No Dull Moments Around Here!

Is it too much to ask to be able to finish a cup of coffee before the day starts?

I love the morning hour (or half hour) where Abby eats her breakfast and plays while I drink my coffee and log on to the computer.  I have a very small window of time where she is completely content playing on her own and it's just what I need to wake up and get in gear for the day.

It's 7:30 am and those moments didn't quite happen today.

We were up at 5:30 which is a bit too early for me.  This is also too early for Abby but for some reason she insists on getting up before the sun.  Days that start at 5:30 are never good, we are both typically pretty cranky.

She put her 'princess slippers' on first thing.  Her 'princess slippers' are actually my slippers which are way to big and keep falling off of her.  This makes her super frustrated when she's cranky so our morning routine, and the start of my cup of coffee, took longer than usual.  It was 6:15 by the time I was ready to pour that first cup.

Right before I was ready to pour, I heard footsteps on the porch.  Dan was home 2 hours early.  Unusual.

He walked in but wasn't completely in his uniform which is a bad sign.  He tells me he got into a car accident at 2 am and is ok but off work until Sunday.  He's sore, tired, and no longer has a cruiser for work.  Ah, the joys of marrying a police officer.  They spend their whole day driving so accidents are bound to happen.  Just another reason to worry!

We walk into the bedroom while he fills me in.  Abby follows and wakes up the dog, who doesn't usually get up until after Dan gets home at 8.  She refuses to leave the bedroom without the dog but if I let the dog out then I have to take him for his walk.  I NEED MY COFFEE!!

Abby wins, the dog is let out of the bedroom and walked.  I can finally have my cup of coffee while I talk a little more to my poor husband who is sore and feeling a bit down because he got into an accident. He's grateful that both he and the other person involved are ok but he's still shaken up.

At 7:15, I am still working on my first cup of coffee while Dan goes down to bed and Abby is busy walking the dog around the house.  The dog hates this game but Abby loves it.  She tries to sit on the bench in the living room, the dog tries to go the other way, and she whacks her face on the bench.  And I see a bit of blood.  Why does everyone have to get hurt in the same week?  Can we catch a break please?

As I'm trying to inspect her, she is STILL trying to get the dog to do what she wants him to do.  I guess it doesn't hurt her that bad but I wanted to see where she was hurt.  So, I try to wrangle both the dog, who is growling, and Abby, who is crying.  Did I mention that I NEED MY COFFEE?!?

The bleeding has stopped before I can even figure out where it came from.  My best guess is that she bit her lip because she didn't actually hit the bench with the front of her face.  It was more the side of her face but she kind of caught herself.

About 2 minutes later she was laughing and chasing the dog again.

About 2 minutes after that the dog stopped playing and she was crying again.  Here is the face of a bad start to the day:

It's now 8:30, I have finally finished my coffee and I have taken the easy route and turned on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  It was the only way to distract Abby from the dog and give me a moment to get myself together.

It's been 3 hours and this day is shaping up to be quite interesting.  With coffee running through me, I feel like I am finally prepared to face the day.

On the bright side, my stitches were removed yesterday and it looks like it's healing up nice!

Now I must go and put a game plan in action.  I need one that will produce no injuries, minimal temper tantrums, and keeps the dog out of Abby's sight.... any suggestions?