Keeping it real

I started a post about some sweet moments I experienced tonight watching Big A at her swim lesson. How cute it was to see her as the smallest again instead of the biggest against Little A. How proud she was and how she smiled at me while paddling and squirted water from a plastic duck at a little boy next to her.

I really did enjoy it and for 30 minutes tonight, I lost myself in the hazy heat of the indoor pool and the muffled shouts of the kids and the playful splashes that took me far away from a mundane Monday night. The smell of the baby shampoo in Big A's hair and her childlike delight in watching the sights and sounds of the locker room.

Unfortunately, my little reverie was interrupted by the washer overflowing which basically just capped off a long day and just about pushed me over the edge. I'm finding it a little challenging to be back among the frazzled working parents. I like my job so far and I'm glad I have it, don't get me wrong. But I'd forgotten the sheer exhaustion that comes from fitting life into a time clock again. For anyone that has kids, I'm sure its nothing new that kids don't fit to a time clock. No matter how well you plan, you can never account for the million little things that can set that plan adrift. Do you include in a morning schedule "tantrum about who gets dressed first" or "emergency over the butter melting into the toast and not believing that there is really butter on it"? Nope, you just have to roll with it and try to leave enough time for it.

So last night when Little A woke up crying at midnight and told me I "forgot her," I rolled with it and brought her into my bed for snuggles. And when I forgot to eat my own breakfast in the rush of getting the kids ready this morning, I made do with a pack of yogurt-covered raisins I found stashed in my purse. When J was running late and would have had to rush out the door without dinner to take Big A to swim lessons as planned, I volunteered to do it, and I'm glad I did. But when we had finally gotten both kids bathed, brushed, and tucked into bed, and I had finally settled on the couch with my laptop to do some work instead of watching the Bachelor like I really wanted, but at least I was sitting down....well, the last thing I could bear at that moment was the washer overflowing. The worst part is, that I'm sure its something I did since I suck at laundry.

Luckily, J told me to relax, do my work and he would take care of the laundry debacle. So here I sit. Taking a moment to breathe before diving into some work. Then probably staying up too late fast-forwarding my way through a bad reality show, losing myself in the fantasy of being styled and romanced and flown on helicopters and taken to deserted islands for a date. All that said, I'll take the smell of baby shampoo mixed with chlorine, the peaceful sounds of the baby monitor (for now) and a chance to do it all again tomorrow.