what a bizzare photo

Yes, we had family picture day at Tom's house. They have a nice backyard which is weeded, pruned and mowed - pretty much the exact opposite of our house. Oh well, we all can't be perfect at everything. Not that I have tried very hard on the lawn, whatever, the point is that one has to let some things "go". I choose to let the lawn maintenance "go". (side note: I am turning into my mom)

For those of you who are wondering, Tom is Richard's most excellent friend from college who happens to be from Winston. Tom's parents have been kind enough to extend their love for Tom to Tom's friend (and Tom's friend's family - us!). Richard is now half-way done with his Wake rotation and then he will be on to Philly.

Anyway, the point of me posting this strange photo of myself is to start to illustrate the look on my face last night when things went downhill. Only imagine bad words coming out of my mouth and "frowny" eyes instead of "happy" eyes.

Picture this (it is much better to picture in your mind than for me to post photos in this particular instance): Mom (me) has been busy at work and rescued children from daycare late in the evening. We arrive home at about 5:30 and we are all in a bad mood. I feed babies dinner.

After providing a plethora of options, nothing will do for Mercer Anne. She is screaming at the top of her lungs. My solution=bath & bed. I start the water and take MA out of the highchair, undress her and plop her into the tub. I notice what appears to be a "doodie-fart" and I remove her from the tub so I can clean it before I "clean" her. While cleaning her, I look over and notice we have a full BM on the bathroom floor. Gross. Off to the changing table to diaper MA. Woodson starts screaming - remember he is still in highchair eating dinner. Somehow I irrationally decide it is more important to check on Woodson than to diaper Mercer Anne. I put MA down and rescue Woodson. MA is hysterical, almost hyperventilating in her room, naked and MAD. I undress Woodson (still screaming) and plop him in the tub (he stops, whew, one down). I quickly pop my head into their room to grab MA. I stop. There is a massive pile of BM (loose) and MA is covered in it. Oh...that is why she is so upset. Great. Woodson out of the tub. MA in. Clean MA off without letting Woodson (or Sally) get in the other room. Drain tub and clean for the second time. Run water place babies back in water for real bath. Get them ready for bed and then the sitter comes. Why didn't I ask her to come early?