Flying Solo

So, besides the 1/2 hour each weekend morning that Chad runs out and gets coffee and a random hour or two here and there, I have not had both kids by myself. Wednesday evening, I put myself to the test when Chad went into the recording studio to work on our new album for Grace Reigns Down.

I am working at my office Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, so those days, I pick up Brooklyn from school and bring her home. We came home around 5:30 where my MIL was watching Jake. She stayed around for a few minutes so I could start dinner, change clothes, and unpack all my stuff (mainly breastmilk that I pumped at work). She left around 6, and I soon had Brooklyn eating dinner (Easy Mac, crunchy Chinese noodles, and a yogurt with Oreo crunchies) and I was reheating my dinner (leftover Thai from lunch). I ate my dinner quickly and then settled on the couch to feed Jake. So, though quite an eclectic meal, it was a well-balanced dinner for both Brooklyn and Jake, and both my kids were eating at the same time.

Success #1!

Jake is at his happiest right after he eats and can sit for a good while in his Boppy and watch the world around him. We have about 15-20 minutes of good "can occupy himself time."So, as soon as he and Brooklyn finished dinner, I herded them both upstairs and started Brooklyn's bath. She was sooooo good (baths can sometime go either way with her) and just let me quickly bathe her, get her out of the tub, and get her PJs on while Jake sat in the hallway in the Boppy.

Success #2!

So, by now, I am feeling quite cocky.

Do you see where this is headed?

Jake needed a bath sometime in the next day or so, so I though "no time like the present! I can do this!" Brooklyn was watching Nick Jr on my bed, so I moved Jake and his Boppy to the bedroom and started his bath. We use a baby bath tub on our bathroom counter, filling it from the whirlpool tub and then filling the sink with clean water for rinsing the soap off. I filled the tub and began to move it over to the counter when, all of a sudden, I am soaking wet from the legs down. I completely forgot to put the plug in the bottom of the tub and water was pouring out everywhere!

I had floaded the bathroom floor!

I quickly plugged the tub and threw our bathtowels down on the floor to soak up the water (it needed a good cleaning anyway). The kids were still watching Nick Jr on the bed (well, Jake was looking in that general direction) so I cleaned it up quickly and continued on....both kids were gonna be bathed tonight, darn it! So, bath was filled and ready to go, and I stripped Jake down and laid him in the tub.

Forgot the towels.

As Brooklyn went to the linen closet to get towels, I looked over to see a water fountain arching from the tub directly into the sink with clean water. My son, whose "wee wee" is usually always covered with a washcloth, but was not because Brooklyn was getting the towels for her forgetful mama, had proceeded to pee straight up from the bath tub, skipping over the counter, and directly into the sink of clean water! It was amazing to see his aim and accuracy and quite hilarious, but now I had dirty "clean water." Brooklyn came back with the towels to find me laughing hysterically and shaking my head in disbelief.

Maybe you had to have been there.

So, as Jake played in the tub, "wee wee" now covered, I poured the dirty "pee-pee water" out and refilled with clean water. Jake was soaped and rinsed, dried and clothed, and the three of us made it downstairs by 7:30pm to watch some good old episodes of "18 kids and counting." Chad came home at 8:20pm to two kids fed and bathed (with baby sleeping) and a very proud wife. :-)