I want to remember the chaos/beauty of my life these days. So I'm going to do my best to give a play by play of 'stay at home momma' life with my 7 year old, 6 year old, 5 year old, 3 year old, 2 year old, and 9 week old baby. Here goes..
5 am: I hear the baby in his room sucking the skin off of his hands, so I stumble in there and rock him, nurse him, change him and lay him right back down. I crawl back in my comfy bed and thank Jesus for this big, soft, fluffy cloud of a bed. I close my eyes for what seems like a few seconds only to hear Bill turn the shower on. I look up at the clock and see that it is already 7am. I roll over, doze off again only to hear a certain little girl stomping up the stairs and into my room. When will Adalyn understand the rule that she is supposed to stay in her room until mom and daddy say she can get out?!
7:15 'momma, is it wake up time yet?' I open my eyes to see her sweet smile and crazy hair. 'No, Adalyn, go potty and get back in your bed. You can read a book or lay there quietly. Please be quiet and don't wake anyone else up.' She pouts her lip and turns back out of our room. As she leaves she sees Bill come out of the bathroom and starts crying thinking that she is in trouble for getting out of her bed. Bill just smiles at her and says Good Morning. She continues down the stairs and I hear her talking to Ella Kate and Miley. ((Sigh..)) I figure my day is starting now. I get up and see Josiah and motion for him to go into the girls room. Levi will sleep much later than the others.
7:30 Bill kisses me and the kids good bye. I start making my bed and getting ready for the day. The kids are making up their beds and getting dressed.
8:00 Titus is awake and I feed and change him. He is super smiley in the morning, so I pull out my phone to take some pictures of his sweet, chubby little self. I check our bank account to see if bill's paycheck went into our account.. We have to get groceries today! I call the big kids upstairs to brush their teeth and fix their hair. After they are dressed and ready, I get them something to drink and make Adalyn and Levi a sippy cup. I look around for something to feed them for breakfast, but we seriously have nothing. I promise them some donut holes from dunkin donuts and they play while I start some laundry and get Levi up and dressed. Josiah brings me a wad of dollar bills and a handful of change. He says, "it's $18 and you can have it. You can use it to buy the donuts." Sweet boy. He is beaming and his thoughtfulness makes me teary eyed. We head out the door and I purposely leave his money on the counter (my 6 year old is not buying us breakfast!) Josiah notices, grabs it and says, "mom!! Don't forget the money!!"
9ish: we all load up in the van and I notice that the trash can isn't by the road. Bill told me that he would roll it down on his way to work, but he must have forgotten. I pull back into the driveway and get out to roll the trash can to the curb. I also remember that our trash can in the kitchen is full, so I run back in the house and grab that trash too. Finally get back in the car and head out. We hit dunkin donuts, use Josiah's money and then make our way to walmart. He smiled the whole way.
9:30 I am getting the stroller and kids out of the van at walmart when a man approaches me and asks if I need any help. "No, thanks. I do this everyday!" "All of those can't possibly be yours!" "Uhh.. Yes sir. They are all mine." He kind of stands there and stares as if we are a circus act (which we kinda are in a way!) then smiles, walks off and says, "bless your heart." I don't really like it when people bless my heart or talk about my hands being full IN FRONT of my kids. I'm sure that most people don't mean anything by it, but my kids are gifts! They aren't burdens. I get Titus and Levi in the stroller and have 2 kids on either side and remind them to behave properly and talk softly while we are shopping. EK and Jos pipe up and say that they will be my big helpers.. Which they are! I fill the bottom basket of the stroller with as much necessities as I can. Each of the bigger 4 are holding something for me. Adalyn is holding a bag of pecans and keeps saying how "hebby" they are. I caught her setting them down in the middle of 2 different aisles. Sneaky girl.. EK eventually picks up the small 1lb bag for me and carries it the rest of the trip. We head to the self check out because the kids love helping put stuff on the conveyor belt and scanning the items. I get on to Adalyn several times for sitting where the bagged groceries are. Apparently it is weight censored and she kept setting off some alert on our kiosk. We gather our stuff and head back to the van. I praise the kids for being so awesome and well behaved. They all smile and say, "are you gonna tell daddy that we were such big helpers?" "Does it make you so happy to go to walmart with all of us?" "Too bad Adalyn didn't really obey... But I guess she is still a baby and she's learning." "I am NOT a baby. I'm so big!! Momma, am I so big???"
10:20 we leave the walmart parking lot and I see that I have 20 miles til empty. I also realize that I forgot to buy hairspray but don't want to load the kids back up and head back in the store. I go ahead and get gas when my mom calls. I start talking to her while I'm pumping gas and out of nowhere I start crying. For no reason.. I just heard my moms voice and the tears just poured. I tell her about the hairspray and she tells me to Go get hers from her house. My mom is the best. I get back inside the van, drive to my mom's, get the hairspray and start driving to bills work. While driving, I hear Ella Kate tell Adalyn, "no, she isn't upset with us! I just think that all moms cry a lot after having babies." My poor kids. Post partum is kicking my booty.
