A few months ago my 6 year old nephew asked my sister-in-law what she did all day. I will tell you what she does all day: she is a nurse practitioner at Children's Hopsital in the cardiology department 20+ hours a week, and she is a very involved parent raising four boys 8 and under. And she is also a marriage mentor through their church. That's what she is doing!
But honestly, I can understand why a 6 year old may have no concept of what his parent actually does during the day and would question her. It was totally innocent. Very sweet. Hysterical to most parents. And it endeared me even more to my nephew.
I can understand a child not having any concept what his parents do; but it is baffling to me how an adult can have NO CLUE what a day in the life of a parent consists of...I mean, no clue.
Yesterday I met with a trainer for the very first time. He was, and is, great! But in our initial meeting he was trying to guage what my life looks on a daily basis and he says to me, "So you're a stay at home mom? You probably sit most of the day." Hahahahahahaha. Yes. Yes. I sit 90% of the time; the other 10% I spend standing in front of my refrigerator.
The thing is, I would never expect someone that hasn't spent a lot of time with young children to understand what a day looks like and how it unfolds minute to minute. So as I was going through my morning I thought that I would just document what our morning looked like today, and then maybe send sweet ole Vaughn this blog, along with all of the comments people made on my facebook page regarding his ridiculous, totally clueless, comment.
4:45 a.m.: Drew wakes up and Mark goes in to try to get him back in bed.
5:15 a.m.: Drew has still not fallen back alseep so I go into his room to lay with him.
5:30 a.m.: Sleeping=failure...we go downstairs to start our morning.
5:50 a.m.: Zachary wakes up and Drew's whining begins.
6:03 a.m.: Drew is in his first time-out for the day.
6:05 a.m.: I jump in the shower and get ready for the day.
7:00 a.m.: Mark leaves for work (tear).
7:30 a.m.: Throw 3 boys in the bath and get them ready for the day.
8:15 a.m.: Feed Nate a bottle, the liner folds into the bottle, 8 oz. of milk spill all over me and Nate.
8:20 a.m.: Change Nate's outfit, make another bottle, feed him the bottle, put him down for a nap.
8:30 a.m.: I take another shower so I don't smell like spoiled milk all day.
8:40 a.m.: I finally sit down for a coffe and quick breakfast.
9:00 a.m.: Start packing a bag to take with us when we go and meet friends to play.
9:15 a.m.: Tell the older boys to go to the bathroom before we leave. I then have to break up a fight between the two about who gets to wash their hands first.
9:20 a.m.: Wake Nate up from morning nap, get his shoes, socks, and coat on...load everyone in the car...plus our little neighbor that was going to the play place with us.
10:00 a.m.-11:45 a.m.: Have a fantastic time with friends while our children run around and play together. Still have my eyes on four children though, so the stress level remains somewhat high.
11:50 a.m.: Finally had all of the kids laoded and buckled into their carseats and drive through Wendy's for lunch. As I am driving away we discover that Wendy's messed up our order...unable to turn around and correct their mistake.
(Spend the drive to our home listening to two of the children in my car scream hysterically: one because he is exhausted and thirsty, the other because he can't stand listening to his brother cry-it's awesome.)
12:10 p.m.: Drive through McDonalds for drinks for the kids, and something else for the boys to eat, since they didn't eat their food from Wendy's.
12:30 p.m.: I drop Zachary off at school.
12:35 p.m.: I drop David off at home.
12:40 p.m.: Brought Nate and Drew into the house and started prepping them for nap. I put a diaper on Drew, which I discovered wasn't on tightly enough when he peed all over himself, and the floor, right before nap. At the exact moment that I was changing Drew again, Nate decided to dump an entire bowl full of Cali's water onto the floor...and then slip and fall into it...outift change #3 for the day.
12:50 p.m.: The boys are finally in bed.
1:00 p.m.: Drew hollers down that he needs to poop. I run upstairs, wipe him, help him get dressed again, put him down again, and finally land on the couch at 1:04 p.m.
I will sit for a little longer before I have to load the kids back into the car, drive and get Zachary at school, and then take a meal over to a friend who just had a baby.
But yes Vaughn, I do a crazy amount of sitting during the day, and I read People, and eat chocolate, oh...and don't forget the mani's and pedi's that I am known for doing weekly (if you know me and my ugly nails at all, you know that's a lie).
This man, bless him, has no clue. And the reality is, a lot of people don't...and that's ok. I just hope Vaughn doesn't say anything like this to his wife one day if they choose to have children.
My Rear End is Falling Asleep from Sitting Too Much,
The Joyful and Tired Mom
