My hat goes off to the ladies who do this STAY-AT-HOME-MOM thing everyday. My blog is titled a day in the life of Lor but I think it should be retitled to A DAY IN THE LIFE OF LOR AS A STAY AT HOME.
I take back everything I have ever said about a stay at home. “You are at home all day, how can you NOT do _____.” Let me tell you how:
Lydia woke up at 2AM for food, and again at 5:00AM and of course 7AM. To give Dustin a chance to still sleep, I fed her by the light of my iPhone. Once 7AM came, the lights came on. Dustin started to get ready for work, I was feeding Lydia and checking all of my church emails on my phone. I have 400 in my inbox right now. I am trying hard to get that number down to 50. They accumulated so quickly over the 3 weeks I was out on maternity leave that the church graciously gave me.
7:30AM rolls around and usually I am out the door on my way to a corporate job in a high rise office building. Well its only 11 floors but still it is higher than my humble home. I remind myself I am blessed with this great opportunity to stay home with my 2 daughters. Lydia falls asleep, I turn my iphone off and decide to join her. Those middle of the night feedings are starting to take a toll on me. Around 8AM I mumble good bye to Dustin as he finishes praying over us and walks out the door. Anna decided to grace us with her presence around 9AM.
Anna had to go potty and then we rushed downstairs to fix breakfast before Lydia woke up. She requested waffles, strawberries, tomatoes and snow cheese (also known as cottage cheese). Seemed easy enough and balanced enough so that was what I fixed. Our toaster is broken so I baked the waffle at 350 for 5 minutes. She ate the snow cheese and maybe one piece of cut up strawberry and didn’t eat another bite.
Then Moose, our dog, felt like it was his turn so we did the whole go outside and potty thing. As I let him out through our laundry room door, I stood next to the deep freezer we have and looked at the pile of unfolded clean laundry sitting on top of it. It was probably 3 loads worth. Lets see how many shirts I can fold before Moose finishes going potty. Only 4.
As I come back to the family room from letting Moose out, AB is so content, emptying the contents of her baby doll house into her little sister’s “Moses basket/bassinet” she just got the night before as a present. Trying to choose my battles wisely, I allowed her to continue playing with it however I did give her a clear reminder that when Lydia woke up, she gets to “play” with it because it is hers.
Speaking of Lydia waking up, she woke up right on time, 10AM, for her next scheduled feeding. 45 minutes later, after Lydia is fed and diapered and loved on, it’s time for the next step. Getting everyone dressed. Anna, do you want to wear your purple dress or pink dress? I want to wear the green dress, pointing to the one she wore yesterday that made it next to the hamper, sadly, not in the hamper. No Anna, you can’t wear the green one, you must choose pink or purple. She points to pink, so pink it is. As I am buttoning the pink dress you will never guess what she told me, yes, she changed her mind and wanted purple. I didn't cave. Should I have, I am not sure. I am still learning at all of this. I said Anna, you can wear purple tomorrow but today you chose pink so that is what Mommy is putting on you.
Now it was time for shoes. Shoes are another battle I do not fight. Ever since Lydia came home from the hospital, or maybe a few days before, she started wearing 2 different shoes. One purple croc and one brown scooby doo croc. Today, she came downstairs wearing one red sock and her purple croc and on the other foot, just the scooby croc, no sock. She said she just wanted to wear one red sock. I then explained to her that we only wear socks with tennis shoes or when it is cold outside. She tried to convince me she was cold. I assured her she was not and we took the sock off.
I had 2 “office” things to do today but without access to a printer or scanner it makes it more challenging. I had to sign settlement papers with the insurance company from the accident that I had when I was 14 weeks pregnant with Lydia. Looks like a small check will be coming my way soon. Anyways, I signed it but Dustin had to scan it for me. The other “office” item was I needed an AC Moore 50% off coupon printed off. Thankfully, Dustin is just 4 miles away from the house and 1/4 a mile from AC Moore. Off to Dustin’s work we go.
Here goes the whole out the door routine. Moose has to go potty but before I can go let him out, I have to make sure Lydia is secure and Anna is occupied with something other than Lydia. Moose go potty. Moose, come here, go potty. MOOSE!!! Get back here. Moose, come inside! MOOSE!!! Urgh! Moose, go to your crate. Moose, I SAID CRATE! Moose is done! Now Anna’s turn. Anna, go potty please! I don't want to go potty. Anna you must go potty before we leave. She gives in and goes. Lydia gets a fresh diaper and goes into her car seat. She doesn't care for that part too much. Anna lets go. No you cannot wear the red sock. Take it off please. No Anna, Lydia does not want you to put the red sock in her car seat, please take it out.
Now the 2 girls are out of the house and the getting into the car routine starts. I hold the insanely heavy car seat and the glass door as I pull the main door closed and lock it from the outside with a key. Anna proceeds to stand there and block my way. Mommy, look a dog. Mommy, look at that rock. Anna please go. Anna, please walk to the car. Anna, MOVE. Then because of the incredible heat, I open Anna’s door, Lydia’s door and then my door. I set Lydia down and turn the car on and blast the air. Then Lydia goes in. Then Anna. Anna, please do not bring that leaf into mommy’s car. Leaves stay outside. Anna, come here. ANNA. Once Anna is in, I go in too. As I pull my door shut, I check my mirrors before pulling out of the driveway. I saw a strange person attempting to enter my neighbor’s house. I stop and watch. He struggles, but then pulls out a key. He has a key, I am good to go, no need to spy. Off we go. Lydia starts crying. Anna starts asking for “Old McDonalds” also known as McDonalds. Am I a bad mom that all my kid wants now is McDonalds? I cant help it that all I wanted to eat the last month of my pregnancy with Lydia was chicken McNuggets. No anna, we are not having old McDonalds today. We are going to Poppy’s work to give him special papers, then AC Moore to get glue for our art project and then the grocery store for milk and blueberries. As we pull up to Dustin’s work we have to wait a while for him to wrap up whatever he was working on. Lydia, bless her heart is screaming. Anna is crying, I want out of here, I want out of here! Poppy finally makes it to our car. We start to leave and Anna is not happy about leaving her Poppy. Its heart wrenching.
