It's right there in the tag line. I am thirty-three years old, I have four children, a husband, a house on a farm, a job, lots of activities and hell yeah, a rock hard ass. That's a lot. I know it. People ask me "How do you do it?" a lot. I wish I could say "It's easy! You just do it!", but that wouldn't be true. I do just do it, but it takes a lot of planning and a certain amount of guilt and pulling in many different directions.
I thought I'd take you through a typical day in my life (much like the luscious Ali did for us last week). Let's pick Monday.
5:45am - Start hitting the snooze button on my alarm. I do this exactly four times every morning. My snooze button gives me seven more minutes of sleep each time.
6:06am - Get out of bed. Which really, really hurts every single morning. 6:06am is the time I tell myself that that night, I will be in bed at a reasonable hour.
6:07am - Pad to the kitchen where the coffee maker I thank the Lord for every morning started brewing at 5:55am. Pour first cup of coffee, drink one big glass of water, and drink poured cup of coffee.
6:10am - Get in the shower where I think about my day and how tired I am. Seriously, this will go on for most of the next thirty minutes. It still really hurts to be up.
6:20am - I am a power shower-er. I get out, put on my fuzzy bathrobe and slippers, put on my lovely face cream and brush my teeth.
6:30am - Go into the kitchen to greet Kristyn and Erin, who have their own alarm clocks and come up right away. Erin always looks raring to go and happy to be alive. Kristyn looks like getting up hurts. Turn on the kettle for my oatmeal. Tell Kristyn to get in the shower.
6:40am - Wake up Meg and Alex and ask what they want for breakfast, but they say the same thing every morning (Multigrain Cheerios and cut up pineapple), so it's moot.
6:44am - Argue with Alex about wearing underwear. He hates them. I think they're a must. I always win, but he always cries.
6:45am - Eat my oatmeal while making yogurt/berry/chocolate protein smoothies for everyone.
6:50am - Tell everyone to eat and get dressed (clothes are laid out the night before) while I blow-dry my hair. I have to do it in sections, but I've got it down-pat, so it only takes twenty minutes or so. I drink my second cup of coffee while doing this. Oh, and I wake John up by slamming things around so he gets the hint.
7:10am - Get dressed, put on makeup, get my morning work snack and the kids lunches out of the fridge. Sign tests. Give out money for the millions of things kids need/want to buy at school. Complain that I am going to be late for work and they're going to miss the bus. Sometimes I yell.
7:20am - Run in and out of the garage ten times while getting my keys, sunglasses, snack, etc... Kiss everyone goodbye and tell them to have a good day.
7:21 am - Feel guilty cause John gets to be the last person they see before school.
7:28am - Arrive at work. Yay for working in a small town!
7:30am-11:00am - Sort mail. Bitch to our about coworkers. Tell people that they only way they can get something to Toronto by tomorrow is to pay the $30. I wish I dictated the prices, but they don't listen to lowly post office assistants! I usually complain how hungry I am to anyone who will listen. Seriously, I eat ALL DAY LONG.
11:00am - Come home for lunch. John has usually made lunch for me. I clean the kitchen from the mess that was breakfast, load the dishwasher and start it for the kids to empty when they get home. Rush back to work for 12:00pm and I am always late.
12:00-4:30pm - Work some more. Bitch some more. At about 3:30pm I feel badly that I am not there when the kids get off the bus. John is. Lucky him.
4:40pm - Pick up Alex from his sitter's. (He goes to SK two full days one week, three full days the next week). Chat with sitter, who I adore and don't get to see enough of in a social setting.
4:45pm - Sit and play with my phone while waiting for all three girls to finish drama classes. Listen to Alex tell me all of the cool things he did with Perry that day.
5:00pm- Girls are done drama. We can head home.
5:10pm - Get home. Help with homework, sign agendas. Get the sixteen minute rundown of Erin's day. Kristyn says her day was "good". Alex jumps on his DS. Meghan practices piano while John and I get supper gathered.
5:30pm-6:30pm - Eat dinner. We eat dinner together 90% of the time. We schedule dinner around activities if we have to. On Tuesdays I take Meg to piano from 6-7pm so we eat later that night. That's how important dinner together is to us. Then we all clean it up.
6:30pm - Head to gym. Enjoy 90 minutes of my music, lifting weights, running, the bike, whatever.
8:00pm - 8:30pm - Come home. Make lunches for next day. Baths for the little ones. Bedtime snacks. Tooth-brushing. Stories. Water. Bathroom. Puffers. A chat about why Alex is the most amazing boy in the whole world. Promising him there are no bad people coming to get him. Telling Meg how proud we are of her. They sleep.
8:00-9:00pm - Kristyn and Erin finish up homework that wasn't done earlier. They check the computer. Read books. Act like best friends who happen to be sisters. I shower a bit to get the gym stank off.
9:00pm - The fifteen minute warning for Erin and thirty minute warning for Kristyn. Kiss them goodnight. They know when to turn their lights off.
9:15pm - Watch The National (that we paused at 9pm) with John while I surf the net and usually chat with Lianne online. Then we usually watch How I Met Your Mother that PVRed at 8:30pm.
10:30pm - Head to bed.
10:31pm - Censored.
10:44pm (we're very efficient!) - John falls asleep. I watch TV for a bit, brush my teeth, check my email one more time, then read. I always have to read. Even if it's just two sentences.
11:30pm - Look at the clock and know it's going to hurt in the morning, but I've so enjoyed having some time in this quiet house.
...and on it goes.
*Now the evening activities can vary. We also music classes, have soccer practices, various board of directors meetings for local organizations, my own soccer games, and many more. But this is the gist. How do I do it? Lists. Lists. Lists. Everything planned and in different colours. From who goes where and when to what we're having dinner. Lists are key here .Otherwise, chaos rules and dude, I hate giving up control of this here house.