Survival Mode

Life with 4 kids has brought out the crazy in me.  Once upon a time I used to be so on top of things, so organized, so punctual, so ahead of the game...  Anyway, when things start to head in the crazy direction, lately I've been telling myself, "Enjoy it!  Some day you're going to be missing this!"  So I thought I'd describe a typical day around here right now...you know, for when I'm missing it.

It's 6:15am on a weekday, Kyle's "Harry Potter" themed alarm on his iPhone goes off.  I can hear it at the first tone of the song.  It takes Kyle between 8-10 seconds to wake up and push the snooze button.  We both drift back to sleep until 10 minutes later when it goes off again.  This time Kyle gets up to shower and I try to catch 10 more minutes of precious sleep.  At 6:35am, my own alarm goes off - it's set to play whatever was played last in iTunes.  Today it's Taylor Swift...must have been listening to that with Janelle last.  It's her favorite.  I fumble for the "off" button as quickly as possible to avoid waking Evelyn up.  I roll out of bed to the closet, scrounge for some clean workout clothes and lace up my tennis shoes with the hopes that I'll be able to squeeze in a workout sometime later in the morning.

I head to Janelle and Spencer's room to wake them up.  Spencer pops out of bed, excited for his day at kindergarten.  I practically have to drag Janelle out of bed who tries to think of some excuse for staying home that day.  "Please get dressed quickly, so you have time to eat breakfast!" I have to remind them as I head downstairs to get them breakfast.  Again, Spencer is dressed and down stairs as quick as The Flash.  I reward him by letting him pick his own cereal.  Janelle, on the other hand, takes her pretty little time dressing and coming downstairs, so I pour her a bowl of cereal and cut her half a banana so it's ready for her the second she moseys down.  The kids eat breakfast and listen to a chapter of the scriptures on my iPhone (love that they can listen to it!) while I make their lunches - PB&J for Spencer, salad and yogurt for Janelle.  By 7:05am, it's time for brushing teeth, doing hair, putting on shoes, and packing bags to be out the door at 7:20 for the bus.  At 7:24 I wave goodbye to them both, begging Spencer to please behave on the bus!

As I close the door behind me, I think to myself, "Both girls are still asleep!  I should workout now."  But I rarely do.  With Evelyn still waking up a few times a night, sleep is a novelty.  I tiptoe up the stairs back to my bed, take off my shoes and drift off to sleep for a few minutes as I promise myself, "I will work out today."  By 8:15am, Ally is either calling to me from her bed, or comes bounding in my room ready for the day ahead of her.  "Shhh...let's whisper so we don't wake up Evelyn," I remind her.  It doesn't matter.  She still wakes up Evelyn every morning with her sweet little loud voice that I love.  I take Ally to the bathroom, change Evelyn then we head downstairs for "S'milk," as Ally likes to say and breakfast.  We eat, play with Evelyn a little, get dressed and then Evelyn is ready for her morning nap (she doesn't last long in the mornings).  I decide to take advantage of her nap and work out, so the running shoes go back on.  Now I have a decision to make.  To watch Ally's cartoons while I run on the treadmill?  Or to take her for a jog in the jogging stroller around the neighborhood?  She's a little whiny this morning and the wind has been making her allergies bad, so I opt for the treadmill.  I plant Ally in front of "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" while I run a couple miles breathlessly singing all the songs for her.  "M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E...it's the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!  Come inside it's fun inside!"

If I'm lucky Ally will watch "Little Einstein's" too and I can shower in peace.  But most of the time she loses interest in TV and drags toys or books into my bathroom while I'm showering.  While I'm lathering up the shampoo, Ally announces, "Ebbie's cwying" (Evie's crying).  I peek my head out, sure enough, Evelyn is awake.  I finish in two minutes all the while listening to the crying growing louder and much more persistent. I throw on some clothes, towel dry and brush my hair.  Depending on the urgency of Evelyn's crying, sometimes I can get some make up on and even do a little blow drying (my bangs anyway).  But if she's too hysterical, I just save the make up for later and go with the air dried hair look.  I pick up my sweet baby, apologize to her for making her wait and then feed her while Ally drags all her toys and books to my feet to play.  She's my little shadow.

When everyone is dressed, full and happy, it's about 10:30am, so we run out the door to run errands.  Today we have to grocery shop.  Now grocery shopping with Ally is never dull.  I can't set her in the child seat in the cart anymore, because that's where I have to put Evelyn and her carseat.  Sometimes I'll opt for the ginourmous carts that have the seats attached to the cart that you ride in, but she usually ends up finangling out of those too, so she usually just walks right next to me...or runs away from me...because she knows she can.  And all the older ladies just smile at her and tell her how cute she is...because she is.  A cute little monster.  (Sigh)  After I've grabbed everything on my list as quickly as I can, we pay (all the while I'm holding Ally, because otherwise she'd be pulling candy bars and impulse items off the shelves faster than you can blink).  She wants to push the buttons on the debit/credit card reader SO badly, so finally I let her push the green "Okay" button once.  I grab my receipt with a wriggling 2-year-old and get out of there as fast as I can!  Once Evelyn and Ally are safely buckled in their seats we head home.  I have a couple more things I could have done while out, but I'm much too tired to even attempt taking Ally out in public any more.  Crazy kid!

