It's hard to tell when my days begin and when my days end. It's not easily divisible into two separate halves - one of day in which I work and one of night in which I sleep. Sometimes it feels like work is my solace. If you work with me, you suspect that I am exaggerating. However, if you work with me and you have been to my home (Kyrce) - you may truly understand how apt this sentiment is.
~ 3:00 A.M. Alex wakes up with Lily's foot in her face.
~ 3:45 A.M. Alex is wide awake. She cannot sleep. She is replaying her day from work; she is cursing herself for forgetting to make all of the appointments her children need; she is wondering how it is that Kyrce can hate Seinfeld; she is wondering if she'll ever fall back to sleep.
~ 4:00 A.M. Lily wakes Alex; she has to "go pee-pee in the potty". Lily cries when the bedroom door is opened and the light hits her eyes. Alex feels like crying, too, but she doesn't.
~ 4:07 A.M. Alex lets Lily climb back into her bed instead of her own. She's too tired for a battle of the wills.
~ 5:30 A.M. Liam wakes up. Alex fetches him and brings him back to her bed. She has to do this strategically because there are now four people in the bed. What's particularly funny about this is that it's not actually a bed. It's an air mattress...but that's an entirely different story for another day.
~ 6:15 A.M. Liam has dozed back off. Of course, he only sleeps in on a work day, never on a weekend. Alex regrettably gets up and starts to get ready for work. She chastises herself for not getting up earlier.
~ 6:30 A.M. While Alex is getting dressed, Liam points at her and laughs. Alex is not amused.
~ 6:32 A.M. Alex calls Kyrce to make sure she is awake (she is) and to coordinate their socks.
~ 6:40 A.M. Child wrangling begins. There are loose naked children running around the room trying to escape the grasp of their mother. Liam runs after Dana, crying, with his arms up in the air, desperately hoping his Dad will pick him up.
~ 7:05 A.M. Alex helps get the kids in the car with Dana, gives Seth his daily lecture about how he should wear a warm hat in the cold weather, and then comes in the house to do a victory dance when the children are safely gone. Bob, who is lazying about on the couch, scolds her for celebrating and tells her she really shouldn't do that.
~7:10 A.M. Alex scrambles about, collecting her things for work:
~ 7:25 A.M. Alex and Kyrce stop at the Citgo for a giant cup of coffee. Alex gets the French Toast blend.
~ 7:45 A.M. Alex and Kyrce meet Crystal at the Park-n-Ride in New Paltz. Crystal is driving today! Alex and Kyrce try not to talk about work since that usually puts Crystal to sleep and they don't want to do that while she is driving!
~ 9:05 A.M. Alex, Kyrce, and Crystal get to park in the carpool lot! Good, since they are late; they won't have to park in the wasteland. Security does this loop around the parking lot in their shiny security truck and drives in front of them, informing them that they need a 'new' commuter tag; apparently, someone had been giving out duplicate commuter tags so some folks had been assigned the same number. This new tag initiative probably came from the same office that thought of the coyote decoys and reflective pin-wheels all over the grounds to keep the geese off the grounds. (image coming soon!)Alex thinks she would like that job.
~ 9:15 A.M. Kyrce brings Alex a bagel back from the cafeteria. Alex thought she'd eat it for lunch, but it doesn't make it that long. She scarfes it down quickly. Chattering away to herself, she begins to wade through her email. Great. She deletes what she can. Only 134 left to go!
~ 9:45 Alex preps for the 10:00 meeting. From then on, the day passes quickly. There's a flurry of phone calls, emails, webexs and meetings. They melt together in such a way that when Alex looks at the clock, it's 4:05 P.M. Perhaps a time warp? Instead of feeling elated, she's stressed about what she didn't get to today.
~ 4:15 P.M. Dana makes his typical phone call to Alex, 15 minutes too early. Alex frustratingly tells him she'll call him back in 15.
