Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Our Busy Life











I'm an "almost there" kind of Mom. Unfortunately, "there" doesn't really exist. Let me explain. Come with me to "there".







"There" is a place where you wake up in the morning and slowly stretch, reaching your arms into the air as you let out a final yawn for the morning. Turning over, you switch off the dial to the baby monitor silencing the low static humm and occasional thump that it emits. Making sure that you don't wake your peacefully sleeping husband who is curled next to you in a pile of soft fresh sheets, you tip toe to the other side of the bed and quietly flip the switch on the other monitor. Breathing in a scent of fresh carpet that is still lingering from the night before's vacuum , you check to make sure the fan is on high as you leave the room. ( Your husband and you always playfully tease as you decide what speed to place the fan on throughout the night. You like a low speed, just enough to keep you cool, while your husband prefers a higher speed so he can bundle under the covers and feel the circulation )







Gently, you creep down the hallway, taking careful steps so as to not wake the sleeping children with the creaky floor. You successfully make it to the kitchen. Ahh, your trusty timer never fails. The aroma of fresh coffee fills the kitchen as you pour your morning cup of joe, topping it off with french vanilla creamer. ( You've bought the pre-packaged kind just like they carry at the convenience store. ) What's the morning gossip? You decide to turn on the news as you lean back on the couch, propping your feet on the table in front of you. You can feel the energy and life begin to run through you veins as you contemplate your activities for the day.







In the background you begin to hear a little giggle and squeak. You smile as you stand and walk towards your daughters room. Her little smile lights up when she sees you peer through the door. She is very proud of herself, she has learned to pull herself up and stand at the edge of the crib. Waiting for you to pick her up she awkwardly bends her knees to bounce, still trying to test out her new found balance. The second you have her in your arms she clings to you tightly and lays her head on your shoulder. "Time for diaper change!", you exclaim walking back to the living room, your little attachment oblivious to the comment. She is just thrilled to see you again.







After changing her diaper one by one your kids continue to wake up. Each one just as special and bright-eyed, ready to begin a new day. You receive gentle kisses from sleepy eyed little boys with their bodies curled in a ball on you as you sit on the couch with them easing them into their morning routine.







Your well into your day now, you're feeling tired, but accomplished as you reflect on all that you've done today. The gym in the morning, random errands, nap time for the kids and the park in the afternoon. You gloat as you are reminded of the frazzled mother of one, who looked up to you with admiration, " I don't know how you do it with 4, I've got my hands full with one and you make it look so easy!" You smile as you think of your response, " Well, I am just fortunate that they all just happen to be so well behaved." She nodded as she frantically searched for her keys, yelling as her child wandered off, " Junior, get back here", she screamed. You sighed as you buckled the last latch of your boy's car seat, ' Boy, she just must not know a thing about organization or discipline', you think to yourself.







Your concentration is broke as you hear the bedroom door opening. It's your husband waking. His footsteps make a distinct thud as he heads down the hallway in your direction. As he turns the corner the your babies eyes light up as they see their Dad. He softly pats them each on the head, scooping the boy up recognizing a pat wasn't going to suffice. You lean up to receive your husbands kiss on the forehead. " Hi Honey, thanks for letting me sleep a little longer today." your husband states. "Oh, no problem Babe, I know you had an exhausting night at work and needed to catch up on your rest" , you let him know.







The evening continues with a bit of family play and then dinner and baths. After bath time you ready the babies for bed. You lay them down without a hitch and are left to enjoy a little more time with your older two. You give in and play one more game of Memory promising to read them each a story after you're done. They cuddle next to you as tightly as they possibly can, eager to hear the book they've chose.







"Time for sleep little guys", you say. They race off to the bathroom to see who can get their toothbrush out the fastest. It's a tie. "Brush em Brush em Brush em", you sing as they thoroughly scrub their pearlies. One last potty for the night! You pick each of the boys off and "zoom" them into their beds. They quietly laugh so as not to wake their sleeping baby brother in the crib next to them. " Mom, do snug as a bug" one requests. "Okay Mister, snug as a bug in a rug", you tell him as you tightly tuck the blanket around his body. He smiles, pleased with you and whispers, " I love you Mommy". The other asks you to lean down and give him a kiss. " I love you Mommy", he tells you as you begin to walk away. " I love you too boys, sleep good."







You walk back into the hallway as you yawn. Sitting down on your couch you glance around at the order. Ahh, you think, 'how nice to go to bed with such a clean house' and just think, I don't even have any laundry or dishes to do' Propping your feet up, you reach for your melting glass of iced tea and the remote control. It's American Idol night, " I love Casey James you think as you listen to him belt out Heaven.







End Dream zone.....That was " There" this is "Here":












"AHHHHHHHH!!! WAHHHHHHH!!!DADADADADADADA!!!", the yells blair out from both sides of the bed. Quickly you roll over to pull the plug from the monitor to your left. Brief moment of silence. Ha, you thought to soon. "WAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" You hear another wail from the other side of the bed. Clumsily you stumble out of bed and make your way to the around to shut down the monitor. You don't know which is louder, the monitors or you snoring husband. You wait a minute to make sure you see him rustle a little in bed, ( you want to make sure he's aware that you are getting up at such a ghastly hour in the morning ). Click, you switch the other monitor off. At this point you have to move at a brisk pace, knowing that if you wait to long to quiet the yelling you will have all four on your hands at once in the morning. You take one final yawn, breathing in the scent of sweat and pee stained sheets. Darnit, your son wet your bed again! Note to self..must change sheets and wash bedding today. 'Where the heck am I going to fit that in? I'm already down 20 loads' you think to yourself. As you leave the room, you make sure to turn down the fan. After all you don't want your husband to sleep too comfortably, then he may never wake up and goodness knows you count down the hours until you have that bit of extra help.





