merry christmas?

What can go wrong, will.
That seemed to be the general theme of this Christmas for us.
I exaggerate, of course--I wouldn't be writing this post if serious things had gone wrong. We had time with family, our travel was safe, and we are joyful, remembering that Christ didn't have it so easy that first Christmas, either.
However: I have been feeling like a character in one of those Christmastime movies involving havoc that seems so funny--as long as you're not the ones dealing with the havoc.
Here's a short rundown of our festivities:
Monday: Take Lucy to the pediatrician. She gets some shots. The Dr. mentions, offhand,that one of them often coincides, five days later, with a mild case of the disease we innoculated against. At the time, I don't do the calendar math.
Tuesday: The mild cold I have been fighting turns into what I think is bronchitis.
Wednesday: Bronchitis, day two.
Thursday: Bronchitis a bit better. Dyami leaves a day early for Ojai to work on a project with his brother. I wish him well, and watch some TV.
Friday: I wake up to a leak in the second bedroom. It rained the night before, and we've had problems with leaks in rainstorms. I plop down some towels and a bucket. I notice later that the leak has spread very minorly to the kitchen--there's a tiny drip down our wall by our kitchen cabinets. I ignore it, sure that the leak will clear up once I'm gone.
Still Friday: I try to figure out how to get ready to follow Dyami to Ojai with Lucy. This involves keeping the cat indoors without letting her get her claws into Lucy (or Lucy get at her). This is tricky. I manage it (just) with a judiciously placed safety door blocker thingie. Luckily, our cat isn't very catlike, and can't jump over the two foot barricade.
Still Friday: I notice Lucy is starting to get a cough. One that sounds remarkably like my bronchitis.
Still Friday: I drive to Ojai. Three hours. Thank God: Lucy slept the whole way.
Still Friday: Lucy wakes up when we arrive in Ojai at 10 pm. She stays awake until nearly midnight. It requires a lot of coaxing to get her back asleep.
Friday-Saturday morning. Many wakeups. many, many wakeups.
Saturday: Lucy is officially sick! Fever! Crankiness! Cough!
Saturday night: Many, many more wakeups. L refuses to stay asleep on her bed unless one of us is there alongside her. Then she coughs really hard and pukes on Dyami's chest! Then I take her into bed with me and don't sleep the rest of the night!
Sunday morning: Very tired.
Sunday: Uneventful. Thank goodness. Better sleep: I sleep on the couch; Dyami sleeps in bed with Lucy. Everyone is happy (and rested).
Monday: My parents call. The "rain" leak I noticed is actually a "burst pipe" leak. Ie, they cleaned up a half an inch of water in our kitchen, and placed a powerful fan in the second bedroom to help dry the carpet. Have I mentioened that our house was built in the PVC pipe era of the eighties? And that several houses in our neighborhood have had retrofits? And that my parents had to turn off the water to stop the leaks? And that means that my parents generously offered to have us come stay with them until said leak can get fixed? Which is very nice of them, but after our whirlwind trip, I desperately want to be back in our own bed? We tell them, of course, that we'll take them up on their offer.
Monday night: Christmas eve! All Lucy's cousins come over! There is a festive Italian ravioli dinner! There is halvah! There is unwrapping of gifts!
There is a puking cousin! There is a still-puking cousin! There is a Christmas Eve trip to the emergency room! There is much worry over the poor cousin, who is only 8 months older than Lucy! Then there is the realization that the cousin has the stomach flu! Which we have all been exposed to! While our immune systems are not exactly in tip-top shape!
Tuesday: We drive home early. Again, a (thankfully) uneventful ride. Decent sleep last night. Basically, we've moved into my parents house. And I think we'll be here for a few days. Luckily, they didn't kick us out when they heard about the stomach flu. Which was (again) very kind of them.
It sounds like the pipe can be fixed quickly. The retrofit with copper pipes, unfortunately, is not covered by insurance. And that willhave to happen at some point, probably.
So merry Christmas, everyone! After last year (newborn sleep hell!), I was really looking forward to a peaceful, stress-free Christmas. But instead, I got extra time with family. And a chest cold. And a crankety, beautiful baby girl.
We're calling it even.