A Day In The Life Of...

Today will go down in history as the worst day we have had to date. I will start from the beginning and work my way through the day. Bear with me, it was a long day. I got up at 8:00 as the kids were starting to stir. I fixed waffles for them and got their milk cups ready. Once I had picked everything up in the living room and raised the blinds and closed all the gates, I headed back to get the kids up. I got my toothbrush and theirs ready for our morning brush. I started in the girls room. When I turned the light on I noticed that Sydney's shirt was off. Their pj's are a little big and they can get them off easily. I handed them their toothbrushes and we started brushing. Once they were going I walked next door and go the boys going. After about a minute in the boys room I headed back to the girls room to finish them up. That is when I saw it. Sydney had a blob of poop on her shoulder. In the 90 seconds I was gone she had stuck her hand down the back of her diaper and grabbed a hand full. So, I had to think on my feet and decide what the next order of business would be. I had to get the others up and fed, but I also had to get Syd a bath. Why not do both at the same time???? That is what I did. BAD IDEA!!!

I left Syd in her bed as I got everyone else up. I changed Peyton because he had pooped. One thing I have learned is that you never put a poopy person at the table. It always gets smashed and seeps out the sides. So, I got him changed and everyone else up to the table with their mound of waffles. They love breakfast, so I thought everything would be fine. I ran to Syd, put her in the tub for a 2 minute bath and we were in the living room in no time. As I was entering the living room I heard a noise. Peyton had decided that Jenna's food looked better than his and he was going to go try it out. He wiggled out of his seat belt, climbed onto the table and over to her. When he decided to get down he fell off the table. That is the noise that I heard. He was stuck under a highchair and it scared him more than anything. He got a scratch down his back, but other than that he was fine. I ran to him and got him wiped off and over to the living room. I looked back to Syd because she was still naked. Not 30 seconds later I glance back to the table and found Ethan on top of the table. Before I could run over there he fell off the table trying his best to get back into his chair. He only whimpered a little and didn't suffer any injury. Once I got him cleaned up and in the living room I finally got a diaper on Sydney.

I forgot to mention that I woke up feeling really bad this morning. My entire body ached. It felt like I was coming down with the flu. I got Rob up at 9:00 so he could see the kids before he had to leave for class. He also works second shift, so he is really stretching himself. I was laying on the floor and he was sitting next to me when he started yelling for Ethan. Landon and Sydney were in the living room and everyone else was MIA. When they didn't come he went to look for them. We thought they were playing peacefully in the boys room like usual. Not today. In the chaos of the morning I must not have gotten the girls door completly closed. Ethan, Jenna, and Peyton had shut themselves in the girls room. They had knocked a rocking chair over, dumped out their tubs full of socks, and drug all the clothes out. The worst part was that they had picked up the Vicks humidifier and dumped the entire thing all over the floor. It was everywhere! We have wood floors in the girls room so it was from one end of the room to the other. Jenna was soaked from head to toe. Ethan was soaked from the waist down. I think he is the one who did it. Jenna is to small to lift that thing and Peyton was completely dry. So, Rob cleaned the kids up while I cleaned up the floor. All of this happened in the first 45 minutes they were up. I was ready to call it a day and go back to bed by that time.

The morning was its normal chaos, but I called a friend to watch them for about 45 minutes while I ran to Walmart to buy a few sleepers for Sydney so she couldn't get her clothes off. My mom thankfully came at 11:30 to help me for the last hour before nap time. I took some Advil and laid down for about an hour to try to feel better. Thankfully, that did the trick and I was fine the rest of the day.

3:45 rolls around and it is time to get the kids up from their nap. I went into the boys room first. I smelled the poop before I even opened their door. When I flipped the light switch on my worst nightmare had come true. Peyton was squatting like a caveman playing in his poop. NOT AGAIN!!! I had showered and gotten myself ready to go to the Mothers of Multiples meeting. Now I had to get him up, leaving everyone screaming from their beds because they wanted up. I took him straight to the bathtub. I ran some water to soak the dried crusted poop off. Once I got all the visible poop off I let the water out and made him stand on the bathroom while I scrubbed the tub with Tilex. After it was clean, I put him back into the tub to give him a real bath. Once he was clean I put a diaper on him and got the rest of the kids up.

I hate to admit it, but I left the poop mess in the boys room for my mother-in-law and the other helpers who were coming. I couldn't bring myself to do it. That sounds terrible, but I was ready to run for the hills. The kids got the best of me today. I wasn't smiling or laughing or enjoying one second today. It was really hard. I will look back at this one day and laugh, but not for a long long time. I am beat. Jon Gosselin said in their latest episode, "It's like being pecked to death by a duck." That is exactly what I feel like on a daily basis. Today was that multiplied by about 10x. I hate to complain, but I am totally spent. It is easy to blog the great things about being a family of quintuplets. I don't want to post about the hard things we go through, but the truth is that this is REALLY hard. My house is nasty, gross, and stinky. Laundry is piled to the ceiling and my kitchen has old, crusty food everywhere. The dining room has clothes all over the floor that need to be washed and sorted for when they are older. I have about 3 bags of shoes to sort by size. Their highchairs have old dried food that is stuck to them. The living room has this awful poop smell that I can't figure out where it is coming from. I have vacuumed under the couch cushions and recliner. I am beginning to think it is in our carpet. I am drowning in filth. That is what I am feeling today. Give me a good nights sleep and I will be ready to go all over again.

I have to say, my sitters tonight did attempt to pile the clutter and clean the chairs. They did a great job. Given the chance, I would probably jump at the chance to change some things in my life. I could think of a few things that could make my life easier. One thing that will never change, I love my kids with everything I have. They are what keep me going. I love them more than words can describe. This blog may be different than my normal funny, joyful posts, but today was a tough day for me. I had to record it so I never forget some of the hardships we had to go through. Tomorrow is another day. I will willingly get up and do it all over again. They are my kids. Rob and I worked too hard to get them here. Nothing is too much for us. We will do whatever it takes to survive. God will see us through.