Today I was reminded that when you have small children you need to add 10 minutes to the time it normally takes you to get anywhere for EACH CHILD!! I often forget that. And I am often late to things.
Here's what overly my optimistic attempt to pull off my 10 am hair appointment looked like:
7:30am:
-Wake up
-Dress Teya
-Fix her hair
-wake up Brinley
-Try to de-grouch her from her "why did you wake me up" grumpiness
-Change Brinley's diaper
-dress Brinley
-Fix Brinley's hair
8:00am:
-Make breakfast for the girls
-Put together Teya's snack for preschool
-Find Teya's backpack, load it with all her stuff
-Grab present for Brinley's party
-Find shoes and socks
-Put shoes and socks on the girls
-Find coats, put coats on the girls
8:20am:
-Throw some clothes on myself
-put on a little makeup and throw my greasy unshowered hair into a pony tail
8:30 am (we are now officially late for preschool)
-Wake up Cam
-Change his diaper
-Change his clothes
-stuff him in his car seat because there's no time to feed him
8:45am
-grab present, backpack, diaper bag, purse, and Cam in his car seat and head out the door
-Load children and all our "baggage" into the car and buckle everyone in
-Speed to preschool
8:55am:
-Run Teya into her school (25 minutes late)
9:00am: (We are now officially late to the birthday party)
-Speed to pick up Brinley's friend who is carpooling with us to the party
-Load friend and her present into car, buckle up
-drive to party
9:20 am:
-Unload Brinley, friend, and presents from the car
-Take kids into the party (20 minutes late)
9:20am
-get back into car, Cam is crying because he's hungry, My friend who is watching him lives 10 minutes away. If I get to her house by 9:30 and feed him for 15 minutes I should still make my 10am appt.
9:30am
-GET LOST driving to friend's house
9:34am
-Call Taber at work crying because I'm lost and I'm going to be late even though I've been trying since 7:30am to make it to my 10am hair appt. Waaaah!!
9:50am:
-FINALLY make it to my friend's house (should've taken me 10 minutes, took me 30, there are no words for how frustrated I feel)
-Run in, pull Cam out of his car seat and turbo feed him
10:00am: (officially late for my hair appointment)
-Pass Cam off to my friend,
-pray he got enough food to last till I get back
-tell friend I'll be back by 11:30 at the latest to get him (how naive of me)
-Zoom off to hair appointment
10:15am:
-Arrive at hair appt blubbering excuses about having three kids and being late, they are very nice and bring me right back.
-try to relax and de-frazzle myself while lady shampoo's and massages my head
-Really start relaxing and enjoying the hip atmosphere and cool vibes in the salon
-Wonder if I ever appreciated how "easy" it was to do this kind of stuff before I had kids. Probably not.
11:05am
-Hair cut is only half way done and I'm starting to stress again wondering if I'll make it back in time to pick up Cam before I pick up Teya from preschool.
11:20am:
-Hair is still being styled. Teya's preschool is 10 minutes away and her pick up is at 11:30. Realize there's no way I'll be able to get Cam before I get Teya. Hope my friend is okay. Hope Cam is okay. Hope the lady finishes my hair soon.
11:28am:
-Hair is done, pay the lady and rush out to my car
11:30am (officially late to pick up Teya)
-Jump in car and start driving to preschool
-Call friend while I'm driving to tell her I'm running late (of course) and ask if it's okay if I pick up Teya before Cam. Friend is super nice and says no problem.
11:40am
-Pull up to Teya's preschool, thankfully I'm not the last parent to pick up their kid (been there before, it was a sad day for Teya)
-load Teya into car and head to get Brinley
11:50am:
-Pick up Brinley from friend's house who drove the girls home from the party
12:00 pm:
-Finally arrive at friend's house to pick up Cam. Remember when I told her I'd be back at 11:30am at the latest? Yeah I was 30 minutes late. 10 minutes for each kid. Plenty of time? Not! I think I need to make a shirt for myself that says, "Sorry I'm late, I have children."
20 comments:
AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I'm pulling my hair out just reading this. You have officially inspired me to NOT have anymore children. I HATE feeling frazzled like that and when it inevitably happens to me, I usually end up calling Kevin at work bawling my eyes out! So glad you survived your day...albeit, a little late! :)And no worries dude. You'll get it all figured out...right before you have another baby!
It is like you are in my head or something. Wait till you have four kids. Last time I needed a haircut (desperately) I had my mom do it because I couldn't honestly put myself through what you went through today. I bet you look fabulous though ;-)!
Dear Becca...You are going through the growing pains that happen when you suddenly have more kids than hands. Trust me, it gets much easier - I have five (kids, not hands) so I know!
I had to leave at 8 am the other day for an appointment and am learning to prepare things the night before (clothes for kids, cereal in bag for breakfast or waffle on the go, etc.)...You will find your niche, I promise! Then, everyone will look at you and be jealous that you have it so together...
Hang in there!
