Spin Cycle: Day In The Life

I'd like to say that I'm the kind of mom, nay, the kind of woman, that runs her life in a smooth and regimented way. Sadly, this just isn't so. I blame it on the hippie artists I fell in with. :p

On a typical day:

I wake up when a) my husband crawls over me to get up or b) my boys climb into bed with me, lugging an army of Pokemon guys. If I was clever enough to bring a diaper and wipes into my room the night before (usually not a problem) I change Walker and play with the boys until a) my bladder screams at me or b) Katie's bladder makes her bark and do the potty dance. Sissy lolls around in bed reading until I call her to please take Katie outside. I head to the bathroom, fending off little boys (with help from a locked door) long enough to change, wash up, shove my hair on top of my head, etc. Somewhere during all of this, West will holler, "Mama?! Can we have fruit snacks?!" and I'll holler back, "Only if you get some for your brother and eat them at the table!" Peace reigns for 3.7 minutes.

I get upstairs in time for my husbands first call of the day. This is only the first of many calls that I will receive from my beloved over the course of the day. He'll say, "Just making sure you were up!" I'll say, "Yep, I'm up." We'll make small-talk for a few minutes, he'll give up and get back to work. I'll make the kids breakfast-usually French toast or waffles, fruit and milk. (My kids'll only eat one kind of cereal: Peanut Butter Spheres. They can't market them as peanut butter balls, because then they'd sound like Chef on South Park.) On a good day, I'll grab a protein drink or Bolthouse Chai but really, it's too damn early for me to eat. I feed the cats and Katie their canned food and tell West to drink his milk.

Most days, we snap on PBS (oh thank you, Jesus, for PBS!) in time for Sesame Street and maybe even Dragon Tales. I pull up the internet on my laptop and read or post blogs. This is it, peoples. That's all the time I can promise you, although I may stop back around the time that I should be sleeping. During this time, I'll field another call or two from my husband ("I just wanted to hear your voice." "I'm on break." "How's your day going?") and several whiny, "Mama?! Can I play my DS?"es. I will misspell tomorrow (tomarrow) and drive myself crazy.

At this point I normally take Katydid out again and putz in the yard while she does her business. I pull weeds and corral toys and love on my plants:









At 12ish, I slap lunch together (typically pb sandwiches and a veggie-a Lean Pocket for me) before changing the baby, hunting down a Nukie and putting him down for a nap. He'll generally start with, "No! No nigh-nigh time!" and end with gratefully snuggling into his pillow. I kick the kids outside, or let them do some kind of art or play DS or a computer game. Jesse comes home for lunch and I generally touch base with my mom and sisters in a flurry of phonecalls.

When Walker wakes up, we could do most anything: Head to my mom's, where the kids take turns pushing the buttons for the elevator, or run errands:



or play at the park:



or hang out with friends:



At the end of the day, Jesse and I take turns making dinner and taking care of bedtime The boys go to bed first most nights, as Sissy is allowed to stay up "late" every other night. I lay in Westie's bed and read stories and the kids take turns picking songs for me to sing, usually "Over in the Meadow" and Grover's "Wubba Wubba" song. Then we say the same prayer we've said since Sissy was born: "Thank you, God, for this day. Bless me, and everyone who loved and took care of me today. Amen."

I make the sign of the cross on each child's forehead and say, "You are my beloved. On you my favor rests." I walk to the door and say "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite. If they do, whack 'em with a shoe, then they'll cry, 'Boo-hoo!' Mama loves you." I shut the door.

For the rest of the night, I clean, watch Gilmore Girls with Winter or a movie with Jes', shower, some nights blog or water my plants until well after the sun has gone down. Typing this out, I'm reminded that I've got a pretty damn good life. Routinely, even.

For more posts about routines, head to The Spin Cycle!

(P.S. If anyone knows how to make my pictures fit on this @#*!ing blog without changing my layout or cutting and pasting from the top of the blog where the "add a picture" blog feature keeps loading the damn things, for the love of God, tell me!)