A Hop, Skip and a Jump Away: A Not-So Successful, but Lovely Nonetheless, Walk With the Two-Under-Two Crew

Last week was DIFFICULT, and I did a terrible job juggling everything. It didn't help that the two-under-two crew were sick and demanded . . . er . . . needed extra snuggles and seemed to forget what sleep was thanks to stuffy little noses, but this week, is going to be different. I am determined to shine at this stay-at-home-mom-of-five gig that I've got going on right now, and so this morning, I woke up at 5:30, according to plan . . . and was joined by Leif . . . grrrrr . . . not according to plan. Then showered and put my sneakers on. These sneakers are fast! I swear they have magical powers because when I wear them, I get things done. Okay, seriously, though, wearing sneakers makes things happen. I don't know why, but it works. By 11 am, I had made pancakes and bacon for everyone's breakfast, packed lunches, unloaded the dishwasher, loaded the dishwasher, read stories to the babies, put supper in the crockpot, played trucks with Leif and Harriet and had two loads of laundry going

. . . woohoo!

Please celebrate with me because this is the most I have been able to do in months, and it feels awesome!

On Saturday morning, though, things were different, much different. After having a battle of wills with Leif from 4-5am over not nursing at night . . . and oh yeah, I won! But did I really? Because he seemed to be faring much better on the lack of sleep come Saturday morning than I was.

Anyhoo . . .

We came out of the bedroom to be greeted by a week's worth of chaos - clothes, both dirty and clean, were strewn across the floor, the dishes from Friday night's supper were still piled on the island and kitchen counters. Plates with food on them were still on the kitchen table and toys, which I swear breed and multiply at night, littered every square inch of the main level. This is not a fun way to start the day in case you are wondering, but with Mr. Level-Headed and the kids' help, we started to tackle the mess. Since they all had a big day ahead of them which included a high school football game and the season opener for the Saint John SeaDogs (thanks Megan for the tickets!!), Mr. Level-Headed. whom I suppose was feeling guilty for leaving me alone yet again with the snotty-nosed two-under-two crew asked if I would like to go for a walk with him, the dog and the wee-est Websters.

Sure!

As I continued to fold laundry in my nightgown, I noticed that he, who had showered first thing that morning, had grabbed the leash and was getting Scout ready.

Oh! You mean now. Okay, but first I have to shower, then we have to get both the babies' diapers changed and dress them and pack a diaper bag.

I could tell this kind of surprised him. You see living in the adult world as he does Monday to Friday, one begins to expect that things will happen quickly; however, anyone who has stayed at home raising little ones knows that things do not operate on a timely fashion or smoothly for that matter. Nonetheless, he took it all in stride and had a plan.

You shower, and I will get Leif ready. Then you can dress Harriet and we will be off.

Okay.

After I was dressed, my Mr. Level-Headed, looking all proud of himself, came in the room holding Harriet.

Leif is in the stroller and here is Harriet. I think she peed through her diaper. She feels wet.

Who is with Leif?

He is by himself.

Is he strapped in the stroller?

Ummmm . . . nope.

You better check on him.

As I stripped Harriet's jammies off of her, I was surprised to discover that this was Poop day. You see Harriet only poops every three to four days, but when she does, look out! Her Applecheeks cloth diapers are amazing at containing these disasters, but disposables not so much, and of course, I had been too lazy that morning to run downstairs to get her freshly cleaned diapers out of the dryer and had put a disposable on her. Oh. My. Land. There was poop everywhere! Up her back and all over stomach. She needed a bath, but her being baby number five and me knowing that everyone was ready for our walk, I decided to just give her a baby wipe bath as all good mamas do. By the end of this fiasco, I had used half a container of baby wipes, there was poop all over my bed sheets (where baby number five is changed of course, either there or on the floor, but never a fancy change table designed to deal with these messes), and my sweatshirt had poop stains on the sleeves.

Just then Mr. Level-Headed returned with a soaking wet Leif.

Ummm . . . he kind of crawled out of the stroller and was playing in the puddles.

Of course. I kind of thought so.

So, we changed Leif, put our now-screaming Harriet into the stroller and headed for a nearby beach with Scout in tow. I decided to forego changing my sweatshirt (poop stains don't bother this classy mama of five) and packing the diaper bag because it was a short walk and really, what could happen?!

Well, this is what happened: Scout had a blast, Harriet screamed the entire way there and back, and Leif fell in the river minutes after we got there. But, being the first time that the two-under-two crew and I had stepped outside in two days, it was pretty awesome, and I am soooo thankful that Mr. Level-Headed could get a taste of how my days with the two-under-two crew roll

. . . tee hee!