This is why I don't get my hair done :)
Oh Becca! I was getting stressed just reading that. I remember those days with 8 kids and a Day-care. Those people who talk about how easy it is for stay at home moms, don't know the meaning of stress or the reality of running a household and having several children. Add a job on top of that and it really gets crazy. Remember I told you it took me about 5 months to get in to my groove after child #3. It will happen and your new routine will seem like old stuff. You will figure it out and it will be 2nd nature until the next one comes along. That's why God made woman amazing multi-taskers and his most wonderful creation. I promise it gets better! Hugs and Kisses!
done, i will def. appreciate all my days everyday all my free time! that would have made me so stressed too but i can only imagine since i don't have kids! now you need to post some pics of your hair!!
ooooh, I hate being late. Makes me feel rushed and stressed.
I remember driving down the road with my hand reached waaaay back to hold Anna's bottle to feed her while driving down the interstate on my way to work...because there wasn't enough time in the morning. And that was with 1 kid!
I'm already wondering what I'm going to do about dropping off/picking up Anna for school if Katie is taking a nap.
You'll get it down in no time supermomma!
I love it! That sounds like some of my days! I can't believe we are so busy and finally done with all of the stuff we have to do before noon! Busy morning wouldn't you say? Then when we finally do get home it is NAP TIME yes!
Oh I can only imagine the wrench that an extra child throws in the scheduling of ANYTHING! I haven't quite gotten to the point yet where I have to get everyone out of the house at a certain time, but I am sure when I am there i will have LOTS of moments like this! On the bright side, at elast you got your hair done and got some relaxation! And I am sure in no time you will figure out the timing and it will seem like it was never this hard right? I am saying this as much for me as for you... :)
Oh man, story of my life! I just kept saying, "yup... yup... yup..." all through this!
First of all, 8:30 a.m. preschool?? What evil person decided to start it that early? Not fair! Makenzie's doesn't start until 10 and I can barely get the four of us ready to go and get her there on time! I don't know what I'm going to do when she starts kindergarten at 8 something next year (but hey, you will be a pro by then, and that's when it really starts to matter).
I totally would have tried to swing it like you did though. You're thinking 2 kids have activities at the same time, all you have to do is get a sitter for the baby, SWEET!! haha sounds so simple in theory. I can't tell you how many times I have had mornings like that. Being a mom is absolutely one of the most challenging juggling acts ever!
Oh Becca! I was stressing out just reading this! No joke...My heart rate excelerated with each "time reference"-- Been there..done that! And if I was honest that's why my hair is just boring & long right now cuz' it's too hard...wait Im complaining about what!! My parents & family live here..Im a loser! Sorry Becca you just gave me a reality check--And I appreciate that :) I forget that your across the country....Im so happy you have good friends!!You're AWESOME!! And now we need to see a picture of this cute haircut!! ASAP
p.s. I hear your coming to visit?? If you get over to Sarah's--you guys should text me and I'll run over & say Hi real quick!! But no pressure..I know how it goes visiting family! Your trying to see everybodY!! Wow could my comment be any longer :P
Becca! I had no idea what a crazy morning you had had before you brought Cam over. I'm so glad that I could help out - I hope that helped you feel a tiny more at ease about being late. I think any mother of multiple children would understand why you were late. Hope you are recovering from your crazy day!
Haha. I loved this post. I can totally relate! We used to have 1:00 church and we were always late. Now it's 9:00 and yep, we're still late! Youd think I'd have it a little figured out by now but nope. Haha. I think this is exactly why I don't get my hair done. Haha;0)
Another reminder of all the stuff that moms do. Thank you Sarah! Love u.
I have sooooo been there! I dont get my hair done anymore unless my husband is home to watch the kids. However, trying to manage 6 kids going in 47,000 directions on a daily basis without throwing in a hair appointment is quite, um, fun for me! ;) You know "they" say we will miss all this chaos one day. I'm not sure who "they" are but I think "they" might have a small case of mommy amnesia. LOL!
sweet!
I have three things to thank you for...
1. thanks for making me laugh with this blog
2. thanks for reminiding me I dont want kids
and 3. thanks for having stinking cute kids that I can pass off for my own when I feel baby hungry and want to claim someones kids. :)
Becca I love your honesty... I always feel like I dont have it together and I dont have ANY kids. Itd=s nice to know we are all struggling along :o)
you're super mom! Seriously, you made it within a half hour, I think that's pretty good!
Next time I'll come over during nap time, put on spa like music and cut your hair for you. We'll pretend we're in a fancy salon.
I have had this exact day so many times!! That's why I'm just a boring mom and end up staying home with my kids most of the time. I just end up feeling frazzled when we try to be out and about and doing things with a new baby. The worst is that no matter how many times it happens, and even when I KNOW it's going to happen, I still don't plan enough time, because I still can't predict that right as we leave Cindy will manage to have a huge blow-out at the same time that Henry all of a sudden needs his diaper changed, too, at the same time that I realize Lizza's hair was never done and everybody's shoes are lost. It's like I have to plan in an extra 15 minutes for the space in between when I say "okay, we're walking out the door" and to the time we are actually pulling out of the driveway.
I love how you actually wrote down the times that everything happened - I feel like doing that sometimes when someone asks what I did all day, and I'm like, "Well. . .I'm not sure. But I know it took up a ton of time."
Anyway, sorry to ramble - I am just having lots of feelings of "oh, my gosh, I know exactly how that is!"
I was just telling Andrew that it drives me crazy how long it takes to do anything with the kids in tow. (: You are doing great and I bet your hair looks amazing!
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