Decisions
It’s 6:15 am. Decision time. Not whether to go to the gym before work, but whether or not I stay in bed or get up to enjoy one precious cup of coffee in peace and quiet. Perhaps even catch up on the news headlines of the day so I don’t have to rely on my Facebook feed to tell me what’s going on in the world.
6:15…am….I have approximately 45 minutes until my 22 month old springs from her nightly slumber demanding cereal and Timmy Time and finger paint. 45 minutes until my whirling dervish in a diaper consumes nearly every second of my attention and energy. Sleep or peace and quiet? Hmmmm….
And then, since I’m 6 months pregnant, the decision has been made for me. Baby #2 starts tap dancing on my bladder and I’m up to pee. Again. After making more room on the dance floor for Baby V, I realize there’s no way I’m dozing back off to sleep again so I head to the kitchen.
As I wait for the coffee to brew, I look around. My mom mind starts making lists: the dishwasher needs unloading. And then reloaded with the stray cups and bowls from last night’s bedtime snack. Wow…look at all the fingerprints on the fridge. That really needs to be wiped down. Oh yeah, I have a load of towels in the dryer that need folding…and when’s the last time I wiped down the baseboards in the laundry room? Oh, and we need Oxiclean. Better add that to the Costco list. What else do we nee….
*BEEEEEEP* *BEEEEEEP* Coffee is ready. I contemplate: coffee and the news or take care of those few things that really need to get done. I close my eyes. I hear….silence. A rare commodity in a house with a toddler and three dogs. I take a deep breathe and decide that these next 45 minutes belong to me. Perhaps the hardest decision to make as a mother sometimes is to take time just for yourself.
I enjoyed my coffee. I enjoyed my news (ok, it was really an episode of Real Housewives of Atlanta). And when I heard that tiny voice call from the hallway: “Mommy? Mommy?” I was ready to start *our* day and instead of cereal and Timmy Time and finger paint, we had home-made French Toast with blueberries (and Timmy Time and finger paint because some things in a toddlers world just aren’t negotiable).