A day at home with the boys...

Yesterday, I decided to document my day hour by hour (or at least try to) to show what a day home with the boys looks like. Maybe when the boys are 16 and it's time to have "the talk", I'll pull out this entry and possibly it'd make them think twice! : ) Or, maybe when their wives call one day, exhausted, tired, and out of energy, I'll share it with her and be able to show her that I really do understand! Or, maybe in 10 years, when the boys are hardly home and we're running from one activity to the next, I'll pull it out and think about how much our lives have changed! In any case, here was my day yesterday home with the boys -

5:45 a.m. - Maddox awakes, refuses to go back to sleep, Change his poopy diaper, Feed him a bottle

6:30 a.m. - Joey awakes, change his diaper, change him from pajamas to clothes, change Maddox from pajamas to clothes.

6:45 - 7:20 a.m. - Take a double-stroller walk with both the boys. Joey requests his first Spiderman story, and want the story to have Gracie, Maya and Maddox in it.

7:30 a.m. - Get Joey and I cereal. Feed Maddox rhubarb crisp for breakfast (hey, it has fruit in it, that constitutes for something healthy, doesn't it?)

Joey asks if he can put Green Goblin's head in the cereal to scoop it up. At this point, I just want him to eat it so I say "Yes, you can use his mask to scoop the cereal in your mouth." Joey does it, drops the mask in his mouth accidentally, nearly chokes. I freak, get it out of his mouth, realize that was a bad idea, and we move on. I call Heather to see what she's doing for the day with the girls. I call my cousin Jenny to chat.

8:45 a.m. - Change Maddox's second poopy diaper. Put him to bed for a nap at 9 a.m.

9 a.m.- I shower, and pick up the whole upstairs- make beds, put toys away, gather dishes, etc. Joey watches Sesame Street while I do this. Dr. Phil was on Sesame Street- glad to see kids are getting psychotherapy and education at the same time. Change Joey's poopy diaper - make the diaper count to 4 by 9 a.m. Decide to put underwear on Joey to see if he'd like it.

9:30 a.m. - Joey pees his pants. Underwear was as bad of an idea as Green Goblin's head in the cereal. Joey requests a Spiderman popsickle. Nothing wrong with a popsickle at 9:30 a.m., is there? I comply.

10:15 a.m. - A guy comes to fix our washer because it won't spin out. I explain that if he feels like the labor and part charge is approaching the $200 mark, to let me know because this was Joe's Great-Grandma's washer and it probably needs to be replaced. So, I said, if in your opinion that those two factors combined would lead us to over $200, we won't fix it.

10:30 a.m. - Heather and the girls stop by. The kids all play, while Maddox is still napping.

10:40 a.m.- Heather takes the kids for a walk, so I can do a couple things with the house. The kids apparently walked by poop on the sidewalk, and a bunch of ants. Both were disturbing to them, and Joey was still talking about the poop this morning.

11 a.m. - Heather and I decide to go for a picnic in the park with the kids. I pack lunches for all of them - pb & j, gogurt, and cheese sticks, and sippies of milk. Maddox gets mandarin oranges and lasagna.

11:15 a.m. - Talk to the washer guy, as he is still down there and I see every part imaginable on the floor. I say, "So, it's worth fixing? It won't be over $200?" Um, no. The guy said labor charges were already $100 and the part he's ordering is $100 and he's not sure if that'll fix it. Um, did he miss my earlier message? I said, "oh, okay, well, I thought I told you that if you thought it was going to not be worth fixing at a cost over $200...." He told me, "Well, it may be worth it!" What???? Maddox wakes up. Change my 5th diaper of the day.

11:30 a.m.- We finally get out the door! Heather and I pick up Subway for ourselves, and we drive to the park

11:30-1:15- The kids play. Daddy makes a surprise appearance and the kids are excited to see him. They eat their lunch, play on the swings, slides, follow each other everywhere, and play "make believe" with Spiderman characters. Gracie and Maya play along as if they love Spiderman as much as Joey does.

1:15 p.m. - It's Gogurt time! Kids have played hard and it's time for a break before we head home. They also play in the faucet against their mother's wishes.


1:30 p.m.- Head home for naps. Joey is greatly disappointed to leave his cousins. Very upset, tears, the whole works. I love this picture below. Maddox is finally the star of the show. They're all talking to him at once!

We get home, Joey wants an apple before naptime and I decline telling him it's time to rest. Change his diaper, and his clothes. 6th diaper change, 2nd clothes change of the day. His clothes were too wet from the fountain he wasn't supposed to be playing in. Finally get him to sleep after our 2nd spiderman story. Change Maddox's diaper, and shirt- 7th diaper, 3rd clothes change. Try to get Maddox down- no dice.

