Routines

5:30 AM Hop out of bed and into the shower
5:45 AM Step out, refreshed and excited for a new day
               Throw on my size 2 jeans and that super-cute new top I found on clearance at LOFT
5:50 AM Put on makeup and do my hair
5:55 AM Read my Bible and pray, thoroughly enjoying the silence while my family sleeps peacefully
6:45 AM Do a load of laundry before the kids get up, so that I feel like I have a head start on the day
7:00 AM Lamb gets up on her own, changes clothes, and comes downstairs to ask me to braid her hair
7:10 AM Monkey gets up, and the two eat breakfast while we quiz each other on the latest Bible stories we've been studying
7:30 AM We sit down for a time of prayer and Bible reading before taking Lamb to the bus
7:40 AM Roo wakes up, but isn't the least bit hungry and is perfectly happy to wait for his breakfast until after Lamb leaves for school
7:45 AM Out the door

In case you were wondering, that was my fantasy about what a typical morning should be.

Here's the reality:
5:15 AM Roo wakes up crying because he's lost his binky (for the 5th time)
5:25 AM I'm still awake, thinking I should just get up, but I am just too darn tired to move
5:35 AM I realllllly want to go back to sleep... I need to get up in 10 minutes...
6:10 AM Oh shoot!  I overslept!  Time to hit the shower...
6:45 AM I've been standing in front of my stupid closet for 15 minutes.  Does it really matter what I where?  I can't stand the way I look, anyway.  Oh, forget it, I'm just wearing sweats.  Again.
6:50 AM I sit down to do my makeup, when Lamb comes in the room. She's up on her own--yay--but she's sobbing because she has just woken up from a bad dream.
6:58 AM Lamb has stopped crying.  I tell her to get dressed.  Monkey comes in already dressed in some strange concoction he has picked out for himself.  He woke up because of Lamb's crying.
7:00 AM "OK, Honey, that's great, but I need  you to get dressed."
7:05 AM "Lamb, stop talking and get dressed."
7:10 AM "Sweetie, it's a pair of pants and a shirt.  Put. It. On. NOW."
7:15 AM "There's no more talking until you're dressed!!!!!"
7:20 AM Lamb: "But Mommy!!!!!!  I don't WANT to comb my hair!  Why do we have to DO something to it?  Why can't you just BRUSH it?????"
7:35 AM Go downstairs to get Lamb breakfast.  Realize that I forgot to pack her lunch last night.  Also realize that Roo is awake.  Throw some Honey Bunches of Oats in front of Lamb and run up to get the baby.
7:40 AM Get Lamb a yogurt, Roo a bottle, make Monkey some oatmeal, and desperately search the pantry/fridge for something that will resemble a healthy lunch.  Hint that maybe Lamb could BUY lunch today, even though it's not Pizza Day.
7:43 AM Lamb finally stops crying about the idea of buying lunch.  I throw together an assortment that may or may not include any actual food groups and tell her to put it in her bookbag.  Explain to Monkey that he will have to finish his oatmeal after we take Lamb to the bus stop.  Be thankful that the kids at least have the courtesy to cry one at a time.
7:50 AM Run out to the end of the street to wait for the bus, because ONE day it came early and we missed it and we would NOT want that to happen again.  (It doesn't come down our road.)  Say a hurried prayer together on our way.
7:51 Wait for the bus.
7:55 Assure Lamb that we have not missed the bus.
8:00 Start to wonder if we HAVE missed the bus.
8:05 If the bus isn't here in 5 minutes, we'll go back home and drive to school.
8:07 Lamb gets on the bus, as happy as if everything had gone perfectly all morning.  At least that's a relief.
8:10 Monkey's oatmeal is hard as a rock.  Roo is starving.  The kitchen is a war zone.  And the day hasn't even started yet.

I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted.

OK, so let's be honest here--it's really not THAT bad.  OK, well, maybe once.  So far.  Most mornings really go pretty well, but they are busy and stressful.  Getting the kids' day started and ended are the two most stressful parts of my day.  And in between, well, I just don't know where that time goes.

I miss it here.  I miss all of you--I mean, the thousands of you that I imagine are here, checking each day with baited breath, waiting for the next words that might fly off my fingertips.  Wait, was that an echo I just heard?  You ARE still out there, aren't you???

The beginning of the school year has not been the Return to Peace and Tranquility that I dreamed thought it might be.  BUT we're getting there.  We're getting into a routine.  Last night I actually remembered to pack Lamb's lunch so that it would be ready this morning--let's hope that becomes a habit, because it was a huge help.  This morning I practiced Bible verses with the big kids while they ate breakfast, and I remembered to take Cheerios for Roo when we walked out to the bus.  Oh... and I told Lamb that there was no talking when she got up this morning until after she got dressed and went potty.  So mean, I know, but it really helped.

And what's more... I finished almost everything on my to-do list!  Back in July when I made my list for what household chores need to be done each day, I quickly realized that I was going to have to do just half of the list each week and the other half the following week.  But yesterday and today I got all but 1 thing done on the list--what a great feeling.  I may actually get my act together after all.  Someday.

And now, I'm in what I am planning to call my "Wednesday Oasis."  My kids are in Wednesday night classes at church, and I have (shhhh... don't say it too loud) no responsibilities.  That's right--for an hour and a half each Wednesday, I get to sit down... by myself... with no dishes or laundry or house projects anywhere near... and listen to the silence.  And read.  And pray.  And (hopefully) blog.  That's what I'm doing tonight.

So I know... I thought once Lamb was in school, I would be back in full force.  And I haven't been.  But I'm getting there.  And I've got lots of good stuff up here (I'm pointing to my brain, which is a little silly since it means I have to type with one hand and you can't see me anyway... but that's where my ideas are), so I hope you'll keep coming back.  And if you don't, I'll just imagine that you do, and that you've brought several hundred of your closest friends with you.  ;-)

Uh-oh.  It's almost 8:00.  Time to go enjoy a few more moments of silence.  Believe me, you don't want me to start writing out what our bedtime routine is like...............................