I wanted to share with you a typical experience around my house. I think you can get to know a lot about me based on the way I react to normal situations in my life. I chose an hour instead of today because the whole day would take a lot of writing.
"Lunch time." I said, as I placed the plates on the table. My seven-month-old son was laying on the foam floor tiles I have replaced our living room with. In the same, huge, open space, my three daughters came racing to the dining table. I doled out vitamins shaped like gummy bears before eating my own lunch.
When I was done, of course, my daughters were still working on their food. My youngest promised that she was not going to eat hers at all. I explained, to her disappointment, that she could stay at the dining table as long as she wanted. Her options were to finish her lunch, or remain at the dining table until naptime.
"That's what I want!" She exclaimed, defiantly.
"That's fine." I asserted. Then I reminded her, "I thought you wanted to ride your bike, and you won't get to if you sit here until nap, not eating."
She began to eat, clearly begrudgingly.
Realizing I hadn't taken a shower or bath yet today, I decided, "I'm going to take a bath." They know that the bathroom is just down the hallway and, being a mom, I always leave the door open. The baby was safe in his furniture-free, foam-tiled space. However, should he start crying, I would throw on a towel and come to his rescue. If the girls needed me for anything they could just ask. I could hear them clearly from down the hall.
I headed to the bathroom where I discovered that the bathtub definitely needed a cleaning since the last time it was used by the kids. So, back to the kitchen to whip up a batch of baking soda tub scrub. While I was scrubbing the tub, I was also explaining to my six-year-olds, who were now done with lunch, that I can't take a bath in my bathroom because I only have a shower. Only one of our bathrooms has a bathtub, and it happens to be the one the kids use.
By the time I finished scrubbing the tub, the baby was getting pretty fussy. I guessed it must've been time to feed him. So, instead of filling the bathtub, now that it was clean, I returned to the common area of the house to change a diaper, feed a baby, and return him to his crib for a nap.
Most of a container of baby food peas and four ounces of formula later, my three-year-old still hadn't finished her lunch and I still hadn't taken a bath. And I'm sure you know, or can guess, how long it takes to feed a seven-month-old baby most of a container of baby food peas.
Once the baby was down for his nap I returned to the tub and began to draw a bath. But wehile the water was running, I left the bathroom to clean up the mess from feeding the baby.
When I finally did step into the bath, I was bombarded by six-year-olds wanting to talk and keep me company and/or use the toilet. We talked about things like the year being 12 months long, and how far away the next Father's Day and Mother's Day are. I described to them how we plan to remodel their bathroom to make it more usable since three kids are currently using it and eventually it will be four.
I washed myself, scrubbed my nails, pumiced my feet, and got out. I can't remember the last time I spent an entire day without having a single plan get interrupted. I can't remember the last time I found a bath to be truly relaxing.
I am definitely a different person now from who I used to be, and that's just fine.
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