5:34 am - Cookie starts getting restless so I'm up. She's decided that a stinky diaper is the best way to start the day so we start off with a diaper change. I put her in a sleeper since today is going to be rainy & chilly.
No point in going back to bed.
My knees are stiff and the first trip down the stairs in the morning is about as painful as my last trip up them after working all day.
6:00am - My first alarm goes off. I call Sand to wake him. Yes, I call his cell phone. My knees can't take another trip down a flight of stairs to his bedroom this early. (Not to mention the trip back up.)
6:04 - I put Cookie in her swing and start for the kitchen.
6:05 - I start to make coffee only to discover that when someone made coffee the day before the grounds overflowed all over the inside of the machine. So I clean the coffee maker then I can make coffee.
6:15 - Banana arrives downstairs. And I go back up to grab a load of laundry, wake the younger three kids, and weigh myself. But we are NOT talking about that...
6:18 - Walk in to laundry room and attempt to flick on the light. Only to discover that the light bulb has burnt out. And then remember that I discovered that yesterday & forgot to do anything about it. I take Turtle & BB's clothes out of the dryer into a basket. Then I put their second load into the dryer so that I can start my load.
6:20 - Banana goes upstairs to weigh herself and whatever else she did, I don't know. I start this post on my phone.
6:25 - Banana makes the kids lunches while I go back upstairs and go for round two of rousting children out of bed.
6:27 - Sand comes upstairs & Jalapeno comes downstairs.
6:30 - The hustle of kids starts. Sand & Jalapeno eat breakfast. Mario comes downstairs and doesn't feel well. He's running a fever, so back to bed.
6:35 - I go to check in on the laundry situation and discover that the light bulb is still burned out. (Where are those light bulb fairies when you need one?!) I swap out the laundry in the semi darkness.
6:45 - Papaya comes downstairs.
6:48 - Cookie starts to fuss. (It's kind of a miracle she lasted this long in the swing, but I think it was the constant hustle and bustle of people keeping her amused.) I nurse her for a couple minutes before she decides that she's not really interested in eating quite yet. So, I hand her off to Banana while I pour myself a bowl of cereal & start making Dad's breakfast.
6:51 - Sand leaves to catch the bus.
6:55 - Pookie comes downstairs, dressed for school!
7:05 - Email from my boss. Demo at 10 am.
7:15 - I take Dad his breakfast and start trying to get ready for work. Cookie starts crying again, so instead, I head back downstairs to try again at nursing her.
7:30 - The daily saga of knotted Pookie hair begins. And comes to an end quickly enough. We have a compromise. She gets the majority of the knots and I get the annoying ones that she can't quite manage.
7:35 - I'm back to trying to get ready to go and Papaya & Pookie head to school.
7:50 - I am dressed and head down the stairs only to remember half way down that my phone clip is still upstairs. So I turn around and go back.
8:00 - I gather my stuff. Grab my lunch box. Grab a couple drinks. Head out the door.
8:03 - Stop for gas & call Jason about the fixture for the demo. He's out of town. Gives me Troy's number. I call & leave Troy a voicemail.
8:10 - There's an accident on the highway and traffic is backed up. And I just missed my last chance to get off the highway before getting stuck. Crap!
8:20 - I get passed the accident which was thankfully a minor one.
8:34 - Still on my way to work, I get a text from Troy. He can meet me in 20 minutes to give me the fixture.
8:38 - I arrive at work & clock in. Grab the keys to a work truck and take off for their warehouse.
8:56 - I arrive at their shop, get the fixture, & BS with the guys for a couple minutes before I head back to work.
9:18 - I am back at work and I hand off the fixture to Boss.
At this point, I got really busy.
By 10:30 - I realized I hadn't pumped yet. So, when I went back to pull the two last minute rentals that were being picked up today I took a few minutes to do that. I decided I'd start setting an alarm on my phone so that I remember better.
By 11:30 - Both rentals has gone out. And sales orders were being processed.
12:00 - I heated up my leftovers and ate at my desk.
12:30 I pumped again.
I started to update this post on my phone again only to discover that it somehow got deleted & I had to start over again. So, after that I kinda lost track. But I did set my alarms up to go off every 2 hours. I placed special paint orders and pulled orders. I sent out an order by UPS. I talked to my boss about lenses and a customer about Willy Wonka. I placed a few more orders and printed out invoices.
At 5:00 I headed home.
There's other stuff, too. I don't know exactly where they fit in though. I know there was an upset little girl because Mario wasn't going to school. And I know that Papaya talked to her teacher and I got an email back from her teacher.
I know I left Banana with instructions on medicines (cold medicine & children's ibuprofen) for Mario.
I know I kissed everyone good bye. But I couldn't tell you what times.
And as for the after work time period, here's what I know. I nursed Cookie. I made dinner & got everyone fed. Bedtime routines were brief & children went to bed (pretty close to) on time. And chances are, I was in bed by 9:30pm.
