The First Hour On My Own

We dropped my mom off at the airport on Monday at 4:45pm. I got home at 5:55pm because traffic was so bad--a few accidents. Luckily the kids were troopers and so it wasn't too bad. We finally got home and the kids ran upstairs to play in the game room. My visiting teachers dropped dinner off at 6 and I put Natalie in the high chair to get her started eating because James was starting to fuss and I needed to feed him. Andrew came down from the game room and it suddenly smelled like poop. So I asked him if he had pooped his pants. He got that smile on his face that tries to look a little bit sorry--head tilted slightly down, eyes looking up at me, eyebrows slightly raised, a little grin. Then I noticed that there was poop down his leg. Not a good sign.

By this time Natalie was settled in the high chair with dinner and James was crying. I picked up James and went in search of the wipes. I told Andrew to head straight to the bathroom. He headed down the hall and I went to grab the wipes. He came back around the corner and said, "Mom, there's poop on the floor." Hmmm... So I rounded the corner and down the hall was a clump of poop on the floor. Luckily not the carpet and easy to clean up. It must have fallen out of his pants. Did I mention the poop had somehow made it down his leg?!

James was still crying. I told Andrew to stay in the bathroom while I ran in search of a pacifier. I was not going to be able to clean this up one-handed. Of course the paci that is always on hand was nowhere to be found. I finally located it upstairs and as I came back into the kitchen Andrew rounded the corner again and said, "Mom, that toiwet's not working." I put James down in the bouncy seat with the pacifier and headed to the bathroom with Andrew. Sure enough, he had tried to wipe his leg off himself with the wipes and flushed them all down the toilet--the toilet was clogged.

The good news--the water got as high as the lid and then stopped--no overflow to clean up! So I plunged the toilet, then had to get the poopy shorts off and cleaned off and the poopy underwear off and cleaned off (I just hate that!! I was definitely not raised washing cloth diapers. It grosses me out!). I put Andrew in the tub and went back to get crying James who had been so patient, but was crying again by this time.

Phew. I sat down and fed him for a little bit while Andrew played in the tub and Natalie ate her dinner. It was a late night at work for John so he missed out on all the fun ;-) I did manage to laugh incredulously as each event unfolded. And thinking what a good blog post the experience would make put everything in a different perspective. Yea blog!

So that was the first hour home on my own. It could only get better I thought...

It's a good thing these kids are so cute.