'Moms Need an Assistant!'

Nate Berkus said this the other day and I could NOT agree more. I've been telling Scott for months now that I want an assistant...haha! I also saw on the same show that they made a list of all the things a Mom does in a day. (By the way, isn't DVR the best invention EVER...if it were not for DVR I would never see a single episode of anything) Anyways, I've never really thought about it that way, I just do it...but then I started thinking, and decided to make my own list of what goes on around here in a day. So, let's take last Thur. for example. Just a run of the mill day in the Utley house and even one of the less busy days because I don't work on Thursdays. I won't even attempt to make a list of our Tuesdays because that is just INSANITY...school, dance, my longest work evening, etc. Anyways, back to Thur. (and, this post is mostly for myself...it's long and boring, but I know one day I will want to look back on what my days used to consist of! And, I know I will miss them, because even on my craziest/hardest days, I LOVE it! :)

-Day begins at a little after 6am when my live in alarm clock wakes up (we will call said alarm clock Abby-ha, and for the record, she has been in school for almost a year and I have only had to wake her THREE times).

-Live in alarm clock manages to play quietly while I get ready until about 6:30am when the temptation is just too much and with one loud thud and squeal, human wrecking ball aka: Liv, is woken up!

-Time for the morning routine...change clothes, make breakfast, say 20 times nicely, 'eat your breakfast, please.' Say, 20 times in a firm voice, 'eat your breakfast, Abby...sit down, Olivia...do NOT throw that on the floor, Olivia...get off of the table, Olivia!' Say once in an I mean business voice, 'alright, Abby...if you don't eat, you go to school hjungry...you can't go to school and learn on an empty stomach!'...'alright, Liv...that's it, breakfast is over for you!' And, by that time, I have a messy floor and at least one milk spill to clean up.


-Corral the girls to the bathroom, and corraling my children anywhere is like herding cats...IMPOSSIBLE! Get the girls to the bathroom, referee a fight over who gets which stool to stand on, make Abby go potty, brush two sets of teeth, fix hair on 2 gorgeous little heads.

-Gather school items and get the girls to the car, get everyone strapped in and listen to everyone whine all the way to school because the sun is in their eyes, fish around the backseat for sun glasses and finally the car is happy the last 5min. of the trip (it's a 10 min. trip-ha!)

-Drag everyone from the car to take Abby in for school drop-off.

-Back out 5min. later and time to figure out what's at the top of the to-do list for the day. Off to the bank, village hall, Target and the grocery.

-Liv and I rush around and manage to make it to all 4 stops in record time and back to pick up Abby @ 11am.

-11am, both girls are tired, hungry and grumpy. I remember that we had a movie on reserve at the movie store, so we have to stop and get that on the way home.

-Home and now time for lunch. Make lunch (see above breakfast ritual and that's quite similar to the lunch ritual. ha!) During lunch I clean the kitchen, kitchen floors and unload/load the dishwasher. Easy task that always has to be done and I am still in the room with the girls, even though I usually don't get a chance to eat until Liv is down for a nap.

-After lunch, there is about 30min until Liv goes down for a nap. We usually read or play a game during this time. Or, depending on how lunch went...clean the floors and kitchen again! ha!

-12:30: nap time for Liv. She won't nap if she thinks she is missing anything fun going on, so Abby will pretend to go to her room and nap, too. Both girls are either messy or have stripped, so before nap/rest both girls get changed into outfits #2 for the day. Change, potty, hugs/kisses, down for a nap.

-Sometimes Abby will forget that she is pretending and she will stay in her room and play quietly for a while. This is when I grab lunch for myself, check emails, return phone calls/email for work, etc. After making Abby at least rest for a while, we usually do a craft or play until we hear Liv stirring. Craft usually results in outfit #3 for Abby. Sometimes Liv naps 2hrs., sometimes 30min. If I have to work that evening, then this is when I will get ready for work.

-The girls chairs arrived this day, so I spent the better part of Liv's nap assembling those.

-2:30ish-everyone is hungry again, so it's time for snacks. Snack, play and more picking up. The girls usually play pretty good together at this time of the day OR it's the witching hour and all hell breaks loose...there is no in between, it's always one or the other! ha! If it's nice out, we head outside immediately after nap!

-4pm: Scott gets home (he leaves @ 4:30am, so he can be home at 4pm...what a sweet husband...although, I think he does it more to avoid traffic than anything else-haha). I'm either ready to collapse or ready to work-out or leaving for work at this time. If I work, I leave around this time and don't get home until 9pm or so!

-If I am not working (and, I only work a few nights a week), I will do whatever major chore is needing to be done that I couldn't get done with the girls in tow or hop on the treadmill, on the rare occasion go tan, etc. or go sit in the bathroom with the door locked until someone notices I am missing-haha!

-By 5pm, we are working on dinner. This particular day we decided on quesadillas, and of course, we are out of tortillas, so off I go to the grocery for the SECOND time that day!

-Back home and get busy on dinner. Clean up dinner mess, shuffle the girls off to either play outside or find something inside to do...usually it's something rough with Scott like wrestling or ball in the house, and someone ends up hurt or something of mine gets broken! ha!

-Before we know it, it's time for bedtime routine. Showers/baths, pjs, more teeth brushing, dry everyone's hair, tell Abby 20 times she can't have anything to drink, little time to play, maybe a snack (depending on who ate dinner), read, PRAY, hugs/kisses, patting, tuck into bed...hope that everyone is in bed and asleep by 8:00-8:30.

-Most of the time, this will be the first time that Scott and I have sat down all day. But, it's usually not for long. There are always toys to be put away, cleaning whatever didn't get cleaned that day, floors to be swept, more dishes, more laundry, etc. And, I save my big cleaning until this time, because 1. I don't want to take time from being with the girls to do it during the day and 2. I couldn't do it during the day most days even if I wanted to because the girls are making 3 messes for every one I clean up!

-By 9pm or so, I am usually dead and useless anyways, so I will watch some stupid show like The Bachelor or Dancing with the Stars until I fall asleep watching said stupid show. Wake up, do whatever I forgot to do before I fell asleep, finally get to bed (usually way too late) and get ready to do it again!

***Add to this the dog, the runny noses and coughs, work, Dr. appts, dentist appts, dance and anything else we have going on, and yes....I NEED AN ASSISTANT! haha!