I decided to work from home today since I worked in the office the rest of the week. So this morning was less hectic, until we realized we were running really late for Big Bro’s school:
Highlights of the Morning and Commute:
- Red winds up in our bed at 6:30 and asks me to fix her pony-tail. We don’t get up until after 7 for some reason. So we start a bit late.
- Big Bro hides under his blanket and goes into the Twins’ room to make them laugh. They laugh hysterically, over and over again. In fact they are jumping in their cribs laughing.
- I diaper the Twins but both REALLY want Hubby this AM. He takes everyone downstairs for breakfast. I head down too – no shower, no make up. An easy work day for me physically.
- Everyone eats well except for Big Bro.
- I’m not sure what I’m doing but I guess I’m talking with the kids and holding them and cutting apples and drinking coffee. For some reason, and I don’t know why, we are suddenly extremely late. I guess I was too relaxed thinking we had all of this time but I looked at the clock and it was 8:10!!! That’s usually when we are dropping off Big Bro in the school yard! OH SHIT WE ARE MAJORLY LATE BIG TIME!!!!!!! LET’S GO!!!!!
- I do all drop offs, Hubby takes the car for another meeting.
- 1st drop off: Twins. Fast. Easy shmeasy.
- 2nd drop off: Big Bro. All of the kids are on their way from the yard (in a line up) into the classroom. We quickly make the last of the last line in. I dance around with Big Bro and Red that “we’re in the back of the parade, we’re in the back of the parade.” Seriously, we’re (I’m) singing and swinging their arms and dancing around saying this over and over again. The kids are laughing. I think they think I’m a bit silly sometimes. But I have so much fun with them.
- 3rd drop off: Red. I like taking her into pre-school slowly. Not rushing. She gets set up with an activity and she is so sweet. She makes a comment to me that “after we drop off [Twin Crazy], there are TWO girls in the car. And then when we drop me off, there will be ONE girl in the car – but when we go in together, there will be NO girls in the car”. How cute. I didn’t realize she could grasp those concepts. I feel like I’m not in tune with them as much as I should be. How cute of her. My little mathematician.
- I stop by the fire-station and talk to a fireman. I want to bring the kids over here on 9/11 and bring the firefighters “gifts” that the kids get/make for them to show our appreciation. The kids are excited about this. I just wanted to confirm with him that it is OK and also what kinds of things they would like to have. I’m going with the kids today to do some shopping and will steer them towards: playing cards, dominoes, other games, fruit, etc. I also mentioned that the kids might pick out toys or stickers for them (cute) and he said that’s great, they could give to Toys for Tots or even take them home for their own kids. Great!!!
- I head home and get my space set up for work. Coffee is on. Phones are charged. I turn my computer on.
Highlights of my Working Day:
- I spent about two hours on the phone working with my colleague who is transferring over responsibilities. There is a lot of coordination that needs to be done across 4 big events that are coming up that I will be responsible for. I get the latest status from her and feel good about my understanding of what needs to be done. I know this is probably a false sense of security since one day she will be gone and I’ll suddenly have 100 questions. 🙂
- I finished up my sales efforts for one new initiative; and coordinated with the team to get them going and organized.
- I finished up other sales efforts for another initiative – nothing more for me to do here.
- I prepared an invoice for a project and sent; I’m setting up a meeting with the client and our leadership to see how are firms can continue to work together
- I did some admin-related items and then called it a day.
- I showered and then ran to my children. I picked up Big Bro first, and then Red. Both were excited about the shopping we were going to do this afternoon. We went shopping to buy “thank you” gifts for the fire-fighters in our neighborhood. The kids picked out puzzles (princess, bears, cars) and I helped them pick out playing cards, UNO, Yahtzee, and dominos. They had a great time shopping for what the firefighters would like. We passed by a lot of candy and snacks and I said that kind of food is not healthy for the body so the kids did NOT want to get that for the firefighters. How cute.
- I am alone tonight. Hubby is at a sporting event for work.
Dinner and Bedtime:
- I ordered a pizza on the way to pick up the Twins. They were squealing as usual. She mentioned that they were both singing “Happy Birthday” today. They were excited to see their big brother and sister.
- We were home literally for 5 minutes when the pizza man came! Perfect timing. He asked me if I’m a daycare provider. Seriously. I guess our place looks over-run with toys? I guess we have too many children? I guess I look like I’m 20-something and too fit to have had 4 kids? 🙂 Seriously. I couldn’t believe it. I never thought my life would look like this.
- Twins were cranky so I took them up for a “cat nap”. This really just turned into them laughing with each other in their room — squealing, singing, screaming, laughing….. so I brought them back down after we were done eating pizza.
- I set the Twins up with their pizza at the little table while Big Bro, Red and I were in the living room. Friday is “movie night” and Big Bro was excited. So we watched movies until Twins finished eating. Then I made popcorn and everybody went nuts.
- I really don’t know where the time went…. because by 5:30 we were fed and I started the bedtime routine at 7:30. So I had TWO HOURS with them and I can’t remember what we did!!! I remember lots of tickling and hugging Twin Husky. LOTS of it. He had so much fun. I remember Red having an ENORMOUS poop and everyone running in the bathroom to look at it. I remember dressing the Twins in their PJs and talking about the “balls” on Twin Husky’s pants. I remember reading the Twins books downstairs. And how Twin Husky is sooooooooooooooo curious about everything and asking what everything is. I remember Twin Husky climbing on a big box (new sewing machine, I’ll explain another time) and me looking at him in the corner of my eye to make sure he was OK. I remember Twin Husky and Twin Crazy running around and stealing toys from each other and crying/trying to bite. I remember Big Bro asking me if I could spend some time with him watching his movie. I was in bliss. The time just flew by. And I enjoyed so much of it with them.
Red "reading" to Twin Husky
- 7:30 – time to go up! I went up with the Twins and I asked Red and Big Bro to come up in a few minutes. I also asked Red to straighten up the toys and seriously – when I came down EVERYTHING was put away and organized. It’s like she had OCD. Everything was perfectly lined up and there was not a toy out of place. She was very proud of herself and I hugged her and wouldn’t let go.
- I told a story for Big Bro and Red with all 3 of us laying in his bed. It was a story about my travels in the past. A time when I was in Morocco and I had to take a long bus-ride to the outskirts of the Sahara desert and we rode camels for hours and had a picnic in the Sahara. I told them that my butt hurt after the camel ride.
I’m feeling REALLY good about today; I had a later morning with the kids, got a lot of work done, and had an amazing evening with all of them. So relaxed, the kids were so good. It just feels so right. All I need now is maybe a glass of wine and maybe some adults to share a drink with. In the meantime, I’m gearing up for a big weekend, a likely emotional weekend. It’s days like this when I want to hold my children closer, hug them a bit longer, and caress them a bit gentler. I don’t know what I’d ever do without them. I can’t bear to think about it.
Great weekend to all – particularly this Sunday. So much has changed since then.
Til next week –
– Mama K
Mama In Motion™ 
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