Great Accomplishments Today!

Chapter I
Getting Up and Out

It was 102* today. Too hot to leave the air conditioned comfort of our home. But I cleaned yesterday and the day before, I sure don't want to be stuck doing that again! Besides, we had a million things to do today, so I barely dressed the kids and we set out on our quest to accomplish something.

Today was moving day. Not my moving day, Katie's. Katie and her new hubby have been living in an empty three bedroom home on the Navy base in Charleston while all their stuff sits in a garage at her in-laws house. Finally, the moving truck came! They'll have their stuff on Friday next week, supposedly. I told Katie's in-laws that I'd stop by and "help" (not sure what I could do to help besides get in the way) plus I had one more box to add to the load. I was supposed to be there between 8 - 8:30am. Yeah.

Well, I got up at 8am after another night of not enough sleep. The baby recently decided that she'd like to play for a couple of hours in the middle of the night. This eating and going right back to sleep stuff was just too boring. 3am party in the playroom is much more fun! And all she has to do is win the 2am wrestling match, cuz mommy gives up at 3am.

When I got up, I noticed my husband was gone. Ok, Ok, I'll admit it: I didn't notice right away. It took me a bit, but I noticed fairly soon after I got up. It didn't take me too long. He started back to work today, and he left shortly before 8am, so I just missed him.

This means I can't sneak off without the little turdlettes. Waking up late and as the only grown-up in the house totally shoots down any "helping" that I was going to do this morning. Oh Well.

Of course, if I'm up so is Libby. Why else would I get out of bed? Then something very weird happened: Gracie woke up too. Wow, this is early for her! This is great! Maybe I can get her sleep schedule back to somewhat normal and get her to bed and asleep at a reasonable time tonight! There's HOPE!

So the three of us got up, had coffee and applejuice, some toast... then I washed my hair under their intense supervision. Really, I don't get a moment alone with these two. They watch my every move. Once Gracie told me I had all the shampoo bubbles out, they hopped in the tub with squeals of delight. They played, I scrubbed them, they threw soaking wet washcloth puppets at each other and I read three sentences in my book. I keep a book in their bathroom to read to myself while they are confined and happy in the tub. It's been a month and I might turn the first page soon.

Libby had hives all over her body. This time they are little spots but they were everywhere. Head, arms, torso (front and back), legs... even on her cute little butt-cheeks. I let the girls "air dry" for a bit to see if Libby's hives would go away before I bothered her with clothing and a diaper. After 20 minutes, she was clear again. Back to business...

They are fed, clean, and getting dressed! We might make it! We might be able to run some errands! It's only 10am!

No, there was a delay. Getting dressed didn't go as planned. Gracie somehow managed to sniff out her Christmas dress from the back of her closet on the side we don't use where it was stuffed away and hidden between two prom dresses. How? Why? It's so hot out! And she wants to wear this lined fake-velvet dress? Lordy. We negotiated. When was the last time you negotiated with a three year old? So here I am, sleep deprived, still in my jammies, towel on my head, cold coffee cup in my hand, explaining fashion seasons to the kid with big pleading eyes.

I won. I got them into matching cotton sundresses. :)

I gated them in their pink room, and ran down the hall in a frenzy to get dressed and pony my hair before they started squawking about being locked in. Which is to say, as soon as they notice the gate is up, I'm gonna hear it.

Now that we were ALL ready to go... it was 10:45. I grabbed some frozen water bottles and the diaper bag and my purse and we headed out into the heat. Seriously, ten degrees cooler would feel like heaven!

We're all strapped down and ready to back out of the driveway for a big long day of errands! Here we go!