Woznation

Wednesday October 24, 2018.

6:57am — Wil comes into my room and says good morning.  His clock runs 3 minutes fast because he’s the oldest and gets to wake up first.  I have no idea why/how he/we made this rule.  But this is when the day starts.  Its actually amazing that I have not already been up with Zev — he normally wakes up at 4-5am scream-crying and needs to be tucked back in every 5 minutes — and then eventually sleeps until 7am.  But he managed to sleep all night! Yay.  Anyway — Wil crawls in bed and snuggles for 3 minutes until Evie comes in — and then they head downstairs to put on a show while I wake up and get Zev.

Big kids are watching Cat in the Hat Halloween special — Zev joins them and we decide on oatmeal for breakfast.  I get things started and then head downstairs to take out Barney.  I come up to grab coffee but realize I never prepped it the day before — but I still have half a pot from yesterday.  I pour + microwave a cup.  I hate microwaved coffee.  Especially day-old microwaved coffee.  Oh well. The kids always put blankets over the metal chairs because they are so cold in the morning.

Kids eat breakfast while I make lunches for the day and grab clothes from upstairs.  Evie changes her mind on lunch half-way through making it — so I re-make things.  We remember that Wil has homework to do — so he works on that.  Then Evie decides she needs to do homework, too, so I find a few worksheets for her.  I lose track of time and start yelling at Wil to brush his teeth and put on shoes with 3 minutes to spare.

We make it outside for the bus with seconds to spare….but then the bus was 10 minutes late.  So I’m stressing out and running inside to check on Evie and Zev every few minutes.  And Evie still comes out twice crying that Zev ‘keeps saying “MARBLE” over and over in my face!!’.  Finally the bus comes and I run back in to find Evie hiding in the front hallway — trying to do her worksheets away from Zev.  Poor girl.

Since Wils bus was late — I only have 5 mins to get Evie ready for school. I try to clean up things and help her get ready as quick as I can, while also helping Zev get settled with some sort of activity.  I ended up brushing her hair outside as we wait for the bus.

8:20am.  (Yikes its only been 1.3 hours and Ive written 400 words.)  I can finally relax a second and go upstairs to get myself ready for the day while Zev watches a show, or was he playing tablet? I dont really care…. I clean up breakfast, straighten things up from the morning and get Zev dressed.  Then we head out to drop Zev off at his 2-year old preschool.  Thats right.  ALL 3 KIDS GO TO SCHOOL NOW.  Granted — Zev only goes for a total of 5 hours a week.  But its the most amazing development of my life.

8:45 — We’re in the car on the way to school — I drop Zev off without a single tear today!  Sometimes it takes a few hugs and tears before I make a run for it.  But today was a good day!  Hes actually adjusted way better to preschool than I imagined and it gives me hope and confidence that I can start looking for jobs outside the house again!!! I stop at the grocery on the way home and listen to NPR podcasts in peace the whole way through the store.  Once home, I unload things and take Barney on a long walk, but its a lot colder than I thought — I end up running on the treadmill instead when we get back.  At some point, I threw some frozen enchiladas in the oven that I had saved for this week and some chicken breast for salads for the rest of the week.  Again – this is all SANS KIDS — listening to things I want to listen to.  Please know how amazing this is.

10:00 — Done working out and I get on a cleaning kick since Phil’s parents are visiting this weekend.  Ive been cleaning for days straight.  We were all horribly sick last week and I just havent cleaned in way too long, so I’ve been a mad-woman these days trying to make our house less of a bio-hazard.  In addition — I finally have permission to clean Wil’s room.  He make these elaborate ‘houses’ in his room for his legos and animals and gets very upset if I ‘break’ (CLEAN) them.  So we had a long talk about putting everything away so I could vacuum then he can rebuild them later this week.  Anyway — it literally look me like 45 minutes to straighten up his room.

11:00 — I’m running out of time before needing to get Zev.  I quickly water plants and fill the bird feeders before heading back to preschool.  We get home around 11:45 and make lunch before heading up for nap time. I grab his ‘surprise’ M&Ms.  He guesses the colors the whole way up until I finally tuck him in, then sing a song and give him a back scratch.

12:30 — Once Zev is tucked in, I hop in the shower real quick.  When I get out, I still hear zev signing to himself in his room (…I’ll have a snappy new day…snap, snap!..).  Take Barney out again, clean, clean, clean (dust, sinks, stairs, organize coats/gloves for winter).  Then finally remembered to EAT something!  Made a giant plate of enchiladas from this morning and sat down to watch a quick show — but ended up just looking for a show for 20 minutes and never watching anything…whomp.

