A Day in the Life ...

Being the mommy of three is wonderful. I don't want to give any of my readers the impression that it is anything other than that. The moments of sheer delight, love and awe over my three boys far out number those "other" moments. However, I do have a few funny, and kind of scary, stories to share about my new role as "mom of three". A little more telling, though, is the title "mom of two under two" ;-)

I've finally gotten into somewhat of a routine of taking the two little guys out every morning after Tristan's off to school. It really helps us to get through the morning. We usually stop at Starbucks, where Silas and I share a butter croissant, and then we're off to run some errands. By the time we get home, it's time for Silas's lunch and nap. After he goes down, I spend a little bit of time feeding and playing with Jack, then he usually goes down for another nap, too. Their nap times usually overlap just a little, and that's when I try to get the house work done ... Once they wake up from their naps, they're awake together and both pretty demanding of my attention. In other words, in the afternoons and evenings, all h--- breaks loose!!!

So, the other day I decided that, for our morning outing, I was going to go to the Home Depot and get some paint and supplies that I needed to finish a few projects that I've been working on around here. After Tristan got off to the bus stop and Silas had finished eating his breakfast, I cozied up on the couch with Jack to feed him before we set off. At about 8:55am, Tristan walked back in the house (his bus leaves at 8:30am).

"Mom ---."

"Tristan Manata, did you miss your bus?" I quickly asked him, slightly perturbed.

"Yes, but Mom ---."

"Why are you just now coming in to tell me? School starts right now. Now you're going to be late!" As I jumped off of the couch and started loading Jack into his car seat.

Tristan went on to try and explain to me why he had thought it a good idea to make his rounds to each and every one of his friends houses (about 5 in all) to ask their parents if they'd left for the bus stop yet ... just to make sure that it had really come and gone ;-)

I quickly threw shoes and socks on Silas's feet, and wrapped his jacket around him over his pajamas ... there was NO time to get him or Jack dressed! ...

... After we dropped Tristan off at school. I decided that it just made more sense to go right on and make our trip to Home Depot, rather than go home and get everyone dressed. So, off we went, making our usual detour at the Starbucks drive through.

Now, one of the important purchases that I made, before Jack was born, was one of those great double strollers. I love it!!! Silas is able to sit in the front and see everything that's going on, and Jacks car seat snaps right into the back seat, so he's where I can see him and get to him easily. They both seem to really like it, too. Silas practically begs to get in it, and Jack is pretty much lulled to sleep whenever we use it. So, when we got to Home Depot, I just got out, got both boys situated in the stroller and went right in.

Well, the rollers, paint brushes and stirring sticks fit fine in the little basket under the stroller, but what about the two gallons of paint that I'd just had mixed??? After awkwardly trying to carry them while pushing the stroller, I finally figured out that I could put one on each handle bar and it actually worked quite nicely. Yay! However, by the time I'd figured that out and paid for everything, Silas was starting to get a little bit cranky. He was also covered, and I mean COVERED, in butter croissant crumbs from his little mid-morning snack!

As soon as I got out to the car, the first thing I would do is get Silas out of his seat, so he'd stop whining and brush all of the crumbs off, before I put him in the car. When I lifted him from his seat, though, the weight of the paint caused the stroller to topple over backwards! Without even thinking, I put Silas down next to the car, and literally flew over to pick up the stroller and see to Jack. I quickly removed the paint cans from the handle bars and placed the stroller back in it's upright position. Jack was still sleeping ... AMAZING (thank you, God!). But then, I realized that I had just put Silas down right there in the parking lot, but when I looked up to see him he was just standing there perfectly still, no more fussing, completely in shock!

I noticed some crotchety people getting in to a minivan one lane over from me. Instead of showing concern, or asking if everything were alright, they were just giving me dirty looks and talking quietly to each other. Probably thinking something along the lines of, "Look at that stupid lady. She couldn't even manage to dress her kids before she sent them plummeting to their deaths!" It was kind of embarrassing and irked me a little, but I was trying so hard not to be judgemental of them or hold a grudge. I have to admit, though, that when they started up their car and proceeded to roll right over the cement parking block in front of them, I did giggle a little ...

Okay, so once that hurdle was overcome and we were safely in our car and on the way home, I did finally start to catch my breath. That was a mistake. As soon as we got home, both boys began to cry. I tried to get Jack as settled down as I could. I knew that what he really wanted was to eat, but I couldn't settle down to feed him until I'd put Silas down for his sorely needed nap. So, I went to get Silas's milk ready. In the meantime, he was throwing himself down on the floor, pulling things down off the counters, etc. (He really is such a sweet heart, but he's hit those "terrible twos", I think, and he does have these little melt downs from time to time. Paul and I are really trying to crack down on him.)

Now for a little back ground information, before I get to the conclusion of this saga: My wonderful husband does the cooking for our family, and I do the cleaning. It's an arrangement that we've come to in the last year or so, and it works really well. He's a great cook! However, when things are a little crazy like they have been lately, sometimes I'm not able to get the dishes as quickly as I'd like to. When that happens, my wonderful husband doesn't just rinse things off and put them to the side. Instead he fills the greasy pans with soapy water and lets them "soak" in various places throughout the kitchen. ...

Well, as Silas was pulling things off the counter tops, he just happened to find one of those pans complete with spices, olive oil, cold-sat-there-over-night water and soap left over from the previous evening's dinner. He proceeded to pull it down on to himself. It got in his eyes, nose and mouth, and soaked his little dinosaur pajamas. Of course, when he started crying, not only did I feel horrible, but Jack's crying turned to screaming. Silas needed to get dressed anyway. So, we took care of that, got a new diaper on, drank our milk and went down for a nap ... finally.

Then, I ran down stairs to change Jack and settle down to nurse him. Which we did, but not before he sprayed me, his blanket, his clean clothes and himself! What a day in the life of this "Mommy of two under two"! Actually that was just the morning, wasn't it? ... ;-)