~ 4:35 P.M. Out the door 5 minutes late. Out the door 5 minutes late on a Friday out of USR on Rt. 17 matters. Alex checks in with Dana, as promised. Everything is fairly OK at the homestead, albeit a bit noisy. Off the phone, car pool psychoanalysis of each other begins.
~ 5:48 P.M. Crystal safely deposits Kyrce and Alex back in New Paltz. Alex dutifully calls Dana (at his request) to tell him she is in New Paltz now. She can hear the relief in his voice over the chaos in the background.
~ 6:25 P.M. Kyrce and Alex make it home. Lily cries, "Mommy's home! Mommy's home!" as Alex walks in the door. nice. Home. Still alive. This always surprises Alex at the end of each commute. Kyrce and Alex eat the leftover pizza from Maxwell's, still warm in the box. mmmmmm...Liam toddles over to the table to steal a bite.
~ 6:58 P.M. Kyrce goes home. Alex wrangles the children, Liam first, then Lily. Lily seems as if she's recovered from being ill but Liam begins to exhibit signs of illness. She puts Grandpa Bob to bed.
~ 8:05 P.M. Child-wrangling has ended for the evening. Everyone is tucked in. Alex tries to work on her blog. She is very sleepy. She stays up late, trying not to think about how much she'll regret this decision come morning.
~ 11:08 P.M. Alex is fading.
~ 2:15 A.M. Liam wakes and begins to cry. Alex stumbles out of bed, waking up only after she is set in motion towards Liam's crib. She fetches Liam and brings him over to the bed, waking Dana...
* * *
~ 1:30 A.M. Liam wakes and begins to cry. Alex stumbles out of bed, waking up only after she is set in motion towards Liam's crib. Hadn't she just done this? She fetches Liam and brings him over to the bed, waking Dana."Will you go grab the bottle?" she asks.Alex grabs a diaper and lays Liam on the bed where she changes him.
"Uh..." Dana grunts.
"Dana. Dana? Please. Please go grab a bottle," Alex pleads.Alex cuddles with Liam in her favorite chair in the bedroom. She snaps suddenly to wake after she drowses off to sleep holding Liam. Quietly she crosses the room, tucking Liam back in and briefly covering up Lily on her way back to bed.
"Uh..." He grunts again but this time he responds by getting out of bed. Dana goes downstairs to get a bottle. He meets Bob along the way who he brings back upstairs, directing him back to his room.
~ 3:00 A.M. Alex wakes up with Lily's foot in her face.
"Funny," she thinks, "When did she sneak into our bed?" Again, Lily kicks her in the face. and again. and again.~ 3:05 A.M. and again.
~ 3:45 A.M. Alex is wide awake. She cannot sleep. She is replaying her day from work; she is cursing herself for forgetting to make all of the appointments her children need; she is wondering how it is that Kyrce can hate Seinfeld; she is wondering if she'll ever fall back to sleep.
~ 4:00 A.M. Lily wakes Alex; she has to "go pee-pee in the potty". Lily cries when the bedroom door is opened and the light hits her eyes. Alex feels like crying, too, but she doesn't.
~ 4:07 A.M. Alex lets Lily climb back into her bed instead of her own. She's too tired for a battle of the wills.
~ 5:30 A.M. Liam wakes up. Alex fetches him and brings him back to her bed. She has to do this strategically because there are now four people in the bed. What's particularly funny about this is that it's not actually a bed. It's an air mattress...but that's an entirely different story for another day.
~ 6:15 A.M. Liam has dozed back off. Of course, he only sleeps in on a work day, never on a weekend. Alex regrettably gets up and starts to get ready for work. She chastises herself for not getting up earlier.
~ 6:30 A.M. While Alex is getting dressed, Liam points at her and laughs. Alex is not amused.
~ 6:32 A.M. Alex calls Kyrce to make sure she is awake (she is) and to coordinate their socks.
~ 6:40 A.M. Child wrangling begins. There are loose naked children running around the room trying to escape the grasp of their mother. Liam runs after Dana, crying, with his arms up in the air, desperately hoping his Dad will pick him up.
