Some days, you have to wonder if it even pays to get out of bed.

Yesterday, my day ended...well, at 1:00 a.m. this morning. Today started at 5:00 a.m. Then I dozed with Robby on the couch until 6:00 a.m. when Beth marched out demanding milk and waffles. Hrmph. That little troll needs to learn the fine, time-tested art of sleeping in!

I had an in-house appointment at 9:00 a.m. with a company who shall remain nameless as I signed a form stating I would not disclose any information from our meeting to any third parties. So for two hours, I let Rob sleep in. He agreed to stay home today and watch the kids so I could focus on the appointment. So we did the chickens-with-our-heads-cut-off cleaning of the downstairs...that was fun, let me tell you. I definitely didn't get a shower this morning - I definitely needed one.

Anyway, they came, we interviewed, I got my incentive (those free groceries I mentioned a while back) and I came home. I then had precisely an hour to go to Safeway, buy lunch for us, get back and eat before Boy showed up.

He shows up at 12:30 p.m., when his mom informs me he's coming down with some sort of cold. Great. WONDERFUL. He fell asleep about 45 minutes into his stay here today, and didn't wake up until I woke him for dinner. Then I spent the next four hours trying to keep him a safe distance from my children to hopefully avoid them getting sick.

Somewhere in there, I had to go back to Safeway to finish our grocery shopping, so I Snuglied Robby up and away we went for one of the most stressful shopping trips I've had with him to date. I put him in the carrier facing forward so he could look around...nice mommy, right? That's what I thought. Then I got to the produce section. Every time I tried to get a plastic bag out to put my bananas/pears/mangoes in, he was after it. With every piece of fruit, he lunged forward. This little boy's a go-getter, and I can certainly appreciate that, but for Pete's sake!!! Let me bag some fruit, man! Finally, he started to get tired. And bored. And hungry. I had no food for him and I forgot the binky at home. I was in for a real treat! I spent ten minutes in the freezer section, rocking back and forth, letting him use my thumb as a binky, humming Brahm's Lullaby. I'm pretty sure I memorized the prices of frozen vegetables this afternoon. You can get a 16 oz. bag of broccoli florets for $3.19.

Then Beth was being an ornery pain in the rear tonight. Just babbling constantly, whining, fake crying, asking for stuff she knows she can't have at night (cereal, milk, snacks in general). Between her and trying to make Boy understand that he has to keep away from the other kids until he gets better, I had a couple of confused and annoyed kids on my hands!

Couple that with the migraine that's been building all day and I ended up giving myself a time out on our front step. I had to get out. Thank heavens my husband was home with me to sort of grant me that little reprieve! I swear, some days I don't think I'd make it through, mentally speaking, if it weren't for him.

Tell me I'm not alone...that you all have days like this too!