Monday, December 6, 2010

A Day in the Life of a Domestic Engineer

(Or, alternately titled, The Life of a Crazy Stay-at-Home Mom; a Photo Essay)

Sometimes I joke that because of all the social media I encounter, I have started thinking in terms of status updates and blog posts. You know, driving down the road listening to Liam scream, I will be thinking something like, Kelly Shealy is...loosing her mind! Plus, I always seem to be mulling over a new blog post. Not that I ever get around to writing most of them. All of that to say, I have been wanting to do a post about a day in the life of me. A stay at home mom of two boys. You will either be highly amused, completely bored, or run screaming in the other direction of motherhood. Possibly all three! So here goes...my day.

This morning I woke up at 7:30. Sounds pretty good I know but it wasn't. I wasn't at all refreshed because I woke up in the guest bed next to my 4 year old and his puddle of drool. Why was I sleeping with him? (Cause that is actually like, house rule number 1 here, sleep in your own bed!) Well, because his little brother has been plagued with a nasty yeast infection that has made a full night's sleep impossible and Noah woke up in the middle of the night wanting water and Daddy. I had to explain that Daddy was sleeping with Liam and after that there was no stopping Noah from assuming that he needed to sleep with a parent too. (A funny side note: As he snuggled into bed, he kept grabbing at himself - you know, there - and when I asked what was wrong he said, "It's just that stuff is always sticking to my penis....and every time I sneeze I toot." Right.)

So the morning goes like this. Wake up. Thank God for a husband who is already awake, showered, taken charge of Liam, and made my coffee. Drink coffee/eat while checking email (and facebook, etc.) From time to time scream at Noah to please eat his breakfast. (I'm sorry did I say scream? I meant remind him firmly.) Say good-bye to Wes, get myself (and both boys) dressed and headed to the car by 8:30 to take Noah to school.

Perhaps I should pause here to show you a picture of my office. (aka, the front seat of my car.)

Two coats, a purse, a diaper bag (why do I have both?), artwork scattered on the floor and the essentials: the phone charger, my lip gloss, and my diet coke.

Usually I use the time that Noah is in school to workout, or grocery shop or clean the house. But some days a wrench gets thrown in the plan.

So after school drop off today I hurried over to the pediatricians office because Liam's aforementioned yeast infection was not getting any better - it was possibly worse - and I wanted the problem addressed before the weekend. I assumed we would have to wait forever but was pleasantly surprised to be ushered back to a room fairly quickly.

Despite the fact that his nether regions were soooo red and angry, my sweet little guy was his usual happy self. Content to play with my keys and the paper liner.

After finding out that he basically has the world's worst diaper rash (with "yeasty components" ?!) I headed over to Target to buy the ingredients for the doctor's secret diaper rash remedy. Had to rush through the aisles because I didn't want to be late picking up Noah and I'm pretty sure that people I passed were scared of the crazy lady mumbling under her breath, "Where the hell is the Lotrimin?"

Picked up Noah, chatted with some friends and then headed home for lunch. Listened to the usual amount of whining from my hungry, tired four year old. Seriously, the hour between getting home from school and putting the boys down for nap/quiet time is maybe my most busy. Make the sandwich, feed the baby, transfer the laundry, wash the bottles...and today? Mix the diaper cream Cinderelly!

See. There are all the ingredients - plus a huge basket of laundry needing to be folded - waiting for me!

  At 2pm. Liam is napping, Noah is "quiet-timing" upstairs, and I am finally eating lunch. My favorite time of the day. Lunch, a book, and my second diet coke.

Don't worry. It only lasts about 20 minutes because pretty soon Noah is down the stairs asking for more snack/more drink/ help wiping his butt (seriously)/ or possibly just the most annoying question ever. "Is quiet time over yet?" Well for me it is. After that the day (as usual) is more of the same. Sweep, help Noah find a missing dinosaur, transfer more laundry, color with Noah to keep him quiet. Feed Liam, go outside to play/stalk our friends. Oh yeah, and as soon as 5pm rolls around start thinking, At least Wes will be home within an hour!

Usually our evenings are kind of crazy. Play, eat, play some more, bath time, and bedtime. Around 8pm Wes and I finally get the chance to converse with each other about our day. Today was a special night though because we went out to eat at Moe's and then got ice cream. Since it was Friday it was fun to have a family night out just the four of us. And if bedtime was a little late coming, who cares? Isn't that what Fridays are for?!

Noah and Wes at Moe's. Not the best picture but it makes me laugh cause they have the exact same expression on their faces!

This is me attempting to eat ice cream while holding Liam - trying to avoid him grabbing the ice cream or falling out of my lap. Not an easy job!

So, my life is pretty crazy at this point. Two little guys means long days, little sleep, and a continual loss of brain cells. But it sure is fun too. Like when Noah growls like a dinosaur and makes Liam giggle hysterically at the ice cream shop. It makes the craziness worth it!

3 comments:

The Balls said...

-sigh- so nice to see other mom's "normal" days! so what is in the secret diaper rash remedy?? aves has had one for about a week & nothing seems to clear it up totally.

Kelly Shealy said...

Okay, here is the secret...you mix together one third Desatin, one third Neosporin, and one third Lotrimin (or any anti-fungal cream) and watch in amazement as the diaper rash starts fading! Hope that helps Avery out!!!

The Balls said...

neosporin?? weird, i never would have thought to use that! awesome, thanks! now i have an excuse to go back to target tomorrow (;