The day so far

I forgot to post this yesterday. Go figure.

ORIGINAL POST:

No lie this is what has happened today.

Wake up to Joy crying. Every morning she's the alarm clock. Sometimes Ty ties with who is yelling louder, depending on his mood. Sometimes he's happy as a lark just singing in his room until we get him. Other days, like today, he just runs laps around his room, and he's happy to wait until I get Joy first.

Feed Joy one of her last bottles. Not that we're giving them up this early, (we would if she'd do it!) but Sean is calling everything "last" that aren't big kid things. "Last time to face backwards in the car...Last time to change diapers???...Last time to buy formula..."

Go get Ty who has, true to form, pooped in his Pull-Up. Get frustrated like I do every day then realize getting frustrated hasn't helped yet so it won't help today. Get over it. Hear Charlie while cleaning up after Ty. Go get Charlie and all of us go downstairs.

Make Ty his waffles and Charlie her pancakes/yogurt. Feed Joy some of their leftovers. Talk to the kids at the table about having a good day with no fits. Hope for the best. Give Joy a slice of Mimi's, (Sean's mom) banana bread. I don't think she'll ever eat leftovers again. Praise her for drinking from her cup. (BIG GIRL!)

Talk to Sean on the phone since he's already in Atlanta getting ready for work. It's 8:25. That's what getting up at 4:30 am will get you: to work really early in the morning. He tells me there's a massive thunderstorm heading our way.

Tell him thanks for the heads-up and hang up. Technically we were done talking and the real reason I get off the phone is I hear Charlie and Ty fighting over a toy. Go into the playroom to find them fighting over a toy that we've had, (and they haven't been interested in,) for two years. Why today? I ask. They don't answer. Why are you yelling at each other? They don't answer. We don't yell and get what we want I say. They don't answer.

Groundhog Day. Lord, please, not another Groundhog Day. Lord help me today.

Watch all play while I load dishwasher. Retrieve Joy from dishwasher, which has quickly become her favorite trick. She giggles as she climbs up onto the door. Tell her no. Tell her it isn't safe to hold knives. Take knife out of her hand.

Take big kids up to take a shower. All three of us pile into the shower while Joy crawls around the bathroom. She finds tweezers on the floor?????????so I jump out of the shower to get them away from her. Dripping wet I slip on the floor and fall. Not too bad but funny. Both big kids laugh. Joy cries as I take the tweezers away from her. Whatever Mom I found those fair and square!

Get back in the shower. Charlie falls. Wants me to hold her. Um no honey I can barely hold you when you're dry, I tell her. Tell Ty to hug her and tell her she'll be alright. He does. I almost cry.

Say a prayer thanking God for Ty's school and his progress since he started. He's talking so much more and interacting so well with other kids. Ask for help with not letting myself get overwhelmed today.

Get out of the shower and get dressed. Get the big kids out of the shower and get them dressed. Take Joy downstairs to put her down for a nap. Start a load of laundry since Ty's sheets had poop on them from this morning. Start cleaning dishes from breakfast. Charlie screams from upstairs. Leave dishes.

I run upstairs, (surely something is really wrong since she never screams,) and find her yelling at Ty because he's holding her friends...remember previous post...I tell her there's no yelling and I'll keep her friends until she stops.

Her life is over and she's letting me know it. This goes on for 2 minutes.

Tell Ty to go play his drums and for the love of God close the door this time. Mommy has PMS and suddenly headaches are a part of that for me. Think about what tying tubes could possibly have to do with changing PMS symptoms. Think about googling it later.

Charlie stops and pulls herself together. Gets her friends and plays.

Max barks at someone outside and wakes Joy up.

Plot Max's death.

Sean calls to say his first leg has been cancelled and he's heading to a hotel until 8 pm so he won't have to stay at the airport all day. I ask him if Delta pays for it out of curiosity and he says of course and asks why someone is screaming in the background. I explain why now it's Ty crying--honestly I hadn't noticed--and I don't know why. He asks how I'm doing so far today.

Great. Pretty uneventful.

Which is true considering other days. I tell him I'd trade places with you in a Minnesota minute...sitting in a hotel room by myself sounds like heaven. He says he'd do it because he knows it's very hard what I'm doing. I tell him thanks. I almost cry again. Go find Ty.

Turns out Ty's crying because Joy is banging on his guitar, his prized possession. Tell Joy no and tell Ty to stop crying and next time ask for me to help him. Tell him again that Joy is a baby and she's learning. Move Joy and decide we're all going outside so big kids, go get your shoes.

The phone rings.

I answer thanks to my headset. Thank God for the headset. Otherwise the phone would always just ring. I don't have a free hand here people. It's Sean. The storm is almost there he says. I tell him I was about to take everybody outside to get out of the house. He says might want to reconsider.

Right then the first thunder clap shakes our house. The power goes out. Since the kids were watching Dora they all fall apart because they think I turned it off.

Everybody cries for the three minutes it takes for the power to come back on. Everybody but me. I decide I refuse to cry because of this and tell myself the power will come back on and when it does I'm turning Dora off to teach them a lesson.

Power comes back on. TV back on. I turn the TV off and tell them since they cried like that there will be no more Dora. They all cry louder. Joy is only crying because her nap got interrupted. Put her back down.

About 10 minutes into her new nap a clap of thunder wakes her up.

Plot thunder's death.

Ask God why in the world thunderstorms are necessary. They serve no purpose, Lord. They're like scorpions. Why did You ever even create some things? Why did you give babies hands and feet but not teeth? Teething is for the birds. Why Lord, why?

No answer.

Leave Joy until she falls asleep. Finish getting dressed while big kids play with the train. Ban Charlie from the train because she keeps throwing pieces down the stairs. Move her into my bathroom where I am and let her pretend to do her hair like I'm doing. Hilarious.

Storm moves on and the sun comes out.

Load the kids in the car and take Ty to school. Take girls to Target with me to look for confetti eggs for Easter celebration. We hit a home run in the dollar bin and find Charlie a pair of sunglasses for $1. Decide to buy three pairs so that we'll have back up when she loses them. She loves them. She tries them on in the store and breaks a pair.

That'd be weird. She's a bull in a china cabinet. Be gentle, Charlie I say. I buy the broken pair too since hello they're a dollar. Tell her that's why we buy things in the dollar bin. It's a good life lesson. Heck I'd have bought myself some $1 sunglasses if they'd had some for me.

Go home and put the girls down for naps. Sean calls and asks what I'm doing.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And I like it that way. In fact, I say, I don't even want to talk on the phone. I love you but can I call you back in a little while? Sure he says. Don't forget about your slurpee in the freezer he says. Ahhhhh yes that's what I want. Thank him for buying it for me on Tuesday and go to get it.

Drop it on the kitchen floor and it shatters.

Call Max in the kitchen and tell him to help me clean it up. He does. Call Sean to tell him what happened. He laughs. I do too. I mean really. What are the odds?

We talk for a minute about the day that our kids are a little more independent. I remember to tell him that Joy drained her sippy cup. He cheers. He says that we'll survive this.

I sure hope so.

Then I eat lunch. I'll finish the day later on when I have energy.