10:45 we are at bills work and I run in, drop something off and kiss him. Titus is asleep but I don't think he will make it home and I really don't want to drive the 20 minutes home with a screaming baby. My hormones can't take that. I get the baby out and decide to feed him in the parking lot of Bonro. The kids put on an old tom and jerry DVD while they wait. My moms calls me while I'm feeding Titus to check on me and see if I'm still crying:) she shows up in the parking lot with a caramel frappuccino and a hug. I love her. I start crying for the super sweet gesture. She leaves before I start the ugly cry. I burp Titus and see that he has pooped... Thru his outfit... And all over my dress. Josiah has to use the bathroom. All of a sudden, Adalyn does too. I call bill and ask if he can let the kids potty at work so I can clean up the blowout that was in the drivers seat.
11:20 we head back home.
11:40 we are in the driveway and unloading groceries. Adalyn sees a lizard on the front porch and freaks out. Josiah freaks out. Miley and Levi run to it and try to grab it and make it our pet. Thankfully the lizard gets away and we head inside. I start putting the groceries away in the kitchen and the kids are running around like wild Indians. EK and Miley start playing barbies and Josiah asks what he can do. I give him a pile of cardboard trash to put out back in the fire pit. Levi and Adalyn follow him and want to play in the back yard. Josiah is not really an outside boy and isn't fond of the idea. I promise them that as soon as I get the groceries put away, I will come outside with them.
12:00 I put Titus in a bouncy seat with the girls and head outside. They want to play with the power wheels but the battery is dead. They are devastated so I run behind them and push them in circles in the yard. That thing is heavy And hard to push. They beg me to do it again. I look and make sure that no neighbors are watching me and I do it a few more times. I'm sweaty and out of breath, so I call it quits and we go in for lunch.
12:15 I lay Titus down for a nap on my bed and start to make sandwiches. I hear Levi shouting something about poop. This is never good. As soon as I turn the corner, I see his naked hiney with poop smeared down his leg. Ella Kate shouts out,"momma! I need some baby wipes." I clean up Levi while Ella Kate cleans up the poop on the carpet. What a servant.. I didn't even ask. Love her!
12:30 we are all at the table eating lunch. While the kids are eating, we start talking about our plans for tonight. The kids are dressing up as cows for free food at chick fil a. I ask them what they want to wear, and what color spots they want to have. (We don't have any black/white). I start drawing spots on construction paper for them to cut out when they finish eating. The first one done gets the scissors first. Josiah is having a hard time swallowing all of the spicy Cheetos that he asked for. After several cups of water, he finishes second after Ella Kate. I get them squared away with cutting and start cleaning up from lunch. Sweeping, wiping down counters and cleaning up the smeared nastiness on the kitchen window..( something Levi did, I'm sure.) I switch over the laundry.
1:20 Levi starts screaming for his turn with the scissors. Which wakes up the baby early from his nap. I bring Levi and Adalyn up to my room and make them sit on my floor to cut their paper so I can watch them while I feed Titus. I can imagine these 2 giving each other hair cuts.. Scissors are new to them and they can not be trusted. Levi is irritated that he can't make the scissors work. Adalyn tries to help him, but he wants none of it. After lots of tears, I know it's naptime.
1:45 I burp the baby, change his diaper then head downstairs to lay Levi down for a nap. He asks for a toy in his bed, I give in, kiss him, cover him up and leave. Josiah plays with Legos quietly in the living room. I walk into the girls room to see that barbies dream house has exploded. I ask them to clean it up and make Adalyn go potty. They all 3 get in their beds. I tell Adalyn she needs to sleep. Miley colors and Ella Kate does some writing/spelling (her choice!)
2:00 it's storming, and I know the babies will nap good. I decide to make some cinnamon-sugar pecans as a surprise for bill. While I'm in the kitchen, the thunder is super loud. Josiah comes in at one point and tells me that the thunder "froke him out!"
As in the past tense of 'freak out'.
2:30 Adalyn is asleep so I get the girls out of their beds and let them come to the living room with jos to watch netflix. Miley brings me a stack of pictures that she has colored for me. She has to show me each one and explain what each of them are. I come upstairs to my room to see that Titus had fallen asleep on my bed where I left him. Sweet boy. I check facebook and remember that I never ate lunch. I go back to the kitchen to stir the pecans and grab some cheese rice cakes and a hand full of gummy bears. I remember that I put the frappuccino in the freezer and pull it out to see that it is completely frozen solid. I let it thaw on the counter.
