Chaotic and Messy Mornings

Our "typical" morning is kind of all over the place, but in the last two months or so I've been watching my neighbors two kids (ages 7 and 9) for about an hour before we take them to the bus stop for school.  They come to our house around 7:30 an it's always hit or miss whether or not my kids are awake.  Sometimes one or both are up and dressed for the day, other days, they may both be sound asleep.

Lately I've been getting up at 5 so that I can get a run and shower in before either of my kids wake up.  Once I'm out of the shower, I'm usually either rushing to get myself dressed so I can get whoever is awake ready, or I'm able to sit and actually have some quiet time with the Lord before little feet come pitter-pattering to find me.

Noelle loves the attention- for the most part

Once my neighbor's kids come, we just kind of hang out, eating breakfast, drinking coffee (me), and playing with Noelle and Jonah.   Noelle generally loves having them here, unless she has just woken up, then I think she gets a little overwhelmed by their excitement.  Once 8:30 rolls around we head out the door to the bus stop across the street.  Now that the weather has turned cold, it takes me close to 10 minutes to get my kids bundled up to go out.

Well, this morning I was finishing getting myself ready when the 7 year old told me she smelled something funny over near Jonah.  She thought it smelled like oatmeal, and when I picked him up I realized he had had a poop explosion.  It was so not pretty- all the way up his back and there was no safe way to remove his onsie.  I ended up throwing him into the bathtub with his onsie and diaper still on.  And of course it was 8:20, and there was no way he was going to be cleaned and bundled up in time for us to get the kids out to the bus stop.

Thankfully the bus stop is close enough that they ended up watching for the bus to stop at the stop sign down the street and then were able to run over to the bus stop in time to catch it.  I felt bad, but it took me a good while to get Jonah bathed and all the poop removed.  (One of the super fun activities as a parent!)

Jonah being adorable

Once he was bathed and dressed, I brought him downstairs and set him in the bumbo on the kitchen floor to get myself a banana before we needed to head out the door for my doctor's appointment. Well, silly me set him down too close to the cat's water bowl, which he promptly picked up and poured all down the front of himself.  On to outfit number three of the day before 9:15 in the morning.

I got them loaded into the car to head to the doctors (yay for my yearly exam), which thankfully Luke had agreed to meet me there and hang out with them while I saw the doctor.  A few miles down the road and I realized I was driving on empty (probably in more ways than one), but prayed that we would at least make it to the doctor's office and then to a gas station.  Thankfully we made it in time, and made it to a gas station afterwards.

And praise the Lord that He is with me in all the mess and craziness that happens in my life.  All I could think as I was driving to the doctor's office was that He already knew everything that was going to happen, and was already giving me the grace I needed to get through, and to live life abundantly despite it all.  Praise Him for that!