Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Waking up is hard to do.

I love Peyton.  And Loralie.

A few days ago Peyton wanted to read books in her room with Loralie and me.  It was pretty early in the morning and Loralie was still sleeping.  I told Peyton that she would have to wait until Loralie woke up.  She shrugged and said, "Okay.  No problem."

I smiled at her grown-up attitude as she walked down the hall to the bathroom.  I heard the sink immediately and thought, "Aww...Peyton is so big!  She gets her own cups of water and tells me 'no problem.'"

Seconds later I heard the pitter-patter of Peyton feet.  Then a shrill, horrifying scream.  I ran to the girls' room, toward the sound of the screaming/crying.

Loralie was sitting up in her crib, looking to me for help with a confused expression on her face.  Wet hair clung to one side of her head and water was dripping down her sleepy face into her eyes.  She was too distraught to even wipe it away.  Peyton stood near the crib with a proud expression on her face.  Before I could say anything, she smiled in triumph and said, "She's awake now!  We can read books!"

My poor, sweet Juju.  What a terrible way to wake up.  I never had a sister throw a cup of cold water on me, but I did wake up once by getting thrown into a pool by my dad.  Not pleasant.

I explained to Peyton that we cannot wake people up that way.  She seemed genuinely concerned and got a towel for Loralie.  As Peyton wiped the water from her sister's face she said in a motherly voice, "Aww..Juj.  It's okay.  I'll read you a book."

Friday, December 7, 2012

A Thursday Play-by-Play

So, Occasionally I have meltdowns.  You know, after crappy or stressful days.  (For some reason, my sister-in-law always sees or calls me on these days.  Kim, I swear, I am not always emotionally unstable.  Cross my heart!)

This is how my day went yesterday.

8:00 a.m. Peyton and Loralie were crying because they wanted cereal.  I got the cereal down and opened the box and dropped it, spilling Cheerios everywhere.  I cleaned it up.  No big deal.  Then I went to pour milk into the bowls.  It was lumpy.  The milk had expired.  We had 2 gallons of expired milk in our refrigerator.  How does that even happen?  We drink milk ALL the time!  Whatever.  No big deal.

8:30 a.m. Finally convince the girls that they really want oatmeal for breakfast.

9:00 a.m. Meet with my internship provider for next semester to iron out how things are going to go.  I am going to be spending a lot of time away from my girlies.  I hate it, but it is only temporary.  Not a huge deal.

10:00 a.m. Continue working on the paper that is due in a few hours that I should have done weeks ago.  I kick myself for always doing this.  Not awesome, but no big deal.

12:30 p.m. Put the girlies down for a nap.  Loralie was sooo sleepy.  Peyton kept her up the night before until almost 11 reading books and singing songs to her.  But, you know, no big deal.

1:30 p.m. Peyton comes into the office and sees that I am snacking and sticks her hand in my bag of snacks and eats.  I told her that she was supposed to be taking a nap.  She said, "Okay.  I just had to change Juju's diaper."  I laughed, thinking she was kidding.  I took another big bite of my snack and said, "Okay, Peyton.  Nice work.  Go to bed."  Then she said..........."Okay.  I have to wash the poop off my hands, first."  I froze for a second.  "Wait. Did you really change Loralie's diaper?"  I looked at her poopy hands that had been in my snack bag and I knew my answer.  I spit out the food in my mouth.  I wanted to throw up.  As I ran to the girls' room Peyton giggled and said, "Not worry.  It is under control.  I did it by myself!"  Loralie was laying in her crib.  Naked.  Wiping herself.  To Peyton's credit, Loralie's butt was very, very clean.  Everything else was not.  The room smelled terrible.  I tried not to make a big deal out of it because Peyton was so proud of herself for being helpful and she kept saying, "I did it all by myself!"  I hosed Loralie and Peyton down in the tub.  They didn't appear to have poop on them, but when everything else had that much poop on it, I just knew that they couldn't possibly be germ-free.  As I did this I made a mental note to wash my mouth out.  With bleach.  Then I wiped up the girls' room.  I couldn't find Loralie's poopy diaper anywhere.  Then I found my blanket.  Peyton had wrapped the open poopy diaper up in my blanket, along with no less than 20 poopy wipes.  I take care of that nasty mess.  Then I put the babies back to bed, and frantically get back to writing my paper.  WHY did I not do this earlier!?  I have no time!  I need to finish this and submit it before I go to work!  But...no big deal.

