It's been a very long day.

Sitting in my living room, watching American Idol and eating a few Hershey's chocolates. This is pure bliss, especially after the day that I've had. No, it wasn't a horribly, terrible day or anything. Well, not completely anyway. Mostly just very long. And very full.

Several weeks ago, when we set up Abby's next appointment with the psychologist, she suggested that Ron and I come in alone so we could sit and talk about what she's discovered so far in the time she's spent with Abby. That appointment was scheduled for today.

After leaving things until the last minute (sadly, a typical situation for me), I finally got childcare arrangements figured out. We normally attend Wednesday night programs at our church and it would be fine for Abby and Hannah to go alone - someone would look after them and make sure they got dinner and to their class. And both Kristi and Amber offered to help also - I have wonderful friends!

Getting everyone to where they needed to be on time required a carefully orchestrated agenda:

• 4:30 pm - leave work, drive to daycare and pick up all 3 girls early.
  
  
• 5:00 pm - arrive at Amber's to drop Becca off.
  
  
• 5:30 pm - arrive at church to drop Abby and Hannah off.
  
  
• 6:00 pm - arrive at the psychologist's office for the appointment.
  
  
• Afterward, retrace steps to get everyone picked up and (finally!) head home.

In reality, a few things happened that weren't on the agenda. So, it really should read like this:

• 4:40 pm - leave work later than planned, drive slightly faster than usual to make it to daycare. Spend 5 extra minutes convincing Becca to let me help her put her coat on - she can get one arm in the sleeve but not the other... Send Abby back in to get the lunchbox she forgot. Spend another 5 minutes explaining to Hannah why Becca gets to go to Amber's and she doesn't.
  
  
• 5:15 pm - arrive at Amber's after another 5 minutes spent trying to find the right apartment building. Attempt to keep Abby and Hannah somewhat calm and quiet so I can talk to Amber before we take off.
  
  
• 5:40 pm - arrive at church, walk the girls downstairs to dinner only to hear "I don't want to eat that" in stereo when we get there. Send up a silent prayer of thanks for whoever decided to put out bread and peanut butter along with the goulash on the menu.
  
  
• 6:05 pm - arrive at psychologist's office, amazed to only be 5 minutes late. Be completely stunned to hear the receptionist say, "Oh we were hoping to get a hold of you before you got here - Dr. V has been feeling ill all day and was hoping to reschedule..."
  
  
• 6:06 pm - take a deep breath, realizing that the two previous hours might have been wasted. Panic at the thought of having to re-schedule and re-orchestrate this whole maneuver again.
  
  
• 6:15 pm - send up another silent prayer of thanks when Dr. V will stay so no re-scheduling will be necessary. Hope that I'm not exposing myself (and therefore the kids) to any nasty germs by meeting with her anyway.
  
  
• 6:45 pm - leave the office and head back toward church. Realize that I'd somehow forgotten to account for anything for my dinner so detour through a McDonalds drive-thru. Call Ron to find out that he'll probably be home just about the time that we get there.
  
  
• 7:25 pm - arrive at church and eat fries while waiting for the girls' class to end.
  
  
• 7:30 pm - juggle drawings, snacks and assorted pieces of paper 'jewelry' that the girls made in class while convincing them to put their coats on. Deal with minor fit thrown by Hannah when ask her to carry her projects to the van. I only have so many hands, even without a toddler taking up one of them...
  
  
• 7:45 pm - eat hamburgers while driving to Amber's to get Becca.
  
  
• 7:55 pm - can't get to ringing cell phone in time to answer it. Finally fish it out of my pocket and call Amber back to find out that Becca has just projectile vomited at her place...
  
  
• 8:00 pm - did I mention that I have great friends? Arrive at Amber's feeling horrible about my child throwing up the first time that she offers to watch her for me... Rush out of there so that they can get Victoria to bed on time and we can get home and get the girls to bed, while apologizing to Amber (I'm so very sorry, I really am!!). Wonder why Becca has suddenly started throwing up for no apparent reason, with almost 3 days in between episodes.
  
  
• 8:30 pm - home. Finally. :)
  

I am so thankful that we didn't have to reschedule - one night like this has been plenty, thank you very much! I honestly have no idea how single parents manage to do things like this every single day and stay sane.

More on how the appointment went later...