4.19.2009

What a Sunday

Maya and Wes at the end of our long day:

I have to vent. Just a little. It's been quite a day! I woke up to a phone call this morning from our realtor who was supposed to be hosting an open house at our home today. Let me back up and tell you what it takes to get our house ready for an open house (with a toddler and newborn). We dropped $200 on the most fabulous house cleaning (the first time ever that I have paid other people to come clean my home—pretty luxurious, if you ask me). Then I spent all day Saturday (while Wes was away shooting a wedding) taking care of Maya, corralling Finn, and organizing and making the house absolutely ready for this open house. This involved getting all of the kids' things ready/bags packed to leave in the morning for church, and be gone all day at Grandma Jinx's house. I was up until 1:30am accomplishing all of this. My house has NEVER looked better. OK, back to the phone call. HE CANCELED!!!! AT 8 am. I started crying. Literally. I was so frustrated and in complete disbelief that I had made sure that every dish/every trash can/and every stitch of laundry was meticulously and repeatedly cleaned/emptied/washed and put away throughout the day. Sure, my realtor was sick. Not his fault. But I was still exhausted and ticked off (to put it nicely). I had to pick up and put away Finn's toys about 50 times yesterday evening to make sure the house was completely immaculately perfect. I had to squeegee the entire shower (walls and all) twice after showering. We made sure Koda found a new home this week so she would be gone for the open house. I could go on and on. Really, I could. But I am sure you are rolling your eyes by now (or groaning in sympathy). Selfish anger, big pity party, but still founded in some validity.

So even though the open house was canceled, there was no way I was going to hang around all day and let it get trashed by my little tornado. Off to church we went. Maya has the WORST face rash (which is no big deal, really—very normal for babies her age). But she looks like a 7th grader who hasn't discovered Proactiv yet (poor little dear). It was our first day back at church for the whole family since Finn's surgery and Maya's birth. Big day. I was worried that everyone would see Maya's face and be so concerned or surprised (she looks pretty extreme up close). But Wes assured me they would say "Oh she is so beautiful!" but just be lying. Ha! (I had a good chuckle.) We did alright at church the first half hour. Maya nursed—I'm pretty sure I accidentally flashed one of the Dads that walked by. Finn read a book—at the top of his lungs during the sacrament prayer. Then Wes took Finn out for a little while to run the halls. He came back a few minutes later demanding that we leave that instant. So I rushed out after him a little in shock. Finn had been opening lots of doors and running in, when they happened upon a mom and her baby. It turns out that the baby is sick, and the mom was hanging out in one of the unoccupied Primary rooms to stay away from everyone.
The. baby. has. RSV.
She quickly let Wes know that her baby has RSV, and that she didn't want to get Finn sick, so they should leave the room. RSV. RSV!!!!! I am VERY upset that anyone would bring their child to church with RSV—much less hangout in a Primary classroom where lots of little kiddos will be filing in to learn in a few minutes. RSV hospitalizes so many young children every year, and is very contagious. It leads to pneumonia, and is especially dangerous for infants. When we were in the hospital for Finn's lung surgery, they quarantined the RSV patients. I don't want to be mean to that mother. I don't. I know how hard it is to have a very sick child. I am just concerned for my babies, and everyone else's. And frankly, for her baby, too. Am I getting too worked up? With a son that just had pneumonia complications, and a newborn, we thought it best to evacuate the building...speedily. If your children are sick, please oh please don't bring them to church. It's just not worth it for anyone.

Deep breath. That was rather long-winded. Not to worry—the day has ended well. I caught that photo up top of Wes and Maya in my squeaky clean laundry room (she's looking worn out and ready for a bath, he's looking dapper). It made me smile. We sent Koda off to a new and very deserving, loving home. Wes and I talked about L.A. and how things are falling into place. I feel very blessed. I have a beautiful family and an exciting future to focus on. So I'm off to look at rental homes on the internet. That's how I wind down. Funny, I know.

I think instead of potty training Finn, I will work on Swiffer training him—so he can contribute to "Operation Cleanest House on the Block." I think he's totally ready.

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Jill said...

As a fellow home-seller, I empathize with your weekend. I have actually stopped cleaning before people come to see the house because they so often cancel. If they actually do show up, I just say, "You can keep it cleaner than this if you live here!"

