Mother of Two

So today was my first official day on my own with two kids. Mike is now back at work and all of our family visitors have returned home. It was a little hectic.....

5:15 am--Peter wakes up and I start feeding him


5:30 am--Mike leaves for work. This is it, I'm officially outnumbered


5:55 am--Peter finishes and goes back to sleep


6:15 am--I am finally able to fall back to sleep for a few more precious minutes of sleep


6:45 am--I hop into the shower. I know that by the time I get out of the shower I will hear both Peter and Olivia crying but I selfishly enjoy my nice hot shower.


6:55 am--Sure enough I get out of the shower and hear both Peter and Olivia are awake. Peter is hungry again and Olivia is singing at the top of her lungs.


7:00 am--Olivia seems happy enough so I focus on Peter, he gets a new diaper and a pacifier and I go to get Olivia.


7:15 am--Olivia is especially feisty this morning and refuses to sit still while I get her dressed. She insists on picking out her clothes which I let her do but she kicked me while I was changing her diaper which resulted in an immediate time out in the corner. Olivia was upset about being put in the corner and she stood up to test my resolve (her favorite activity lately). I told her to sit back down and she "responded" by squatting and peeing in the corner.

7:30 am--Clean up the accident in the corner. Get Olivia and Peter dressed and head downstairs.

7:50 am--Breakfast. Cereal for Olivia and I sit down at the kitchen table to nurse Peter. I experience a few moments of confidence. I'm totally doing this! Both kids are happy and eating. I am the ultimate multi-tasker!

8:05 am--Phone rings, Mike has a question about paperwork that he's left in his office here at home. I frantically search through the desk to find the paperwork all the while still trying to feed Peter.

8:15 am--Olivia announces that she's "all done" and before I can do anything she tries to simultaneously get down from her booster seat and carry her bowl to the sink. This results in her spilling her bowl of milk all over the floor.

8:30 am--Breakfast is over begin cleaning. Olivia's speech teacher is coming to the house for their weekly sessions now that she's not at school all the time and the house is a mess. I spend the next 45 minutes frantically cleaning. The speech teacher is due to arrive at 9:30.

9:15 am--The house is reasonably clean and I sit down to feed Peter again. Olivia takes this opportunity to take out all the toys that I have just finished putting away. She's being quiet and amusing herself so I don't really care.

9:20 am--I hear the garage door open and Mike walks in. It's the day before Thanksgiving and it turns out they've all been released early. My first day solo with 2 kids is over. It's not even 10 am and I'm exhausted and completely relieved that he's home early! He's just in time! I finish feeding Peter and happily pass him off to Mike so that I can spend the next hour and a half playing with Olivia and her speech teacher.

I learned a couple of very valuable lessons from my first day alone with two kids:

1. I know that I will be able to do this
2. I will happily take all the help I can get