A couple of weeks ago I promised my friend Kelli that I would watch two of her children for the whole day so she could go to some meetings. What I did not realize or know at the time was that this would also be the same time that John would leave town for two days and my helper would take a week of vacation! So I have been mentally preparing all week about how I would take care of 4 children by myself. This morning started out really well when I read in my devotional about the fruits of the spirit. I'm telling you God has a really good sense of humor. He knew what I needed to hear to prepare me for this day. Kate (age 4), Kayleigh (age 3), John David ( age 2), and Zeb ( age 1) were my companions today.
The morning was going well until I tried to come up with a quiet activity they could do while Zeb was napping. I had a temporary mind block and suggested they work with stamps. Although, I am pretty confident that Kate and Kayleigh can handle a ink pad I wasn't sure how things would go with John David. I left the room for only a few minutes and when I returned all three of them were covered in red ink all over their hands and Kate even had it on her eyes. I quickly decided that my idea was terrible and changed the activity to coloring. Meanwhile I realized that for some reason our power was off. After further investigation I realized we had forgotten to pay our power bill! After Zeb woke up I managed to get all of them downstairs and out the door to pay the bill. I looked at the lady and asked her to please turn it on right away. I seriously think she felt really sorry for me and quickly radioed the maintenance man to turn on our power.
The afternoon went really well. They wore each other out so much that they all slept really long naps. It gave me a chance to breath before they all woke up again. After we said our goodbyes to Kate and John David I decided to be super mom and try to give Kayleigh and Zeb a bath before bed. Zeb quickly reminded me that I am NOT super mom when he decided to poop in the bath tub! I quickly evacuated everyone and disinfected the tub and toys so they could reenter the bathtub and actually get clean.
The first person I thought of today as I was taking care of all four of them was my mom. I am one of four children. I was 4 when my twin sisters where born and 18 months later my brother joined our family. My mom had 4 children 5 years old and under. After today I have a bigger appreciation for her and think that she should have won some major award for raising all of us for 20 some years. Thanks Mom for all the patience you showed with us. I'm pretty sure you are the most patient person in the world at least in my book!
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