Nash said...

i am shocked about the mom taking an rsv child to church. we have been gone from church for weeks, today first sunday back. i sometimes feel so guilty not going cause of a small cold. i realize if we all stayed home for every small thing no one would be there. BUT, my kids can come home sick from one sunday in nursery. this post made me feel better.
sorry for such a yucky day.

( i realize you don't know me, but my family is in wes's parent's stake and i talk about you guys to them as if we are great friends, such is blogging right?) hope all goes well.

Rebecca said...

UNBELIEVABLE! I cannot believe anyone would be so dangerous. This sounds so uncool, but I think you should tell someone. The bishop could make a general announcement. If people don't have the common sense to keep their babies home, they need a little public reproach.

Sorry about the open house. I would have cried too.

My husband and I lived on the south side of Chicago when our baby was born. A lot of our friends were having babies around the same time. There were a lot of problems with sick people holding babies and visiting the newborns without calling, etc. RSV was definitely going around. So I just announced to anyone that would listen that we would not be coming to church for a few months amd that we did not welcome visitors. Harsh. But necessary. My baby stayed healthy while many others were hospitalized.

Ali said...

I can't believe she brought that baby to church with RSV! I would have been fuming too! Did all of her common sense check out that day? I let Luke help clean too. He loves the swiffer broom!

Jamie Antisdel said...

ok...so i posted the other day when i saw the photos of your home saying that we were in the middle of the same process. yesterday we had an open house scheduled. my husband was in philly on business and i was readying the house all night and morning making it PERFECT. as quickly as i would clean something, adali would mess it up. 20 minutes before the schedule open house i left the house with 1 year old and dog in tow. my phone was completely broken by said 1 year old so i had no way to call anyone to come crash at their place for a few hours. we busied ourselves all afternoon only to come back to a house that had NEVER BEEN SHOWN. the real estate agent never showed up! UGH!

and...as a mother that had to stay in the house ALL winter with a premature baby to avoid rsv germs, i cannot believe anyone in their right mind would take a critically ill child to church....for the sake of their own child and everyone else's, stay home.

here's to hoping you have a better day and find a rental.

Jamie
http://antisdels.typepad.com/adaligrace/

{ a m b e r } said...

My youngest had RSV when 2 months old. We luckily found it unusually fast so he was better off than most. Both my kids also have asthma. I am always on full alert at church and I think people think I'm crazy with my antibacterial needs! If they get sick they have asthma attacks! We are super careful especialy from november-april...I would have done the exact same thing. My husband is now in nursery and sends the sick kids away!

Brie said...

That is my biggest pet peeve! I HATE it when people bring their sick kids to church and playgroup. My son catches EVERYTHING anyone has in nursery. We have been out for 3 weeks bc he was sick. I understand parents feeling like they have to be there for their calling but it kills me when they dont give you the heads up!

Robin said...

I know church is important, but seriously! Stay home with your sick infant.
Anyway, not until my 4th child did someone tell me these great tricks to clearing up the baby acne/dry scalp quickly. Use head and shoulders on her head and face once a week (being very careful around the eyes of course). Also after each bath immediately put 1% hydrocortizone cream on her face and head followed by vaseline. Worked like a charm for our little Paisley.

Crystal Farish said...

I feel you pain Lyndsay. Hang in there!! For some reason when you have a new baby, and you need to sell you house chaos just follows you where ever you go!!! I went through that with my last house. It was really stressful. I would DEFINATELY let your bishop know about the RSV thing. Every now and then it's good for the bishopric to send out a letter to all the parents about bringing sick kids to church -- especially if they have something serious. We did that in our ward, and it sure cut down on the illnesses passed around in nursery!

miss bliss said...

Lynds-
Concentrate on LA! It's better out there! HA! ;) I am proud of you and the "freak out" mode you went into! ...kinda like me!

April Kennedy said...

Freak Out acceptable! I worked in our nursery for the last 1 1/2 and would often want to scream...."why is this child here."

Dave and I argue who is staying home with our sick children! Ha....a Sunday off is sometimes just as heavenly as going to church! And when I say sick.....I mean even a runny nose!

KatieJ said...

Oh man I am sorry that your realtor was sick!! That is horrible, and I can't believe someone would take a child with RSV to church! I hope your next weekend goes better!