Date: October 10, 2015
Peeps: Brian (35)
Laura (36)
Jonathan (3)
Teddy (8)
Honey (8)
6:23 Shrieks echo down the hall of "Mama, Mama! My clock turned green!" I am startled but see that Brian has already been out of bed for who knows how long. I slowly start entering consciousness while Brian retrieves the mini-human.
6:30 I head downstairs for our morning rituals -- coffees, babas, and screen time. As soon as I get down there, I'm greeted by the sweetest offer ... "Mama, you can sit right here by me, ok?" Heart melt. Pause to give kisses and hugs before my coffee. We're out of 1/2 and 1/2, so darn. I have no choice but to use heavy cream. I also snap a picture of our fridge, just because I think people's refrigerators are interesting. So weird, but I do. I'm intrigued by the organization, cleanliness, types of food, etc. So fascinating. Anyway, I get back to the living room with coffee, and I am beyond delighted that my Ina is now on Netflix. The second I hear her jingle, I immediately feel relaxed -- like some weird Pavlovian creature. The guys also actually pay attention to her 7-hour lamb recipe, and Brian starts making his food requests for the week. We discuss Brian's potential new employee. Something reminds me about the upcoming birthday party we have this morning. I say something like "oh that reminds me ... we have the birthday party today." J quickly responds with "oh that reminds me ... I don't want to." <Foreshadowing>
7:15 We will be giving JW's old lawn mower to this 1 year-old birthday boy today, and I have mixed feelings about it. I'm so happy to give toys to friends' kids, and I take comfort in knowing the toys will be well loved. But my heart hurts a little in knowing that J has outgrown yet another stage. No more "mowing" the lawn. No more chubby baby legs waddling around with a mower and stumbling about like a drunk person. But anyway, I start heading outside to find the mower. On my way through the living room, Teddy lets out one of those horrifying dog yacks. Out comes a giant pile of puke/slime with 8-10 pieces of unchewed dog food. Don't you love starting out your day by cleaning up dog puke? No? Just me? Ok.
7:30 Jonathan helps me clean up the mower and wrap some new toys for the birthday boy. We have cereal. Brian gets showered and dressed, and he starts a load of laundry. He then takes Jonathan out to his office to be a "helper" in assembling a new filing cabinet. I putter around the house with my normal straightening. Elvie, our cleaning lady, will be coming today. Brian always gives me a hard time when I clean before the cleaning lady, but this neurotic must do it. <Insert 3-4 reasonable explanations why it's important to clean before the cleaning lady> I eventually get myself showered and dressed.
9:15 It's about time for J and I to leave for the birthday party (we've decided B will enjoy this time catching up on work). J has been having a blast in B's office, and he is outraged at the idea of leaving this for a birthday party. Cake? "I don't like cake!" Trains? "I don't like trains!" Fun time with friends? "I don't like friends!" Mama will be there with you? "I only want to stay with Daddy and build a filing cabinet!!!!!" Lots of tears, snot, screams, and all that. He starts wailing that "the kids won't like me, the kids will be mean to me!!" B and I exchange some concerned, over-protective parental looks. I can read B's mind, and we're both wondering "Where is this coming from? Did something happen? Or is it all a manipulative plea to avoid a delightful birthday party?" But we must press on. Somehow we get him convinced that it will be fun, and that he's a brave boy who knows how to handle situations that he doesn't really like. Sheesh. We head out the door as Elvie arrives.
10:15 Jonathan and I arrive at the party. It is truly adorable, and it's obvious that my friend has spent a lot of time preparing for this big event. The decorations are beautiful, and all the food looks incredible. Jonathan immediately makes new friends with a group of boys, and they have a blast chasing a kitten around the patio. Poor cat probably has PTSD now. I chat with a colleague's wife, and it's fun to get to know her a bit more. Kristen arrives with 2 of hers, and we spend the rest of the time in a long-overdue chat. I get to meet Emmy for the first time, and she makes babies look easy with her peaceful sleeping through the whole party. Baby Guy is extra affectionate toward me, and it's so fun to hold him and see him giggling. J gets super sweaty with red cheeks from all the running around. The Thai-Chius even rented a train to take us around the neighborhood, which is a treat! We pile in and enjoy a cute ride.
12:00 It's about time to leave, and Jonathan declares "I don't want to." I chuckle, and we talk about how he should remember this day -- he was worried about trying something new, but once he did, he loved it! "JDub, next time you are worried about something, just remember this party and how it turned out awesome!" "Ok Mama, that's actually a good idea!" I laugh and am glad I could actually have a good idea. We leave, and I make the mistake of noticing my surroundings while driving out. Papa Murphys!! Must make detour. We order our pizzas, and we both enjoy watching the employee prepare them. When they're ready, J offers to carry them. The teenage boy employee actually hands the 14-inch double-stacked pizzas to the 3 year-old. I start laughing as I dash over. Save the pizzas!! I guess this guy has not been around many pre-schoolers yet. Close call. We hit the road, and land in decent traffic. I attempt taking pictures while inching along, but the camera doesn't do it justice. I also notice it's freaking hot on my car's thermometer. That explains why I was sweating at the party. What the? It's mid-October, people! Anyway, the drive is fairly uneventful. I do have to put effort into keeping J awake toward the end, and games on my phone perk him right up.
