I decided that I would document a Tuesday again this time around thinking it would be fun to see how much (or how little) life has changed since the fall. To be honest...the day got off to an uncharacteristically rough start and I'm not even really sure why I continued to document it after 9:30am. Thankfully days like this are few and far between!
6:20am - I crawl back into bed to "sleep" while the bigs play in Lily's room.
7:45am - After a diaper change for Youkie I bring all the kids back down stairs. Matt makes me a cup of coffee and I get the wood stove blazing. The house is cold and everyone is sort of cranky. I'm not exactly sure what has been going on up to this point with Matt and the big kids but whatever it was it wasn't eating breakfast. Tired, cold, and over-hungry...the toddler tantrum trifecta!
12:15pm - Ben and I arrive home and I make the boys some lunch. Hugh has a pouch, cheese stick, slice of peanut butter bread, and a few pretzels. Ben has a slice of leftover pizza, a few carrots, and pretzels. Hugh is very jealous of Ben's lunch and has an epic tantrum.
8:00pm - Matt settles in to work, Josh reads, and I start working on this post. We all half watch sitcoms until about 9:30 when Josh calls it a night. Matt and I are not far behind but in typical fashion I manage to stay up for another half an hour.
DITL - Winter 2016
Tuesday January 19th, 2016
I am 34
Matt 33
Lily 5
Ben 3
Hugh 18m
6:04am - I wake up to a familiar thumping sound. My children are stuffie addicts. For real, they all have a serious problem. There are no less than 40 stuffed animals in each of their beds every single night...no matter how many times I cull the heard! For reasons that are unclear to me, every single day each and every one of these little "friends" has to be moved from the bed to the floor. To accomplish this task Ben unceremoniously chucks them from the top bunk...where they land with a loud thump...and lay in a mangled pile until nap. *sigh*
6:10am - I can hear Lily and Ben arguing. I race out of bed to shush them before they wake up Hugh. I quietly help them move ALL of the stuffies to Lily's room so they can play without waking their brother. Currently all three kids are sleeping in the boys' room. Ben in the top bunk, Lily in the bottom, Youkie in the crib. Over Christmas we needed to move Hugh out of Lily's room so that my sister would have a place to sleep and we just never put the crib back after she left. For the most part it has worked out fine...except in the morning when Hugh needs more sleep and Ben is up before the sun.
6:20am - I crawl back into bed to "sleep" while the bigs play in Lily's room.
7:10am - Lily comes in and announces that she is "starving" and Matt gets up to start breakfast. I somehow fall back to sleep because the next thing I know it is 7:40.
7:41am - Hugh is SCREAMING from the crib. Matt is in the middle of making what I can only guess is breakfast round two and both of the bigs are whining at the table. This is my least favorite way to start the day. I can tell Matt isn't too thrilled either. I suggest that Lily and Ben come upstairs with me to help with Hugh and give daddy a few minutes alone. The bigs refuse to pose for a picture with Hugh. I peek in Lily's room to see, surprise surprise, stuffies everywhere.
To add to the discomfort the entire house smells like mouse pee. We had a mouse make a nest behind the oven shortly before Christmas and I just cannot get rid of the smell...every time we use the oven. It is so gross. I literally don't know if I will ever be able to not smell it. I have tried just about everything google recommends to no avail. Bonus, I broke a pie plate in the oven last night when the vinegar I was boiling evaporated. Super. I absolutely have to do something extreme (like take apart the oven) later on today.
8:10am - Eveyone is at the table and breakfast has turned unto a marathon. Tuesday is my shopping day so we are out of a bunch of the staples. The kids have fried eggs, duck food (Chex) with blueberries. I have more coffee, in the best mug ever! They beg Matt to also make them oatmeal, which I think is ridiculous, but he obliges. I can just tell that we are going to be late so I leave the table to throw on some clothes and make myself presentable for school drop off. Normally I get the kids ready first but this is not happening today.
8:25am - SO LATE and the kids are now nursing the bowls of oatmeal. I insist that breakfast is over and rush them upstairs to get ready.
What happens next is ugly. I can't get either Lily or Ben to do anything that I am asking...and I totally lose it. Like, whoa! Not only do I yell but i start saying things I don't mean. Harsh things. I call Lily a "spoiled brat" and she starts to cry. Rather than say sorry I just go silent. It is a very low moment.
Ben is now complying and being the sweetest version of himself. While I appreciate it...I am still mad that he couldn't just act that way in the first place.
8:47am- Matt and I help the bigs into their snow clothes. I grab the backpacks, kiss both Matt and Hugh, and go out to the car without saying a word. In the car on the way to school Lily and Ben chat about the icicles on our neighbor's roof. Lily speculates that Elsa has left Disney World to bring winter to Maine. Ben seems skeptical and offers up his own theory which involves the Easter bunny. This makes all of us laugh and breaks the tension at least a little.
8:59am - I drop Lily off and we hold hands as we cross the parking lot. I can tell that we are both feeling sorry but she is late so we do a quick kiss and hug, say "I love you", and she walks into school. My heart is breaking knowing that I hurt her feelings and I instantly regret not taking the time to make up properly before we got out of the car.
9:17am - Ben is ridiculously late for school. We hit every single traffic light on the way across town. Once we are inside his teacher has to pry him off my leg. I watch him through the window for a split second to make sure he is settled and then I leave.
I cry in the car on the way home. I come very close to heading back to Lily's school to pick her up. As I play through the various scenarios I decide she is better off distracted at school and we can talk when I pick her up in the afternoon.
9:45am - I arrive back at home with about fifteen minutes to snuggle and play with Hugh before his nap. I text my girlfriends about the crap-tacular morning I am having.
