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I can do this (warning - very long)
- Sep 13, 2007 at 11:53 PM
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- Comments (11) Total Views (330) Everyone can see this journal post.
I've got it so together this week! Now that my kids are back in school, I'm going to have some one-on-one time with my 2-year-old, get some housework done, play with my online friends... Right? We're picking school clothes out the night before, everyone is in bed by 8:00 pm, all the kids get to make their lunches right after breakfast... It's working like a charm! I can do this!!
So, Monday is my day at home - I don't have any obligations after I drop the kids off. Yay! Except that at 8:32 my freshman daughter calls to tell me she forgot something she has to have at school by 4th period. Ergh. So Caleb and I get back in the Suburban to run it to the school for her. How nice of me. By the time I'm back home, it's almost 9:00, but I still have time to get stuff done, right? So Caleb and I sing "Hoshie" (I'm gonna post a video soon) a few times, and run the vacuum cleaner, and it's 11:05!! Oh no! I was supposed to pick Nathan up at 11:00. Good grief!
All goes as planned (pretty much) for Monday evening and Tuesday morning. Yay! But my Kristi Rose has Speech, Occupational, and Physical Therapy on Tuesday afternoons, so we have to head to town for therapy right after school. No big deal. I told the big boys to wait in the school yard for us if we're a few minutes late...we've got this handled. I'm actually at the school on time - but Caleb is asleep in the car, and I have a drowsy 4-year-old, and a nodding 6-year-old in there - and there are no parking places within view of the school yard. Grrr... That means I have to get all three sleepyheads out of the car to get the boys... But wait! There's my friend, Michelle! I call out to Michelle to tell my boys that I'm over here. Whew! That solves that problem...I think. Oh - there's Austin. He sees me - good. He'll wait for his brot...no, Austin - go back and get your brothers. Grr... So I send Austin back to get his brothers, and he gets to the crosswalk and waits, and waits, and waits...no brothers. After waiting for 10 minutes (in which I could not communicate with Austin unless I left the 3 snoozers), Austin finally crosses the street to get his brothers. The two brothers had been playing - never thought to look for me!! Well, at least Kristi, Nathan, and Caleb got a little nap.
Okay...I can still do this. Everyone is still picking out clothes, in bed by 8:00, and making lunches...
Wednesday morning everything is fine until Nathan gets to preschool and discovers that he'd forgotten the show-and-tell bag with his special thingamajig in it. He is very sad, but I told him he'd have to bring it the next day - not going back home and making the trip and doing the carseat thing again for his plastic bumble bee. Instead, I go home and talk to therapists, social workers, and family on the phone all morning. Okay - one of these days I'll get a chance to do something, right? So before I know it, it's almost 11, time to go get Nathan, then wait for Kristi to be done with Kindergarten, then come home for lunch. Whew, these mornings go fast!
So Wednesday is early out day. I get there on time, even though I walk with 3 kids in my double stroller (total weight - 150 lb. incl. stroller). So we head home, and through a series of miscommunications, I end up with another boy at my house who's parents are looking for him. We eventually get it all straightened out, but I feel awful for contributing to the parents' panic. It really ruins my whole afternoon/evening. Bedtime can't come early enough for me - but since it's the first night of the new kids' program at church, bedtime ends up being waaaaayyy later than it should have. Grrrr again.
But Thursday is a new day! Yay! The clothes were picked out last night, the kids are up and getting ready...wait...we'll try that again - the kids are up (did you hear me? GET UP!) and getting ready, thank you. Lunches are made - finally. So we head out to the Suburban. On the way out the door, Caleb falls down the 3 concrete steps and lands on his face. Ouch. Poor baby. I comfort him, calm him, and buckle him into his carseat. Whew - everyone is in and buckled, so we're off to school, but I notice after a glimpse in the rearview mirror that I forgot to get Kristi's hair done. Gak!! She has wild hair on good days - this is not a good day! I park at the school and let the big boys head to the school yard, but I have to quickly fix Kristi's hair (I'm so glad I keep ponytail holders in the 'burban!). While I'm doing Kristi's hair, Nathan heads for the preschool, but gets his fingers pinched in the gate latch. Now, remember, I've just finished comforting the little face-planter, and I'm now yanking the rats out of Kristi's mop, and Nathan comes running and screaming... I'm starting to feel a Calgon moment coming on, and it's only 8:25 am. I finally get everyone calmed down and delivered.
Urgh!! I forgot Nathan's snack for preschool! Now I have to go home to get the snack, and then bring it back. (grrrrmmmbblle) As I'm complaining to myself about this, I get a phone call from my freshman again - she forgot her lunch box and field trip money. I would let her suffer if it wasn't a special field trip for one of her classes - she really needs to go... So I pack Caleb in the car again, and go home to get the missing items. I get back to the preschool with the snack, but I have to take Caleb in because I certainly can't leave him in the car while I go to the school. So we deliver the snack, and get back in the car to go to the high school. Unload again. Deliver. Load up again. Poor us - that's the 4th time I've buckled Caleb, and it's still only 8:50 am. On to the grocery store - after another stop at the house because I forgot my list.
Okay, the shopping is done. Just enough time to put the cold stuff away before I have to leave to get Nathan, Kristi, and Austin. ARGH!!! So Caleb and I load up - AGAIN, and go get kids. We have therapies on Thursday afternoons too, so we have to rush to town for that. By the time we get to town for therapies, Caleb is sound asleep. I really don't want to wake him, so I call the receptionist, and ask if she could send our therapist out to us so I wouldn't have to drag him out of the car. No problem. So I wait. And wait. Now we've missed 15 minutes of the first session, so I decide to wake him and take the kids in myself. Argh. When we get in, none of our therapists have any idea we've been waiting out there. It turns out to be another series of miscommunications. Okay, Kristi and Austin are in therapy, so Nathan, Caleb and I run errands. That means more buckling and unbuckling. We get our errands done, including buying an adorable Beanie monkey to soothe my frayed nerves.
So I get home about half-an-hour before we have to get the big boys - enough time to put away the rest of the groceries. Unless the toddler gets a hold of the Resolve fabric cleaner. In that case, it's enough time to rush the baby to the bathtub to rinse his eyes out for 15 minutes. Have you ever tried to hold down a 35-pound, angry, panicking toddler in a wet bathtub with one hand while using the other to rinse his eyes out for 15 minutes? Even a Beanie monkey won't fix that. All of you will end up in tears.
I did manage to call the school office and ask them to tell my big boys to walk home. So by the time Caleb's eyes were well-rinsed and he was out of the tub, the boys were on their way home, the younger kids were happily gnawing on anything they could find to eat, and Mom was ready to sit in the rocker and cry on the baby. So we cuddled in the rocker. And Mom didn't even have to cry...by this time it was all starting to seem a little funny. The big boys got home just fine, and started gnawing too...who cares if they're all stuffing themselves with sugary cereal?
One more night of picking out clothes - yay - and getting in bed mostly on time. Whew! We made it through! And just in case there was any self-pity left lurking in there, as I'm putting Caleb to bed, he turns his big, brown, puppy-dog eyes on me, and says, "Night, night, Mama. I yuh you." I love you too, Rub-a-Dub. And I can do this.
Comments:
I agree; motherhood suits you perfectly ! ShutterbugMama said it very well.
Goodmorning;
Amanda
This made me cry. Reading this makes me know that I can do this too. U have 8 and I have 2. So embarrassing for me. I feel like I am falling apart sometimes with things like that. XOXOX Chaos
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