live blogging: sleep school day 2 / nap 2

We were out of the house for the post office by around 10:45. This trip went remarkably well except for when I had to RUN - to the point of taking FLIGHT - to stop Elizabeth from dropping bunny in to the Fed Ex shipping box. Doesn't it figure this is the one time I leave the house without a carabiner.

As we were driving home at around 11:15 - I asked the kids what they wanted to have for lunch. When William shouted "CHEESEBOOGER!" I was struck with a brilliant idea.

Banking a U-turn we drove to McDonald's. This is only the third time our kids have had McDonald's in their entire life and only the second time that I have taken all four children out to a restaurant by myself. But I figured that since they had the indoor play palace - and it was rainy and cold outside - this would help to burn off energy and save me from cleaning the kitchen from lunch.

While they are running around and playing, a nanny comes in with two children in a stroller. She is talking to someone on her cell phone about how she really wants to be a flight attendant and although *this* job is fine, it's definitely not something she wants to do much longer. The parents of the children that she watches fight all the time. She is with kids constantly. She feels like she never gets a break except for on the weekends. While I'm sitting by - trying not to eavesdrop - oh really, who am I kidding?? - straining to hear every word - I was shocked to see Henry grasping french fries in both of his hands and gnawing on a third. As my brain tried to process where he got it, I watched my hand jut out and give him another one.

Good grief!!! Here I am so distracted by someone else's conversation that I'm blindly feeding my seven-month-old french fries when he doesn't have any teeth and his diet has yet to expand beyond six fruit and six vegetables. That's beautiful considering I had just been thinking to myself that NO one could care for my children the way that I do.

The nanny finishes up her call as William and Elizabeth come running up to the table, and she asks me if all three of the children are mine. I told her that there were actually four of them - and yes, they're all mine. She remarks that I look great and she'd never guess I had four children and I tell her she's obviously very lonely and desperate to make friends.

At around 12:20, Carolyn comes waddling up and tells me - and all the other patrons in the play palace - that she wet her pants. Fortunately, she had on highly absorbent underwear, tights and flowered pants beneath the dress that she was wearing, or else there would have been a real mess on the third level tunnel run.

I try to make a rapid exit but of course the kids don't want to leave. Elizabeth lays on the floor and cries, Carolyn waddles around yelling "I WET!" and William keeps repeating that he wants "MORE CHEESEBOOGER!!!" Which of course he cannot have, because I ate it and the remnants of his sister's cheeseboogers. In addition to my Filet of Fish sandwich. I am on track to weigh more than our van by summer.

Ten minutes later, coats are on, shoes are on, hands and faces are washed and all of us are in the car on the way home. Henry is getting fussier by the minute. I can't decide whether it's worse that I fed my seven-month-old french fries or that I should have had him at home, in bed, at least 30 minutes ago.

The triplets were in bed, after so much hoopla that in and of itself could be an entire blog posting, by 12:50. I nursed Henry from 12:51 until I put him down in his crib - asleep - at 1:05.

Now, I'm off to clean up the destruction that occurred in the 15 minutes it took me to get everyone washed up, pottied, changed in to new clothes (climbing on the play structure at McDonald's warrants all new clothes in my book) diapered and put to bed.

I also hope to fold and PUT AWAY at least three loads of laundry.

****

Henry woke up at 1:35, approximately 30 minutes after I put him down.

I could hear him start to stir and grabbing his pacifier, ran in to his room. He was kneeling and crying at the crib rails. I scooped him up, nursed him for a moment, thought to myself "YOU FOOL! PUT HIM DOWN, QUICK!" and then stuck him back in his crib with his pacifier. I rubbed his back for a few minutes and once I could see him start to nod off, left the room.

At 1:50, ~10 minutes later, he was up again crying. I gave him his pacifier and rubbed his back and moved a partially awake William in to our bed with a sleeping Carolyn, because DAMN if I don't keep forgetting to put him on the couch.

At 2:04, William woke up Carolyn.

At 2:05 Elizabeth was clodding around the room in her boots.

At 2:05 and a few seconds, I told everyone to go back to sleep or else they couldn't eat chocolate chip cookies this afternoon. Because come on! Since I shot lunch time with McDonald's, I'll afford them this one more indulgence before I serve them raw green vegetables for dinner.

At 2:10, the phone rang as my mother was calling to tell me to watch Oprah. Jon and Kate are on.

At 2:30 the triplets were up. While they played with a balloon, I cleaned our second bathroom and finished just as Henry woke up from his nap at 2:50.

No laundry put away. One bathroom cleaned. Six Dove milk chocolate squares with almonds consumed. A thorough evaluation of my thoughts and comments on today thus far (and response to questions and comments received), will be provided in my wrap-up, later tonight.

After I do 100 push-ups because I don't want to weigh as much as our van by summer.