Nutshell

12:35 a.m. - Woke up to the sound of Gabriel crying, who proceeded to throw up all over the living room floor. (By the way, anyone ever had to clean vomit out of the grooves between planks of hard wood? Yeck!)

12:50 a.m. - Went BACK to the nursery for Atticus who was also crying and who was up wailing (this child does NOT teethe gracefully) on and off for the next two hours or so.

6:00 a.m. - Alarm on my phone went off. (Pretty sure I had JUST drifted off to sleep.)......Obviously, I hit snooze......several. times.

6:30 a.m. - Finally accepting the harsh reality of what HAD to be done, I got up. I then stood in my closet and stared blankly at my clothes for at least 20 minutes.

7:10 a.m. - Somehow dressed, I quickly fixed a breakfast for Atticus and popped it into my diaper bag.

7:15 a.m. - Tried to wake Noah up. (He's SUCH a teenager.)

"Night...

7:16 a.m. - Opened Saylor's door......and up she popped. She dressed herself, while I fixed her hair.

...and Day"

7:20 a.m. - Tried Noah again. This time he begrudgingly got up...and dressed himself.

7:23 a.m. - Gabriel (who had slept on our bedroom floor) had been awakened by all the commotion and was asking for food. (Food?! Do I really want to go there?) I fixed him a baggie full of saltines, which he thankfully accepted.

7:25 a.m. - Clambering into the nursery, we woke Atticus up as Gabriel and I entered his room for a diaper change. (How I HATE to wake a sleeping baby unnecessarily!) Got Gabriel changed and dressed.

7:30 a.m. - Atticus got a lightning fast diaper change and a pair of Babylegs. (I pretty much can't live without 'em.)

7:35 a.m. - Held a tooth-brushing "pit stop" by the kitchen door.

7:40 a.m. - Gathered the diaper bag, the already-prepared "new patient" paperwork, the Silkies, and the baby's breakfast, while Paul (bless him) got the bigger three kiddos into their car seats before heading off to work.

7:42 a.m. - Set the alarm, buckled Atticus in, and off we went. (Soooooo thankful I don't face morning school/work traffic with my kids on a daily basis!!)

8:07 a.m. - Arrived for our 8:10 appointment at the dentist. Back in December, Gabriel had fallen and chipped a front tooth on our tile floor, so he needed to have that polished a bit. Saylor was just having a check-up and cleaning. (Noah was scheduled for Wednesday.) And before you judge me too harshly for showing up with a child who was potentially contagious, tell me WHAT was I supposed to do? You have to give at least 24 hours notice for a cancellation (or risk paying for the missed visit) AND Paul had a pretrial hearing so he had to leave early this morning. I had no other choice and no time to figure out any other options. (Are you paying attention to the times here?!) I told the receptionists what was going on, and they said it was perfectly fine. Whew! Good thing.

DURING the appointment I...

...held a writhing, screaming Gabriel against me in the dental chair while they tortured my baby fixed his tooth.

...nursed Atticus.

...fed Atticus his breakfast on the floor (not "off" the floor) of an examination room.

...spoke with the dentist (a friend from our old church) about the kids' teeth. (One would hope, right?)

...read Gabriel a book...twice.

Then when we were just about to go, there was a cancellation (boy, somebody's out some money!) so they went ahead and got Noah's check-up out of the way, too, which was awesome! (Of course, though, Atticus was way past "ready" to go take his nap. So, that's always fun.)

9:45 a.m. - Treats in hand and cavity-FREE, we headed home. (Can I just SAY? Children nowadays are so blessed to be able to go to the dentist and have options like orange juice or chocolate-flavored toothpaste/polish and awesome tooth-friendly treat bags, complete with Disney character toothbrushes. They even got to pick a new BOOK out of a basket as their reward. Man! I remember the days when the cheap-o toothbrush WAS the reward.)

10:00 a.m. - Once home, fixed juices one-handed and popped some bagels in the toaster and then went to re-diaper and nurse Atticus. He went down without a hitch. (Being up all night will do that to ya. And, boy, did I want to go down with him!)

10:10 a.m. - Back in the kitchen, I spread cream cheese on the bagels and peeled some bananas, which the kids ate happily and eagerly.

10:30 a.m. - School time. Noah journaled (which is apparently not a word). Gabriel played. Saylor colored. Then there were a few rounds of a pattern game and a couple more activities. And during this time, I "broke up" and/or mediated two (or was it seven?) fights disputes, helped someone with after-potty hand-washing a couple of times (our upstairs sink is a little too high...or maybe it's that our stool is not high enough...hmm), picked up toys, read a Bible story, and did a load of laundry.

And that was my morning...in a............well, you know.

And in a totally unrelated matter... (because I am loopy enough to bring it up)...

Oh.......my. word. This is hilarious to me.