the phone, Anders found some stairs to climb and Isaac found some cigarette butts to sort (ew!) and I got judgemental looks from strangers.  Get off your phone and watch your children, lady. 

We finally found the office and were 30 minutes late.  Of course the dentist was already out to lunch and had no more openings this week, let alone today. 

"Well, boys, wanna go out for lunch?"  No, they did not.  They wanted to stay and play at the dentist office, where there are fish, and a play area, and cool books.  Anders could only be lured away with the promise of mac-and-cheese. 

Outside the dentist office they had to walk along the ledges of the planters and once again I had to scoop up Anders, crying and kicking off his boots, to make forward progress.  We filed in to PotBelly's only to find that it does not have a kid's menu nor any kind of mac-and-cheese.  Back out we went, over to a little Italian place where could at least get the ever popular plain pasta and chocolate milk. 

The boys were quite charming at the restaurant, Isaac asking me, "Mom, why are we so happy?" and even eating up their broccoli for the promise of a cookie at home.  It was a much needed respite before the dreaded walk back to the car. 

The walk was short in length but long in time.  With full tummies, the boys were happy but still not helpful.  Anders ran out of his boots and thought it was hilarious and Isaac suddenly had to pee when we were within half a block of our car.  We ran into a grocery store to use the potty and then finally made it back to our car. 

My arms were aching and my back was throbbing.  We had missed our appointment and spent $30 outside the budget on lunch.  But I looked in the rearview mirror and saw two sweet sets of smiling eyes.  I pumped up "Beautiful Day" and jammed along with those little blondies.  And I realized that even when we waste half a day and I end up as the epitome of that frazzled mom, I am still happy to get to do it with my funny, sweet little guys.  While I may vent, I would never complain.