A Day The Life Of My Mid-Life Motherhood

Hit snooze button at least three times before waking to musical toad playing over baby monitor.  Shower, dress, greet Babycake and provide her with her coveted Disney Princess books to keep her occupied for a few more minutes.  Grab much needed cup of coffee.  Pack up lunches for Hubby and kids.  Make sure son leaves with all his school supplies so there is no need to make an extra trip to school!

Rescue Babycake who has since lost interest in books and is clamouring to get out of crib.  Wrestle with her to change her diaper, get her dressed and brush her hair.  Enjoy a game of "boo-pee", as she calls it, as I pull her dress down over her head!  Come to the conclusion that somehow I have given birth to a future fashionista who is refusing to wear sneakers and insisting on her pretty little Easter shoes!  Teach Baby her "cute question."  I ask "How'd ya get to be so cute?" And she responds "It's in the genes!"  (That's a bit advanced, so she just pats her pants...it's quite adorable.)  Fondly recall the other kids' "cute questions": "Could you be any cuter?" "I don't think so!" (accompanied by an adorable shake of her blond curls!)  And, "How cute are you?"  "Too cute!" (which turned into "Three Cute" and so on, which he will still answer in a mom-I-can't-believe-you-are-asking-me-that smirk!)

Head down stairs to feed baby.  Share my breakfast with her to prevent her from hurting herself as she violently signs "please" by thumping her chest vigorously for my eggs!  Clean up spilt milk from her inevitable sippy cup throws.  Marvel that my laptop still works, despite having been splattered as a result of such shenanigans.

Put Baby back in crib with Noah's Ark set to play with while I get ready.  Put make-up on, pack diaper bag and gather all our needed items to load in the car.  Smile at Baby while she eagerly cleans up her toys and wonder how to cultivate the cleanly gene in at least one member of our household....

Drive 20 minutes in a light drizzle, all the while enjoying the adorable "concert from the car seat" as she "sings" along to her favorite music.  Teach Ladies' Bible study at our church and enjoy the time of sweet fellowship with the other women while Babycake has a wonderful time playing.  Feed her some lunch before heading back home.  Regret handing her the cereal cup as she removes the lid and dumps her corn puffs on her lap.  Smile at the sweet baby sound asleep with corn puffs strewn all over herself as we pull into our driveway.  Very carefully transfer the tired tot from the car to the crib so as not to rouse her, because "2 minutes in the car equals 2 hours in the bed!"

Tidy up in the living room for company tonight.  Wonder how Baby has survived this long as I pick up choking hazards of pencils, pens, erasers, dirty tissues and other dangerous objects strewn about by our two teens!  Check periodically to make sure Baby is still breathing - neurotic, I know.  Contemplate removing Valentine's and birthday cards.  Decide against it since they are concealing most of the snowmen that are still decorating our house.  Ponder packing away snowmen since April starts tomorrow.  Justify not doing so since it may snow!

Clear the Laundry Chair (yes, admittedly failed Fly-Baby here), fold laundry and wonder where I'm going to put all the new hand-me-downs Babycake has received.  Thank God for the friends who have given us so many clothes that we don't need to buy Baby a thing.  Set those items in laundry basket on the landing to take up and deal with later.  Bring down dirty laundry from upstairs, while carefully avoiding the basket on the landing!  Start new load of laundry so no one in the family is forced to leave home to join a nudist colony.
  
Relax a bit watching NCIS on DVR while eating lunch.  Wish bon-bons were on my D.I.E.T. (Don't Ingest Enjoyable Things!)  Wonder what a bon-bon is anyway and why are we stay-at-home-moms supposed to be eating them?  After lunch make wheat free, sugar free chocolate crisp treats to appease my chocolate cravings.  Start soup stock for dinner.  Check time sensitive emails.  Research items for our upcoming Mother-Daughter banquet.  Start on this blog post.  Google "bon-bons".  Invent term, "google regret", after viewing delectable chocolate treats on said search.

Heed the call of the wild child as she wakes, with quite a racket, from her 3 and a 1/2 hour nap - woohoo!  Beam with delight as she talks gibberish, telling me all about the toys she's playing with and attempts to say "birdy."  Regret such a long nap when I discover that she's completely soaked through and needs a wardrobe change.  Frantically change her while both phones are ringing with requests to be picked up at the bus stop.  Throw Baby in car.  Rush down through the mist to pick up my teens half way up the hill.

Monitor snack time, piano practice and evade pleas for homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Cuddle with Babycake to read and sing some songs. Delegate daughter to babysitting duty. Be thankful that I had tidied up a bit so the house was in drop-in condition when someone stopped by.  Strain soup stock, splashing the floor and burning my arm in the process.  Thank the Lord that Baby was not underfoot in the kitchen at the time.  Wrap arm in ice and attempt to chop veggies.  Finish soup. Vacuum, sweep, and mop the floors.  Chuckle at the fact that my kids are discussing how cool it is that a major chord inverted sounds like a minor chord in one of John Williams' Star Wars pieces.  Enjoy the piano concert, otherwise known as practice.  Marvel at how much they have learned in their years of Suzuki piano training. Evade more pleas for cookies.

Call the troops for dinner.  Reprimand the baby repeatedly for throwing her sippy cup. Try not to laugh when it becomes a game.  Grumble when her soup bowl ends up on my freshly mopped floor.  Discuss school with older kids. Watch familiar dynamic of brother teasing sister about boys.  Realize this is a new phase for us.  Evade further pleas for cookies. Pause to take candid shots of Baby looking like a little flapper with her headband.  Clean up Baby and keep her occupied in her chair with toys while teens do homework.  Load dishwasher. Wash pots and pans.  Consider training kids to do dishwasher or pot/pan duty like "Aunt" Joan always did.  Regret my lack of chore training.  Elicit son for babysitting duty in order to give in to pleas for REAL chocolate chip cookies.  Chalk it up to PMS!

Bake cookies. Savor one fresh-from-the-oven real chocolate chip cookie.  Justify it as reward for 14 lbs lost on aforementioned D.I.E.T! Give Babycake a bath and bedtime bottle. Greet Hubby from work. Complete last minute tasks before welcoming visitors.  Wish Mother-in-law happy birthday. Take Baby up for bed.  Cuddle and sing our night time songs while she hums along.  Cherish the moment before putting her to bed.

Greet friends for ministry meeting.  Deal with Baby who won't calm down for Big Sis.  Tuck Baby in again. Return to meeting.  Pray, laugh, plan, ponder.  Bid them good night.  Put away goodies.  Ask Hubby to try my earlier cocoa concoction.  LOL when he says, "I wouldn't serve 'em!"  Make note not to leave agave out of that recipe in future.  Sit down to complete blog post.  Chuckle at Hubby on his laptop too. Realize laundry is not done.  Sigh.  Wonder how working moms get their laundry done. Have quiet time with Hubby.  Kiss each child while they sleep.  Wish there had been less cleaning and more fun and cuddling. Collapse in bed after moving laundry basket in the way to be dealt with later....