Just Another Day in the Life of a Mom

A few mornings ago, I was trying to leave the house to run errands with my two young children.  Not a big deal.  This should be easy and simple right?

If you’re a mother, you probably already know where I’m heading.  Once that first cute baby enters your world, easy and simple no longer mean the same thing as they once did before.

And another thing, I must admit, it seems like since I’ve had kids I do most of my thinking by talking out loud.  I’m not sure if it actually helps to say what I’m doing out loud but nonetheless, I do it and I do it a lot.  This particular morning was no different as I tried to make sure everyone was dressed, diapers changed, shoes on, hair combed, and coats on for the wintery weather outside.

I buckled my two month old son, Obadiah, into his car seat and kissed his little face.   I took a quick glance in the bathroom mirror to make sure the scrambled eggs we had for breakfast weren’t on either my face or my shirt.  Satisfied that I looked presentable, I walked back out to grab the car seat.

As I looked down at Obadiah, I noticed that he had spit up all over his outfit.  He smiled at me as I quickly put the car seat back down, unbuckled him, wiped his face and neck and put on a fresh clean outfit.

I put him back in his car seat and then noticed my jeans had something yellowy smeared on the side.  “What is that?” I said out loud (again, not sure who would answer this other than myself… but I’m telling you, talking out loud to myself has become normal) as I continued to look and wonder at what it was.  It suddenly dawned on me that when I had changed my son’s clothes, he also had filled his diaper (probably the real reason he smiled at me!), and somehow, someway, some of it had made it on my jeans.  I kicked off my shoes and quickly went to the closet to pull out another pair of jeans.

By this time, my 19 month old daughter, Ivy, entered the bedroom.  Though she still had her coat on, she no longer had any shoes on.  “Where did your shoes go?” I asked her as I slipped on a clean pair of jeans.  She smiled and pointed to our female Aussie, Angel, who was standing next to her.  “Nice doggie,” she said as she wrapped her little arms around the dog.

“Yes, she’s a nice doggie, but where are your shoes?” I said.  For some strange reason, I expected a logical explanation from my daughter.  After a small game of hide and seek with the shoes, we eventually found one in her shopping cart (which was completely full of random items she had apparently been collecting), and one in the microwave of her little kitchen set.  By this time, Obadiah was not happy that he was stuck, strapped into a car seat and he let us know by his cries which seemed to only get louder and louder.

I heard my cell phone ring but when I went to grab it from the bookstand where I had left it last, it wasn’t there.  It continued to ring and I started playing the “you’re getting hotter” game as I threw toys, clothes, blankets and shoes out of the way.  I asked Ivy where my phone was as I knew she must have moved it when I was in the other room.

“Can’t find it” she started to repeat like a parrot.  “Yes, we can’t find it but we need to,” I quickly said back with some annoyance.  I eventually found it wedged down in my brown reading chair.  After a brief struggle, I was finally able to squeeze it up out of the chair.  (I also found an assortment of other miscellaneous items that I was surprised to find.  I’m pretty sure I made several, “Oh that’s where you were” comments. )

I grabbed my phone, the car seat and ushered my daughter out to the van.  I buckled her in, gave her a kiss, and shut the van door.  I sighed, taking in the quiet as I walked around towards the driver’s door when I happened to look down and what did I notice?  I was still wearing my slippers!

I started to laugh as I envisioned myself walking into the bank or store with them on!  At this point I was just happy that I noticed before actually leaving home.  I ran back inside and slipped on a pair of shoes.  Finally, I made it into the drivers seat and my cell phone rang.  It was my husband.  “How’s it going?  Are you at the store?” he asked as soon as I answered.

“No, I’m actually just leaving.” I replied.  “Oh, I thought you said you were leaving about 30 minutes ago?  What have you been doing?” he innocently asked.

“Not much honey, not much at all,” I responded as a smile crept upon my face.  It was just another day in the life of being a mom.