A Very Long Day

I should be in bed. All the kids are sleeping which means I should be, but I wanted to get in a quick post about my day. This was a very long day. I knew it would be when I planned it, but taking a trip down to see my grandma was something I really needed to do, so the long day was worth it. I packed up all the kids and met my mom, sisters, niece and nephew for lunch in Paxton. Then we headed to the nursing home to spend the afternoon with Grandma. Thankfully, it was a beautiful day so we were able to sit outside and let the kids run without disturbing a lot of other people. My morning getting ready was hectic. Schaeffer and Logan wanted to eat much earlier than I had hoped which wasn't working with my plan for when to leave. So like the good mom I am, I let them cry much of the morning and when it got to be too much I turned on the vacuum to drown them out and also in hopes that it would lull them to sleep. It lulled Schaeffer and drowned out Logan, which was a definite improvement over the surround sound crying I was getting pre-vacuum from the two of them. So while the vacuum ran, I ran around the house packing up all we could possibly need for the day and cleaning up the house just in case someone wanted to come look at it while we were gone. Finally I was ready and I fed the boys and loaded up the car. We were doing awesome on time...gps said we'd get there right on time. However, about the time I reached Schaumburg, I realized I had forgotten something I told my sister I'd bring for her. So we turned around and started the trip over. The drive down was alright. There was a lot of crying, but all three kids were asleep for at least an hour of the trip. The last 30 minutes were rough as Schaeffer and Logan were both quite hungry and I was trying to use the car bottle warmer to get a bottle ready for as soon as we arrived. The bottle warmer is nice in theory but I had to hold the safety button down for 30 minutes since my bottles weren't pushing it down on their own. That was fun. I had considered trying to pump while driving, but thought better of it. Surprisingly, I did not cry during this trip, though I came close. The drive home ended up being quite an adventure...and something I'd never like to repeat. We left at a fairly inopportune time, just before 5 and an hour and a half after the twins had last eaten. I knew we'd never make it home without stopping, especially since I forgot to get gas before I left. So after listening to Logan scream for 20 or 30 minutes and seeing Schaeffer begin to wake up we pulled over in Kankakee for some dinner. While this stop was unavoidable, it was also a horrible idea. I took all three kids into McDonalds. Jack ran into the parking lot right after I told him to stand by the stroller as I grabbed the diaper bag and a very kind man had to stop him. Both babies were screaming as we walked in. Once I got our food I promptly tipped the tray while I was trying to carry it and push the stroller at the same time. 3 out of 4 of Jack's chicken nuggets landed on the floor and another nice man offered to carry my tray for me. Also they forgot Jack's milk which I didn't realize until I had everyone unloaded at the table. So I left the three kids by themselves to go get it....thankfully they were in my sight the whole time. I tried feeding the twins bottles at the same time, but that wasn't really working and more formula was ending up in their neck creases than in their bellies. Also, I had to make the formula with the water I got from the drink fountain...so it was pretty cold. Thankfully, they were too hungry to care very much. Jack ate his one chicken nugget, all my fries and picked some of the cheese off my burger while I alternated feeding the twins. I'm pretty sure everyone thought I was nuts for taking three kids to McDonald's by myself. Or they felt sorry for me, were annoyed or a combination of all three. Of course Jack spilled his milk all over and then played in it. And Schaeffer had a poopy diaper which require taking the whole crew to the bathroom where he pooped mid-diaper change. Thankfully, no one took any of the stuff we left at the table for our bathroom adventure. Finally, everyone was ready to leave and we departed, now with only one screaming baby. A woman stopped us in the parking lot to ooo and ahhh. She also informed me that Schaeffer was upset. Duh! As I was strapping Jack into his car seat he told me he pooped so we did another diaper change, this time in the back of the van. Finally everyone was loaded and I realized I didn't know where my keys were. Thankfully, they were sitting by Jack in the van and not inside the restaurant. At last I was sitting in the drive through getting myself a mocha frappe to get me through the rest of the trip. Once we were on the Interstate again I realized that I had forgotten to get gas and had to exit right away. That actually worked out though, since Schaeffer was still screaming. It gave me a chance to calm him down. So after getting gas the car was quite and we were on our way home for real. The quiet didn't last as one baby or the other was crying for most of the way home. But thankfully I kept my cool and Jack wasn't bothered. I never want to do that by myself again! But I am very glad that I got to introduce my grandma to Schaeffer and Logan and that I got to spend the afternoon with her and my family.