A Day in the Life of Me

May 6, 2009

A day in the life of me...

I normally get up at 5:22...that's when the alarm goes off. I'm not sure why I don't set it for 5:20 or 5:25...that's just too conventional I suppose. Anyway, I get up with Kevin and stumble into the kitchen and if I'm lucky, I have remembered to load the coffee maker the night before, and perhaps I even had the sense to program it because then I can have a cup as soon as I walk in the kitchen. Unfortunately, 9 times out of 10, that isn't the case. Most of the time it still has yesterday's coffee in it, so I have to dump that nasty filter in the trash which is probably setting in the middle of the floor because it's always overflowing and that is my sign for Kevin to take it out...just setting it in the middle of the floor. Then I have to dump the remainder of the coffee in the sink...but sometimes that is quite a feat because chances are, that last night's dinner dishes are still in the sink...overflowing. Once I get the coffee brewed, however, my day starts to improve. I slam together some sort of sandwich for Kevin to take to lunch...turkey usually. He has high blood pressure and he doesn't like to eat ham, even though I got out the ham and turkey one day and showed him that the turkey had just as much sodium in it as the ham...you can't tell him anything though. Once I get that done, I plop down on the couch and watch the news for a little while and drink my coffee. Kevin asks why I don't read my literature during this time, but what he doesn't understand is that my brain cannot function properly until a minimum of 3 cups of coffee have entered my bloodstream. Duh. Anyway, so I just veg out for a little while and enjoy the peace and quiet.

Around 6:30, my first-born Riley usually starts stirring. Let me introduce you to Riley. He was born October 4, 1998. He is a Libra. He didn't speak until he was 3 years old. We thought maybe he was autistic. After 19 months of speech therapy, we found that to be untrue. He is not autistic, he is rather a genius! HaHa. Well, we think he is anyway. He is very Rainman-ish if you will. He can read something and regurgitate it. It's quite amazing. He helped me through American History and I'm not even kidding. Riley is very Libra-ish. I believe with my entire being that he will be President of the United States one of these days. He is extremely methodical and a creature of habit. He has very little creative juices like the females in our home. At 2 years old, he could not speak, but he could point out every letter of the alphabet when asked. I had to go to a meeting when he was in Kindergarten because his fine motor skills were behind. The child used his scissors backwards! With the blades pointing towards him! I'm happy to report he can now cut though. Still working on tying shoes (sorry Riley, but I'm just explaining the workings of your mind.) My dad says Riley is "the chosen one." He thinks Riley is my favorite. This is not true of course. I love all three equally. Riley is the child that is the most unlike me, but he is also the one who is most like me. His heart is huge. He has an old soul. He bears the worries of the world. He understands things beyond his years. I love the way he wants to hear my Papaw tell of WWII and Momaw tell of The Great Depression. I love that he cares about people and humanity and the things that mean something. I'm not trying to write his destiny, but I have my doubts that he will be the quarterback of the football team, but he is going to be something great. He is going to make a difference. Well, if he makes it out alive without me or Kevin laying him out over his smart-ass mouth anyway.

Ok, so Riley gets up and I get his clothes out every morning. I will probably still be doing this when he is 16 years old. That's just Riley. He gets dressed and goes and sits in the living room and watches the Today Show. So, minute-by-minute, I get updates about the Swine Flu, the Craig’s List killer, the chance of rain in China...you name it.

In the meantime, I have to go wake up Natalie, my middle child. My husband is also a middle child, so I have tried to keep her from developing middle-child syndrome. I think it's just a given though. There's no way around it. She will always be too little to do something Riley is doing and too big to do something Wyatt is doing. It's a tough place to be. Knowing what I know now, I would've just had another baby and made it an even four. She would've loved having a sister. That would mean I would still be changing diapers and dealing with all that baby stuff that I am SOOO over now. I’ll just pay for her therapy. Anyway, Natalie does not like to get out of bed. She also does not sleep under the flat sheet…only the coverlet. I don’t even begin to understand why, but I just go with the flow. After numerous attempts of nicely trying to awaken my beautiful princess, I just say, whatever…you can go in your pajamas for all I care and then she usually gets up. My beautiful Natalie is built like her father which is quite unfortunate for her. I wish I could’ve given her the gift of long legs--she has short legs and a long torso though. This year, she has been having too many Little Debbies and has gotten in touch with here bootylicious honky-tonk badonkadonk. That’s what I decided to give her--again Natalie…I’ll pay for the therapy. So, with that said, the last few months have been difficult to get the jeans to go over the bootay, so that usually erupts into some sort of argument where I am blamed, and it couldn’t possibly be the Fudge Rounds. Go figure.