When we pull up to AC Moore, I get Lydia out of the car and its a miracle, she stops crying. The reason for us going to AC Moore was 2 fold. First it was to get glue because, yes, I am the parent of a 3 year old and we do not own glue. I am really starting to rack up the bad mom points. The second reason was because I had a $10 gift certificate to the store and I thought I could get a pre-school work book for her as well as glue and a pair of scissors because, yes again, I am the parent of a 3 year old that does not have glue OR scissors.
I ran into a church member while at the store. Poor guy, I am sure he never saw me like this before. I was as unkempt as unkempt can get. I was wearing the jeans from the day before. I did not brush my hair. From reading above, you can gather that I did NOT have a shower and yes, I had a mascara ring around my eyes. The makeup from the day before did not fully make it off my face. While shopping, I carefully calculated the cost of each item and tried to get as close to $10 as possible....remember I do not have any income now. I am a mom of 2 on maternity leave and my husband is the only bread winner. Right as we were getting in line to the check out counter, Lydia started crying again. Anna kept bringing me items from a nearby display. That is nice Anna, can you please put it back. Thank you. Lydia, Lydia, Lydia Grace, in the most soothing motherly voice I could come up with, don't cry baby. That is nice Anna, can you please put it back. Thank you. Lydia, Lydia, Lydia Grace, don't cry baby. People were starting to stare. That is nice Anna, can you please put it back. Thank you. Lydia, Lydia, Lydia Grace don't cry baby. The stares were quickly turning into glares. When I got to the counter, the most un-compassionate lady of the face of the earth checked me out. She obviously was in the crowd of glare-ers. The total came up to a whopping $10.66! I did it. I got 2 preschool books, a writing tablet, green paint, glue and a pair of green scissors all for a whopping $.66. Too bad I couldn’t find the certificate. It was no where to be found. That got expensive real quick. But at that moment as my darling baby’s scream was reaching the 4 corners of the store, I gladly would have paid $20.66 to just get out of there. So when the transaction was complete, we bolted out of the store. Miraculously again, Lydia stopped crying the moment the automatic sliding doors of AC Moore closed and we were on the sidewalk headed to the car. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!!
Milk and blueberries were out of the question. We were going straight home! As I again am cautious of the heat, I open Anna’s door, Lydia’s door and then my door. I set Lydia down and turn the car on and blast the air. Then Lydia goes in. Then the stroller. Then Anna. Anna Elizabeth, come back here. She bolted to the empty parking space next to us, she saw a treasure, a small piece of rock/asphalt. She didn't care that it was just a dumb old rock, it was her treasure. Anna gets the rock and is buckled in. Of course Lydia started crying again. When I got in the front seat, guess what was next to me, the $10 certificate I misplaced. Yes, I am a pastors wife and yes, I know that we are as Christians to obey man’s laws but as I passed the speed camera close to the house, I was tempted to floor it. A screaming baby just does something to your nerves!!! We passed Old McDonalds again. Yes she asked for it. No I didn't cave. I still have my pregnancy weight to lose and again, I have no income.
As we pull into the drive, I pull Lydia out and come around to Anna’s door. There is no way I can get Anna out without setting Lydia’s car seat in the grass. As I open Anna’s door, I see that silly rock still clutched in her hand. As I set her down and turn around to close the door and grab our bag of goodies from the store, I see something out of the corner of my eye, Anna Elizabeth Hedrick placed not so gently her treasured rock in her sister’s car seat, right next to her head. Pheww, that was a close one!
As we got in the door, I glanced at the clock, it was 1:00. Where did the time go? Lydia’s next scheduled feeding was 12:30. I started lunch immediately. Lydia could just cry. What was for lunch? I did what any stressed to the max mom would do, it was tomatoes and strawberries left over from breakfast with piece of bologna. We have a tradition that we take a cookie cutter and turn the bologna into a piece of art, sometimes it is a star, sometimes its a bear but most of the time it is a dog. Before I could get the dog cookie cutter to the table she was impatiently protesting she didn't want to eat it because it was not a dog yet. She was smearing the bologna all across the dining room table. I patiently and calmly reminder her that food goes in our mouth or stays on our plate and does not go on the table. Once she was all set and ready to eat her lunch, I sat down and started to feed Lydia. Not even 5 minutes later, Anna informed me that she needed another piece of bologna. I asked her if she ate just the dog part or the circle part too. She told me she didn't eat any of it but instead gave it ALL to Moose. I put Lydia down and got her another piece of bologna, uncut, just the circle. I told her that we could try again tomorrow but if she wants to eat dog bologna, she can’t give it to Moose. After telling her that if she wants to cry about it she can cry in her room, she decided to stop crying and just finished her lunch. I finished feeding Lydia and I sent Anna off for a nap, then it was Lydia’s turn for a nap. Both girls were in their beds, now what should I do? There were so many options: laundry that has been waiting over a week, load the dishwasher, tidy the house, look at the emails that have been filling up my inbox, the 50 million thank you notes waiting on me, eat lunch, take a shower......I took a nap. Today is just my second week at this. The help from out of town family has stopped. Meals from the church have stopped as well as visitors. Life is going on and it’s just me and the girls now. As crazy as my morning sounded, I am starting to get the hang of this. We will see as time progresses if my skills progress too.
