Oh, What a Morning

And it wasn't beautiful.

Noah was playing his "I'm not going to sleep" game last night again. He didn't get to sleep until 10:30, so he was pretty cranky this morning. I had to get up earlier than I prefer because we had to drop Rich off at work. We're waiting for a part to come in to fix the other car, so we're making do with the one car for the moment.

We went right from dropping Rich off to the clubhouse for Sarah's dance class. I got her changed into her dance clothes quickly, and we headed inside. Then Noah decided to pitch the world's biggest tantrum. Biggest. In the world. We're trying to walk the 30 feet from the front door to the dance room, and he is screaming his head off, flailing, and wrapping himself around both my legs so I can't move (while I'm carrying the infant carrier, of course). I managed to shuffle to the dance room, scooting him ahead of me. The dance teacher wasn't there yet, so I'm trying to get Sarah into her dance shoes while Noah continues to scream at the top of his lungs.

When the dance teacher got there, I picked Noah up around his waist and tucked him under one arm and grabbed the carrier with my free hand. I hauled Noah and Karen through the clubhouse back out to the van, with Noah screaming, "I don't wanna go to the car!" the whole way. I pretty much locked Noah in the back part of the van to scream and took Karen into the front seat with me because she was starving by this point. So I fed Karen while Noah screamed. The. Entire. Time.

When Karen was done, I asked Noah if he wanted to get out of the car. He did, so I told him he needed to calm down and get control, and he settled down for the most part. I mopped his face with a couple of tissues, and we headed back inside. Once inside, he began screaming again and wanted up. I picked him up and waddled back to the window outside dance class towing a toddler, baby, diaper bag, and carrier. I put the diaper bag and carrier down and just held Noah (who promptly fell asleep) until class was over. And yes, I'm that talented--I also managed to write a check for a recital costume and February classes.

By the way, why is it that children gain about 30 pounds just by falling asleep?

After class, I waddled back out, carrying the now-sleeping toddler, diaper bag, and baby-in-carrier. We got outside when Sarah realized she was still wearing her dance shoes and left her street shoes in class. And no, of course, she couldn't run back by herself to get them. I had to carry everything back with her. About halfway, a woman leaving the clubhouse saw us and walked Sarah to get her shoes so I could stay put. And then another mother from the dance class helped carry Karen and her seat to the van. (Thank heaven for compassionate people.) And we drove home.

Where I had 1/2 hour to shower and get Noah a clean shirt, etc. before getting back in the van to meet Rich for lunch. (We were meeting one of his Woodbadge patrol buddies and his family for lunch.) And of course, at this point, Karen decided she'd had enough of being in her seat. Not that I blame her, but... So she screamed the entire time I was in the shower and getting dressed and...pretty much until we pulled out of the driveway and the vibration put her back to sleep. Poor kid. And she'd been so nice last night--she slept from 8:30 p.m. until 5:30 a.m.

At least lunch was good. Karen slept, the kids were in a better mood, and Schlotzsky's is yummy. Maybe I can finagle everyone into naps this afternoon. A Mom can dream, can't she?

(Wow. This blog is great for journaling, huh?)