Then I had Emelia. Now things go a little something like this. Jerry leaves for work. I am home with both girls by myself. I wake up and start running my bath water to get ready. Emelia wakes up and wants a bottle. I give her a bottle and go to turn off the bath water and she cries because I have left the room. Then, Emma Kate wakes up and begins to demand things like chocolate milk, juice, candy - whatever she really should not have. After making her a cup of water, she seems a little satisifed. Meanwhile, Emelia is done with her bottle and begins grabbing things wherever she may be. She may try to grab the cord to my flat iron or try to grab my wash cloth from the side of the bath tub and throws into the running water for me. I hurriedly turn the water off, so that the tub doesnt run over. I go ahead and get into the bath tub so that I can get ready. At this moment, Emma Kate tells me that she needs to go potty. She can go potty by herself, but she insists that I stand there to, you know, watch her and hand her some toilet paper. Since I am in the bath tub, I tell Emma Kate to go ahead and go potty by herself. This causes a complete meltdown. She throws herself into the floor, screams and whines for some time and then I tell her that I will take her as soon as I get out of the bath tub.
I get out, I take her to the bathroom and of course it takes a few seconds before she even begins to go pee-pee (meaning she must not have had to go too terribly bad).
Finally, I get myself dressed. I start putting on make-up and either turn on the TV for Emma Kate or the music for us all so that we have something to "do" while getting ready. Emma Kate does seem to entertain herself during this time. Emelia, on the other hand, begins trying to get into my makeup, or tries to eat paper from a book of mine somewhere in my room. After I am finally able to get the make-up on (whats the point, since I am sweating from chasing after Emelia constantly trying to get things out of her hand) I can go ahead and get the girls breakfast. Emma Kate is SO picky that she begins to request things like cheese-its or wheat thins. I convince her to go with Cheese grits or oatmeal. She can totally feed herself, but she wants me to feed her because she doesnt want to drip food all over the place and get messy.
I take turns feeding Emelia (although if it is something that she can pick up to eat, she prefers to feed herself) and Emma Kate and take a few bites of a nutragrain bar somewhere in between. I chug down my coffee to help me stay awake since I am still pouring sweat from all the chaos we have been going through.
Now, its time to get the girls dressed. I dress Emelia because she is easy (aside from trying to crawl away while I am dressing her). Then I show Emma Kate two different outfits to choose from. Oh boy, another meltdown because she doesnt want to wear either of these. I give her some consequences for her behavior and Emelia begins eating toys in Emma Kate's room. I am taking the toys away from her and making sure there are no small parts in the room. Ok, everyone is dressed and we can finally grab bags and get out of the house.
No, wait, I didnt pack the bottles last night because I was so tired and went to sleep. I have to pack up the bottles and yes, we are finally ready to get out of the house. Nope, Emma Kate cannot find the shoes she wants to wear. We are on a wild goose chase trying to find the perfect shoes for her outfit. Ok, now we can leave.
I pack up Emelia. I pack up Emma Kate and we are off.....Boy! I am ready for nap. I dont know how I am going to get to work now....
1 comment:
I'm exhausted just reading!! When I was working, I also had to get myself and the kids up and out the door pretty early and it always made the day so stressful!!
A few thoughts/suggestions (take them with a grain of salt, of course):
1.) Can you and Emma Kate pick out her outfit the night before? Give her 2 choices the night before and tell her that whatever she picks is what she MUST wear- no tantrums or meltdowns. In the morning, dress her in the outfit she chose regardless of her tantrum.
2.) Teach Emma Kate to go potty as soon as she wakes up? Explain to her that she is a big girl and she is now responsible for going potty on her own.
3.) I KNOW how hard it is to get things ready the night before when you are so tired, but the more you can get done the night before, the better your morning will go!!
4.) Is it possible to send breakfast with the girls to their grandparent's house? This was one thing I did with my little ones at their daycare. I sent the breakfast and the daycare fed them. I'm not sure what time you guys are leaving in the mornings, but this cut off SO much time for us!! And it might save you some meltdowns/headaches to have someone else feed them. Just a thought, not sure if it is feasible or not.
5.) Could you take your bath the night before and then just do a quick rinse off in the morning? I always felt like I needed to rinse myself off in the morning, so I understand if you don't want to do that, but this helped me. I'd shower at night and then in the morning I'd rinse off- 5 minutes or less!?!
Hang in there, Jenn! I know it is so tough and exhausting!! You are in my thoughts and prayers.
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