This account of a somewhat typical day in our household may seem like a complaint to some but I do not feel that way. As I sit here writing this I have a huge grin on my face. I feel so blessed to be able to stay at home with my girls and experience all the excitement and craziness without missing out on a thing.

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It’s 7am and Lilly wants to take toilet paper to ‘show and tell’ at her preschool. As I’m thoughtfully trying to explain to her that toilet paper is not the best choice of items to show her friends, she is gleefully dancing around the living room twirling the toilet paper in the air. As it breaks apart at the seems I catch myself by surprise when I react by taping it back together (in an attempt to avoid an imminent meltdown) instead of taking it away. A weak moment brought about by exhaustion from the night before when Robin was up for 2-3 hours in the middle of the night and still recovering from my 4 mile run that I woke up at 5:45 to complete this morning. After feeding the girls (er, Robin, Lilly rarely eats even one bite of breakfast) and packing L’s lunch we’re heading out the door, just about on time, when Lilly insists on feeding the fish that she is growing in a glass milk jug in her closet. I’ll spare you the details on that one.

10:35 and I’ve put Robin down for a nap, spent 45 minutes cleaning up from the mornings events, made the beds, filed an insurance claim, done two loads of laundry, written the grocery list, etc when I realize I’ll have to wake Robin up if I want to make it to the grocery store in time to pick Lilly up from school. Robin HATES her carseat and it takes 3 minutes to secure her in her seat before we’re off. Back in her carseat to head home for her lunch while I unpack the groceries. Back in her carseat to pick L up from school. Back in her carseat to take the girls home. That’s 12+ minutes of a physical and emotional battle involving an unhappy, screaming baby getting into her carseat before I even eat lunch. I should add that aside from getting in her carseat she’s happy as can be.

It takes several minutes and some serious mommy ‘looks’ to convince L that the painting she did at school this morning which is still entirely wet and placed on the drying rack will be waiting for her on Monday. As usual Lilly ate three bites of the lunch I sent to school and wants a ‘snack’. I allow her to finish her sandwich in the car but don’t give in to anything more.

When we pull into the house Lilly catches a glimpse of Robin’s new sippy cup and claims that she wants to ‘share’ it with her sister. While I’m taking Robin inside L insists on staying outside on the front porch for a moment so she can catch rain drops in the new sippy cup. Unable to dissent due to a lack of hands, I leave her on the porch for a moment and when I return she has filled the cup with sand from the sandbox and put the top on. She is so excited about this that she places it with her other beloved objects on her dresser…

As I’m unpacking L’s bag from school I pull out a paper bag that says ‘Mommy’ on it. She runs over and is soooo excited about the gift she has made me for Mother’s Day (this Sunday). She asks very politely if I can please please open it right now. I do and I love the beaded keychain that spells her name and is decorated with hearts and kind words. As I’m trying to put it on my keychain Lilly throws a fit and runs away with it, saying that it’s her keychain and she wants to play with it. Now it’s past one o’clock and I let this go for the moment, knowing if I make an issue out of it at this time Lilly will never take a nap.

Now I’m putting L down for her nap while Robin is crawling all over her bed trying to steal L’s pacifier. We’re reading ‘My Very Own Fairy Tale’ and L asks the name of every single berry and flower on each page. Lilly is handling the keychain and is fixated on keeping it in her bed for naptime. I leave Lilly in her room to take a nap while I put a now over-tired Robin down for her afternoon nap.

Both girls are in their rooms. Deep breathe. I spend 15 minutes cleaning up the house from recent events when I remember I have forgotten to turn L’s video monitor on. When I do I see Lilly’s eyes lit up inches from the camera, then I hear a crash and watch her scurry back to her bed. She calls, “MOMMY!?”. When I enter her room I have to turn around and face the door to keep from laughing or screaming. I see she has spilled the sippy cup full of sand all over her dresser, floor, and rug. One minute later and I return with a broom and dustbuster for phase 1 of sand cleanup, all the while trying to stay as quiet as possible and half calm Lilly down (because she is so upset about the mess in her room)/half let her know how what she did is not appriciated – Robin is still stirring in the next room and is badly in need of a nap. When the sand is mostly picked up I see that L tracked sand into bed with her so I use the dustbuster for a quick fix when Robin’s cries begin to escalate. Without thinking I leave L to dustbust the sand from her bed (she loves any sort of machine) while I give Robin some quick attention. When I return to her room she is crying because she managed to ‘dustbust’ the keychain, which is now trapped inside. For the next 15 minutes we try to get the keychain out, clean up the bedroom mess and the mess made by emptying the dust buster, and re-assemble the now broken keychain which Lilly still insists on belonging to her. Lilly does not nap. Robin does not nap.

It’s 4pm and I haven’t taken a shower (Remember I ran 4 miles this morning. And I sweat. A lot.). I try to distract the girls, whose favorite joint activity is showering/bathing with their Mama, with a quick tv show. Lilly takes the bait but Robin clings to my every move and, although I just put her in clean clothes and a fresh diaper, I pick her up, sparkling hair bow and all, and plop her on the floor of the shower. She is happy and I am clean.

Add 4.5 more hours to this work day and we reach,

THE END

…you can never judge another parent until you have a child of your own. And you can never judge a parent of multiple children unless you have more than one child of your own. The things we do to maintain peace in the household as mothers, well:

“What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open.” – Muriel Rukeyser