A Day in the Life...

Being a young mom is a really tough job.  You are constantly on duty and you have to watch the kids every second just to keep them alive.  It is emotional draining!  Then your kids get bigger.  And they get easier...sort of.  It is a different kind of tough job.  It is a brain drain and a major gas guzzler!

So, just so y'all can see what a "Stay at home mom" does every day I am going to show you a day in the life of LiLo.

My day began at 6:30 when the alarm went off (and I hit the snooze button).  And then again at 6:40 when the 10 year old came to wake me up saying he needed to bring pancakes to student council this morning.  So my feet hit the floor running.

40 minutes (and a double batch of pancakes) later, I took kid #1 to school early for student council.
Got home and did dishes from said pancakes, packed lunches for the remaining two, ate a bowl of cereal and started to drink a cup of coffee.
8:05- took kid #2 to school.
Got home and did more dishes, started dishwasher, cleaned the kitchen (sort of), empty the trash cans, took the trash to to curb for trash day, quickly checked email and downloaded the images from last night's photo shoot.
8:30- Popped kid #3 into the bathtub.  Piled up laundry and picked-up the upstairs while keeping an eye on bath time.  Got him out and dressed (and had to iron the shirt for graduation today) and may have accidentally pinched the boy parts while trying to zip a tricky zipper- comforted poor boy.

9:00- did a quick photo shoot with #3 after realizing he was wearing the same shirt his big brother wore 3 years ago and that it is his last official day of preschool- finally finished 1st cup of now cold coffee.

The first two were taken in Sept. 2011

9:08- Got in the car to take #3 to school and drop books off at the library (because we can't renew them anymore....kind of a slacker about taking books back- online renewal has changed my life- perhaps for the worse)

9:30- Drop #3 off at school.
9:45- Get to Clement park to try to get in a quick workout.  Run/walk 2.5 miles.

*Side note: In thinking about this blog post I was super aware of my surroundings today trying to "take it all in".  As I was running I saw a group of handicapped kids.  I wanted to be one of them today.  He was clapping and singing and he looked like he was having the best day of his life.  I know many people pity the simple minded, but today I was struck with the thought of how nice it would be to be a little more simple minded.  To be in the moment and not hurrying to do 100 other tasks that need to be done that day.  To enjoy a simple walk around a lake.  To not have 50 million other things on my mind.

10:10: Finish my walk/run and realize that in order to get back to my car I had to walk right by the Columbine Memorial.  I have only been there once and I felt drawn to it today.  I spent a few minutes walking around, reading the quotes and being thankful for my own kids.

10:29- Get to Walmart to do some grocery shopping.  My goal was to be there by 10:30.  Yahoo!  I was ahead of schedule.

11:35- Get home from Walmart (15 minutes after I wanted too...Ugh), unload the car and furiously put away all of the fridge/freezer items.
11:38- Get into the shower and get ready as fast as I can to leave for preschool graduation.  Also shoved a protein bar in my face for lunch during and after the shower.
12:03- Leave for preschool and hope I hit a lot of red lights so that I can put make up on while stopped.
12:18- Arrive at preschool (only 3 minutes after my goal time) to save seats for the graduation.
12:30- Do my best to not tear up during the cute little ceremony of 4/5 year olds and the fact that I will no longer have any kids in preschool.  Sad.  I love preschool- especially our preschool.  If you are looking for a good preschool, let me know and I will steer you in the right direction.

1:21- School is out and we are on our way to DQ to celebrate the graduate when I get a call from the elementary school that kid #1 has thrown up.  Hurry to DQ and have the 5 year old scarf down a star popsicle and then head to get kid #1.
1:55- Get to the school and sign out kid #1 and go to Sonic Happy hour to get a special drink for the sick boy.  Because Sonic Happy Hour makes everyone feel better!  Deposit kid #1 and #3 at home.  Get everyone settled.
2:30- Head to the school to get kid #2 (super glad that the hubby works from home and the kids could be parked in front of the TV for the 20 minutes I will be gone- and that I don't have to drag them with me as it is threatening rain).  Thankfully got a front row spot in the hug-and-go lane because it started pouring rain and hailing.  Which means I didn't even have to get out of the car!
2:55- Get home in time to watch the hail storm destroy the back yard and make myself a snack.  Realize that the Lego movie has been released on iTunes and the boys decide to use some gift cards to download it.  Spend the next 20 minutes trying to download it.  Do more dishes, finish putting away the non-refrigerated items and attempt to pick up a few things around the house.

