San Diego Mommy

A Day in the Life

So I have been trying to get back here  to my blog.  I kept thinking that I couldn’t find the perfect entry so I wouldn’t write, but after a while I began to think that the best way to get back into my blog is to talk about why I don’t write or for that matter why I can’t write.

My day starts out like the rest of the world when my eyes open.  My alarm clock is not the radio or a buzzer, but rather the sounds of small voices coming into the room or of the voice of the smallest person in my room, Cole.   Lucky for me the kids don’t get up until 6:30 or 7 so at least the sun is shining so I feel like I got enough sleep.  (Well, that is after being awake for an hour sometime between 2 and 4 to feed Cole).  After waking up I feed Cole again and then off to the shower.  Most mornings I share with at least one if not two, or three boys in the shower.  (Something you never really think about happening.) Then it is time to dress the clan and hurry off downstairs to start the breakfast routine.  Let’s not forget that we before breakfast we need to fight about what to wear today, getting dressed and getting our hair combed.  This is usually followed by lots of crying and even some forced tears. 

Ok so now it is time for breakfast and if we agree on what to have I may drop dead.  Cole=breastmilk…Druw=fancy toast (french toast)…Jake=eggo waffle…Barret=cereal and I usually just eat whatever someone didn’t eat because chances are someone doesn’t want what they really wanted in the first place.  Sometimes I just make myself some toast but never really eat it because even though that was an option to eat no one wanted toast until I made it for myself.  And if I don’t share then there is more crying and whining.  We all have juice and hot chocolate, but don’t actually drink anything at breakfast so back in the refrig it goes and we can drink it throughout the day, but if we don’t have it something is off and there is more crying.

So now it is 8:10 in the morning and I have to start yelling to get the boys to finish their meal so we can get to school on time, well at least not be more than 30 minutes late.  Now getting into the car…should be easy right…NO…”Where are your shoes? No, you can’t start the car! Where are your shoes? You sat in the middle the last time! Where are your shoes?  Just get in your seat! Where are your shoes?  Don’t touch Cole.  Where are your shoes?”  Now off to school…”Mom, I don’t have my shoes….!”  No, I am serious…this is all before 8:30AM!

Ok, so Jake starts school at 8:30 but in reality we get there sometime between 8:30 and9.  Remember, Jake, Druw and Cole all come out of the car and then Jake gets checked into school and Cole and Druw get back into the car.  Freedom from 1 child for at least three to three and a half hours.  Ok now rush home, time to feed Cole again and then do my workout.  Druw can actually entertain himself for a little while, but that being said, every toy in all rooms of the house has to make an appearance, but it gives me about an hour to exercise (if I am lucky…Cole cries most of that time so it isn’t that great).  Then the rest of the time before Cole and Druw and I have to get back into the car to get Jake I spend cleaning up…breakfast dishes and toys…toys and yes more toys.  I start the laundry, which is another entirely horrible story to tell, then sit to check email, but wait, no I have no time left and off we go to get Jake…where did 3 to 3 and a half hours go?!

2 kids in the car, 2 kids out of the car…3 kids in the car, 3 kids out of the car and we are back home…12:45.  Lunch.  Now to kill time until 5.  Some days we run errands…3 kids in the car…3 kids out of the car.  Target …3 kids in the car…3 kids out of the car.  Home. Once a week we have swim lessons…3 kids in the car…3 kids out of the car. Swim …3 kids in the car…3 kids out of the car.  Home.  I like to make playdates at the park, but …3 kids in the car…3 kids out  of the car.  Some days we just stay home.

Being home means entertaining.  Isn’t that why we all make siblings for our kids?  So they would have built in playmates and we don’t have to sit on the floor and play all day.  Most days I can play for a little while until I can’t do it anymore.  I like to play with the Geotrax or Lincoln Logs.  I make the greatest track or houses and spend lots of time getting it perfect.  After the kids start playing I feel like I can step away and check email so as I sit down…oh wait I am not even a foot away and the crying and whining has begun.  “He is not playing it right…I want a turn…He hit me…I want you to play with us…he is breaking it…”  So apparently no computer time for me.  By this time the entire track or house has been destroyed and they want a new one…”WHAT?!”

Ok time to switch the laundry and do the lunch dishes…”keep up…you can do it…Maybe we should go outside and play for awhile…”  Leaving the huge mess in the family room we head outside to give ourselves a little more space from each other and maybe no fighting.  “Get your shoes on and get dressed….go get your shoes…where are your shoes…you can’t play outside unless you have shoes on.”  (Oh, as soon as we walk into the house all clothes have to come off and only because I am a ‘mean’ mom they have to wear underpants. ) After a long fight to get dressed and shoes on we are outside.   30 seconds later…”I need to go inside to get water.  I need to get a toy from inside.   I want to watch TV.  When are we going inside.  I am going inside to wait for Daddy…”  SERIOUSLY?!

So if I am lucky it is now close to 4:00 or 4:30.  The kids are begging for food most of the time so I feed them dinner early.  “What do you want for dinner?”  I opened a can of worms with that question.  Do they want the same thing?  NEVER, but I am only making one thing for them.  What is it going to be tonight?  Chicken nuggets, pizza, hot dogs (although Druw had decided he only likes the bun with ketchup…hold the dog please) or of course the famous noodles with butter.  Then we have to decide which kind of noodles…spirals, tubes, shells, elbows, or mac n’cheese…whoever came up with so many choices of the same thing did not have kids.  Jake has chocolate milk with dinner, while Druw has strawberry.  Some kind of fruit is placed on the table AND  is actually eaten, but veggies…well…NEVER…We pretty much go through the breakfast routine again with the fact that it takes 40 minutes to an hour to actually get them to eat.  Why is that?  I can eat an entire meal in less than 10 minutes and have actually chewed every bite. 

We made it 6:00, time for jammies, maybe a half hour of TV and then go to sleep.  Oh wait…that was only a dream situation…actually 6:00…time to fight about brushing teeth, fight about going to the potty one last time before bed and fighting about how many books to read.  I know being a teacher I should read as many books as they will sit through but I don’t think we would ever go to bed…Now 6:30…”We want to watch a movie in bed…fine which movie?”  More fighting…”NO movie”  More fighting, “Just go to sleep!”…more fighting…1 kid up, 2 kids up…1 kid back in bed, 2 kids back in bed…more fighting…ok 7:00  Jake has finally decided he is tired of playing games and is actually tired and wants to go to sleep so he is out…1 down…now for Druw…”I want a different movie…Which movie?  I don’t know take all 50 movies down and tell me what we have…NO! Go to sleep!”  More fighting…In the mean time I have not had dinner yet and I am getting crankier by the minute…finally I just leave and he is settling down and Barret and I can eat…1 kid out of bed…1 kid back in bed…dinner well is as pleasant as it can be with a 3 month old that never cries unless the food is on the table and he is not being held.  Rush through dinner and dishes…8:00  Druw is finally out now just Cole.  30 minutes of relaxing TV with the husband IF Cole is not screaming.  (This is the worst time of the day for him).  Then 8:30 one last feeding for Cole and he is swaddled and out by 9:00…I climb in bed, take a deep breathe hoping 2 AM doesn’t come too soon…