Let me introduce you to Natalie while I’m talking about her…Natalie was my dream come true! I wanted a baby girl so bad and when I found out she was going to be a girl, I was happy beyond measure! I had always had this picture in my head of sitting on the beach…maybe this came from the movie “Beaches”…with my daughter and we would both have on big wide-brimmed hats and sunglasses and pink toenail polish. (I’m smiling now) Natalie was born July 23, 2002. She is a Leo, and once again, possesses many Leo traits. She is a free-spirit like her mommy and she is extremely creative and artistic. She went in her room the other day with some popsicle sticks, glitter and a glue stick and came out with beautiful picture frames for us! Natalie is the kid that everybody likes--all of the older girls take her under their wing and love her. She also possesses some of the not-so great Leo qualities…she can be bossy and she is quite an instigator. She is very strong-willed, so I hope that will come out in positive ways as she matures. She loves to travel…she would never spend any time at home if she didn’t have to--she’d much rather go to Papaw and Nana’s or a friends house than to stay here with boring old us!

Then, like clockwork, Wyatt come down the hall, poking light sabers at us and demanding pancakes, with no consideration for the fact that the other kids need to eat because the bus will be here in 5 minutes. I have discovered microwavable pancakes and my children pretty much live on them now--a long time ago, in an enchanted world, I actually cooked breakfast…I got over it though…now it’s pop-tarts, microwave pancakes or cereal. Anyway, I pop pancakes in the micro and get everybody fed and out the door the older two go…Riley has now checked his folder 15 times to makes sure everything is in there (Rainman).

Then it’s just Wyatt and I for the rest of the day. Housework or studying begins, or some days I go work at the church and he goes to Paw Phil’s for a couple of hours. Wyatt likes to stay at home. He is polar opposite of Natalie who likes to roam. That nest-like quality is true of most Cancers, which he is. Let me back up. It was November of 2004. Kevin was in Pocahontas County hunting. I had been so darn tired and just didn’t feel right. I thought I was going to bed at 7:00 p.m. every night because of the time change. I decided to pop into CVS and get a pregnancy test anyway…we were finished having kids after Natalie, mind you. Two was perfect…a boy and a girl…happy and healthy. Well, I got home and I took the test. Girls, you know how you have the test window and you have the one line that says it’s working and then the other window gives you the line? Well, I was SOOOO pregnant that the positive came before the other window showed up! OMG! I cried and I was so upset and scared and I had no husband that I could reach by phone for 2 days to share this scary information with! That was a long two days. When I finally told him, in his usual, nonchalant fashion, he reassured me that it was fine and that we’d manage somehow. When I went to the doctor, I told them how far along I thought I could be…well the doctor literally jumped back and said, “Wooah! This baby is more than 8 weeks gestation…it has arms and legs!” So we had a good chuckle about all that and 7 months later (pregnancies are much shorter when you don’t know you’re pregnant til the 2nd trimester btw ;-) Wyatt Harden Griffith entered the world on June 23, 2005. He was the easiest baby to carry and the easiest labor and delivery. He was only 7 lbs. 4 ounces, so I guess that is why--Riley was 9 lb.s 4.5 ounces and Nat was 8 lbs. 14.5 ounces. Needless to say, I had my tubes tied on June 24, 2005 :o)

Wyatt is very imaginative. I think that is another Cancer quality. Riley never possessed this quality. Wyatt will sit and play for hours and the stories he tells are hilarious! He is athletic and is left-handed. He has been known to say a cuss word here and there, and of the three children, he is the toughest and the most menacing.

Ok, well that is how we start our day. Now that I have introduced you all to my zoo, I hope to update our goings-on every day or two. Stay tuned!