A day in the life…

do you ever wonder what someone else goes through in a day?

I get asked all the time, “HOW DO YOU DO IT?!?!”

That is usually followed with, “I’m exhausted with just _________ kid!” Fill in the blank with a number lower than 5.

I always smile and say, “I just do it.”

It is a little different for me on different days. MOST of the time, Paul is out of town. When he is home, when he doesn’t have other projects he’s already committed to, he does Dad duty. Which is the same as Mom duty, only for, you know…Dad’s.

I would be totally lying if I said everyday is perfect and wonderful and my life is a fairytale.

Life is totally not like that. It’s not supposed to be.

So how does a day for me go?

Wake up and beat the alarm around 6:30ish. I actually get up a few minutes ‘til 7AM.

Roll out of bed (yes…I really do. I’m not exactly one of those perky, jump up and sing kind of gals. I do jump up like my hair is on fire if I’m running late).

Throw on some yoga pants.

Walk across the hall and open Connor’s door. “Good morning Connor! Time to wake up.”

He usually throws the blanket over his head.

I walk down the hall to the girls’ room. I open the door. Turn the TV off (white noise for them to fall asleep). Sage usually hears me first and slides out of bed. If I don’t want her to whine and cry I say, “Good morning baby! Big stretch. BIIIIGGG STRETCH!” She stretches and smiles. Morning fit thwarted. “Stormy. Good morning. Tell mommy good morning.”

“morning mommy.” yawning the whole time.

Shayne is like me when she wakes up. It is like poking a bear with a stick if you mess with her in the mornings. She will talk when she is ready.

“Time to get dressed girls.”

We usually pick out clothes the night before so we avoid the morning fits of what to wear.

“Hustle if you want to eat cinnamon sugar donuts!”

Which I know they do, which is why I say that.

I open Cooper’s door.

“Good morning Coopie! Did you have good dreams?” I pick him up and give him a kiss. I carry him down the hallway.

I stop again at Connor’s room.

“CONNOR WYATT. It’s time to get up. You may lay down on the couch after getting dressed, eating, and brushing teeth and fixing hair!”

He gets up because he thinks he will have time. Which he never does. But this always works. That makes me smile as I type it. Because it does always work. I’ll have to think of something new for when it wears off.

So we head downstairs. I change Coop’s diaper.

I start getting breakfast for all the kiddos. The girls like the cinnamon sugar donuts. Connor and Sage like Pop-Tarts. Shayne and Sage like orange pineapple juice. Connor and Stormy like white milk. Coop gets oatmeal. And a bottle. I also fix my morning cup o’joe…chocolate milk. I HATE white milk. I also eat a strawberry cereal bar or hard-boiled eggs. Which the girls love and eat too.

So everyone is eating. We take a few minutes and watch Mickey Mouse clubhouse (usually while I am feeding Mr. Coop).

After they are done eating, they get the hair stuff.

We go over what are the choices for school lunch. Make sure school agendas are signed. Teeth are brushed. Shoes on the right feet. Seriously. Two of my kids would prefer to wear their shoes on the wrong feet. They have done that since they were babies. It makes.me.crazy! Coats on. Backpacks.

8:15--Time to load up!

Coop in his car-seat. Stormy and Connor in their booster seats. Sage in her booster seat. “Shayne please buckle Sage in.”

And off we go.

School is a little over 2 miles from the house. So it only takes a few minutes to get there. I remind them of what they need to do.

When we pull up to the school, they all unload. The big kids anyways. I am usually saying, “Have a great day guys. I love you. Connor, be really good today! Stormy you too! Shayne work hard kiddo! I’ll see you guys after school!”

They walk in and I pull down the circle drive and head back home.

This is how it is almost every morning. There are some mornings where Shayne has Singing Missiles. That is the school’s choir. On those mornings, Lexi’s mom and I, take turns on who is taking the girls. She does on Mondays. So everything is the same except for Shayne is already at school when I take the others. On Wednesdays I go get Lexi at 7:20AM, take her and Shayne to school, head home finish getting the other kids ready and then take them to school at 8:15AM.  Oh—if Paul is home, he drives the kids to school. Or sometimes I drive them but I get to leave Coop at home. Not Sage though. She always wants to go with! So that is Dad-duty in the morning.

That is the first hour and a half of my day every day.

So what happens next?

Coming soon!