10:05am - Hugh is down for his nap and I head downstairs to gather my things so I can run errands before I pick Ben up at noon.
10:30-11:45am - Like a sad robot (how's that for an oxymoron!) I get gas and grocery shop. It's fine. I like grocery shopping normally, I am just not feeling it today. I try and compensate for the sads by being extra helpful to strangers. I offer up my cart, I help a woman find the soup, I let a women with a newborn go ahead of me in line. Very small acts of kindness but each one does help my mood.
Side note: For about a year I have been using the "Ibotta" app to get rebates on our groceries. It is seriously awesome. I have earned over 400 dollars since downloading the app! Occasionally I will admit to buying things that I wouldn't otherwise, but in some cases we have found new foods that we love as a result! You can use it at a ton of different stores and combine the rebates with manufacturer coupons!! Seriously awesome app. (If you are interested in signing up my referral code is mdbshqp...we both get a five dollar bonus!)
Lily has been asking me for weeks to buy a pomegranate but of course Walmart doesn't have any. There is a fancier grocery store on the way to Ben's school and I have just enough time to strike out there too before heading to pick up. I do manage to buy 5 chocolate powdered doughnut holes...only 3 of which make it home.
12:15pm - Ben and I arrive home and I make the boys some lunch. Hugh has a pouch, cheese stick, slice of peanut butter bread, and a few pretzels. Ben has a slice of leftover pizza, a few carrots, and pretzels. Hugh is very jealous of Ben's lunch and has an epic tantrum.
Matt makes me an egg and cheese on an English muffin!
12:50pm - The boys and I go upstairs to play before nap. We make a pretty killer train track but I must have accidentally deleted the picture, wah wah.
1:50pm - After breaking up squabble after squabble I decide early naps are necessary today. Ben uses the potty and gathers up some of his stuffies to lay down in Lily's room. Hugh goes down in the crib without a fuss.
Matt tells me that his mom has offered to pick up Lily and give her dinner. I reluctantly agree to the plan even though I am really looking forward to squeezing her and telling her how sorry I am. Not needing to go get Lily means I have the rest of the afternoon to tackle the oven. I consider myself pretty handy and I was a little excited to start taking the oven apart. I mean how hard could it be to put it back together?!?
2:30pm - I finally get to the bottom of the smell...and then nearly die of disgust. I am simultaneously elated to have figured out the source of the smell and horrified by the image that is now burned into my brain. There had in fact been a small nest behind the oven that I removed and cleaned up weeks ago but there was also a mouse nest INSIDE THE OVEN INSULATION. You guys, I just dry heaved typing that. To be honest the site of the nest isn't that big of a deal...it is the thought of the mouse, living, peeing, pooping, hoarding dog food, in my oven that makes me want to take a match to this whole place.
Once I have the insulation out of the oven I know I am going to have to have a professional put new insulation back in. A quick google search however informes me that, no the oven is now scrap metal. What?!?! No way. I call a local appliance repair company and they confirm that it is not a job worth doing and that it would be cheaper to replace the oven. Fan-freaking-tastic.
3:30pm - After having a pity party while cleaning up the kitchen the best I can I decide we should definitely go out to dinner. My brother, who recently moved back to Maine with his fiance (into our house), took a job as a specialist in the garden center at Lowes. He is at work so I text to see if we can meet him to look at ovens and then treat him to dinner.
3:40pm - Hugh is up from nap but Ben is still out cold. I get Hugh dressed and he toddles around downstairs being adorable.
4:15pm - Matt wraps up work and jumps in the shower. I get Benji up from nap and tell him the plan. He is super excited because a.) he loves the giant truck shopping carts at Lowes and b). Red Robin...Yum! He is sweetly very sad that Lily is with Mimi and not coming with us.
5:05pm - We meet up with my brother and pick out a new oven!
5:30pm - Red Robin is understaffed and we have to wait about 15 minutes for a table. It is a long 15 minutes with two boys who are over hungry and running around like wild animals. (This is where I eat crow because I SWORE I would never be "those people" when I had kids...what a fool.)
The boys are awesome at dinner. Both color, eat, and chat happily for the entire meal. Food is delish and I manage to eat my burger while it is still hot.
6:50pm - So late! We go to Mimi's and pick up a very tired Lily. She is a little jealous that she missed out on Red Robin but Ben got her a balloon so all is forgiven.
7:42pm - These children need to be in bed! Everything is taking a long time but unlike this morning I am vowing to keep my composure. I try desperately to get one good picture of all three kids. This totally sums up our day!
I pull Lily aside and we snuggle in her room for a few minutes while Matt helps the boys brush teeth. I tell her how sorry I am and that I should never have called her a brat. I ask her to apologize for her lack of listening and she gets a little teary. I take this as a "good" sign that she is genuinely sorry. We both agree that going to school mad was a terrible way to start the day and she seems to take a lot of comfort in our shared sentiments. With our hearts feeling lighter, Lily says she is looking forward to going to bed. Me too kid, me too!
We read a book. Matt (literally) tosses the kids into bed while counting to 15 in Spanish (no clue how this became a thing), we do the secret handshake, and close the door.
We read a book. Matt (literally) tosses the kids into bed while counting to 15 in Spanish (no clue how this became a thing), we do the secret handshake, and close the door.
10:00pm - I am ready for bed. The kids are all tucked in. The wood stove is full. Our room is freezing! I toss and turn for the better part of thirty minutes about the oven. It is not like us to make such a big purchase so hastily. Dingle assures me that we made a good choice and confirms online that it will fit in our space (I measured twice). Our little chat does actually put my mind at ease and finally fall asleep shortly before 11.
