I escaped to write. This is where I can be found when my busy
brain and I sneak an uninterrupted moment. As I type seated in what was
our quiet dungeon-like little home office, my dear hubby has entered the
room and is now seated on the floor playing his new banjo (he likes
toys), our 7-year old has left his bed due to said resonating banjo
being too loud and as a result, he is now getting an impromptu banjo lesson
when he should be asleep, a tucked in 5-year old is performing a show
tune in the distance most likely with the puppet creatively fashioned
out of a cup and a skewer that she demanded I tuck in beside her, and
a cranky teething baby we're too soft-hearted to Ferberize is imitating a
Navy Seal as he crawls around the room threatening to push the power
button on my PC with his curious chubby little pointer finger.
Whew! That was one
run-on to be proud of (such is my life - a big rambling,
run-on). Simply put - I am a mom. It's my #1 job, and my
kids are my life. I am so thankful for them and the never ending
excitement and challenging curve balls they throw my way.
This clearly is not an
"uninterrupted" moment, perhaps I will find one tomorrow. Until
then, duty calls. The brood needs tending to, and a
deserved hour of mindless TV fluff with dear hubby awaits me before
hitting the hay after yet another a long, rambling, run-on day.
Okay, here I sit again.
It's exactly twelve hours later. I gained six hours of
sleep that was not uninterrupted. At 4:00 a.m. I failed to instate the
Ferber Method once again. I made a bottle in the dark and fed my little
chunky monkey that woke me up with his hungry cry as dear hubby sawed some
major redwood logs. I then snuck peeks at my other two sleeping monkeys
for the second time since they had laid their pretty little wild monkey
heads to rest.
This is my favorite time of
day - the time when I really take an uninterrupted moment to just stare in
awe at what my dear hubby and I somehow managed to create. For all
of their inherited quirks, our kids are pretty darn perfect and downright
angelic as they sleep. These uninterrupted moments are what fill me with
the energy and the patience required to get through the hectic days of
being a parent and wife - juggling schedules, changing diapers, attempting
working part-time, pseudo cleaning, refereeing, summer "teaching,"
cooking (& burning) food my family may deem “gross”, cleaning some more,
etc. All the while I am supposed to be taking care of myself by pretending
to be a gym rat wielding my dusty gym membership card.
How serendipitous - once again I
was interrupted. This time it was by a text from a fellow
rambling mommy asking me to please bring her a bottle of water as she must have
accidentally put hers in her daughter's lunch as she scooted her off to dance
camp along with my little girlie this morning. I am supposed to
meet this mommy friend at the gym for - get this- "Interval
Training." I can't even properly prioritize in an effort to maintain
my own intervals so as to accomplish
tasks within the confines of my own home - how am I supposed to use
intervals to train my body to be rid of its spare tire publicly or find
the time to do so? Naturally I am late...
I'm back…again. So I sighed
a little, took another break from writing, donned my gym rat attire,
woke my smallest sidekick from his morning nap, and managed to gain
the gusto to attend the dreaded class. En route I received a text
from my mommy friend that the number of children in the nursery was
approaching maximum capacity. Oh, no! I have to smile a little
as I hear evil laughter from the horned guy on my shoulder quipping,
"No gym for you! I order you to lounge poolside with your baby and
snacks. You deserve to sweat in the sun not in a gym with all of those
mirrors & skinny minis." And that is exactly what
happened.
At some point the winged and
haloed figure on my other shoulder sang out something like, "You're a
good parent. There's no need to risk all of those tots trampling your
baby while he sort of crawls on that grungy nursery floor. After all,
your mommy friend just told you the nursery worker was eating breakfast.
Would she leave her beloved yogurt to save your baby Seal from dirty Crocs and
germy toys in his mouth? Go sit by the pool." Amen, wise
little angel. The pool visit was virtually drama-free except for my
7-year old needing a bandage on one of his "nickels" (A.K.A.
nipples), because it had a tiny scratch from the float he must have
rode around the lazy river in nearly 40,001 times. You bet
I put Lanolin on that thing, bandaged it up, gave him a hug, and his nickel is
fine now.
I returned from that pool
outing momentarily refreshed, but another outing added more drama to my
day. Mommy friend and I bravely decided to take our troop out to lunch as
a "special treat" after their morning of camp and what
not. I can tell you nothing about this lunch outing was “special”,
and the only treat was the fried dough covered in powdered sugar that arrived
on the buffet just in time for our dessert. My seemingly feral
children belched, climbed under the table, blew bubbles in
their drinks, tickled their friends causing an accidental head bump and
tears, fussed about the "icky sauce", etc. It really wasn't surprising
to me that this behavior ensued. Meanwhile, the Seal was happily
covered head to toe in Alfredo and broccoli. That made for fun clean
up and will make for some fun diaper changes later...
I realize that I am lucky to
be savoring yet another brief uninterrupted moment as I sit here typing
the remainder of this blog post. I should be working or taking care
of one of the many unattended chores at our home at the moment while my kids
are momentarily entertained, but I am selfishly indulging in my free therapy -
writing. Besides I detest ironing, and the dust will only continue
to win the battle, especially on that lousy gym membership card.
As the determined Scarlett O'Hara
famously said: "After all, tomorrow is another day." I am
so thankful that it will be. I think back on today, and I know
tomorrow won't be uninterrupted. I am thankful for that, too.
For all of its cons this mom gig is full of more pros than anything else.
Parenting is absolutely the best gig out there. Almost on cue, I
hear the little guy waking up from his second nap (must be nice…).
I can't wait to get him out of that crib and smother him with mommy
kisses. I will ramble on again next week, dear reader. Until then, enjoy as many uninterrupted
moments as you can, but also take joy in those not so uninterrupted moments
(even the moments that fluster you the most as a parent). Your kids are worth every uninterrupted second
and then some.
