Real Life

– Megan barfed on my lap just before I was supposed to go work the nursery at church on Sunday night. On my last pair of clean jeans. So I fished out a pair of jeans from the laundry that weren’t too wrinkled. No problem…except apparently, she’d gotten those jeans sometime earlier. Which I didn’t notice until I got to church (and a friend pointed it out to me). Nice.

– I do not always empty my diaper bags immediately upon my return home. This has, on occasion, resulted in the discovery of used diapers or peed-on clothes a day or two later. Not pretty, but definitely how things sometimes go. 

– Yesterday, I dusted my living room for the first time in a number of months. I did not dust any other rooms in the house.

– Erin has started to learn the concept of contractions. As in, you say, “Erin, you’re silly!” And she replies, “No, I amn’t. I amn’t silly!” 

 -When playing Candyland with two 3-year-olds who are just learning how to play board games, I usually resort to just pulling cards one after the other and telling them where to move because it’s too long and stressful to take turns and play correctly.

– I purposely leave toys that get thrown behind the couch because it’s one fewer toy that I have to put away. (I do retrieve foodstuffs immediately!)

– Yesterday, Megan gnawed on a piece of chalk. Erin had let both girls into the house after we played outside and then locked Alex and me out, and by the time I got a door open, Megan had blue chalk all through her mouth. Then last night, she managed to lick one of those Crayola fizzy bath drops (again, enabled by Erin) so she had blue hands and a bit of blue on her mouth. Thankfully, I got both out of her hands before she actually ate them. 

– I let the twins eat in front of the TV sometimes.

– Recently, the twins have still been in their jammies at 9 am at least 2 days a week. On rare occasions, they are still undressed at 10 am.

– I do not take off my kids winter coats before strapping them into their carseats, even though I know this reduces the effectiveness of the restraint system. 

– I hide crayons. And playdoh. Of course, markers. Stickers if I can manage it. And sometimes puzzles. 

– I do let my children get out my pots, pans and griddles and bang them (or their lids) together. It’s loud and hard on my cookware, but it keeps them out of my hair when I’m trying to make dinner. 

– My children rarely wear socks unless we also are putting on shoes to go outside, and we are totally hit-or-miss with bibs. It is actually easier to clean the dirty shirts than try to keep a bib on Megan.

– Alex has started to be better about going potty as long as we give him a timer (usually on our iPods) when he sits. We set if for one minute. He then waits until the timer counts down and makes its funny sound (ducks, dogs, bells ringing, etc), and then he pees. I don’t know why I didn’t think of timing him sooner…

Yep…life in my house is quirky. We have our own rhythm, and we survive each day. But this is our real life. And kudos to all the other moms out there who are making it through real life, too! It ain’t always pretty…but it’s an adventure all the same!

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