Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Getting to School

Somewhere along the way, I got incredibly lucky and ended up with the most amazing husband out there. He works super hard at two jobs, and works even harder at home. On top of that, he's the best daddy the kids could have. They literally bombard him at the door when he gets home from work in the evening. (Maybe they're just tired of being stuck with me all day!) We balance each other pretty well, and work together to figure out how to manage our big family. My husband is always trying to make things easier for me. He has taken Pirate to school every morning on his way to work. First he walks Princess to the bus stop, then he drops Pirate off at school. After 5 was born, my husband also took over picking Pirate up from school as well. It's pretty much impossible to carry a baby carrier and a 1 year old, and hold a 2 year old's hand to get into the building to pick up the 4 year old. So, my husband leaves work, drives to the preschool, gets Pirate, drops him off at home, and goes back to work. He's the best!

Monday, he had to go into work super early, so I had to take Pirate to school. I was proud of myself for getting up and dressed before the kids. Normally getting dressed means a tee shirt and one of 3 pairs of sweatpants or yoga pants, but I actually put on clothes that I didn't mind having people see. I even put on a hint of makeup and brushed my hair! I had a plan to stick to in order to make it out of the house and get everyone to school on time. Although in most cases having five kids is an excuse to be late, I won't use it when it comes to school.

Pirate was already up and dressed, so I only had to wake Princess and Trouble. I helped Princess fix her hair, got Trouble dressed, and fed the three of them breakfast. I helped Pirate brush his teeth and made sure Princess had everything in her bookbag that she needed. After sending Pirate and Trouble downstairs to play for a few minutes, I walked Princess out to the bus stop. As soon as she was off to school, I came back in and put shoes on Pirate and Trouble. Pirate then decided to announce he had to "poop real quick before school". Of course then I got the "Mommy, I'm done!" call to wipe his butt. (1) I ran upstairs and woke Donkey, changed his poopy diaper (2), got him dressed, took him downstairs and sat him in the play yard. Then I went back upstairs and got 5, brought him downstairs, and as I was about to put him in the carrier, I smelled poop. Good thing I decided to change him then because it was right on the edge of the diaper. A trip out in the carseat, and that would have been squished everywhere. I changed him (3), got him dressed and went to put him in the carrier. Except the straps were buckled shut (Thank you, Trouble), so I had to unbuckle them then put him in the seat. I took Donkey out of the play yard and let him walk to the front door, where he pushed it and promptly fell out the door onto the front porch. At least I grabbed him before he hit the ground!

I took Pirate, Trouble, and Donkey out to the van. Thank goodness for automatic sliding doors. Whoever invented them is a genius! Before I could buckle Donkey, I had to unbuckle his straps. (Thanks again, Trouble). Then I did the ever so graceful lean up over Donkey's seat to buckle Trouble in the back. Pirate buckled himself.  I ran back in the house, grabbed my purse and bookbag, picked up the carrier, and locked the door. Back to the van, I put 5 in his seat and got in my seat.Whew! Everyone was in the car and no one was crying. We left and made it to school on time. And I realized just how much it helps that my husband does the drop off in the morning. Today, I enjoyed watching them walk out the door knowing I didn't have to go through all that work again!

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