Tuesday morning started off like any other morning. I made my usual maple and brown sugar oatmeal with a tsp of peanut butter (yummy!) and my morning coffee. Passed out the cereal and pop- tarts for the girls and went about trying to tidy up a little. By the way, TOTAL waste of time.
The girls had therapy at infinity at 1 so after doing my morning chores and getting everyone ready we headed out the door. After a wonderful hour (really) with the fabulous Mrs. Heather, we headed to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. While driving to our destination my stomach started to tie in knots because the fact that I had all 3 girls surely meant that it was not going to be a pleasurable shopping experience.
After picking up drinks and little swimmers for our cookout with the Millards we headed to the checkout. The girls actually proved me wrong. Other than the 1 meltdown by Mrs. Naty on aisle 12 everything went as smooth as pie! We headed home to put up the cold groceries and grab our suits. Before leaving the house Natalie had successfully changed her outfit, for no reason. Just a side note, Natalie changes her clothes at least 3 times a day, to what SHE wants to wear. I know what you're thinking....already?? Yes, that is what God has blessed me with...a very stubborn, determined, but at the same time, sweetest child in the world.
We finally arrive at one of my bestest friend's Melissa's house and got ready to jump in the pool. Cayli and I had already changed into our swimsuits but of course Naty had decided not to at the house. :) She rips off her clothes in the living room and steps into her swimmer and bathing suit. We start to head outside and Melissa asks me where Naty's other implant is. She said "Here's one, where's the other?" I searched around the couch and floor but came up empty handed. Now me being the cool headed person knew the implant had to be somewhere. We searched deeper into the couch and pulled it out to get a better look. Nothing.........We then headed outside by the deck to make sure she hadn't dropped it or worse, flung it in the pool. Again, nothing. I'm glad we didn't find it in the pool but at the same time each passing moment was getting harder to hold on to my sanity. I then decided to call my nephew who was at my mom and dad's house behind us and ask him to go over to the house to search the living room.
The whole time this was going on I kept thinking where she would have lost it. Her implants go on first thing in the mornings and stay on..unless she pulls one off. Sometimes when Natalie gets upset (tantrum) she will fling off her implants to show how in control she really is. Well the only tantrum she threw that day was at Wal-Mart. I started to feel a little nauseous after realizing this. Could she have left it in aisle 12???? Surely not, she usually tells me if she's dropped something so we can go back and get it.
After Isaac having no luck at the house, I decided to drive the 3 miles home to look for myself. As I walked into the kitchen, my eyes started darting around trying to detect an orange light (it blinks if disconnected). Nothing popped out at me. I walked into the living room and picked up every toy just to make sure it wasn't hiding underneath and searched the bathroom top to bottom. I finally decided to call Wal-Mart to make sure no one had turned one in. FYI.....not a lot of people know what a cochlear implant is. My basic description was "it's kind of like a hearing aid and it has a purple cover with this cord on it and a round disc on the end." Can you imagine the person on the other end?? After checking their safe she determined there was nothing in there that matched that description.
I hung up with Wal-Mart and started to call Infinity. This was my last resort. I was already contemplating on how we were going to replace a $40,000 piece of equipment. As soon as the phone started ringing, I realized that I had yet to look under the couches. I peered under the couch and guess what I saw? A flashing orange light!
I grabbed the implant and held it up feeling like I had located the lost treasure because let's face it, the cochlear implant is my child's greatest treasure.
