Stain, Stain, Go Away!

The Padilla household was going to have a busy day. Susanne had to get up shortly after Paxton's 6:00 am NG feeding to start getting ready for the day.

The first thing on their list of things to do was Paxton's therapy session at 10:30 am. He was doing quite well with the exception of his gag reflex. He was discovering his tongue more and more everyday. Anytime he would stick in out for fun or after a good yawn, he would gag himself. Once he got started, he usually couldn't get control. He ended up spitting up once, which only slowed up the appointment just a little. He continued to show off his reaching and grabbing skills. There were times that it actually looked like he was reeling in a fish. Susanne thought he was just getting a head start on dance moves that would instantly attract the ladies.

At the end of the therapy session, Susanne was interacting with Paxton while the occupational therapist was writing her notes. Paxton decided to drop a load in his pants, which always made him feel better. As they all got up to say goodbye, the therapist noticed that Paxton's diaper had leaked onto Susanne's shorts. Susanne was trying to figure out which side the leak was coming from when the therapist noticed that his diaper had actually leaked so much that there were two major spots on the carpet. This was the first time that Paxton had successfully soiled something other than his clothes.

Susanne cleaned up the mess the best she could before she heard a knock at the door. She was so excited because one of her colleagues and good friends was stopping by for a visit. Elissa, a.k.a. Thorny, had been such a constant source of support and love for Susanne and Scott since day one. She was so encouraging and uplifting. She always knew the right thing to say at the right time. She had this incredible intuition about what people where really feeling and what they truly needed.

Thorny could not believe how big Paxton had gotten since the last time she saw him. She immediately noticed the significant improvement with his motor skills. Paxton was so thrilled to have such a captive audience that he decided to show off a little bit. He kept grabbing at her chin and reaching for her hand. He was mesmerized by her and wouldn't look away...not even for a moment.

The time flew by quickly before they had to head out on the road to go to a meeting at work. Paxton was going to be a guest since he couldn't just be left with anyone. Susanne noticed right away that her gas light was on when she started driving away. She was comforted in the fact that the car's computer system calculated approximately how many miles were left before the car would run out of gas completely. Susanne decided to risk it, go straight to work, and worry about it afterwards. She had already postponed it from yesterday, so what's another fifteen miles of driving.

Paxton did very well throughout the meeting. He didn't even cry one time. Sitting still for an hour and a half was difficult for anyone, but for a infant it was a miracle. Paxton continued to amaze his mommy every single day.

Susanne set up Paxton's NG feeding first thing when they got to the car. Her next stop was definitely going to be a gas station. She timed it just right and made it with five miles to spare. She began looking for her bank card, but had no luck. She realized within minutes that her drivers license and her bank card were still at the house. She had taken them out of her wallet yesterday and stuck them in her cell phone cover so she wouldn't have to lug any additional items around with her as she went in and out of different places. Before she left today, she grabbed her purse thinking that everything was in there, forgetting that the cell phone cover with all of the essential items was still on her bed. Susanne continued to look through her purse for any other options for paying for gas. She proceeded to come up short. The checkbook she had was all used up. She wrote the last check yesterday after paying the bills. Scott had their only credit card with him in Pennsylvania. She usually did not carry cash because she always used it on superfluous things. This began the search for loose change in the car. Susanne was banking on the fact that this was Scott's primary mode of transportation for years prior to the switch back in April. He was notorious for collecting change even though he never carried cash either. Somehow coins would show up out of nowhere. Susanne would find them in his cup holder, pants pockets, seat cushions, and dresser drawers. He was change making fool. After her extensive search, she only came up with one dollar and twenty five cents with most of it being pennies. She went into the gas station and explained her situation and the guy allowed her to pre-pay for just that much. Afterwards, she started the car to find that the alloted time before the car would shutdown did not change. She decided to see how far she could make it. She got about five miles down the road before the screen indicated that she had one mile left before disaster. She decided not to push the envelope and she ended up stopping at another gas station. Scott was unavailable for advice, so Susanne called the next best thing...her mother. In a moment of desperation, it had crossed Susanne's mind to possibly use her credit card that was affiliated with her health savings account. She knew deep down this was not lawful or honest. Her mother helped confirm her feelings and brought her back down to her senses. The options at this point were to beg for money or see if the gas attendant would take Gigi's bank card information over the phone. The gas attendant was less than impressed. He was not willing to take any information over the phone especially since Susanne did not have her drivers license. He did offer to give her two dollars as a sympathetic gesture. Susanne had actually found an additional fifty five cents in the car and gave that to the attendant. She was hoping that she would be able to get a full gallon of gas with the two stops combined. In the end, the gas attendant really only gave a dollar and forty five cents because he did not add Susanne's contribution to the two dollars. Unfortunately, the screen did not change with its estimation of how long she had before the car would shut down. She decided to gamble once again and just drive all the way home. She kept thinking that if she had to stop at another gas station, she would probably make headline news. She could see the frontpage now, "Serial Offender and Master of a Gas Station Scam". They would have to note that she probably had a baby for sympathy purposes and even tricked them into believing he had a serious medical condition with the tube coming out of his nose. They would totally think that she defrauded the people who trusted her sob story.

Susanne and Paxton finally made it home sweet home. She was so thankful. She decided that she would worry about filling up the rest of the tank on another day. It was so difficult for her to understand how such an organized, detail oriented person could be so forgetful and last minute. She had this battle with herself a lot.

Once again, she got everyone situated before she could focus on herself. After things calmed down, she realized she had a message on her answering machine. It was from a publisher of a magazine informing her that she had won a gift certificate to a local spa in town. She had haphazardly entered a contest and actually won. This was the sort of thing that never happened to her. As the saying goes, you can never say never. What a wonderful way to end a crazy, eventful day.