We get home, I make Ally lunch, grab a couple of bites of it, because she never eats it all and I'm starving, feed Evelyn and then it's nap time (enter Hallelujah chorus here)!  I put Evelyn in her crib, take Ally to the bathroom, sing her "Stay Awake" and "Twinkle, Twinkle," leave her in her bed and I now have two hours totally and completely to myself.  I'd like to say that I use that two hours to be super productive, but I don't.  Quite the opposite actually.  I crash on my bed and fall soundly asleep until either of the girls wake up.  Or if I'm extremely lucky, until the bus comes and the older two kids get off the bus! 

Everyone is starving once the kids get home (including me because I didn't eat much of a lunch), so I scrounge around for something somewhat healthy but filling.  The kindergarteners eat lunch at 10:30am, so Spencer is especially starving and showing signs of major fatigue (whining, crying, fighting, THE works).  Today I make the kids English muffin pizzas (which is a huge snack)...usually I just throw crackers or granola bars or go-gurts at them.  Janelle chatters about her day, tattles on Spencer for misbehaving on the bus and then groans when I mention that it's time to get homework and piano practicing done.  Fortunately she's fairly good natured and gets both of these things done without much fuss.  Spencer has re-fueled enough to practice his sight words and read his book, then depending on his energy level, I either send him outside or just plant him in front of the tv or computer. 

Our week is pretty busy.  On Mondays, Janelle has gymnastics at 5:15pm.  I run to drop her off and usually Kyle can pick her up on his way home from work.  Tuesdays are a free day - yea!  I can usually manage to make dinner these nights.  Unfortunately Tuesdays are one of Kyle's late nights, so he never gets to enjoy it.  Oh well.  Every other Wednesday, Janelle has Activity Days at the church.  Since I'm an Activity Days leader, I leave the younger three kids with my mom until Kyle can make it home (usually just 15 minutes) and Janelle and I go to the activity.  I really like being an AD leader.  We have a lot of fun, I get to pull out my creativity, the girls are great and it's my one hour every other week that have one on one time with Janelle.  She gets VERY chatty in the car when it's just her, it's pretty funny!  Thursdays are another late night for Kyle and the afternoon that Janelle has piano lessons.  So I pack up all the kids, take her to McKinney and try to find something to do for 30 minutes until she's done.  Usually I just run to get gas, sometimes (but very rarely), I run to the grocery store.  I treat Spencer and Ally to a movie in the car to keep them entertained and quiet. 

I'm really fortunate to be living with my parents right now.  People always ask me with a raised eyebrow how it's going living with them, but I love it. They help a TON with the kids and often I don't have to worry about making dinner (which is a HUGE blessing).  I don't know what in the world I'll do when I'm on my own and Kyle has his late nights! 

That about brings us to bedtime.  (The time I have to just take a big breath and plunge in.)  Getting 3 kids and an infant ready for bed all at the same time is like running a 5k.  It takes a lot of energy, longevity and you want to start sprinting at the end.  First, I coach teeth brushing for Janelle and Spencer while brushing Ally's teeth (Evelyn is usually hungry at this point and crying on the bed unless someone else in the house feels sorry for her and tries to keep her entertained until I can get to her.)  Janelle has braces, so I have to keep an eye on how well she does brushing, otherwise she would be fine by herself.  Once all mouths are sparkly clean, I leave Janelle and Spencer to get on pajamas.  Janelle dresses in her closet and Spencer in their room.  Janelle has become extremely modest lately, and Spencer being the pesky brother he is often tries to bug her in some form or fashion once he's dressed, so I leave them threatening punishments on my way out.  I take Ally and Evelyn to put on their pajamas.  When Ally is dressed, I stick her in bed, say prayers with her, sing her ritual "Stay Awake" and "Twinkle Twinkle" songs, turn out the light and pray that she stays in bed while I'm shutting her door.  I take Evelyn back to the older kids' room, resolve any fighting, send Janelle downstairs to do her nightly reading, tuck Spencer in bed who is complaining that Janelle gets to stay up later than him,  say prayers with Spencer and then it's lights out for him despite all the reasons he's giving me to stay awake with Janelle.  Two down, two to go.  While Janelle is reading, I feed Evelyn, rock her to sleep and stick her in bed.  Hooray for the one who can't talk and actually likes going to bed!  Now I'm just down to one!  I can do it.  I call Janelle back upstairs, say prayers with her in the hallway because Spencer is already sound asleep, tuck her in bed and then collapse in front of the tv until Kyle gets home.  Sometimes I fall asleep, sometimes I don't.

Now it's not all me EVERY night.  Like I said, my parents help out when they're home and available, and Kyle is home a couple times a week.  But the nights that I'm on my own, really are exhausting.  There are so many things I'd like to get done, but just don't.  Right now sleep is my hobby.  Because once I go to bed at 10:00pm, the night has just begun for Evelyn.  She's still waking up two to three times a night.  Like I said, sleep is currently my best friend, I can not get enough of it!

So that's the diary of my day.  We have our good days and bad days.  Good moments and bad moments.  I know I'll appreciate it some day, and I do appreciate it now even.  I wouldn't trade my job for anything, I love my kids like crazy.  But sometimes, I just feel like I'm in survival mode...