Not So Simple

To say my day wasn't going well was a bit of an understatement. Deaglan woke me up an hour an a half early, and when I went to pick him up, I noticed that he had a fever, and he was tugging at his ear. I groaned, he had an ear infection. I gently picked him up, cradling him to my chest, and walked downstairs. I knew Da would be up already, so I knocked on his office door. When I heard him call for me to come in, I cracked the door open.

"Caoimhe, what are you doing up so early?" When I stepped inside and he saw Deaglan, his eyebrows shot up. "Why is Deaglan up? Is he ok?"

"He has an ear infection." I explained. Da stood up and walked over to us. He placed the back of his hand against Deaglan's forehead and nodded.

"Yup," he said, nodding. "You'll need to call the doctor. And I'm guessing this means you'll be staying home today?" I nodded. "Well, I may as well get a start on breakfast!"

I smiled and shook my head as Da made his way toward the kitchen. When all else fails, make some food! Speaking of which, I knew Deaglan would probably be hungry himself.

A little more than half an hour later, I made my way downstairs, bouncing Deaglan on my hip. He had cheered up a little bit, but he was still pulling at his ears. I walked into the kitchen and strapped him into his highchair before going to fix his breakfast. I had just started giving Deaglan a bit of cereal for breakfast and pureed fruits a vegetables. Normally he was perfectlly happy trying these new flavors, but today, he wanted nothing to do with his food. Eventually I managed to coax about half of his cereal into him, until I finally decided that it was no use.

"Alright, now it's your Mommy's time to eat!" Da cooed as he set a plate of waffles in front of me. I smiled and thanked him. Da's waffles were fabulous. I added butter, syrup, and some strawberries, and dug in. By the time I was done it was already six-thirty. I grabbed my cell phone off of the counter and dialed Alice's number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Alice! Um, I'm not going to be able to make it to school today. Would you mind picking up my work for me and bringing it to my place?" I asked, biting my lip. I felt bad asking her, but it was kind of important. I really couldn't afford to fall behind in school.

"Of course I will, silly!" Alice chirped. I smiled in reief. "Why won't you be at school?"

"Oh, Deaglan woke up this morning with an ear infection. I have to take him to the doctor to get him some medicine."

"Aw, poor baby," Alice cooed. "I'll bring it by after school. It's been a while since of seen the little darling anyway!" I laughed and agreed. We said our goodbyes and I hung up, making a face at Deaglan. He giggled and clapped his hands.

Once I finished washing leftover food off of his face, I picked my son up and made my way up to the nursery. "Come on, mo ghrá, let's get your diaper change, then I'll call the doctor." Deaglan just gurgled in response and started sucking on his fist. I set him down on his changing table and pulled his onsie off. I got pretty damn lucky with Deaglan. Most of the time, he's a sweet, happy, even-tempered little boy. I've been praying for the last six months that it stays that way.

Once he was set up in his swing with a teething ring and Pandie, I grabbed my cell phone again and flipped through mycontacts until I found Deaglan's new doctor. I was glad that I already found and met with a doctor before anything happened. It just made things easier.

Doctor Harrison's offce, how may I help you?" a very chipper woman answered.

"Um, hi. This is Caoimhe Mahony, my so Deaglan Mahony woke up an ear infection this morning, and he has a slight fever. Do you have any open appointments sometime today?"

No, we don't, but we do take walk-ins from nine-thirty to eleven. You are welcome to come in then if ou would like."

"Okay, thank you so much," I said gratefully. The woman on the other line laughed.

No problem. I'll see you then." We said goodbye and hung up.

"Here that, darling?" I whispered to a half-asleep Deaglan. I unbuckled him from his swing and lifted him into my arms, cradeling him. "We get to go see the nice doctor and she'll make you all better!" Deaglan mumbled sleepily and snuggled into my chest. My heart swelled with love and pride.

Even after six months, it was nearly impossible to believe that I could have created such a gorgeous, sweet, completely perfect little person. With his pale creamy skin, his cute little button nose that I always wanted to kiss, his beautiful green eyes, his cute little dimples, and his tiny little fingers. I couldn't imagine a more perfect human being. He already had the most amazing personality, the sweetest disposition, and he was always so happy. His cute little laugh could make even the grumpiest person laugh along with him, and his smile melted my heart every time. I may have made a few mistakes in my life, getting pregnant among them, but I wouldn't dream of going back and changing anything. I had a loving dad, great friends, and the most perfect son in the world. What could be better than that?

I rocked my little angel until he fell asleep and for a few minutes after that. I loved watching him sleep. He looked so sweet and angelic, it almost seemed impossible. I must have done something right to get a baby lie him. I eventually forced myself to lay Deaglan down in his crib and leave him alone. He needed as much rest as he could get so he coul get better sooner.

I was walking into the livingroom when my phone buzzed. I slipped it out of my pocket and smiled. I had a text from Jasper.

Alice told me Deaglan had an ear infection. Is he okay?

I couln't help but aww a little bit. Jasper was so sweet. He genuinely seemed to care about Deaglan, and he was amazing with him. He was really sweet to me to. He held doors for me, pulled out my chair, carried my bag for me at school, and didn't try to hit on me at every chance. He was a true gentlemen. It wasn't something I was used to from guys my age, but I deffinently could learn to live with it.

Yeah, he woke up with a fever and his ears have been hurting him. I'm taking him to the doctor at nine-thirty. Hopefully we caught it before it got too bad. :)

Hopefully. Do you need someone to go with you to make things easier? I grinned at how sweet Jasper was.

That's really sweet, but we'll be ok. We should be in and out in no time and Deaglan should sleep most of the day. Thank you, though! I would have loved for him to come along, but I would have felt really guilty for making him miss a day of school when he didn't need to.

Ok, let me know if you change your mind :)

Thanks, I will. You can drop by after school if you want.

Sounds great. See you then :D

Bye

I set my phone on the couch next to me and smiled, flipping through channels on the television. Jasper realy was an amazing friend. I didn't want to lose that, but that didn't stop me from wanting something more deep, deep down inside. I spent another hour watching some reality show, and at eight-thirty I went upstairs to get myself and Deaglan ready.

Once we were both dressed and bundled up, we said bye to Da and went outside. I strapped Deaglan into his carseat and started my truck. I pulled out of the driveway and turned onto the road.

"Come on, Deaglan. Let's get you all better."