Never occured to me...

What never occured to me about being a mom...

1. You should be organized and disciplined (does that mean a "grown up"?)..at least enough to make life smoother. For example, this is not organized: Sleeping till 6:45, then hurriedly getting Jenna up at 6:47. Only to find that all of the jeans in the house are wet in the washer. Knowing that she can't wear a dress because her church shoes are too small for her to spend the day in. Then going to the kitchen and finding that there is about a 1/3 c of milk, no cereal and hard butter. That eliminates the option of cereal and toast that doesn't tear when you attempt to butter it...and we all know that I am not making eggs because there is no time...I turned the alarm off, remember!! Jenna has 10 minutes to eat, get her hair fixed, brush her teeth and get her back pack on (bless her heart). We can all see the ways that that morning went wrong. Ah, planning has become more important because there are three more kids that may or may not be awake and hungry...and I can just forget a shower for the morning. Why is my bed most comfy at 5:45?
2.  The amount of pee...in diapers, sure, but in random corners, on the bathroom floor, in the trash, and occasionally in the unflushed toilet. I am not talking about dog pee...I am talking about little boy pee. Why, oh why? Who knew..?
3. That they will grow up...Which means more clothes, and MORE FOOD. We aren't too far from needing 2 packs of hotdogs for dinner. Fast forward 12 years...we will always be broke. They will also have more activities as they grow...running here and there. More homework, more hormones, more conflict. And LESS SLEEP for mom and dad. Now a baby that gets hungry, a toddler that wants a companion, a 5 year old with bad dreams, a 7 year old with growing pains at night....soon we will be waiting up wondering if we taught them well enough to be safe and make good choices.

 I should stock up on good day planners, clorox wipes and carpet cleaner, hotdogs, diet coke to stay awake and sane, and benadryl to sleep.

Chevy 4x4

Yesterday morning we woke up to fresh snow, just a couple of inches. It was continuing to "snow" but it was more like chuncks of water plopping from the sky by 7:30am. It was sloppy, sloshy and wet on the 15 minute commute to work. I took the truck for the second day in a row. I like taking the truck because it makes me feel like a country girl and because the van was on E and I didn't want to get up any earlier for gas before work.
 I looked out the window at work at 3:30 when a pt called and cancelled her appt for tomorrow. I knew that they were calling for bad weather, but it looked wet and foggy, not snowing or icy. The temperature wasn't freezing.
 About an hour and a half later, I looked out the window and saw lots of white. I finished up an hour later and headed home. Steve had texted me to warn me it was bad. An let's face it, he knows me!
 I didn't have the windshield scrapper, so I borrowed the the Nurse Practitioner's (ours was on the kitchen counter).
From the looks of the parking lot, I dropped the truck into 4 high and was on my way.

The usual commute home proved to be quite unusual. All that slush was now thick ice and the roads were now snow-packed. As I approached an incline on the drive home, I saw that the traffic was slowing down and lining up. Cars were stuck on the ice, wheels spinning and vehicles sliding. Once the traffic came to a stop, a lot of cars weren't able to get the traction to go again. The truck was having no such problem and was able to slowly pass them by. I looked out ahead of me and there were but 1 or 2 cars in front of me in the distance. I left bad that they were back there struggling. On the other hand, I was grateful for the truck.

On the drive home I was serious and thoughtful, no radio on,... and I began to think.
I feel like my posts are getting redundant as I am going on my 3rd year sharing my thought- but I was brought back to the idea of preparedness. Yes, I should know better. The Church teaches it, and common sense dictates to be prepared. How true is the scripture: "be prepared and ye shall not fear."

Not even a week ago the water header corroded and sprung a major leak. We were without water and am sad to say we didn't have a drop in the house that wasn't in the toilet or on the down stairs carpet. My laundry wasn't done, so it was a HUGE mess in the laundry room.  My van gets down to E more often that it should. I didn't have an ice scrapper in the winter in Utah. I don't have much food storage aside from ramen noodles and expired cream of chicken soup. I can't find a working flash light in the house. At last check, my 72 hr kit had size 3T pants for Jenna who is now a size 7/8. We need tires and would have liked to help the landlord out with the water heater but our emergency fund ran out when we were job hunting! As of 10 pm last night we were out of milk and bread and down to a mere 1 or 2 diapers!

I have had that feeling that those people must have felt when they slid off the road..."well crap. I wasn't prepared for this! Where is my 4x4! and why didn't I wear a coat?" The feeling is helplessness, anger, fear and resentment of self.

So apparently the only thing we have right is that we have a Chevy 4x4.

I suppose with the new year preparedness may be the theme. Not because we fear a massive Earthquake tomorrow or a terrorist attack, but because it's important to be prepared for life! Life happens: jobs are lost, electric goes out, ice develops on windows, water heaters bust, and natural disasters do happen that are out of our control!..and let's be realistic, four-wheel-drive can't always save the day!

5 o'clock club

I reluctantly have joined the nuts who are a part of the 5 o'clock club. I guess I knew it was just a matter of time until I would have to convert to the dreaded early hour.
When I was a part of MaryKay when Jenna was a baby is when I learned about the 5 o'clock club. The idea is that you get up, get a shower, get your clothes and face on and whatever else is important to you...exercise, journaling, reading before the day starts in full force. I remember nodding outwardly and shaking my head inwardly, thinking, "wow, that is early". I remember thinking that 5 was probably unnecessary...6 seemed plenty early. The idea of sitting in the dark after my shower and getting dressed seemed dumb...I would just fall back asleep!
My alarm clock on my days off have been the voice(s) or bustle of children in the house awake and surely up to no-good or ready to start their day with bellows from the crib. Traditionally, Zac has been a loud, cheerful, early-riser, making it necessary that I get up by about 6:30. Then once the kids started school, avoiding truancy made it so wake-up time was about 6:30 in order to get them ready. A shower was squeezed in with the door open during naps.
Now that I am working days, it is necessary that I get up at 5:00 so I can shower, get dressed, get the kids ready, feed the kids, feed the baby somewhere in there, and be on my way by 7:30.
My good friend once would get up at 4:30 or 5 to go to the grocery or to train for a half marathon before she started her day with the kids and household responsibilities. I again remember thinking, "wow, that is early!" Now I can see that it is necessary to get just the minimum stuff done without being a wicked, mean, angry mom hustling everyone along and cheering them to gulp down their toast and run out to the bus. (Exercise again will fall to the way side. 4:00 is not an option!)
Yesterday was day 1 of the 5 o'clock rise. It went well. I do better when I have some time alone in the morning. I am a bit nicer. However, by 6:30 pm I was tired and grumpy...and by 7:35 I was nodding off on the couch. This is going to take some getting used to. I guess 9 pm bedtime is going to be a necessary part of the plan.
I am happy though that I am working days and am able to feed my baby and cuddle him at night, and also that I can get the kids ready for school, etc because I am no longer on night shift. I think that despite the early hour, this is a good choice for us. Yay for working at a clinic 2 days a week!