2:30 —  The easy part of the day is over.  Its 2:30 and time to get Zev up.  I run downstairs to take Barney out real quick and give him his ant-diarrheal medicine (a dog with inflammatory bowel disease is as much fun as it sounds).  Get Zev — give him gummies and a tablet while we wakes up. Eventually he decides he wants to go outside to wait for Evie’s bus.  We make it just in time, around 3:05.  Evie does gymnastics outside while we wait for Wil to get home, around 3:15. Then its time to go through bags, eat the rest of the lunches we didnt eat, and chill out for a bit.  Everyone has a tablet or watches a show while we relax and talk about the day.  This is actually my favorite time of the day.  As great as it is to be alone —  my crazy mom brain really loves to have them back under this roof knowing I can solve all their problems and hug and kiss them anytime I want.

4:00 —  Tablet time is over.  They put up a fight but know the rules.  Since we are pressed for time this evening, I make Evie and Zev take a bath prior to dinner.  Wil did his bath last night while Evie was at gymnastics, so hes fine given our crazy week.  Wil watches Zev while I get Evie started and vacuum upstairs while the boys are playing.  After Evie is dressed — we switch and Zev comes up while Evie and Wil play downstairs.  I really have no idea what they were playing or doing — but I didnt hear any screaming?  So its all fair game.

4:30 — Its make your own pizza night!  So after Zev got cleaned up we all headed down to roll out the dough and basically just make a giant mess.  Kids do homework, putty, and workbooks as we wait for the pizzas to heat up.  I might have put a piece of broccoli on their plates when we sat down to eat?  But it might have just been pizza.  I dont fight a lot of fights when Phil is traveling.  I simply try to survive and keep everyone alive (fed, clean, healthy….but veggies is pushing it).

5:10 — I clean up the massive amounts of flour in the kitchen and take out Barney again before getting everyone in the car for Wil’s drawing class.  We spot a UPS truck on the way there!!!  The kids are obsessed with counting UPS trucks.  There is a daily count — but then there is also a lifetime count which I think is currently at 6079?  There is a UPS hub down the road so every time we see it, we add like 2000 trucks.  Anyway — we make it to drawing and thankfully there is a playground outside the park district building, so Evie, Zev and I can play while we wait for Wil. Drawing is from 5:30 – 6:30 and it starts to get dark about half way through, so we wait inside the rest of the time.  Wil is drawing ‘monsters’ for halloween — He loves this class and seems to be really into it.

6:50 – We make it home a bit before 7:00.  We scramble to get PJs on, put on the Halloween light, get our 7pm dessert treat (on the dot!), and put on Mr. Rogers.  But by 7:05 everyone is snug and happy on the couch. I am freaking LOVING Mr. Rogers on amazon prime and the kids are obsessed too.  They love it! We usually do 1 a night — but on very special occasions we have a ‘two Mr. Rogers night’.  They cant seem to get enough and its such a calm and informative show.

7:30 — Usually we head upstairs as soon as Mr. Rogers is over, but Phil is back from his meetings and we finally have time for him to skype with the kids — so we take a few extra minutes to say Hi to Dad and tell him about the last few days.  He’ll be home tomorrow so the kids are getting extra excited to see him.  We head upstairs for potty, hair, and teeth.  I tuck Zev in first — one book and a few ‘Silent nights’ with a back scratch,  a drink of water and a few times ‘checking on him’ (i’ll pop my head in a sing itsy bitsy by the door and say ‘i’ll be right back’ until he falls asleep).  Then Evie — which is usually 5-6 songs, a few back scratches, and an ‘I’ll check on you in 5 minutes’ (but 95% of the time she is already asleep). Then Wil, which is sometimes a quick ‘How its made’ Youtube video, followed by one song and back scratch.  Then I check on him every 10 minutes until he is asleep. Wil and Evie are usually asleep by 8:30.  Zev is a wildcard who can be asleep by 7:45 or stay awake until 9.  Luckily this particular night was a good night and all was quiet by 8:30. I take Barney out one last time and close up the house.  I dont think I ate any of the pizza from earlier — so I make another small plate of enchiladas and head upstairs.  I end up watching ‘Private Life’ on Netflix for about an hour – then lights out.

Take away:

I did dishes and laundry and trash — but thats not even worth mentioning these days.  I was planning on early voting, texting friends back and ordering zev’s birthday cupcakes, but none of that happened. I freaking love these kids, but am so tired of parenting, especially while Phil is away — Im tired of fielding every question and breaking up every fight. I had very little adult interaction today (maybe none?) but we’re having dinner with my friend Anne tomorrow (her kids are the same ages as ours and her husband works with Phil — so we’re all besties, YAY).

ALSO — NO DIAPERS — I still have to help Zev take his pants on and off in the bathroom, help wipe when needed and we do pull-ups at nighttime.  But its a huge improvement from years past! Also noteworthy — I didnt do any work!  I finished up all my Hopkins work over the summer, so thats once less stress-monster on the plate.  But it also means I’m itching for something new.  Ive actually already been looking and applying for a few things.  So stay tuned!