A day in the life

So I wake up this morning at 5am; M is calling me. I go in there, she says she doesn't feel good, would I read to her? So I'm reading to her for about twenty minutes and then she starts throwing up. So I clean all that and her up, read to her some more, tuck her in, and go lie back down next to C, who is starting to stir. About half an hour later, the sound of retching jerks me out of sleep. (I swear, they should make alarm clocks that sound like your cat or child throwing up - you wake up with this surge of adrenaline, it's unreal.) So I run in there, take care of her again, clean everything up, more clean sheets, etc. Tuck her back in. This time I go lie down in the recliner, so if she starts throwing up again I won't wake up C jumping out of bed. Sure enough, around 6 something? (I've lost track at this point) poor thing starts again. I'm in there, cleaning her up, getting her hair out of her face, etc. - J wakes up, as it's about time for me to start getting M ready for school - I ask if he can get M a blanket, because C is starting to wake up, so I run in there to get him re-settled, and then I think we all go back to sleep - it's kind of fuzzy at this point. Anyway, I vaguely remember him telling me goodbye, he was going to work.

So later, after C wakes me up, I fix him & M breakfast (she says she's hungry, that's a good sign) and we're cuddling up watching a movie. My day starts to go downhill from there - here's the conversation I had with my husband.



10:49 my day has gone from bad to worse
10:49 during a fight my laptop got yanked off the table
10:49 M had a poopy diaper, and for some reason wouldn't let me look at it, I had to basically pick her up to check it
10:49 so went and put her in the bathtub
10:49 then C wanted to get in the bathtub
10:49 and said he was poopy
10:50 so he walked up to me, both of us taking his diaper off at the same time
10:50 turned out he was poopING (so he could get in the bathtub) - had to clean his poop off the bathroom floor - but no biggie, it's solid!
10:51 finished rinsing butts, got M out & dried her, was in the process of prying C out of the tub because he didn't want to come when M comes running back in and says "I pooped!"
10:51 I look down the hallway and there's this big puddle of diarrhea
10:51 so I tell her to get back in the bathtub, turn the water back on, hand them the spray handle, and close the curtain
10:52 I can't get it all out of the carpet without a carpet cleaner
10:52 my hands now smell like orange peels, vomit, and shit, so I'm not sure how I'm going to eat my grits (which I'm sure are cold by now)

10:59 I just had to go back there and check on the screaming - M had pooped in the shower, and C had closed the bathtub drain
10:59 so I empty out all the poopy water, tell M if she thinks she has to go again to try to make it to the potty
11:00 as I say "do you understand?" she poops again.
11:00 so I wash C off, take him out, and dry him off and get him dressed. M is in the shower by herself now.



This is why when I fill out forms that ask for my employment I don't put "unemployed" - I put "Stay-at-home-mother" - because this is a job, dammit, and if I were doing this for money you'd have to pay me an awful lot.

I'm going to go try to make more progress towards moving out of this house. As J put it, the kids are still alive, so it's okay. Nothing else is really all that important.