snapshot

I remember well the longing I had each morning, over ten years ago, when I scurried out the door for work. "What will it be like," I wondered, "to have my home be my place of work?" I had lazy days of lounging at home with sweet, mostly well-behaved children on my mind at the time. Yes, I knew that being a stay-at-home mom would not be easy, but really...I had no idea.

Well, here's a glimpse at a day in the life of this mother.

4:15 AM
Awaken with a jerk to the noisy banter of the paperboy(s). (It sounds like there are at least three, maybe ten.) I make a mental note to call the Pantagraph later and complain. Lay in bed, hoping to catch a few more precious minutes of sleep.
5:15 AM
Still awake, decide to get up. I can get a long quiet time in this morning, so all is not lost in getting up this early on a summer morning. Shower, then pray and start digging into the first 7 verses of Philemon.
6:00 AM
Micah is up, getting ready to go to day camp with Eric. They are out the door by 6:30.
6:30 AM
Josiah yells, "Mommy!" down the steps. I groan a little. He's up early today. Then smile and go up to greet him. We have breakfast together, since his tummy is always hungry immediately upon awakening. I throw in a load of laundry.
7:00 AM
I'm in the middle of a painting project on the kids' bathroom. I can't paint in the morning with a curious 2-year-old watching my every move, but I can clean out the cupboards. It will help with the clutter in the bathroom, so I spend the next hour tossing out expired medication, band-aid wrappers (which my 8-year-old stuffed back into the cupboards after getting band-aids), and other junk.
8:00 AM
Rouse Rachel, my late sleeper. Downstairs now for a second breakfast. I change the laundry and get out my coupons for today's grocery trip. Rachel practices her math facts. She has five each week that we practice 4 times a day.
9:00 AM
Out the door to the grocery store. We hit two, and shop the sales and great Wal-Mart prices to make the biggest bang for our grocery buck. Shopping with Josiah is a fine art of negotiation. I tell him that at Wal-Mart today, we are going to "zoom-zoom". This is a term from the movie Bolt which means Mommy will push him in the cart so we can go fast. Josiah would rather walk, but the "zoom zoom" concept makes him more willing to ride. I have played with the idea of leaving Josiah at home while I shop, maybe on a Sat. morning, but I would deny at least 10 people a smile. He greets everyone he meets, and brightens the day of several people in the process.
10:50 AM
Home! I made great time today, and spent less than usual. We scramble to put groceries away and put on swim clothes. I had promised we would have lunch and spend an early afternoon at the pool.
11:15 AM
Ready to go! We climb into the van, and start our trip to State Farm Pool. As we back out of the drive, I make a mental note to tell Eric to put Josiah's small basketball hoop away, as he never plays with it. I forget about the construction and take Main Street.
11:45 AM
After construction delays and a quick stop at the bank, we finally arrive at the pool. I make a mental note to take Veteran's Parkway home. We order our lunch.
12:00 PM
Lunch is finally ready! I'm given a free cookie for our wait. We dig in, hungry.
12:20 PM
Time to hit the pool. The kids enjoy the "tot pool," then we head over to the bigger pool for about two minutes before deciding to try out the lazy river. I go around with Josiah twice. It feels great to sit and float! Off to the spray area, where Josiah sprays an unprepared woman holding a now-soaked magazine who had been chatting with her friend. They giggle hysterically. I am thankful for their patient response, not sure mine would have been quite the same. Then I realize they are sitting near spraying water, so must have been willing to take their chances. I choose a chair, pull it back a few feet and let the kids run wild.
1:40 PM
We climb in the van and head home. On Veteran's. It takes 20 minutes instead of 30.
2:00 PM
Josiah is down for his afternoon nap, two hours late. He falls asleep in less than two minutes. I finish painting the bathroom. Several more loads of laundry are done and folded. Rachel practices her math facts a couple of times.
4:00 PM
I lay down on the couch, wondering why I am so exhausted. Instantly I am asleep. When Eric and Micah come home at 4:30, I don't want to budge.
5:00 PM
We wake Josiah up from his nap. Supper time! Thankfully we have lots of leftovers to choose from tonight. Rachel practices her math facts. Eric and I discuss what to do about the Japanese beetles that are eating the leaves off our fruit trees. I change the laundry while Eric and the older kids clear the table.
6:00 PM
I run two bags of clothes to a neighbor's house, and a recipe is tucked in another neighbor's door. Not sure she uses her front door much, I make a mental note to call and tell her it is there.
6:15 PM
Out of steam, Eric and I sit down to watch a movie the kids checked out from the library this week. It is very good, but Josiah is jealous and wants me to watch him. I spend two hours craning my head around his, as he climbs on and off my lap, and looks at me to say, "Hi!" about 50 times.
8:00 PM
Older kids join the neighbor kids outside. Josiah gets a bath and heads off to bed. I change the laundry.
9:30 PM
Everyone is in bed, including me. I instantly fall asleep, realizing I never had time to call the Pantagraph. The windows are closed tonight, so hopefully we will sleep through the 4 AM party this time.
11:15 PM
We wake up to our dog pacing the floor. We can hear distant thunder. Suddenly there is a loud crack, and the wind howls. We grab the kids and head to the basement. Almost as soon as we get there, everything quiets.
11:30 PM
Everyone back to bed. In the morning we discover our small basketball hoop has blown over, and the two bricks that held it in place are just inches from the front of Eric's car. One of our small and worst-infested apple trees has snapped off at the base.
11:45 PM
Eric puts the still pacing, panting, thunderstorm-stricken dog in the garage for the night. We finally fall asleep to stay.

It's exhausting, but I wouldn't trade this job for the world. Sometimes, though, I wouldn't mind a bit more sleep.