Quickly you go into the boys room first. You scoop him up, hoping that he doesn't let out a shriek that would wake he other boy left in the room. AANNND you made it successfully out of the room, but "OH, NO! " Your hand sticks to the back of his pants and a warm sensation envelopes your midsection. You're being peed on.





After cleaning both you and the baby up, you go back for round two. You peek slowly into the door studying the quietness. Perhaps you've got lucky and she's fallen back asleep. But alas, no such luck. Up bobs her little head, a mischievous grin spreads across her face and she yells out for you to grab her. As you scoop her up she clings to you and lays her little head on your shoulder. Suddenly the morning brightens...." OwwwwOWWWWW!!!!!", you yell. " Let-Go-Of my HAIR!!" you say back to her. Your head is tilted to the side as her little fingers curl into the smallest hairs on the back of your neck as she gleefully screams out.





After you free your hands, you travel back out towards the kitchen. You hurry to change your daughters bulging diaper so as not to have a leak-through repeat and then quickly set her into her highchair next to her brother. You do this in hopes that you can keep them occupied long enough with their breakfast foods so that you may get in a few sips of coffee . ( Which by the way, you hadn't made yet. ) After your coffee is finished brewing you salvage the last drops of your milk jug to add a little cream. (You will probably reheat your coffee in the microwave 7 times before the morning is done. So much so, that you will have to scoop the film layer off the top the last several times. ) But for now, you sit down running through the list of things you need to get done today, hoping somewhere in the mix you can toss in an activity for the kids.





'SLAM' 'STOMP STOMP STOMP' " Time to wake up" You realize that your 2 yo is awake an making sure that his brother gets up with him. 'Well, here we go!' you think. Your day has officially begun. Any chance of sitting down, eating, sleeping, showering, brushing your teeth, heck sometimes you even wonder breathing, are now all out the window for approximately 13 more hours.





You're well into your day now. Thinking about all that you've done, the fatigue slowly starts to travel through your body. The cleaning, errands, running one of your children to school, the cleaning, the laundry, the grocery, the cleaning.....the cleaning.....the cleaning. Try as you might, you just cannot seem to keep up with all the chores, they are always one step ahead of you. You are reminded of the mother you ran into earlier in the day. She was chasing her daughter through the parking lot as you attempted to keep your kids in a uniform line as you walked to your car. Today, you'd forgotten your stroller so you were lugging a baby on each hip and urging the other two repeatedly to stay close to you, " It's a busy parking lot and there are a lot of cars boys!!" You briefly watch each other and share an understanding glance, ' I feel ya sista', is what both of you are thinking.





Your thought is interrupted as you realize with horror that your two year old is tracing the entire length of your brand new coffee table with a stick of chalk. "NO NO!", you exclaim. "We don't color on the coffee table" You grab the chalk from his sneaky little hands and he peers up at you with a broad smile, "Tee Hee", he jabs. In the background you hear your oldest son whispering, "Tell Mom Poop.....say butt....say it!" You let out a sigh, 'Pick your battles' you think to yourself.





All of a sudden the room erupts into a den of screams and yells. The babies are hungry again and your boys have gotten into another fight over who gets to play with the new green sports car. You take a deep breath, insincerely apologizing to your husband, in your mind, about waking him early. You walk back to the room on a mission. You know very well that if you attempt to wake your husband now, it will be a good 15 minutes before he is an effective functioning member of the household. Or before he even gets out bed for that matter!





Finally, you hear him coming down the hallway. He lets out a large fart as he walks into the living room. Patting the kids on the head he walks past you asking, "What's there to eat?" Defeated, you reply, " I just went grocery shopping, the fridge is full...really?" He grumbles as he sifts through the fridge. "Why did you wake me up early? I had a really long night at work last night, I'm just so tired" He isn't really angry, just making a statement. "Oh, I'm sorry, it must be really hard to work a full time job and get up with the kids all day long without stopping...Oh wait you don't do that, that's me" Okay, you think....that comment may have been uncalled for. Not missing a beat, he calls back to you, " Oh and by work do you mean sitting in a recliner all day?"





The rest of the evening is a whirlwind of dinner and baths. You have to stack your children's bedtimes, knowing that with them all going to bed at once you will be up for an extra hour reminding them to stop talking to each other. After brushing teeth, you manage to squeeze in a quick story for the older two boys. You set the older one up in you bed explaining to him he can watch one more cartoon. ( This is his privilege for being a little older ) Tuck ins and I love you's are exchanged and you drag yourself back out to the living room to catch up on your weeks worth of DVR'd shows. Plopping down on the couch, you glance to your side, 'the dishes can wait till tomorrow'. It's the latest episode of American Idol and you can't wait to see what Casey James is singing tonight. Just when he opens his mouth to sing you hear, "MOOOOMMMMMMM!!! I've gotta POOO-OOOOP!!"










EXIT "HERE"










Maybe this sounds familiar to some of you? "Here" is where I am. My life is busy, chaotic, challenging, exhausting and rewarding and I love it. I wouldn't change my kids or my life for one minute. Some days when I feel like I don't know how I'm gonna get through the day, I remember that God doesn't give anyone more than they can handle and I know there is a reason that God gave me the responsibility and gift of this life. I may not be "there", but each day gets easier and easier and I constantly think to myself, "Keep going Nicki, you're "almost there" .




















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