~ 7:05 A.M. Alex helps get the kids in the car with Dana, gives Seth his daily lecture about how he should wear a warm hat in the cold weather, and then comes in the house to do a victory dance when the children are safely gone. Bob, who is lazying about on the couch, scolds her for celebrating and tells her she really shouldn't do that.
~7:10 A.M. Alex scrambles about, collecting her things for work:
"Where is my wallet?! Where is my cell phone?! Where is the laptop?! Damn it! #!@!"~7:15 A.M. Alex begins her commute to USR. She starts out on foot and walks around the corner to Kyrce's house since the backyard is still too mucky to cut through it. She knocks on the door. Kyrce doesn't hear her the first time. Alex hears water running and decides to wait outside. Her upstairs neighbor is on her way out. Alex hopes she didn't give her the geebies. You don't often expect sitting on the stairs outside your apartment.)
~ 7:25 A.M. Alex and Kyrce stop at the Citgo for a giant cup of coffee. Alex gets the French Toast blend.
~ 7:45 A.M. Alex and Kyrce meet Crystal at the Park-n-Ride in New Paltz. Crystal is driving today! Alex and Kyrce try not to talk about work since that usually puts Crystal to sleep and they don't want to do that while she is driving!
~ 9:05 A.M. Alex, Kyrce, and Crystal get to park in the carpool lot! Good, since they are late; they won't have to park in the wasteland. Security does this loop around the parking lot in their shiny security truck and drives in front of them, informing them that they need a 'new' commuter tag; apparently, someone had been giving out duplicate commuter tags so some folks had been assigned the same number. This new tag initiative probably came from the same office that thought of the coyote decoys and reflective pin-wheels all over the grounds to keep the geese off the grounds. (image coming soon!)Alex thinks she would like that job.
~ 9:15 A.M. Kyrce brings Alex a bagel back from the cafeteria. Alex thought she'd eat it for lunch, but it doesn't make it that long. She scarfes it down quickly. Chattering away to herself, she begins to wade through her email. Great. She deletes what she can. Only 134 left to go!
~ 9:45 Alex preps for the 10:00 meeting. From then on, the day passes quickly. There's a flurry of phone calls, emails, webexs and meetings. They melt together in such a way that when Alex looks at the clock, it's 4:05 P.M. Perhaps a time warp? Instead of feeling elated, she's stressed about what she didn't get to today.
~ 4:15 P.M. Dana makes his typical phone call to Alex, 15 minutes too early. Alex frustratingly tells him she'll call him back in 15.
~ 4:35 P.M. Out the door 5 minutes late. Out the door 5 minutes late on a Friday out of USR on Rt. 17 matters. Alex checks in with Dana, as promised. Everything is fairly OK at the homestead, albeit a bit noisy. Off the phone, car pool psychoanalysis of each other begins.
~ 5:48 P.M. Crystal safely deposits Kyrce and Alex back in New Paltz. Alex dutifully calls Dana (at his request) to tell him she is in New Paltz now. She can hear the relief in his voice over the chaos in the background.
~ 6:25 P.M. Kyrce and Alex make it home. Lily cries, "Mommy's home! Mommy's home!" as Alex walks in the door. nice. Home. Still alive. This always surprises Alex at the end of each commute. Kyrce and Alex eat the leftover pizza from Maxwell's, still warm in the box. mmmmmm...Liam toddles over to the table to steal a bite.
~ 6:58 P.M. Kyrce goes home. Alex wrangles the children, Liam first, then Lily. Lily seems as if she's recovered from being ill but Liam begins to exhibit signs of illness. She puts Grandpa Bob to bed.
~ 8:05 P.M. Child-wrangling has ended for the evening. Everyone is tucked in. Alex tries to work on her blog. She is very sleepy. She stays up late, trying not to think about how much she'll regret this decision come morning.
~ 11:08 P.M. Alex is fading.
~ 2:15 A.M. Liam wakes and begins to cry. Alex stumbles out of bed, waking up only after she is set in motion towards Liam's crib. She fetches Liam and brings him over to the bed, waking Dana...