3:00 I read a blog that inspires me to do a "day in the life" post. So I decide to start typing. I hear someone knocking on my door and I look at the window and freak out that it's a creepy serial killer because there isn't a car in my driveway. Come to find out it is just my friend Sarah Beth from down the street. She and her new puppy Millie brought us some blueberries. They leave and I continue this blog post. I get to the part about the pecans and remember that I never got them out of the oven. Shoot! I am a disaster in the kitchen. I run downstairs and get them out of the oven.. They don't look too bad. Bills gonna be so excited!
3:45 Adalyn wakes up and joins the big kids downstairs. I have a text from nana. She swings by and I sign something for her. We talk some and she brings the kids some Oreos. We talk some more.. I just love her. She leaves and I try and finish this post.
4:00 Levi wakes up (thanks Adalyn) and he follows me upstairs and steals some gummy bears. He kisses the head of sleeping Titus on my bed. He tells me he pooped. I asked, "again?" He smiles and says, "no.. I tootied!" I asked him to come here and I peeked in the back if his shorts. I saw his bare bottom again. He isn't wearing a diaper. I ask him where it is and he smiles, points his finger and says, "there!" I take a big breath and brace myself for what I'm about to find in his bed.. Thankfully his wet diaper is on his floor with no surprises in his bed.
4:30 I spend some time with my big kids and then ask them to clean up the Legos and books from the living room. I come back upstairs with a hand full of pecans to find that Levi and Adalyn have devoured the entire bag of gummy bears. I guess I didn't need them. This baby weight won't come off by itself.
4:45 I start getting myself ready for tonight knowing that I should really be feeding Titus, but he's sleeping so good right now. We'll work on perfecting his schedule later. I mean, he is number 6. There should be some flexibility. I hang up some laundry and try to tie up any loose ends before bill gets home. I'm so glad that I got the majority of laundry and ironing done earlier his week. Levi has brought a bowl of pecans upstairs and dumped them all over my bed. Cinnamon and sugar everywhere. The kids scrounge around and gobble them up. I find Adalyn under my bed with my phone and my otterbox in a few pieces. I remind her that it isn't a toy and I start putting it back together. I turn around and see her sipping on my frappuccino that is still waiting on me to drink. That girl. She is a mess. Miley walks in and shows me how she made some puzzles out of paper. It's quite creative. Titus wakes up. I guess I'll get ready later..
5:00 I feed the baby. I scrape some cinnamon and sugar off of his head. Bill calls and tells me that he is on his way home. I tell the kids that daddy is on his way and they needed to straighten anything up and put on some smiley faces. They start changing clothes and get ready to be cows. I look around my room and notice the dust on my bookshelf.. I really should have dusted today. I will try to do that later.
5:30 bill is home and we start taping spots and tails on kids and making little noses black (it's chick Fil a night, remember?) the kids are bouncing off the walls and SO excited that they get to go INSIDE the restaurant and they get their OWN meal and their OWN drink.. No sharing!! You would have thought it was Christmas. By the time we got the last kid spotted up and marked on, the first 2 kids had smudged their noses and torn their spots. We repeat the cycle, then run as fast as we can into the car before we mess anything else up.
6:00 we leave for chick Fil a, with 5 cute little cows in tow. I'm sweaty and stressed although I'm not sure why.. We have really had a good day. I'm blaming the hormones again. We walk into the craziness, get their meals AND their icecream (another huge treat!), find a seat, blow on some hot food, clean a few spills, drop a few ketchups, wipe off the table and call it one of the best nights ever.
7:45 we head home with some sloppy, sleepy cows and a sweet and hungry baby. Bill runs a bath and I help take off some spots that actually survived the mayhem. Josiah hops in the shower and Miley and Adalyn hop in the bath. One by one they get bathed, dried off, jammies on, hair brushed, teeth brushed.
8:30 bill walks them to their room for their nightly routine. I plop myself on the bed and feed Titus. Bill is walking back up the stairs when I hear Miley and Adalyn call out "daddy, tell momma that I love her!" (They say that every night.) they blow us kisses until bill hops in bed beside me. I finish typing this post and hear Titus blowing up his fresh diaper. Bill steals a few smiles and coos while I change yet another poopy diaper. Daddy kisses him goodnight as I walk him to his room. I kiss him, snuggle him, whisper a prayer over him, lay him in his bed and listen to his sweet baby noises as he tries to suck his thumb. He is just precious.. I could watch him all night. I contemplate picking him back up out of bed to just love on him. But he's sleepy and I have a husband who I'm longing to spend some time with.
9:00 everyone is in bed and I think bill and I will watch a movie. We have been addicted to Christmas in July. The hallmark channel has been playing Christmas movies all week, and we have pretty much watched every one. But before I do, I finish this post:) I'm thankful for another day with my sweet kiddos! I just love my family:) and I just realized that I wore the dress that had baby poop on it all day.. Even to chick fil a.. Such is my life!!
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