The Real Profile Page

(Erin) While perusing Fakebook, I was thinking about how my day really wasn’t necessarily post worthy. In a Pinterest perfect world, I think I could manage to make the cut some days but in the end, do I really want to? It’s so easy to get wrapped up in creating a profile page that reflects a life of comfort, beauty and warmth. Today certainly had those things in the mix but you know I’m genuinely just as glad for the dirt & fighting that could also show up on my profile page.

5:40 am Rolled (quite literally at 7 months prego) out of bed. Dressed in too tight “work out” gear, I take the dog out and then hit the road.

6:45 Arrive home from my morning walk. Always so glad that I got up and made it happen. Chris has an early morning meeting so he’s out the door while I’m coming in.

7:00 Have a roaming cup of coffee while I put on what I wore the past 3 days, a white tee and maxi skirt, brush my teeth, and get Liv dressed. Today is an odd day—no makeup, didn’t touch my hair. I’m usually really into that. Gabe is up already looking for Olympics coverage—dressed and bed made. He’s my very routine child. Isaiah and Ben get up, get dressed, make their beds but play with cars or Legos before bursting down the steps sometime before 8:00.

The rest of the morning is pretty low-key. I end up stripping the beds to wash sheets and blankets and 2 loads of damp clothes from a wet weekend of fishing, biking & swimming. I print postage and wrap up some jewelry orders that need to go out today. I move at a slow pace because Olivia is sick and needs her mama to just sit and hold her so we join Gabe every now and then, who has probably been watching 2 hours of the Olympics by now. (They happen every four years, you know what I mean?!) The other two boys had a quick bowl of cereal but quickly retreated to their room to build a fort and Liv joins them when she is feeling well enough. They take good care of her since they know she’s sick, otherwise they would be down more often complaining that she is wrecking their fort and taking their baseball cards. I was out late last night with some friends and I feel a little less patient this morning. The kids want chocolate milk mid-morning and when Isaiah, who is six years old, knocks his cup over for the second time in two days, I surprise myself with how annoyed I get. I bite my tongue but let out some kind of annoyed noise—I don’t have a need for words as a certain oldest child takes care of chastising the less coordinated brother. We make a visit to Grammy next door, so Gabe & Zaya can play a few hands of Dutch Blitz before lunch. I call Chris to see if he can get some more medicine for Liv and join us for lunch. I had hoped to sweep and mop the floor today because the dog hair is too abundant and yesterday Rocco dumped the trashcan all over the kitchen floor and made a sticky mess while all the humans were outside—but I think I’m going to have to let it go.

12:00 I make “homemade” pizza— refrigerated dough with a can of sauce and tres, tres large amount of cheese—and cut up watermelon for lunch. While I wash all the dishes from breakfast & lunch (no dishwasher in this old farmhouse) the boys are assigned a few chores—empty the trash cans upstairs, clean up the playroom and bedroom. With Olivia in bed, Gabe spends some time reading while I read with Isaiah & Ben. I love this one-on-two time with the boys who think its so strange that tigers turn into butter and Babaji eats 169 pancakes in “The Story of Little Babaji”. One of the books they pick is “The Sneetches” by Dr. Suess. The Sneetches with stars on their bellies think they are superior to the sneetches without stars. Sylvester Mcmonkey McBean comes along with his magic machine and charges the star-less Sneetches to have stars put on their bellies. The treatment becomes instantly popular. Eventually the Sneetches decide that neither those with stars or those without are superior. I’m recalling the conversation I had last night with my girlfriends about boob jobs. Was Dr. Suess commenting on plastic surgery? If so, I think I like his observations.

2:30 I pay the boys each a dollar to sit in my “workroom”—a small desk in the corner of our mudroom—and help me with small jobs for O Jolie Designs—my Etsy shop. Gabe gets irritated with Ben who is constantly dropping beads and while I’m internally agreeing with him, I try to assure him that Ben is being helpful and we must be patient with his little hands. As we work, I tell them how much this little business is a blessing to our family—that it paid for two days at the beach last week and Gabe’s birthday presents that he will receive later this week! Otherwise, we would work in silence, just enjoying one of the many playlists Chris has put on my ipod. (My default is to be a woman of few words—this may or may not surprise those close to me.)

3:30 Olivia is up from her nap and we decide to go to the pond for some fishing. Ben is the only one to catch a bass with his $10 rod. Olivia and Isaiah outlast the other two who end up swimming in their clothes. Soon enough, Liv is in her diaper and a life jacket and I am in the Adirondack chair reading while the boys practice all of the strokes they are watching the Olympians perform. Competition often leads to tears…today it’s Isaiah. Seeing that Ben is way behind in a race, Gabe prevents Isaiah from winning to let the little guy take home the victory. This doesn’t go over well. However, there is also the joy of watching them splash and laugh together or when Isaiah speaks ever-so-gently to Olivia to show her how to properly load the water gun. I’m a total observer of my children. It’s gives me great delight to watch them. I often wish I participated more, but for some reason I’m more energized by observing.

5:00 Chris gets home and joins us at the pond. Its one of those great afternoons that I don’t have to cook (like that happens very often), since I made a big pot of soup yesterday.

6:00 Olivia is fading so I take her in and give her a bath and some more medicine and then I lay in bed and read and she runs to get her own books while the males remain pond-side. When they do come in, they are wet and dirty and pushing each other. I try to have a heart-to-heart with one son about the way he treats his siblings and its safe to say that I did not move him from his position that “they should know that if they do that, they are going to get hurt”. So I will keep trying….

6:30 We sit down to eat dinner. One child makes a snide comment about how I shouldn’t have had the crock pot on high because then the soup wouldn’t be so darn hot. I put a huge smile on my face, opening my eyes very wide and tell him what I really think of his comment. His head goes down and I think that I’ve had a pretty good line only to be greeted with laughter from all four children. Two boys fart at the table while the third continues to talk about related matters. This frustrates me—it’s really an amoral issue, I know—but it’s one of those things I’m sticking to as the woman of the house. “No Olympics before bed! “ I tell them. Chris is off to an evening meeting and I’m back at the sink washing dishes. Liv is drawing, the boys have their treasures out—shoe boxes stuffed with trinkets—and they are trading wares. I adore these moments…seriously….and then someone throws a matchbox car.

7:30 Putting clean sheets back on beds, the rest of the laundry will have to wait to be folded until tomorrow. More reading time with the kids before bed. This is usually my least favorite time of the day, when I’m on my own for the bedtime routine but tonight I don’t mind taking our time and each of them gets sent out of the room at one time or another for being disruptive but I’m ok with that. We try to come up with a name for their baby brother on the way, but we just haven’t found it yet. Kids get their pjs on and brush their teeth and then we pray and sing “King of the Jungle.” Lights out at 8:19.

9:30 Now I’m writing and drinking an Izze while I hear thunder in the distance. I should be working on jewelry orders but Chris just came home and we will end up talking for another hour or so instead. ♥, Erin (Read Erin's other Posts Here)