3:30- Fool around on the computer for a few minutes (perhaps a little instagraming and facebooking in between emails and more picture downloading ). And then start writing this blog.
4:35- Writing this blog--- and suddenly realize that I need to get kids ready for time trials for swim team tonight.  So mad dash to find swim jammers, flip flops, towels and goggles.  #1 begs be to let him to go swim trials as he "feels so much better and time trials are really important and fun".  Cave in and let him go (even though he looks awful in this picture- he really did well and was totally back to normal after swimming- must have been the magic of Sonic Happy Hour as previously stated). 

5:00- Arrive at swimming pool for time trials (with laptop in tow hoping to get some work done while there). *See my instagram account at lizajanelord if you want to see the videos of the boys swimming.
6:05- Leave swimming pool after cheering on #1 and #3 in four separate events- without ever touching the laptop.  Oh well.
6:18- Get home and start preparing dinner- also field a number of phone calls and text messages.  Made a great new recipe for Porcupine Meatballs from Pinterest.  Find the pin on my "recipe board" here.
6:55- Sit down to dinner with the family.  It was pretty good and the kids all ate without much complaint (or they were starving because it was LATE).  After dinner, help with dishes and clear the table.  Spend 5 minutes talking to the Best Husband Ever.
7:40- My favorite sister wants to go for a walk.  How can I deny that?  39 minutes (and over 3 miles later) arrive at home feeling good.
8:20- Help get the kids down to bed (thanks to the hubby who hung with the boys while I walked and also got them in jammies and teeth brushed- I married a total keeper!).
8:32- Sitting in the hallway (a total crutch for getting the kids going to sleep) writing a blog on the laptop and realize that I didn't take any more pictures after 6 pm.  Oops- so much for that photo journalism.
9:12- Eat a mint chocolate skinny cow ice cream sandwich while still working on the blog.  Blogging takes FOREVER, just in case you were wondering.
9:27- Look around the house and feel like crying.  There is a load of clean unfolded laundry that has been sitting in a laundry basket since Saturday morning (same for the load in the washer and dryer and the 3 loads upstairs that need to be washed).  The table is dirty again as it didn't quite get wiped down after dinner.  There are toys scattered, food on the floor, shoes everywhere and papers littered from school all over.  There are 2 papers needing to be filled out asking for money for year end parties, 7 photography sessions needing editing, a garden that I am dying to plant, flowers to put in pots and countless other things to be done.

9:54- Finishing up blog and trying to decide if I should work on pictures for a little bit or let my eyes glaze over in front of the television for a while.  While all days aren't quite as busy as today was, most of the time they are pretty close.

And I used to wonder why, as a stay-at-home-mom,  I can't keep up with everything.  Now, after writing out my day, it is no wonder that I can't get anything done.  I never Stay-at-Home.

So I am trying out some new titles for myself.

Just-trying-to-get-shit-done Mom
Happy to have kept all the kids alive and in the right place Mom
Volunteer (or guilted into volunteering) for everything Mom
Never-at-home Mom
Completely Overwhelmed Mom
The Laundry will get done someday Mom

So here's to you "Stay-at-Home" moms.  I feel ya.  I am in the trenches with you.  If we happen to come up for air at the same time...(maybe in 15 years or so) let's get together.  Until then, stay strong.  Go to Sonic Happy Hour often.  And rejoice in the fact that you are the ones able to take your kids all over Kingdom come.

And don't judge if you happen to come over to my house and I don't invite you in.  We can have a nice chat from my nice, clean porch instead of my disaster chaotic house.

P.S.  In case you are wondering if I favor #3....I don't, but my camera does.  He LOVES the camera and is constantly posing for me.  I am also with him WAY more often than the other kids, so he has more pictures just from the fact of more one on one time with him.