Okay, I am just venting here....and probably commiserating, as I am sure lots of you with little kids have similar situations. But let me just describe a typical night in our house. Last night for instance will do quite nicely for this description...very typical.
6:45 Start the twins' last feeding. Change into jammies and "big"diaper for the night.
7:00 Baths for everyone. Do they really need it? Probably not, but it has been a part of our routine forever so we do it more often then not.
7:15 It has taken a full half an hour to get the twins total situated and into their beds. Luckily they have not had the luxury of any kind of routine or soothing time. I whisper "night night" in their little ears and down they go with their pacifiers.
7:20 Put on some Christmas movie or other and start yanking kids out of the tub, lotioning the kids down, helping Connor (and unfortunately Lauren too) and telling Thomas to get PJs on.
7:30 Cleaning up clothes and toys and what ever other disarray I don't want to start my next day looking at while the kids watch the movie. Firmly tell Thomas to get his PJs on!
7:40 Yell at Thomas to get his PJs on! He finally complies with me sitting there staring at him with the evil eye the whole time. I hate when mean mommy has to make her appearances. :(
7:50 Argue over using "spit" toothpaste or the baby kind...I only make sure I win with the spit kind about 50% of the time, so our kid's teeth are probably going to rot out.
8:00 Brian takes the boys in for "the routine" which includes a short book, talking story, song and prayer. Then the poor guy has to hang out on the floor next to Connor's bed until he falls asleep. Could be 10minutes could be 40.
8:15 I have finished doing "the routine" with Lauren and pretended to deliver the nightly message to Brian that "she needs to tell him something". Now I head downstairs to prep for the following day.
8:30 Brian comes out of the boys room...not bad actually, time wise.
9:15 Lunches are made, backpacks are packed, 14 bottles are made, maybe the dishes are done if they were really gross (other wise they can wait), the counters are wiped, the tents are taken down and blankets refolded, etc.
9:20 Am I tired?? YES! But God help me, I just want to do something that I want to do...I just want to read, or watch TV for a minute to veg out, or actually have an uninterrupted conversation (or something) with my husband (yeah, that is 3rd on the list....sometimes there is just nothing left to give right?).
10:15 I curse myself for staying up so late again, check all the kids for room temperature and proper cover placement...I am anal. And hit the pillow.
1:15am Lauren pokes me in the shoulder and is insisting that Brian never came in to talk to her when she went to bed, but she is barely making sense. I tell her he did go in but she was sleeping and now he is sleeping and that she should be sleeping if she wants to earn her prize for staying in her bed for 10 nights in a row. She reluctantly lets me walk her back to her room and tuck her in but I am mandated to "stay for three minutes". I stay for one and then find that I have the impulse to check on everyone again....yeah, anal. Usually though, at this checking I don't touch anyone. I have learned my lesson there.
2am Thomas comes in to tell us that Poke has been crying for a long time. Sure enough he is screaming and can now be heard quite well as his door is open and he is deciding to make his way in to the hallway. Usually Connor is screaming, but runs to our room right away so somehow T stays asleep. Not last night. Brian dutifully soothes Connor and gets the boys back in their beds.
3:30am Brian trudges back into our room just as I am getting up to heat the bottles for the twins and do their nightly feeding.
3:50am I hear Connor yell out again as he notices that Brian is no longer beside him. This time Brian gives up and takes Connor into our bed. I finish laying the babies down and go to join the party in our bed.
4:05am Claire lost her pacifier and I can see on the monitor that it is under her feet where she can't reach so I go in to hand it back to her.
4:15am My body is confused from having been up so much and thinks that maybe it should stay up! NO! I start saying the Rosary in my head....eventually I nod off again around quarter to five.
6:30am Thomas comes in at the earliest time he is allowed and announces that he has to pee and poop. Why I need to be apprised of this I will never know. But in an effort to preserve Connor's sleep I head down stairs with Thomas. More often than not, Brian is the one who heads down with the early riser. We start the coffee and warming the bottles knowing that the twins will likely be up within the hour. Sometimes early rising parent may even find himself/herself doing a freaking CRAFT by 7am!
Somehow Brian and I are getting though each day in pretty good spirits. We always greet the kids with smiles in the morning as they wake one by one even though they have tortured us for the previous 12 hours. I guess one just gets used to the status quo, but every morning Brian and I just shake our heads and think WOW, WE HOPE THIS GETS BETTER SOON....BUT LOOK AT ALL OF OUR HAPPY HEALTHY BEAUTIFUL KIDS.
Good morning to all of you. Hope you have a wonderful day!
