"Rusty" About Covers It

I'm wrapping up my first week as a working-from-home, stay-at-home mom.  And while I am marveling at the amount of laundry I've completed in one morning and the paperwork that I've powered through in one week (ya know, cuz I am actually home and not taxi'ing LadyBug, Shaggy and Dr. D all around the valley for their various pursuits a la July and August!), I am also quite astounded at how rusty I've gotten.

It seems in the couple years since Li'l Empress was a scootching, slithering, cruising one-year old, certain of my skills have scattered to the far ends of the house, nay, the universe.

It seems in the (ahem, many!) years since I had Shaggy, Dr. D, and LadyBug crowding around my ankles and clamoring for attention (think three ages 5 and under), my abilities to multi-task and problem-solve have sunk with the receding waters of Irene into the netherlands of the sump well.

I think that my formerly laudable administrative skills fled the building at the sight of managing the schedules, wants, needs, and developmental abilities of 7 children in one home.

And the calendar? Fuhgeddabout it - that ran out the door screaming for mercy when I started moving things around to keep my Mondays through Thursdays open and free for staying home and re-conquering all of the above skill sets..

OH. And managing snacks, bottles, lunches, nap time, quiet time, and more snacks? OMIGOSH - it's a good thing I've had LadyBug and Baby BlueEyes around to help me stretch time a liiiiiiiiitle bit more to avert melt-downs (mine) and crying jags (also mine).

Thank goodness that Little Gal (three) and Little Guy (11 months) are, as Shaggy says, "chill." Their easy-going, resilient natures are going to come in mighty handy while Miss Momma gets this coordination and timing thing down to a routine.

I can't even talk yet about how out-of-practice I am with negotiating with two bickering pre-schoolers. Let's just say that Li'l Empress is feeling slightly de-throned (not entirely a bad thing!) and Little Gal certainly knows how to articulate how she feels about THAT, thankyouverymuch! (also not a bad thing). If I wasn't so intent on making sure my sanity made it till the end of the day, I'd likely be laughing about the logic these two girls are trying to pull on me. Maybe next week, I'll be able to laugh at them. I mean, with them. I mean about their convoluted toddler logic. Yeah. That's it.  Heh.

Yup, this first week has shown me in no uncertain terms that I am indeed very rusty. It's a good thing these kinds of things all tend to work themselves out with practice and time. Cuz Lord knows, once school starts on Tuesday and I'm the only one "on deck" we will have LOTS of both on hand.