A Day in the Life

Fridays are my “day off” … day off from office work that is. I had an extremely busy yet pretty typical day on Friday and I wanted to write it down for posterity’s sake something, perhaps, to show the kids when they are parents of young children.

6 AM – Wake up and hop right on the treadmill. Hopping “right on” actually involves about 15-20 minutes of eye-rubbing, yawning, stretching, dressing and setup (fans, TV). Make it a paltry 5 of the 12K I have on the schedule.

6:45 AM – Hop off the treadmill and drag Matt out of bed, dress the kids, hand them some toast and hit the road. While on the road, I make a doctor’s appt for Ben since he STILL has the darn cough. That pretty much eliminates all possibility of going to the gym with Matt as planned.

7:30 AM – Drop Matt’s car off at the dealership for floor-mat recall and oil change.

8:10 AM – Check in at the clinic for Ben’s appointment. Children persist in touching everything in site and I imagine germs crawling all over them.

8:20 AM – Appointment begins with weigh-in. He has finally gained a teeny bit of weight (1 lb). Kids drive us nuts in the exam room. They have chosen to store the IV poles in the corner (who thought THAT was a good idea?).

8:30 AM NP arrives. I’m pretty sure she thinks our kids are out of control. Tabby won’t stop talking and Ben won’t stop climbing. After all the cursory exams, we leave about 20 min later with a script for amoxycillin and a diagnosis of sinusitis.

8:50 AM I send Ben and Matt to the car to wait while Tabby and I wait on Ben’s script at the clinic pharmacy. We pass the time by playing word and math games. “What letter does Amoxycillin start with? Which is a better deal – 100 claratin for $15 or 50 Claratin for $10?”

9:00 AM We exit the clinic with Ben’s bottle o’ pink in hand.

9:10 AM Arrive at the nearby Target and QUICKLY execute my shopping list for our weekend away.

9:50 AM Arrive home and see that Loki has dispatched the remainder of our almost new loaf of bread. Curse under my breath and then hop on the treadmill again while the kids destroy the playroom. I execute another 5K, bringing my total for the day to 10/12K. Good enough!

10:30 AM Hop in the shower and rinse off. Quickly dress and yell at Matt to load Tabby and Loki in the car.

11:07 AM Arrive at vet (7 min late) and realize that darling hubby has omitted essential leash. Send Tabby inside and wrangle 75 lb dog inside by his collar. Continue holding him by collar while I fill out paperwork. Vet tech notices my predicament and takes pity on me and gives me a leash. Writing proficiency is greatly improved hereafter.

11:15 AM Vet tech calls us in just as I spy a friend coming in with her dog. Have awkward stilted cross-room conversation with hand gestures and weird expressions as my dog drags me away.

11:20 AM Vet arrives and we have a nice appointment. She pronounces Loki to be healthy if a bit overweight. I explain about the bread and she just laughs. I fill out more paperwork and we leave him there for the weekend. Tabby is sad and tells me in great detail the whole way home how much she misses Loki.

12:00 PM Lunch time. We strip the fridge of leftovers. This is poetry to my penny-pinching waste-not-want-not German soul.

12:30 PM Way-lay Matt and coerce him into helping with naptime so that I can quickly pack up the kids’ suitcases for the weekend.

12:50 PM Just as I’m finishing the packing I receive a phonecall from friend I saw at the vet. We laugh about our crazy chance-meeting across the waiting room of the vet and I commiserate with her about her ailing dog. She keeps getting interrupted by her kids and apologizing. I explain I’ve locked mine away for a couple hours or I’d be in the same predicament. We make plans to get together “soon.”

1:00 PM Kids packing is done, so I start in on my own. I realize vaguely that I could probably save myself time in the long-run by putting away laundry rather than taking it directly from basket to suitcase, but I ignore my own good advice and leave laundry all over our bedroom.

2:00 PM I am mostly finished packing for myself, so I sit down on my bed to read a couple of emails on the phone and drift off to sleep.

2:45 PM I hear Ben screaming from his bedroom. Wipe the drool from my face and curse at the clock. Ben is not even really awake and very cranky, so I put him back in his bed and listen to him scream and hope he’ll go back to sleep.

3:00 PM Tabby is up now and Ben is still crying. I offer him milk and let him tear apart our bedroom. I start packing Matt’s stuff up. He hasn’t been heard from and I’m doubting he’ll be on schedule if I don’t pack for him.

3:30 PM Packing of clothes is finally done. I herd kids downstairs and pack up food and activities.

4:10 PM I start bugging Matt about packing the car.

4:20 PM Matt and I pack the car and the kids into the car. We drive to the dealership and transfer everything from my car to his car and leave mine to be serviced. Apparently having two mid-sized Toyota SUVs was actually brilliant rather than stupid/redundant.

4:50 PM Stop for gas.

5:00 PM Finally on the road.

6:00 PM Realize we’ve left Ben’s bottle of amoxycillin (one dose down) in the fridge at home. Start the arduous after-hours call routine.

6:20 PM I talk to the nurse on my phone as I look up pharmacy phone numbers on Matt’s phone while we are pulled over on the side of the road, trying not to lose phone signal.

6:48 PM I call the pharmacy to make sure they’ve started Ben’s meds. They haven’t. I give further information and learn they are open until 7 PM.

6:58 PM We pick up meds for Ben and Coke for Matt and head off to our final destination.

7:30 PM We arrive at my uncle & aunt’s new house and fall to the ground weeping with joy. Food, wine, and childcare help is abundant.

10:00 PM Pass out in bed, knowing that Ben will be up by 6:30 AM.