I Just Want You to Know_ Letters to My Kids on Love, Faith, and Family - Kate Gosselin [42]
By the time I got home, the little kids were already stirring. My sister-in-law slipped out, and I left the kids in their beds a few minutes longer while I got Mady settled. Fortunately, her nose had stopped bleeding. I just needed to clean her up.
After I got the little kids up and changed their diapers, I did something I rarely did—I offered them a snack. It was already four o’clock. Usually, dinner was cooking before then, but in all the excitement, I hadn’t even started preparations. While they ate, I washed the chicken breasts and started broiling them in the oven. I filled a large pot with water for the pasta and started grabbing the ingredients I would need. I made trip after trip to the pantry as I consulted the recipe. I think there were about nine hundred ingredients on the counter by the time I finished.
On one of these trips, I heard Leah say her belly hurt, but I didn’t pay much attention. I concentrated on finishing my already-late dinner, and I was only half listening. But when I heard a choking sound, I stopped what I was doing and looked down to see Leah lying on the shag rug in front of the kitchen sink, inches from my feet. She was vomiting. Not once, not twice, but what seemed to be a continuous stream. I ran over to her and sat her up so she wouldn’t choke. I tried to hold her over the rug so that the liquid, if not the smell, would be at least somewhat contained.
When Leah finished, I stood to rinse out the sink. (When we moved into that house, I had the old sink taken out and an industrial sized sink put in; I called it the tub because it was larger than anything you would normally see in a residential kitchen.) I scrubbed that sink, then filled it with clean water. I lifted Leah to the counter and carefully peeled off her vomit-drenched clothing and put her in the “tub” to clean her up.
I sent Hannah to get a bucket. Cara went to get a towel. And Mady and Alexis got a clean outfit for Leah. Later, I chuckled. I knew that I must have been desperate to send those two girls together as they were not the combination to get anything in an emergency. But I didn’t have a choice.
While naked Leah sat splashing in the sink, I turned the nearly blackened chicken and made sure the noodles didn’t overcook. Leah had a blast playing while I alternated between washing her and continuing the dinner preparations.
Once my sweet girl was bathed, I handed her off to Cara and Mady who dressed her in a lovely combo of clothes chosen by her sisters. Of course the clothes didn’t match, but I didn’t care because at least she was dressed.
Leah splashing away in her sink bath.
I piled the vomit-filled rug and clothes into the cherry red bucket and remembered to set the oven timer before I headed to the laundry room. Once I got everything in the washer, I returned to the kitchen.
The kitchen was a mess. Ingredients were strewn everywhere, pots were boiling over, and the floor was a slippery skating rink of fluids from Leah’s body. I had no choice but to tackle the mess before me, so I did. Fortunately, an earlier SOS call I had placed to Jon was rewarded with his timely return from work, and we were all able to eat dinner together. And you know what? The dinner wasn’t even burned. It was actually delicious!
I’m a person who likes things orderly and in control, and that afternoon greatly tested me, but this time I passed. I came to see that life may never be as tidy as I dream of it, but I can adapt—most times, anyway.
Letter to Collin
Dear Collin,
The story of your name is not a mystery for sure. I know that by now you have heard a million times how Mady chose your name. She was just three years old and wanted a baby brother. She asked repeatedly and even declared your name would be “Collin.” So, naturally, when Daddy and I learned the news that we would be having seven (which later became six), we knew that you would be Collin—although you spent the entire time in my belly being referred to as “baby F.” You were located on the bottom right side in a tiny spot, with Joel sitting on top