A Week in My Life - Tuesday

10.21.08

Morning Activities
This morning was hectic; I will not be able to do a neat list like yesterday, so bear with me.

Kaitlin’s alarm went off at 5:30AM. Have to make sure I reset it to 6:30AM tonight. Mine goes off about a minute later and I turn it off. Kaitlin comes into my room around 6:10AM, asking to lay down with me for just “10 more minutes”. At 6:35, I finally will myself out of bed. It is still very dark outside. Went downstairs to start the lunches and breakfast and was greeted by the two pumpkins the girls had worked on the night before. Had a quick conversation with myself about my feelings about Halloween and painting pumpkins, etc. but did not have the energy to think too deep. As I’m getting ready to start the lunches I’m bothered by the sink full of dirty dishes. Decide to unload the dishwasher and clear out the sink. My body is really sore and I’m not moving very fast. At 7:01AM, I finally start on breakfast and lunches. Kaitlin comes down at 7:10 and has her breakfast. She points out that she noticed I’m recording this week’s activities.

At 7:30AM, I go upstairs to get ready while Kaitlin checks her e-mail. The pile of laundry in the laundry closet starts getting me in a bad mood. I separate two loads of laundry to do later in the afternoon. It is hard not having a washing machine at home, right now.

I get dressed and start doing my hair without paying attention to the clock. At 7:45 I start panicking! Natalie is still sleeping. I start looking for pants for her to wear, most are dirty. I find a pair that needs ironing, I quickly iron them, get her dressed still asleep, carry her to my bathroom to do her hair. I call Kaitlin to come and take a quick picture. She is upset we are running late, but complies, then takes another one of me going down the stairs with Natalie.

Here things start turning ugly. Kaitlin starts yelling at Natalie to hurry up because we are going to be late. She starts a mad dash to take things out to the car. She shows a streak of bi-polarism, by still posing for me to take pictures…LOL! She is upset but at the same time wants to take pictures of what is going on. She says some hurtful things to Natalie, and I start getting worked up. Have to utilize a huge amount of will power to come down and keep things into perspective. We leave the house at 7:56AM.

I speed all the way to school, all the while trying hard to keep positive thoughts so I will not make the mood worse. Every time I look into the rear view mirror, I see Kaitlin’s upset face. Natalie keeps babbling oblivious to any stress while eating her breakfast. I try harder to focus on something positive. The sky looks very pretty with shades of red and clouds and then I notice a rainbow. I point this out to Natalie and she wants to see it, but keeps looking the wrong way, which further upsets Kaitlin. Natalie finally spots the rainbow and is very excited about it! We make it to school at 8:13AM, I tell Natalie to let Kaitlin come out first so she can run to her class and make it on time. Natalie is a happy camper, no signs of any stress affecting her. She hops down grabs her backpack and yells back at me while running inside school “I love you a lot Mom!”

I arrive to my desk at 8:35AM. I am already exhausted and this is our busy weekday. Joel calls around 9AM asking how things went this morning and last night and I am short (read rude) with him. Call him back 10 minutes later and apologize. Decide to jot these notes down before I forget the details. Now is back to work.

Hope your morning is going a little bit better!

Afternoon and Evening Activities
Very busy day at work.
1. 3:30 PM Leave to pick up girls. Feeling in a much better mood but dreading the long evening ahead.
2. 4:00 PM Arrive at school. Natalie is her happy self, Kaitlin on the other hand is still feeling frazzled to the point of tears. Although you wouldn’t know it from the picture I took. Routine is very important to her and anything that breaks it takes her a long time to get over it. She is in a very foul mood on the way home.
3. 4:20 PM Arrive home, feed cats that were left hungry this morning, prepare a snack for the girls, put three loads of dirty clothes in the car and leave for swimming lessons. Natalie is very nervous about the lesson. Last week the teacher was rougher than normal and all the kids ended up crying.
4. 5:00 PM Natalie has her lesson. She is much more fearful and cautious but gets through it. Kaitlin’s mood is starting to lift. She plays DS while waiting for Natalie.
5. 6:00 PM Drop Kaitlin off at piano lessons and run to the laundry mat to get the laundry started. Stop by McDonald’s and get Natalie some fries.
6. 6:30 PM Pick Kaitlin up from piano, the teacher complements her on her progress. Run back to the laundry mat move the clothes from the washing machine to the dryer. Run to Walmart to buy some groceries.
7. 7:30 PM Back to the laundry mat, some clothes are still damp, run another dryer cycle.
8. 7:40 PM Leave laundry mat and stop at Massimo’s for pizza since the girls have not eaten dinner. They mess up Natalie’s plain spaghetti order and we end up waiting about 30 extra minutes for it. Talk about leaving without it, but Natalie is set on having spaghetti. Decide not to fight this battle. We play Clue while waiting.
9. 8:30 PM We arrive home. Girls change into PJ’s and brush teeth. Tuck in and pray with each girl. Kaitlin says she is feeling much better.
10. 8:45 PM Lights out. Come down and upload today pictures and type afternoon notes. I still need to prepare tomorrow’s lunches and iron the girls clothes. Plan to go to bed by 10:30PM.

This project is hard work, it is hard to keep taking pictures and remember all the details. I only took 32 pictures today. Kept wishing I had chosen another week for it. So far, it does not look like our “typical” week, but then again it is true our family has many “exceptions” in our routine.

Looking forward to a less hectic tomorrow!