9:30PM Leave for work as a night nanny for a family in Fort Worth.
10PM Arrive at work and start laundry and fix bottles for the evening.
1:15AM Wake the baby for the first feeding. We do a complete feeding, a good burp, sponge bath and a quick diaper and onesie change for this precious 2-week-old boy. I put the laundry in the dryer.
2:15AM Wake the baby for the second feeding of the night. Burp and change the baby.
5:15AM Wake for the final feeding of my shift (I do get to sleep in between feedings unless the baby fusses). I fold and put away laundry, prepare bottles for the day and make my notes for the sleeping parents.
6AM Time to head home!
6:30-7:30AM Shower and get my son ready for school. He requests having a “stripple” sandwich, so I fry up the soy bacon to put in his lunch.
7:30AM Leave for school. When we arrive, I wait in the line of students with him. We greet each of his classmates by name—that’s harder than it sounds!
8:20AM My husband is able to work from home this morning and watch our girls so I can go to a doctor’s appointment. After the nurse does a brief medical history on me, I fall asleep when she leaves me in the room. I’ve got to grab those precious naps when I can.
10AM I get home and give my girls a snack and spend some time with them. I also check e-mail, update my Facebook with a status that (accidentally) made me sound like I’m pregnant—heck NO! Delete said status after an uproar from friends and my mom.
11AM Stayed on the computer a little longer than planned. I read to the girls, do a reading lesson with Baylee, which also serves as a speech lesson for Sophia.
11:30AM Fix lunch for me and the girls—pesto pasta and green beans.
12:30PM Get a call from the doctor’s office saying that I left a portion of my wallet at their office. Yes, ADD girl does it again!
1PM Load the girls into the car and head back to the office and, while I’m in that area of town, I make some other stops I’ve been putting off.
1:30PM Stop at the pediatrician’s to drop off some paperwork. While we’re here, they draw blood from my precious little Sophia—an event that turns into quite a traumatic experience for the 5-year-old! Baylee runs from the room screaming, “I am SOOO out of here!” Then she puts her hands on her ears saying, “Blah blah blah.” Sophia is screaming at the lab tech, “I HATE IT!” I can’t cry, so I just laugh. What else can you do?
2:30PM Stop at a salon to see what they can do with Baylee’s hair. She likes the length, but it is a bear to comb out every day, so we decide on long layers. This is her first time in a real salon and she is hooked! She loves being pampered, especially the hair washing. When the girl combs her hair out she says, “This doesn’t hurt at all!” She then shoots a look at me with daggers in her eyes and says, “Unlike when YOU do it.” She says all this with sarcasm, so I let her make her jokes.
3:30PM Pick up Jude from school. Sophia is asleep in the car, so I try to take her in to the school without waking her up—it doesn’t work. She gets just enough of a nap to put her in a bad mood. I can relate! Jude asks if he can have a playdate and I reluctantly agree.
4PM I need a nap in the worst way! I try to keep myself busy by cutting up watermelon and making fruit salad for the week.
5:30PM The playdate ends and we make a new rule that, when mommy is working seven nights a week, we will not have playdates or any other extra activities. Mommy bribes the kids with Sonic for dinner if she can take a quick nap. All parties agree.
6:30PM Wake from my nap and go get Sonic.
7:45PM Time for bed. The routine begins. I lay all three kids on the bed and I brush and floss their teeth. Each kid gets about a four-minute massage—I am brushing up on my infant/child massage techniques for work. I have a little cuddle time with the kids and say goodnight. I hear my husband come home from work and pour him a bowl of cereal. Gourmet!
8:15PM I head downstairs while my husband heads upstairs to tell the kids goodnight and to read a Star Wars book to Jude.
8:15-9PM I really should get on my elliptical for 40 minutes, but I decide instead to catch up on e-mail, Facebook, pay bills online and download Annie’s Ghosts by Steve Luzenberg onto my Kindle.
9:30PM Head back to work. fwc
