Typical Mama Stuff

Yesterday the kids and I headed to the Big City for a dentist appointment and to play hooky for the day. With gas as much as it is right now, I need to take advantage of being in the Big City with all it's restaurants and stores while I'm there.
Our typical morning is made up of getting ready on time, and then rushing around yelling, being almost late because we all have to go back in the house 10 times each for things we forgot. Yesterday didn't disappoint. I hadn't had time to feed Hunter because I always wake him up last, so I grabbed a sippy cup of milk and a banana (his usual breakfast) and handed them to him in the car. Everyone's buckled and ready to go.... but we need gas. Of course. I've been dreading the moment when I'd have to fill up my monster gas tank, but yesterday I knew I had to suck it up and fill it. *Ouch!* There's few things more painful than watching that money ticker rise on a gas pump. Especially with my husband in Iraq, fighting a war about that very oil that's going in my gas tank.
Finally, we're off! I made sure everyone had their books and notebooks and pencils and crayons and whatever else we'd need for the hour drive. Hunter was happily eating his banana, Louisa was drawing pictures, and Drew was studying his "holy grail", the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Pokedex. We cranked up the music and made the hour trip in record speed (because we were running late!)
When we were not even 10 minutes outside the Big City, I heard a familiar noise from the backseat..... "BWWAAAPPPP" Then I hear Drew and Louisa simultaneously yell, "Hunter barfed!" Yep, Hunter gets car sick. Not often, and not every trip, but sometimes when we're driving more than a half hour and he has just put food in his belly, he gets sick. But hey, at least now I have an excuse as to why we're late for our dentist appointments!
A gas station happens to be up ahead, which is lucky because there are no towns or stopping points on this trip until you get right outside the Big City. I pulled over, got him out, cleaned him up, threw away the stuff he threw up on that wasn't valuable like crayons and pencils and a small notebook, washed up the savable stuff as best I could, took his pants off, changed his diaper, and we were off again. Except now Hunter has no pants (and I forgot to bring shoes in the first place! no clue how that happened), and we both smell like banana barf. Well, the whole truck smells like banana barf, so I rolled down the windows, except that is was unusually chilly out.
I was almost at the dentist when they called asking if I was still coming (because it was 10:08 and our appt was at 10), and happily I said "I'm so sorry, my son just got car sick and I had to pull over. We're almost there." hehehe!!! Now, I'm not delighting in the fact that Hunter threw up and we all get to smell regurgitated banana for the rest of the day, just glad I have an excuse as to why we're late instead of just being late like usual.
When we get to the dentist, I pull Hunter out of the truck and carry him in, realizing how odd it looks to have a toddler his size in nothing but a diaper, and of course everyone has to stare when I walk in. Why do people stare so much? When I see a mother who is obviously not having a good day, I offer a smile and then avoid eye contact as to not make her feel bad. Or sometimes rattle off my extremely long list of bad days to make her feel better!
They called Hunter and Drew and Louisa back for their various check ups and Hunter excitedly runs back, dipey butt and all. As I sit down with a magazine to read a hilarious article about a woman, her husband, their son, and the Star Wars addiction that has overtaken their lives, I notice something on my beige shirt. Banana. Slightly chewed. I pull it off and stick it in the garbage, only to sit down and notice more banana, with some sort of stain that I don't even want to try and figure out. Although to me, this is typical mama attire! What's an outfit without a little barf, spit up, goo, unrecognizable squishy mess?
When the daunting thought that I've been changing diapers for 10 years non-stop hit me a few weeks ago, I also realized that I haven't left the house in 10 years without either changing my shirt first, or using a baby wipe to wipe off whatever the heck that brown stain is as quickly as I can before we get where we're going.
A few months ago, two of my online friends sent the kids and I a gift card for Applebees, so after the dentist we hit the 'Bees with a ferocious hunger (very aware, again, of how odd it looks to have Hunter tramping around in his diaper and no shoes). I ordered the wrong thing, Hunter ate nothing of what he ordered, but we got big desserts to make up for it! As we left the restaurant, I felt many eyes on me, business people on their lunch break, a big church group, a few contractor guys trying to avoid looking at me. I have no doubt they were all thinking "Wow, look at that awesome mom! She can corral those kids like a circus clown in a rodeo!" Until I got home and I realized I had more... um... banana, on my back.