Parenting

How to Eat a Sandwich (as a mother of 4)

Posted on by laurencarawan
  1. Realize you are hungry and contemplate what you’d like to eat.
  2. Break up a fight between the 2 & 4 year-old.
  3. Look inside the fridge for your lunch.
  4. Listen to the demands of the 2 & 4 year old who appeared out of nowhere (seriously, there must be an embedded sensor to let them know when the fridge door opens).
  5. Give the blessed children the yogurt already!
  6. Grab the bread to make your fantasized sandwich.
  7. Attend to the crying baby in the back of the house.
  8. Whisper-yell at the two year old to close the ever-loving door while you nurse a, now, distracted baby.
  9. Frantically search for your phone to ascertain whether it is time for you to pick the 6 year-old up from her sleepover.  Breathe a sigh of a relief when you read a text announcing they are keeping her until after lunch.
  10. Calm the frustrated 4 year old who can’t figure out how to turn Paw Patrol on.
  11. Return to the kitchen to grab the turkey, hummus and veggies to make your sandwich.
  12. Assist the two year-old who announces she needs to go potty, now!
  13. Nod your head yes that it is, indeed, lunch time.  Abandon your sandwich attempt to heat soup, chicken nuggets, cut strawberries and put together a PBJ.
  14.  Blow on the soup until you feel dizzy.  Curse at yourself for forgetting that 1 minute in the microwave is too long.
  15. Spread the hummus on your bread.  Cut your veggies and layer them, alongside the turkey.
  16. Recognize the sound of the ending credits of Paw Patrol and seize your chance to put the two year old down for her nap.  After all, it’s the “magic window” and thus, now or never.
  17. Walk the two year old to look out the windows and doors from all sides of the house to reassure her there is indeed, no thunder today.
  18. Change her into a diaper, turn on her noise machine, remind her that if she gets out of bed, you are closing her door and you mean it, today!
  19. Take a bite of that big, beautiful sandwich.
  20. Help the 4 year-old change into jammies because she wants to nap today since her big sister isn’t around to play.
  21. Close her door and open door to now, awake baby.
  22. Completely forget about sandwich.
  23. Pick 6 year-old up from sleepover.
  24. Take girls outside to play.
  25. Give girls a bath.
  26. Look at the clock that says 5 PM and laugh at the stale sandwich.

Alternatively:

  1.  Make Sandwich.
  2. Let baby cry, toddler pee her pants and skip her nap, and listen to four year old tantrum until you’ve finished eating.

Pick your poison!

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I Choose You

Image posted on by laurencarawan

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The dishes are still on the table, the laundry is folded but still on the couch.  I’ve had dry cereal in my bowl for 1 hour, anxiously awaiting its milk but I choose you, Emma Jane.  You are already 11 weeks and amidst the chaos that is our daily life, I still want time to slow down.  You cry, I pick you up and rest my cheek upon yours.  You settle, and I absorb the warmth between us.  An osmosis of love.  An exchange of energy and understanding.

You are our third and, likely, our last child so I cherish these teeny, tiny moments between us.  My lips upon your forehead as I inhale your sweet newborn scent.  I feel as if I am floating, this simply is too good to be true.

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In ten years, the dishes will still be on the table, the laundry on the couch, and the cereal still awaiting its milk in the bowl.  But you will be too big to fit inside the cradle of my arm.  So I hold on a little longer than necessary, long after you have fallen asleep.  I close my eyes and take quiet, deep breaths and in that moment, all time stand still.  It is just you and me, Emma Jane, and that is all we need.

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Photos by Danielle Ice Photography and Camille Vaughan Photography