1:30-2 p.m.- I do some work for Vital, check email, etc. Maddox plays, Joey sleeps.

2 p.m.- I finally get Maddox down for a nap! Chances of me getting to rest are increasing.

2:15 p.m.- My friend Georgia calls, we chat for a good half hour. Georgia and I became friends when I worked at Farm Bureau. We were just becoming close when I left, but since then, we've stayed in contact. Both are kids are similar ages and I like Georgia because we seem to have a lot in common- our interests, the way we mother, our work ethic, etc. So, I catch up with her and I then work for 15 minutes more.

3 p.m.- Finally, time to rest. The kids haven't been asleep that long, I have 45 minutes to lay down!

3:02 p.m.- Couldn't have been more wrong about having time to rest. Joey wakes up! He tells me he woke up because he wanted an apple. I told him he can have one if he lays by me in bed for a while. He takes one bite, doesn't want it anymore. He begs to go see Maya and Gracie more, almost in tears. We watch cartoons for a while, then he goes downstairs. Change Joey's poopy diaper. The count is up to 7, I think - with 50% being poopy.

3:30 p.m.- I'm up and at 'em again- no rest for the weary! But, realize I have some down time before Maddox gets up.

3:32 p.m.- Wrong again, Maddox gets up. Resting is not on the agenda today for mommy. 8th diaper change.

4 p.m.- Pack the kids in the car to go to Old Navy. When we get to Old Navy, Joey looks for toys the entire time and can't find any - is greatly disappointed. Maddox starts to whine. It's time to find the summer pajamas and bolt.

4:30 p.m.- We're out of Old Navy, but decide to stop at Party supply place- for napkins and stuff for our grill-out next Thurs. night. Joey puts everything he can imagine in my cart. I say the word "No" no less than 90 times. He stops to see Spiderman party supplies and was so excited he could hardly stand it - until I told him "no" again for the 91st time.

5 p.m.- We're on our way home, I'm excited to see Joe, as he should be home anytime now and possibly just sit still for 5 minutes. Maddox cries on the way home.

5:02 p.m.- Joe calls, he'll be home late. Rest still is not in store for me. Damn it.

5-6 p.m.- Get supper ready for the kids. We have mac-n-cheese, fruit, and yogurt. We eat outside in the screened-in porch. Mom has 2 Michelob Ultras. No rest, might as well drink.

5:45 p.m. - Gma Bobbi shows up unexpectedly to drop something off. There I am, swinging Maddox with a beer in my hands. Nice. A daughter-in-law she can be proud of. I felt like I got caught drinking on the job. All I can say is this, "I'm sorry I'm drinking Bobbi. It's been a long day!" She laughed and said she'd been there plenty of times before. I decide that with 4 boys, she probably drink a case a night so not to be embarrassed.

6 p.m. - Debating on a third beer. Joe shows up about 10 minutes after 6. He asked where we are going for supper. I suggest that he feed himself tonight, I'm too tired to go out to eat, and too tired to fight these little ones in a public restaurant. No thanks. I go get him tortilla chips and salsa and told him that was it for the night. As you might guess, there's nothing but sheer delight shown on his face at the sight of a supper like that. Once again, a daughter to be proud of!

6:30 p.m.- Baths, pajama time! Changing diapers again, change of clothes again. Clean up dishes in screened-in porch.

7 p.m.- Joe has to go to Dahl's to pick up a prescription so offers to take the kids. Great! Rest? No. I picked up the entire house, empty dishwasher, load dishwasher, put two baskets of laundry away, put new sheets on our bed, clean out Joey's shoes in his room, etc. I also try a new recipe- rhubarb cobbler. I liked it better than my previous rhubarb crisp I tried.

7:30 p.m.- Joe gets back with kids. I put away the few groceries I had him get. Put cartoons on for Joey and get a sippie and a snackie out.

8 p.m.- Maddox goes down to bed.

8:15 p.m.- Joey goes down to bed.

8:30 p.m.- Serve Joe and I "supper" - rhubarb cobbler with ice cream. Almost all the major food groups - fruit, bread, dairy....

Watch David Cook win American Idol. I liked both of them this year, but saw David Cook as more of a star with potential. Sure hope David Archuletta's dad doesn't beat him today.

9 p.m.- Go to bed absolutely exhausted! Did I mention how much I love our boys? And, how lucky I am to get at least 2 days home with them during the week? Truly blessed -- but exhausted. A happy exhaustion, maybe that's what I'll call it.