An Hour in the Life

12:40 p.m*.: Genevieve begins to drift off, and  I decide to try to lay her down in the crib.

12:44 p.m.: I race upstairs, sing a quick song to her, and plop her down.

12:48 p.m.: I am met by Ava at the bottom of the stairs. "I didn't color in the wall on purpose," she says. "Just how did you do it on accident?" I ask. " With a crayon," she answers. Oh.

12: 51 p.m.: I hear the baby crying on the monitor. I go scoop her up. Oh well. Another time.

12:55 p.m.: I have a talk with Ava and attempt to discipline her with a (hungry) baby in my lap.

12:58 p.m.: While praying for her (eyes closed; big mistake), Tim hits Genevieve on the head.

1:00 p.m.: I then discipline my almost two-year-old with the (hungry! screaming!) baby in my lap.

1:03p.m.: I settle in to feed baby G.

1:06 p.m.: The kids decide to play legos. They play happily for approximately 5 minutes.

1:11 p.m.: Crash! Scream! "Timmy destroyed my house!"

1:15 p.m.: I try to distract Timmy so she can put it back together.  We put the finished product out of Timmy's reach.

1:28 p.m.: I put baby G in the swing, and change Tim's dirty diaper.

1:30 p.m.: Tim climbs down and runs through the house crying, "De-duh-o! De-duh-do!" ("Destructo!  Destructo!"), in search of something to destroy.

1: 38 p.m.: I ask Daniel a discipline question over instant messenger and Ava begins eating the icing from the Valentine's Day cookies we made off of Tim's face. He screams and points to her mouth as if to say, "Hey! Give it back! I was going to eat that!"

1:40 p.m. I, oddly at peace in this chaotic scene, laugh. And declare it nap time.

*All times are fictional.  All events are not.