1:15 We arrive home. B is so excited about the pizza, and so am I. He gets one in the oven. We chat with Elvie. Get J cleaned up a bit. And head upstairs for books. A few hundred selfie-stick photos, plus a snapshot of him in his bed. Precious boy. Night night sweetheart. Brian and I head downstairs to our beloved pizza (we're not addicts or anything, nah). Elvie sits down for lunch with us, and we all chat.
2:00 I have my upcoming exam weighing heavy on my mind. Studying is the absolute last thing I feel like doing right now (or ever). But I muster up some self-discipline and head upstairs with my computer. Brian will also be sitting for a specialist exam in a few weeks, so he decides to listen to my study videos too. We make it through a fraction of what I should accomplish before J wakes up.
3:15 Jonathan is awake. He snuggles Brian on the couch, and they play some video games. I wrap up things with Elvie, who kindly lets me know that I should "double wash the rags to get the dog hair out." OMG. I don't know if I should be embarrassed by my animal-infested house? Or thankful that my cleaning lady is a perfectionist? I'll go with the latter. I head back upstairs to the guys. B and I both text Tony, who will be in town in a couple weeks. Yay! I also text Ashley, who informs me I missed the first quarterly consultation group. Doh! I cannot believe that! Total calendaring fail. J is getting a bit squirrely on the couch, and I'm starting to feel irritated. I would rather just play with him and have a fun family day, but if I want to pass this exam (fat chance at this point), I really need to study. The work-family conflict gets to me. B can tell I'm getting flustered, and he insists that our date tomorrow is a study date. I resist a little but eventually go with it. I feel better at least having a plan, although I still need more study time. Oh well. I suppose this is what it's like to study with kids? This is my first time having to juggle this, and I doubt I will sign up for something like this again. Too stressful.
4:45 The cake talk eventually leads to shouts of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle songs with some violent martial arts moves thrown in there for added effect. Brian graciously offers to make a grocery run to Trader Joe's with our little ninja turtle. They chant the TMNT songs out the door, and there's lots of "love yous!" and "be back soons!" I sit down in a peaceful house. Obviously, with all this time and quiet on my hands, I do the responsible thing that will help me feel better about my upcoming exam ... yep, I write up this blog post.
5:30 I'm all caught up on the blog to this point in the day. As I write, I remember the laundry Brian started earlier. I head downstairs to switch it over, and I give the beasts some much needed pets and attention. As I'm switching the laundry, the guys get home with the loot. J helps me shove the wet clothes into the dryer. Brian brings in the food. We get dinner going -- fish and broccoli. Then we head out to Brian's office to see his new filing cabinet. It looks great, and his office is nice and tidy. We have a completely white-people dance party and crack up over B's jumps. Jonathan runs around the yard, tormenting the dogs. It's a fun and wild time of day.
6:30 We sit down for a late dinner. JDub douses his food in ketchup. J and I fill in Daddy about all the cool things at the party this morning. B is saying he feels a cold brewing in his sinuses. Great. Lovely. Yay. Perfect timing for this. As we wrap up dinner, he decides to fight the cold with raw garlic. Fine by me! Eat away! He downs four or five raw cloves and then exclaims, "oh shit, that's hot!" JDub immediately asks, "why did you say 'shit' Daddy?" Oh boy. B and I try to keep our laughter to a minimum. JW then runs around the house like a wild child with Teddy, and B has to intervene several times to protect the 100lb beast. I clean up the kitchen while all this craziness continues. JW shows us his ninja moves and muscles on the chair, and Brian and I ooo and ahhh. It's a delight to see him be so proud of himself. Then J and I snuggle on the couch for one last baba. He is intrigued by my necklace, twisting and playing with it while drinking. I explain that my daddy gave it to my mama, and then she gave it to me. But all that geneology is too much, and he simply nods his head.
7:45 We head upstairs for bedtime. Ninja turtle jammies: check. Ninja turtle undies: check. Ninja turtle toothbrush: check. Ninja turtle tooth paste: check. Ninja turtle book: check. Ninja turtle action figures: check. Ok phew. That was a close one, people. But I think we will have a safe night with full coverage of ninja turtle power. Thank God. As an aside, I love that he's found this obsession with ninja turtles completely on his own. It's so cute to see him be passionate about what he truly loves, and I hope we can always foster that drive in him. But anyway, we snuggle for books in our bed.
8:15 J is in bed. Sweetheart, melt my heart. B and I hang out in the loft. I finish up this blog post. B deals with some emails and stretches his back. He sends me some resumes for potential employees, and we discuss them. He does some online investigation of their backgrounds, and they come back clean. Then they start ... the garlic farts. Oh dear. This could be a long night, but if it prevents sickness, then I'll sacrifice my nose for a night. God help me. When I finish the blog post, Brian reads through it, and we enjoy this process once again.
9:30 It's time for us old fogies to call it a night. As always, I go to bed after a day-in-the-life with a full heart. I love my family. And even more -- I like my family! I don't often need reminders of how much I appreciate my guys, but these blog posts just bring those mundane details to light. And life happens in those details. I may or may not pass this upcoming exam, but oh well. My heart is full. And life will go on, either way.
