Coffee. Workout. Wine. Repeat. AF

Its been a long 48 hours over here in Finn-land. (Which, by the way I wish we lived in Finland law with their boastful maternity jazz but that’s a separate post!) Hubs has been home past bedtime for the last two nights, so mama is tired. Solo parenting for going on lots of hours. Like any logical mom of three under four years old, I plan my day according to two things: how many times I need to get the troop in the car, and eating times for 3 beings, one still on the buuuuub. Sprinkle a “back pocket” that makes mommy sane in there, and you have a successful mom-arathon.

In case you were wondering, this is the feeding schedule at the Finn Zoo… er… I mean house.

• 5am- C feed
• 7am- C feed
• 7:30- Big Kid Breakfast
• 9:30- C feed and Big Kid snacks
• 11:30- Big Kid snack again
• Noon- C feed, Big Kid lunch
• 1pm- big kid drinks before naps/lock in room time
• 3pm- C feed, big kid snack
• 4- C comfort nurse time
• 5- Dinner if you know what’s good for you, mom!
• 6pm- C feed
• 7pm- Big kid “I need water 800 times”
• 11pm- C feed
• 1am- C feed

I woke up today to silence. I was on a 1 hour and 15 minute stretch (hellllllo reflux, colic, and 4 month sleep regression shitstorm). I glanced at my clock and it was 7:15am. And no one was awake. OMG FOR REAL?!? No, not for real. Hubs forgot to plug in the monitors, so I was tricked into thinking I had reached mom nirvana. So I snapped out of bed, put my big girl pants on… I mean yoga pants… and got to the morning.

We zoomed to stroller strides with a “car breakfast”. Basically, a way to make loading the car easier. We got these awesome bento boxes from Innobaby and I had those loaded with french toast and bananas and sent them into their seats. We had an awesome workout with our friends (who keep me sane), did a quick stop at Target drive up. (Google this if you don’t already do it… It saves me from being a walking circus in Target and it also saves me from buying #allthethings), and came home to put C down for a nap. I ended up having two calls that lasted well into naptime for the big kids, so we went down late.

And I have my “back pocket” in the back of my mind ALL DAY. See, moms do this. We have a bank of crap that we say “When you get up from your nap… or After school we will…. or When you finish that page we will…”. Yesterday, it was a new play place that we were going to whether or not any of the things happened, but I used it as my “if” for the day. Well, today, my “back pocket” was a book for each big kid that I have been saving. They love reading and I love reading to them. So I got the books out at bedtime and gave them each one before heading up. (We actually read B’s before even going up) I handed S hers on the stairs and we headed up.

After pajamas, brushed teeth, lots of rocking of C, we all (including C) went to S’s room to read the new book. Only problem was that there is no new book. In all the craziness of getting three tiny humans upstairs, it was lost. We never found the book, but the absolute best part of the whole crazy night was that when I asked S where it was, she said “It was by the corner of the loft- maybe a mouse or a spider took it!”. I. was. dying. That sweet little girl has an imagination like no other, and problem solving abilities (albeit slightly not accurate, though we did have a mouse issue at one point). Still, no new book.

Que absolute meltdown by S, B, and C. So we read Fancy Nancy for the 389646298 time and called it a night.

So I learned that:

• I need a backup “back pocket” for when my originals get lost.
• S hears everything and probably thinks pretty hard about it all, hence the mouse.
• Working out needs to happen daily. I wouldn’t laugh so hard at #momlife if I didn’t have my workouts.
• My upstairs is a mess and I need to clean it. Not only so I can find the book.
• Read the Fancy Nancy book for the 375549576 time. Even if it makes you distraught. Thats fancy for PISSED OFF.

This is how I work from home, in case you were wondering. That marker in S’s hand was on more places than the white board. Shocking, I know.

B has hit the age where the gagging for poops has gotten really bad. What is it about the age of 2.5 that makes them start to smell like a barn? When S was this age, we were potty training and I was gagging at the mere thought of poop in the dreaded tupperware container-esque potty. It’s got to be the increase in protein or something in their diet, because I swear, his poop wasn’t terrible until recently.

We went to target when we had their 20% off coupon, and of course he chose the paw patrol potty. We brought it home, and I’ll be damned, the kid took his diaper off, sat on that potty, and peed right into it. Like, “no big deal, mom”. Then he did it again. And again. And then he peed onto the fireplace. And the floor. And he suddenly had full access to his junk. And I decided to put the potty away. C is high needs at the moment with his reflux and colic and I highly don’t need more needs right now. But you have to start somewhere, right?

We will revisit this idea soon, but in the mean time, I am buuuub deep in nursing the little, feeding the bigs, and praying to the sleep gods for some much needed rest. Which, by the way, S calls my breasts buuuuubs. She really annunciates the uuuuuu part which is too funny. And B has started to say that as he mimics me feeding his brother with his spider man and paw patrol toys. These kids don’t bat an eyelash at breastfeeding, and I couldn’t be more proud- I mean the buuuuuubs did feed them all for part of their lives. (And now they eat cheese puffs off the floor regularly which is a whole separate post)

I’m thinking that Spring or Summer will be when we give B another shot at the potty. Until then, I spend my days praying that he will poop right before hubs gets home so I can ask for help with the atomic poops. Part of me is dreading the tupperware poop phase, but a part of me wants B to be a baby just a bit longer. I feel like his babyhood flew by and I don’t want to say goodbye to anymore of my sweet little thing’s babyhood. Sidenote: I put him on his changer table today and his legs are about 10 inches too long.

Until Spring (or whenever we decide that its time), here is what I know about #momlife of my three little unicorns:

-Time is short, play on the floor. Even if it covers your yoga pants in dog hair,

-Toddler poop would be the worst bean-boozled ever.

-Embrace babyhood– even the stinky parts.

-Live in the middle page. This idea was read to me during a meditation, and it is so true…. live in the present… the middle page. The now. Embrace it. The next page will come regardless and the previous page was already lived in.