Photoless But Action Packed

I know you are dying to live a day with us. Reading an hourly play-by-play is exactly what you've always wanted to do.

OK, OK, so you won't find this interesting, but in 20 years I will like to remember all these funny little details that made up our day to day life. I had no idea when I started documenting today of all days that it would turn into one of the wackiest days we've had in awhile, so if you want the good part, just skip down to where the furnace guy's vacuum bag exploded all over our basement. It's a riveting story.

June 21, 2011

*12AM- Daphne is wandering around her room, first time to get up in the night since we've moved her to her big-girl bed. Hopefully this isn't a new nighttime habit. But maybe she'll sleep in in the morning!

*5 something- My eyes are blurry but Daphne is awake and yelling for me. I'm OK with the blurry eyes; I really don't need to know what time it is. Just knowing it's 5 something let's me know that we are not sleeping in.

It's the first day of summer and the weather people said it was supposed to be sunny and warm. I peak out the window but only see a lot of gray clouds.

*6:15- David is off today and takes pity on me by getting up, too! Happy. This doesn't happen very often.

*6:30- Daphne is sitting on the sofa crying and yelling. You never know what the deal is. I think I'll go make breakfast.

*7- I make waffles and cut up fruit and get a batch of yogurt started. David BBQs sausage. He sets a record for himself as this being the earliest he's ever used the BBQer. How exciting for him. Daphne is still crying on the sofa.

David asks, "what do you think is wrong with her?"

Me, "I'm not really sure; I've been asking myself that for 2 1/2 years now. Don't you love getting up early with us?"

David goes outside to BBQ in peace.

*7:30- Breakfast is ready, David and Daph are both at the table with their food. I sit down and pick up my fork...and Daphne goes to the bathroom in her chair.

"Uh oh," she says, "Don't go to the bathroom in the chair! Go in the toilet."

Thanks for informing me, Daph, but I actually already knew that.

*7:45- Breakfast, take 2. Successful this time.

*8:05- Daph wants to walk with her belly and legs, and grabs two of her favorite friends, Ducky Duck and Kitty, so they can go on an imaginary trip to Target. Perfect time to get the kitchen cleaned up from the breakfast mess.

*8:07- That didn't last long. She needs me. She's fussing again, but this time David takes the easy way out and turns on the TV. Suddenly she's happy! David should get up with us more often. I don't feel guilty if he's the one turning on the TV.

*8:30- We have someone coming at 8:30, we need to take the car to the shop at 9, we have someone coming at 9:30, and the furnace-fixer guy coming sometime in the midst of all that. It's a little touch and go for awhile there, especially since the 8:30 person didn't come until 9:15 and Daphne threw a huge fit when we got home from dropping off the car because our trip was so short and boring.

But hey! I think I see some sun peeking through the clouds.

*12:30PM- Our 9:30 person just left. Daphne was a pretty good girl while having another soul in our house. She wanted to play outside but we needed to stay in the living room with our guest and that caused a few minor fits. No big deal.

I feel tired and the day is only half over.

*1:00- We put D down for a nap, and please alert the authorities, because she went to sleep! Sleeping during nap time is a rare occurrence around here.

*1:30- Our doula, Carissa, came for our first visit this pregnancy. She was our doula with Daphne, and I can't imagine going through birth without her. Doulas are amazing.

Since Daph never naps anymore, I was excited for her to get up and see Carissa and get a couple of cute pictures of the two of them together. But Carissa left at 3:30 and Daphne was still sleeping soundly.

*3:30- Our furnace guy is still here replacing the burner and the fan. Somehow his vacuum bag explodes, coating our entire basement in a thick layer of black dust and oil-based soot. Our bedroom, the nursery, laundry room and family room are unusable until we get a professional cleaning team to come in and clean it all up. Do you laugh or cry in this type of situation? I had just cleaned our down comforter and mattress as part of my spring cleaning...how sad that I have to do it all over again.

Our carpets, all the furniture, our clothes, every book and random knickknack on the bookshelves all need to be cleaned. Everything. I was feeling a tiny bit overwhelmed by all I needed to get done before the baby came; cleaning every single item in our basement was not exactly on my list.

3:35- Daph wakes up minutes after Carissa leaves and she's soaked because she doesn't know how to not go to the bathroom in her sleep. She notices that David set up the little pool in the front yard (because it really did pass 80 today!!) and suddenly she's talking on and on about water and swimming and swimming with Daddy. The pool hasn't been out since last August; can she really remember that far back?

4:15- Because I am a nice mama I carry bucket after bucket of warm water from the bathtub out to the pool so Daphne doesn't have to sit in ice cold hose water. Daph is finally changed into her suit and happily swimming in her pool when the car people call saying the car is done and we need to get it. Poor Daph. We haul her out and wrap her in a towel to go get the car. She's so sad.

5:15- Home again! Two minutes in the pool and she's officially done and wants to head back to play with the doggies.

5:30- There is no energy left to cook supper. Thinking about our coal mine basement in which the dust has also come up the stairs and settled in the kitchen takes all the motivation away. Thank you, David, for making an Arby's run.

5:45- David locked Brynner up so he wouldn't mooch our food while we ate outside...but little miss chicken became a moocher instead. She stole part of my sandwich right out from under me. Daph thought it was the greatest.

6-8PM- We have to stay outside because the house is so yucky. Daphne, despite her nap, is a mess. I work to keep her entertained while David mows the lawn. Of course she has a yucky accident (that's like 4 today! What's up with that?).

8:00- Daphne is in bed. I want to upload photos from the day but the last person I saw with the camera cord was Daphne and she has a knack for stashing items into places only she knows about. No photos for today.

David and I head downstairs to inspect the damage...and find it's worse than we imagined. Absolutely everything, from floor to ceiling, in every room and every closet is covered in smokey, greasy soot. Things like luggage in the hall closet we're not sure can be cleaned. What about David's big TV and fancy sound equipment and the desktop computer? All of David's and my personal belongings are in the basement and so we need to get all of our clothes out of the closets and dressers to be washed. Fortunately we have a guest bedroom upstairs we can sleep in, and I am so thankful Daphne is out of her downstairs room and upstairs as well. We work for a few hours until my feet are so swollen I can barely move, plus I know Daphne's 5Am wake-up call will come awfully quick.

11:38PM- Lights out for the adults. I'm so looking forward to tomorrow.


June 22rd update: The furnace lady told me they'll get a cleaning team in today and it will probably take 3 hours to clean for us. The cleaning people came and said it's a terrible mess and will take at least 2 days. Someone is cleaning all our basement floors, walls, carpets, furniture, shelves and all items on the shelves...and I don't have to pay a dime. I guess that's OK with me. Our upstairs has a little soot residue, so Daphne is at Grandma's house for the afternoon and I get to scrub the kitchen and clean our upstairs carpets. Pretty soon we'll have the cleanest house on the block.