Today

7:00  Kids wake me up.  We eat and get ready for school/the day.  I don't have time for a shower.  Yesterday's clothes will do just fine.

7:55  Zach is asleep on the couch in his pajamas.  I wake him and he cries that he's too tired to go to school.  I make him go.

8:10  I drop off Zach and Tyler at school.

8:20  The girls and I walk Gavin into preschool.

8:35  The girls and I arrive at ABC Pediatrics for Kate's six-month well-check.

9:00  Kate is coughing but doesn't have a fever.  She's declared well enough for immunizations and a flu shot.  She weighs 16 pounds, 13 ounces--the 68th percentile!

9:25  I wonder how Zach is doing at school as we drive home.  When I get home, I put Kate's car seat in her crib, hoping she will sleep there until preschool pick-up.

9:40  Zach calls from school.  He isn't feeling well.  Can I pick him up?

9:41  I call my only neighbor who doesn't work during the day to see if she'll sit with my sleeping Kate.  She's not home.

9:50  The girls and I pick up Zach.  I have deja vu.  It was about this time last year that I picked Zach up from school while attached to an IV pole.  Carrying a car seat is so much easier!

10:15  Kate's awake.  I feed her a bottle.  Zach and Lexi turn the TV on downstairs.

10:30  Kate's asleep.  I crawl in bed for a few minutes.  After a crazy night with Kate and Lexi, I can hardly keep my eyes open.

11:05  Zach stays home with a sleeping Kate while Lexi and I run to preschool.

11:20  The preschool nurse informs me that Gavin had a hearing screening today.  Gavin has a "raging infection" in his right ear.  What???  He's been super ornery, but has said nothing about his ear.  When I ask him about it, he says his ear has been sore for "many days."

11:30  I call ABC Pediatrics to see if my pediatrician (who I saw this morning!) would call in a prescription based on the hearing screening results.

11:40  The answer is no.  Gavin has an appointment for 12:45.

11:45  Lunch.

12:25  My carpool friend returns my call, and we figure out how to handle her son's school pick-up.  It's my day to drive home, but Zach is home and Tyler has an after-school club.  She will get her own Tyler, and I'll get mine.

12:30  Lexi naps in my bed.  Zach naps in his bed.  I wake Kate to go to the doctor's office.

1:30  Yup.  The ear is infected.  The boy, however, is bouncing off the walls, having the time of his life.  I feed Kate a bottle.  Summer, the PA, sends the prescription to the pharmacy.

1:40  We return to sleeping kids.  (Whew.)

1:45  I cuddle a feverish Kate.  I administer Tylenol.  She falls asleep immediately.  Zach wakes up.

2:00  Gavin turns on a show with Zach and I get in bed with Lexi.  I sleep for one glorious hour.

3:00  I wake up because Kate does.  Her fever has broken and she has sweat through her clothes.  She is clearly uncomfortable.  After I change her, she takes her first full bottle of the day.  Lexi wakes up.

3:30  Zach is clearly feeling fine.  I make him practice the piano and start cleaning up the living room.  I work on the kitchen with a sad baby in one arm.


3:50  I finally take a shower.

4:25  I take the girls to pick up Tyler and leave the couch potatoes at home.  We'll run to the pharmacy for Gavin's antibiotic on the way home.  As I'm buckling her car seat straps, Lexi yells, "YOU'RE THE BADDEST MOM EVER IN MY WORLD!"

4:45 Our "quick errand" becomes a lengthy wait at the pharmacy.

5:20  We are f.i.n.a.l.l.y home.  I quickly feed cereal to Gavin and Lexi and attempt to sweep the floor.  I task the big boys with picking up the family room (my lame effort at saving face with the babysitter who knows my house is chronically messy).  I realize my emotional tank is completely empty.

5:35  I use my phone-a-friend lifeline.

5:45  Babysitter Janice shows up.

5:55  Zach and Tyler and I head to the church for the Blue and Gold cub scout banquet, decorated cakes in hand.  Tyler is thrilled to attend his first pack meeting.

7:55  At the end of the meeting, I help clean up tables and take down chairs.  I think to myself that I should take the opportunity to help because I don't have my little kids with me.  And if I help, they'll be asleep when I get home.

8:10  The kids are not asleep when I get home.  They want DADDY.

8:35  Kids are all tucked in, including the scouts who would rather watch a movie and the two-year-old who insists on sleeping [aka NOT sleeping] in my bed.  I draft this.

8:45  I take Tylenol PM (for my massive headache) along with my evening meds, change into pajamas, and hope for good sleep.

Two days down, three to go.