A Day in the Life...

6:30 - Get up, get myself dressed and ready. Pack lunches. Pack backpacks. Label diapers. Eat.

7:30 - Open Olivia's door. Gently shake her and tell her it's time to get up for school. Leave as Out-of-Bed Attempt #1 is a failure. Go to wake up Aidan. He's feeling kinda crummy so he's not already awake playing. I gently wake him and tell him it's time for school. He rolls over and puts his burp cloth back on his head. (Came in one morning and he had been sleeping with the burp cloth on his head like a bonnet - hilarious!) He doesn't immediately get up like usual so I decide to go for Attempt #2 with Olivia. This is apparently all the stimulus he needs so he sits straight up and says, "Mommy! You forgot ME!" I pick him up. He hugs my neck, smiles, and says, "Hi Mommy! How was your day?"

7:40 - Out-of-Bed Attempt #2 with Olivia. Sit on bed and rock her side-to-side describing all of the things she will miss in her day if she doesn't get up. No response. Suggest taking her to school in her pajamas. No response. Inform her that Aidan has just started watching the brand new Backyardigans cartoon where Tasha (her favorite character) plays a fairy (one of her other favorite things). Positive response obtained. Olivia gathers needed paraphenalia (today it's a white knitted blanket with pink bows from G.G. and a small stuffed pink pig she swiped from Aidan's room insisting that it was actually her's) and heads to our bed for the cartoon.

7:45 - making chocolate milks and breakfast. Start to wake up Jeff.

7:50 - deliver chocolate milks and breakfast. Gather clothes and shoes for both children. Begin scouring laundry basket for matching socks. (Matching socks is one of the household tasks I loathe.)

8:00 - begin to dress Aidan. Olivia insists that she can't be dressed yet or she'll miss the cartoon.

8:15 - usher children to bathroom and have Olivia potty before dressing. Dress Olivia. Brush hair and teeth. Sniffle.

8:30 - get children loaded in car and head for Mother's Day Out. Sing "This is the Day that the Lord has Made..." on the way to school. Sneeze.

8:45 - Drop off kids in classrooms and head for work at nursing home. Sniffle sneeze.

9:00 to 1:00 - work at nursing home

1:00 - drive to church to volunteer. Make copies of worship music for choir and praise band. Label practice CDs. Sniffle sniffle sneeze sniff.

2:00 - drive to Mother's Day Out to pick up kids from school. Stop by the Barney candy holder (a sugar trap set up by the exit doors) for tootsie rolls.

2:15 - drive to hospital for appointment with pediatrician for Aidan's cough. Decide on the way while listening to Olivia's coughing fit that she should be seen too. Wish pediatrician would treat mommies too.

2:45 - check in with pediatrician. Smile politely at new receptionist and ask for a 2nd appointment for Olivia. Thank everyone for getting her in. Sniff sniff sniffle.

2:55 - head back to the room to wait for the doctor. We get the space room today and the kids have fun looking at the planets and aliens painted on the wall. I insist several times that the rolling stool is not for the children. Where are the tissues? Sniff.

3:00 - kids are weighed. Aidan is 36 pounds and Olivia is 43. Back to the room.

3:05 - Doctor comes in. Both kids are very good during their check-up. Tell doctor that they both think coming to the doctor is a special treat. Doctor laughs. I silently praise God for giving me this highest of blessings.

3:15 - The verdict is in: Aidan is wheezing. Olivia has an ear infection on the left and possibly a displaced ear tube that is causing the issue. (Ear tubes usually fall out 12-18 months after being placed, but Liv has had her tubes for almost 4 years!) Leave with several prescriptions. Start coughing.

3:40 - back to the car. Go by pharmacy to drop off prescriptions. Make deposit at bank to cover the enormous amount of money I have spent on healthcare today. Children fall asleep in car. Back to pharmacy to pick up prescriptions. Aidan wakes up and cries because he doesn't have his burp cloth. Sneeze sniffle. Why didn't I put extra tissues in my pocket?

4:20 - finally home. Find burp cloth. Kids ask to watch the new Backyardigans again. Mommy is now sick, too, and caves.

5:30 - dinner of fish sticks and corn on the cob. Not the most gourmet dinner but my children actually eat it.

6:15 - welcome Daddy home. Help Olivia roll all of the toilet paper back onto roll. Someone (Aidan) has had a great time spinning the roll and it is now in a large charmin-soft pile on the floor. Aidan unable to be found.

7:30 - bath and nighttime activity. Breathing treatment for Aidan's wheezing. Antibiotics all around. Ear drops which Olivia hates.

8:15 - Aidan in bed. Sing him a lullaby. Jeff starts getting Liv in bed. Read bible story. Sniff cough.

8:30 - shower.

8:40 - shower becomes sauna. Mommy becomes happy.

9:00 - fall in bed. Hope to stay awake until Jeff comes to say goodnight.....don't make it......zzzzzzz