What an awesome day we had today!! And I'm not being sarcastic either. :)
It started at 5:45 this morning when Chloe woke up (which is a rarity) because of a leaky diaper. After changing and feeding her I got ready and ate breakfast. I decided to take the kids swimming at Grandma's today, unbeknownst to them, so I had alot of preparations to handle before everyone awoke. I 'quickly' packed a picnic lunch for all of us and 3 bottles for Chloe, her extra outfit, plenty of diapers for both Chloe and Bennett, all the swim suits...you get the picture, there was ALOT to pack just so we could do something 'spur of the moment'. Actually, I get nothing done 'quickly' anymore, it's just a victory to get it done in one fail swoop instead of it taking 3 hours.
Anyways...where was I? Ah yes, short term memory loss, one of my constant companions that has gotten worse after the birth of each child. I could write a whole blog just on that, but I won't go there right now.
So, things are just hopping along. The boys finally wake up, we read, eat, brush teeth, dress, talk about 'the plan'. I feed Chloe and we make it out the door in record time - 8:45am - with everyone and everything we need - Yes! Victory. I can tell this is going to be a good day.
We swing by Grandma's house and pick her up and run to a school supply store. While we are browsing there, both Bennett & Chloe decide to poop at the same time. My mom is on the opposite side of the store. So, I have my crew make their famous 5 foot barricade (meaning each child holds onto opposite sides of the cart) as we meander our way thru breakable objects. I drop Gavin off with Grandma as I search for the nearest 'Koala Changing Station' sticker. I'm relieved to find one so that I don't have to implement Plan B. Plan B involves taking the children out to the van and changing them - I don't recommend that method. Let's just say, been there done that (only in emergencies), not a good idea.
So, I'm in the bathroom changing Chloe first when Bennett decides he wants to reinstate his potty training. He would now like to go poopy in the potty. I deem this totally unnecessary and inconvenient and try to talk him out of it. I can already smell it and I really can't leave Chloe on the changing table at the moment. Bennett then decides to lock himself into a stall and crawl in and out while I'm hurriedly changing Chloe. He wins the battle (I have to remind myself which one's are absolutely necessary to fight) and I place Chloe in her stroller and put him on the potty. By now, we're not the only ones in the bathroom anymore and I don't think everyone else appreciates Bennett's loud descriptive talking of what he's attempting to do in the potty. Surprise, surprise, our efforts yield absolutely nothing. Yet, I also managed to encourage our pathetic, useless, potty training cycle. Way to go.
We finally make it back to Grandma's to go swimming but before we can even venture foot out to the pool we still have to eat our picnic lunch, feed Chloe and rest our tummies. While Grandma is feeding Chloe, Chloe graciously decides to give Grandma a small glimpse into my daily life by leaking out of her diaper onto Grandma. It's a poopy leak at that. Second one today...I wonder if this trend is going to continue....? Not too bad of a fiasco anyways, because I'm at home and can yell for back-up if necessary.
After putting Chloe down for her nap, Grandma, the boys and I all head outside to go swimming - finally! Gavin notices I'm wearing a different swimsuit and compliments me...must of been something Daddy's been trying to teach him. :) Anyways, he earns major points on that one. We had an absolute blast trying to push each other off of inner tubes, chasing each other like sharks and eating a multitude of snacks during our many breaks. The sun-screen that I spent 10 minutes meticulously massaging into everyone seemed to disappear based on the fact that we all came home with pink faces and shoulders.
Once we get back home I remember that I needed to clean the oven. The other night some grease spilled to the bottom and the next time we turned it out we were practically smoked out of our house. Being the domestic engineer that I am, it is quite easy to turn the dial on the oven to the 'Clean' setting. I've never done it before, so I call my Mom and ask her how long it is supposed to take and if it's supposed to stink. As we are talking I'm looking into the oven and notice the beginnings of a small fire. The fire progresses quickly. So I ask Mom if that is normal? From her gasp, I assume not. I quickly turned the dial off of the 'Clean' setting and decided to cook in a greasy, dirty oven instead. Looks like I'm just going to have to use good 'ol elbow grease to clean this oven, one of these days....
Thankfully, it has come to the time of day we all await so anxiously....Daddy's home! I'm feeding Chloe again (she seems to eat non-stop from 5pm-8pm). So as I finish feeding her, Chuck starts dinner (ever the gentleman). He was also so thoughtful to bring home flowers for me.
As dinner progresses and Chloe takes a breather, I head outside to brave the lawn (note previous post entitled "the trials of mowing the lawn"). I'm not too worried about being attacked by our 'nest laying in the ground bird friends' because I plan to only mow the front and all the problems I've encountered in the past have been in the backyard. I receive a few circlings from one bird...but I think he's just checking me out and trying to show his muscle. He finally caves when he realizes I'm not going towards his territory. The rest of the lawn mowing goes off without a hitch.
The icing on the cake today was when we were at dinner. Chloe had just finished eating again and was sitting on my lap facing Bennett. Bennett was starring at her and laughing. She started giggling so hard. We've never seen her laugh so hard before. It was adorable. Bennett loved his new trick. He kept saying "Zozie laugh me".
