I did try.

The day I tried to take sleepy JD to Joshua’s basketball game….

Today is Joshua’s very first basketball game. I would love to be there right now, cheering that boy on. Go, Joshua!!! Actually, I WAS there. I just didn’t get to stay for more than 5 minutes. John David still seems to be in charge of my schedule. We can try to pretend like our baby doesn’t run our schedule, but we’re really just kidding ourselves. “Oh, I can’t go at 11…”

“Why not?”

“Because that’s JD’s nap time.”

That right there tells you who is actually in charge of the house schedule. The younger the child, the more power they actually have.

Alan has to be at all practices and games because, as usual, Alan is the assistant coach. This morning Alan got himself, Joshua, Caleb, Daniel, and JD ready in the time that it took me to shower, wash my hair, get dressed, and put on my face. That makes me sound awfully slow, doesn’t it? hmmm

Alan was leaving with the three oldest boys,and he asked me if I was planning on coming. They all wanted me to go too.

I decided that yes, I was definitely coming. Alan and the boys left, and I told them that JD and I would see them there.

I half dried my hair, threw it up in a bun, donned the (literally) cutest outfit I own, grabbed John David, grabbed the baby back pack, and headed out the door. I’d never been to this gym, and I’d never worn the baby backpack, so I hoped for the best. I felt brave. I was doing a GOOD thing. 🙂

This is what the baby backpack looks like that I’m referring to. Alan wears JD in this anytime we do something outdoors as a family.

Alan said I’d probably have to park across the street from the gym, but that was not the case. I was shocked to find that out of a parking lot of about 10 spaces, THE space that is closest to the door was EMPTY. Wow! It wasn’t reserved for anyone special either. I whipped my car in, feeling like the luckiest woman in the world.

I got JD out, put him in the backpack, and then I realized something. Baby backpacks are not so much like Ergos. It does NOT hold the baby to your body. It holds the baby away from your body. This was like putting a rucksack on a new boot camp recruit. I was a little afraid I was going to tip right over.

Perhaps that parking space was more than luck. It was God’s way of keeping me from ending up in the hospital.

I struggled my way into the gym, chanting to myself, “Must start exercising again, must start exercising again.”  Also, I put JD in backwards….Oh well.

The moment I walked into the gym, JD started to HOWL. Not cry. Not bawl. Scream. He was throwing the loudest toddler tantrum I’d ever witnessed. It was nap time. I tried taking him out and holding him. Didn’t work. I tried carrying him around. Didn’t work.

Finally, I just left, about 5 or 7 minutes after I’d arrived. Yes, it was an embarrassment, but it was also a service to the basketball watching public and to John David himself. He fell asleep right as we pulled into the driveway. He started crying again when I turned off the car, but I comforted him into quieting down. “Shh Don’t worry, sweet baby,” I whispered, “I’m taking you right up to your bed, and you can sleep all you want to. I promise.”

I had to find another way to support Joshua. I’m going to be supportive from the house today. I’m making Joshua’s favorite soup: Hot Stuff, for after the game.  That should make everyone happy.

Directions for Hot Stuff