2:45 p.m. Get distracted from the paper for the 50th time.  This time I am distracted because I know that Chris is in an interview and I'm saying prayers for him and sending positive vibes his way.

3:00 p.m. My client calls to cancel.  Clean up my house because I cannot concentrate in such a huge mess. Messy, but no big deal.

4:00 p.m. Realize that if I get a 40% on this paper, I can still get an A in the class.  Finish and submit my paper.  It is a big piece of crap.  Who cares.  I will pass even if I turn in nothing.  No big deal.

5:00 p.m. Start dinner.  Homemade pizza.  I don't want pizza.  I want grilled chicken.  We didn't have chicken...or anything else.  We have stuff to make pizza.  Awesome.  At least we have food.  Pizza=No big deal.

5:15 p.m. Preheat oven.  No big deal.

5:30 p.m. Notice a weird smell and smoke coming from the kitchen.  Instantly remember that I left my favorite Pyrex bowl full of Puppy Chow in the oven.  This shouldn't have been a big deal.  It was, though.  It was a big deal to me. I think Chris could actually see my heart break and I tried not to cry.  He's amazing.  Instead of asking dumb questions like "How could you forget this was in here?" he said, "No sweat, Kid.  This won't take long to clean up."  Then he cleaned it up.  The plastic lid had melted all over the bowl and there was red plastic melted all over the bottom of the oven.  He didn't complain.  He did laugh.  And as he cleaned he told me how amazing I am for doing all that I do and for being a good wife and mom.  Really.  Best guy ever.  And he had the oven cleaned in time to cook the crust.  Because he is awesome like that.

6:30 p.m. Put food in the oven.  Success.  No big deal.

7:00 p.m. Wonder why the food is taking so long to cook.

7:01 p.m. Notice the over is set to 200.  I turn the oven up.  Annoying, but no big deal.

7:15 p.m. Food is done.  Chris finishes his food just in time to go to work.  No big deal.  At least he actually got food tonight.  Poor guy.

8:00 p.m. Girls will not go to bed.  Probably because they are so amped up from eating a late dinner.  No big deal.

9:30 p.m. Put girls to bed.

9:35 p.m. Peyton finds me to tell me that she changed Loralie, but "it is under control because it is just pee." I walk Peyton back to her room and Loralie is naked.  Peyton hits herself in the forehead and says, "Crap!  I forgot a new diaper!"  Then she covered her mouth and said, "We don't say 'crap!'  It's a bad word!"  I put a diaper on Loralie, but not before she managed to pee on the floor.

9:40 p.m. Clean up pee.  Wonder how Loralie got out of her crib.  Thank Peyton from her help but explain to her that the next time she wants to change Loralie, she should get me first.

9:50 p.m. Shower.

10:00 p.m. Do homework

11:00 p.m. Collapse in my bed.


Wednesday, December 5, 2012

What Peyton Learns at Preschool

Peyton has been in preschool this semester and she LOVES it.  It has been really good for her and I've seen her grow up and change so much.  Her tantrums are fewer and she actually shares now.  She also randomly started using full sentences.  With big words.  Friday will be her last day of preschool.  As it comes to an end I have been looking over everything that she has learned this year. When she gets home from school I always ask her what she learned.  Occasionally I write down her responses.  Here are a few of her responses when asked, "What did you learn today, Peyton?"

"Umm...we not eat grass!  It's bad!"

"We learned buttons!"

"Don't pick your nose!"

Shrug.  "Three little pigs."

"Did you know there's cooties?"

"If you share, you have so many friends!  If you not share, you're Tabitha."

"Hot chocolate!"

"If you touch a booger, wash your hands!"

"I ate a pumpkin."

"I learned stickers and rocks!"

"Wear panties every day and don't take them off and don't poop in them!  No pee, either!"

"Ummm....I think I learned painting.  I think."

Sigh "Mom, I'm sleepy exhausted.  I can talk after my nap."

What?



I'm sad that it is over but I'm so glad that she was able to participate and grow so much!  I'm also glad that they taught her all of the important things. It makes my job so much easier ;)