My alarm has been going off at 5:30 recently, which is actually sleeping in for me. I get up, make breakfast for E and G, shower and get myself dressed, and then I’m on kid duty. It becomes a very loud and wiggly assembly line as each child needs to be changed and dressed and chased around the room. So many wiggly feet to capture with a sock.
I was halfway through dressing the smallest, and trying to corner the middle since he was next, when E caught me yawning one morning. “Mama are you tired?” he asked me.
“I am! I’m always tired.”
”Why?”
”Hmmm, maybe because I have three children to take care of.”
”No you don’t!”
”Oh really? How many do I have?”
”Barely two! Just me and G!”
”What? You don’t think F counts?”
*Shakes head no*
Whether he thinks she counts or not, F has definitely added a lot to the mental planning and logistics that it takes to make it through the day. I think we’ve had it easy lately, with E&G both being at the same stage. They nap at the same time, their bedtime is within a few minutes of each other, they’re in the same room at school, which means I only have one name list for Valentine’s this year!
Suddenly we’re calculating wake windows again and figuring out when she needs to nap, and waiting to plan activities with the older ones for when she’s down. A day when a schedule is thrown off might mean that I need to be feeding her a bottle while Tom is still working and E&G want dinner and there just aren’t enough hands. It’s usually about then, when everyone is screaming and my ear is crackling (thanks small children for my tinnitus) that the cats decide they want to play and come jump on me and start howling with a toy in their mouth.
It would be great if all the small people who live here could take turns needing things from me, but it rarely works that way. Someone has a fever and someone else falls and bite their lip at the same time. Some one had an accident and needs to be changed at the exact same time the other one spilled their bowl all over themselves and the floor. Someone can’t possibly stay on their stomach for one more second at the exact time that the Lego tractor lost a bumper and someone else needs and tissue RIGHT NOW. Even when there’s two adults, it’s not quite enough to tackle everything.
“Mama! I want cereal! All the kinds. Big bowl. Orange cereal and cheerios and berry cereal on the top and then milk on the top MAMA!”
“Mama I want an egg with white salt and black salt and bread!”
“No milk on it!”
“Two pieces of bread! Cut in half mama. I don’t want it hot!”
“Mama I need milk!”
“Where’s my egg!?”
In truth I won’t know what to do with myself when they don’t need me, and they’re all so cute and adorable, so it makes it easier. But my body is so sore and beaten up, and I am very tired. I’m actually looking forward to sitting in my chair for 8 hours and not moving for a few days before I start longing for maternity leave again. I’ll even just take a few days where nothing extra happens. Extra like the 24+ inches of snow we’re supposed to get this weekend and figure out how to remove while also taking care of all the children. Or extra like running out of propane (which means no heat) even though our tanks say they’re full and needing to get that fixed because it’s in the single digits outside and we still have to take care of all the children. I guess it’s not surprising that I’m occasionally a bit tired…
Barely two.
