What DO you do all day?!?!

I think there is nothing that irritates stay at home mom’s more than the genuinely curious stranger who dares utter the words “What do you do all day?”  I suppose some think about how they’re at their jobs all day long, come home and manage to make dinner, clean up the house and take care of the kids needs in the evening and truly can’t imagine what they’d need to do if home all day long. 

So what do I do all day?  Let’s see, from morning through dinner, here’s today:

I wake up and feed Nolie and CamCam their breakfast.  While they’re eating I decide that today’s the day I’m going to finally have the dreaded kitchen counter that everything seems to end up on completely cleared away.  School papers are recycled or filed away, everything that needs to go upstairs is put on the stairs, bills are brought down to the office desk, toys are brought to the toy room, remotes are put away, etc, etc.  It looks wonderful.

Nolie and CamCam finish eating and bring their dishes to the sink.  CamCam tells me I really need to do dishes.  He helps me empty the dishwasher, and I fill it.  It is almost full, there’s just enough room for a couple more dishes.  I make a mental note to run it after I eat my breakfast. 

I decide to first clean the entry, the smallest and easiest room in the house to clean.  Then I’ll have one clean room!  Put everything away, vacuum up all the dirt and mud.  Success!  While in there, find a note from the school I need to sign.  Put it on the kitchen counter so I don’t forget.

Come up to the main area to pick up toys.  While picking up, see how dirty the bottom half of all the windows are in this room and so wash them.  Nolie and CamCam decide to go play outside.  Great, that will make it much easier for me to clean.  Manage to vacuum the kitchen.  Start picking up toys and while bringing something upstairs realize how much laundry there is to do.  Start a load, and sit down to fold what’s already clean.  Hear yelling outside, stop folding to go and see what they’re fighting about.  Start back upstairs, but notice that kitchen counters need to be washed when I walk by them.  Start washing them, find a nerf bullet behind the toaster, walk upstairs to put it away.  See the huge pile of partially folded clothes, sit down to fold some more. 

Hear “Little Hurricane” trying to open the door.  Open the door for him, and he slyly peaks through the door.  Think, “He’s so cute.”  Then think, “What’s that smell???”  Realize it’s poop, and then realize it’s all over his hands.  Wisk him off to the tub.  Go into Little Miss’ room and bleach the wall where the poop art was made.  Strip his bed and add it to the laundry pile.  Try and figure out what else little poopy hands could possible have touched and wash it all.  While cleaning find a note she needed me to mail, throw it down the stairs to put on the kitchen counter so I don’t forget to mail it.

Sit down to fold laundry, see “Little Hurricane” climbing out of the tub.  Bring him down to dress and feed, there’s a knock at the door.  It’s Nolie, bringing me the mail.  I grab it and throw it on the kitchen counter to go through later. 

Hear screaming outside, then the front door slam.  Nolie comes in, covered in mud.  I send him back to the entry to get undressed, then upstairs for a shower.  “Little Hurricane’s” mad because I won’t let him outside so he spits his milk all over the floor.  Start to wipe it up and hear CamCam come inside.  He’s even more covered in mud.  Strip him down in the entry, and send him up for a bath. 

Lunch time, while we’re eating lunch I look online to see what activities I can sign the kids up for the summer. Print out the info, throw it on the kitchen counter to fill out later.  Turn around and see “Little Hurricane” has finished his lunch and is running his peanut butter hands all over the window and licking the window.  Clean up from lunch and send the boys to the toy room to play. 

“Little Hurricane’s” mad they won’t let him play with them so he starts spitting everywhere.  Tell him to stop and think that I really need to mop. 

Go back upstairs to switch around the laundry and while putting away a pile realize the kids floors are covered in dirty clothes.  Didn’t I just have them pick this up yesterday??? Oh well, gather it up from all rooms and throw it into the bathroom. 

Nolie yells to me that CamCam peed his pants.

Run downstairs and see that not only is CamCam soaked, but he’s been walking all around.  Get him back to the tub, then wash up everywhere I can see pee and make a mental note that I definitely need to mop the floor later.  While washing, see little game pieces under the heaters.  Grab them out and put them on the kitchen counter to put away later. 

While I was occupied with that, “Little Hurricane” had reached the bag of animal crackers on the kitchen counter and dumped the entire bag on the kitchen floor in his eagerness to get it into his bowl. 

Older two are home from school.  CamCam and Nolie are laughing and pressing their hands and faces all over the big window as they walk by the big window.  Switch over to homework mode and tell the little boys they need to play by themselves now.  They bring their toys out so they can be near us still.

Time to start dinner.  While working on dinner, I’m brought field trip permission slips to sign and returned papers for me to look at.  I tell them to put them on the kitchen counter so I will remember to take care of them later. 

After dinner ask my oldest two to fill the dishwasher and run it.  They inform me there’s room for 2 plates, 1 cup and that’s it. 

Crap, I forgot to run it after I ate my breakfast. 

So what do I do all day long?  Well, the kitchen counters are covered in papers, mail and school stuff, the laundry is all over the place in various phases of “needing to be put away, needing to be folded, needing to be washed and needing to be sorted,” my entry way is full of mud, my floors desperately need to be vacuumed and mopped, my windows are covered in fingerprints and who knows what else, the kitchen sink is full of dirty dishes and there are toys all over the floor.

I guess I do nothing all day.