Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Moby Wrap + Blowout = FAIL

Yesterday was a day.

I decided to trek out to Summerhays to look for music teaching supplies. I was anticipating that my old violin teacher who works there would be working there at that exact moment, which was kind of far-fetched to begin with and didn't end up happening. Anyway I knew I would have a time of trying to explain to the sales person what I was looking for, and sure enough he had no idea what I was talking about. But that wasn't the only problem that presented itself during our conversation.

Before beginning my quest, I had a half hour drive during which to think about how I was going to maneuver two kids in a music store. Grocery stores are easy, because they have carts. I can leave Reuben in his car seat and stick Rachel in the cart. No problem. But no music store I've ever seen has carts. I worked out that the best thing to do would be to put Reuben in my Moby wrap and hold Rachel's hand. That way I'd have at least one free hand, instead of zero. I got to the store early and got all wrapped up, then stuck the baby in. He seemed happy, which is always a good sign, so we made our way into the store at Rachel speed.

We got to Summerhays right as it opened, so no one was there. That's what I get for getting used to leaving the house as soon as my kids are ready to go, which is usually 9 am. I didn't even remember that they don't open until 10 until I drove past it at 9:45. Being the only one in the store, I was immediately approached upon my entrance by a young music loving Summerhays employee. As I began to describe what I wanted, the poor kid (probably like 16) started looking down at my feet. Huh? Then I felt something land on my foot. I figured it was Reuben spitting up, as he is wont to do, but it had been a good hour since he'd eaten so that didn't seem likely. Unfortunately, there is only one alternative in a situation such as this. Sure enough, I looked down to see a HUGE pile of poop on the floor, and more dripping from my well-wrapped infant. DISGUSTING!! In a MUSIC STORE? Really, Reuben? I've never been so embarrassed in my life. To add to that, I had no idea what to do to fix the problem.

I undid my wrap and set Reuben on the floor near the poop, then pulled out my nearly-empty wipe box from the diaper bag. Igck...eeew. I began to wipe up the poop (scoop it up, really) and produced a pretty good wad of wipes. At this point the sales kid (who had left to assist another customer...I don't blame him) mentioned that he had cleaning supplies that he could use on it. I just kept apologizing, then asked where the bathroom was.

As I grow and experience things, I try to learn. Before leaving that morning I had had the forethought to pack an extra outfit for both of my kids, just in case. Well, this is the "case" I was preparing for. Luckily my 2 year old is an angel and didn't get into any trouble while I worked on fixing Reuben's disgustingness. He got a new diaper and a new onesie, and we were all set. I stood up to gather my thoughts, then looked down at my shirt. It was covered in poop. In my brilliant planning this morning, I had not packed an extra outfit for myself (weird, who doesn't carry around a change of clothes in their purse?). I began to scrub my shirt in the sink, but it soon became clear that this would end up leaving a big wet spot on my stomach. Ick. So I pulled of my shirt and soaked it completely. There, now it's all the same color. And...wet. Oh well, that's probably the least of my worries right now. I put it back on and went to finish my shopping.

Upon leaving the restroom, I decided to bag my initial quest and made a beeline for the downstairs sheet music section, avoiding all future contact with the nice 16 year old. Poor kid.

I figured I'd get a chance to change my shirt once I got home. Not so. Sometimes I forget that being a mom is quite literally a 24 hour job, with very few breaks. After we got done at the music store it was lunch time for Reuben, so we went to a park in Provo so Rachel could run around while I fed the baby. After the park we had to go grocery shopping, and then it was lunch time, during which time both kids needed SOO MUCH attention. Sheesh. We finally got Rachel down for a nap close to 1:30 (by now Richard was there to help me) and luckily Reuben went down at about the same time. Free time? Not quite.

We all have chores around the house, and mine are a bit bigger than most because that's how we're paying rent. So in addition to doing all the grocery shopping, I also make dinner 6 nights a week. This gets complicated when I'm working two jobs a day, as I'll start doing in a few weeks. This week and next I'm trying to get used to having dinner ready at 6 even though I work until 6, which means employing a helper and getting a lot of it ready before I work at 2. After the kids were both asleep I started chopping veggies. I cut up broccoli to steam and chopped peppers for tomorrow. Then while I was at it I made the gravy and stuck it in the fridge. By then it was 1:58 and I had to go to work. So no shirt change for me.

I had planned that Aja would be home to get dinner going by 5:30, but she didn't show up until 6, so we ended up eating later than expected. That means that by the time we were done eating it was time for one more quick run to Walmart before bedtime. Once Rachel was in bed it was "play with Reuben" time, until he got sleepy about 30 mins later. So finally, at 9:15 pm, I had a moment to myself. I sat down to veg with a computer game and got half a game in before Eli showed up, asking if I'd gotten the electrical tape I needed to mark his violin (which is why I ran to Walmart). Break postponed, but not for long.

It was only as I got ready for bed that I finally realized I was still wearing my wet, poopy shirt. All in a day's work for mommy, right?