Summer schedule in effect

By Deana Nall
Baytown Sun

Published June 01, 2005

Last Thursday, something became crystal clear to me.

I remember in my elementary school years that my mother was never quite as ecstatic as I was to have reached the last day of school.

Now I get it.

This summer, for the first time, I am the stay-at-home mom of two children. My youngest was born after school started for my oldest last fall. So except for a few short holidays, I have never been home with both of them all day. I have now entered a not-so-brave new world.

These first few days have had me pining a little for the summers I had as a teenager. Here is the daily schedule I followed during the summer between the ninth and 10th grades:

11 a.m.: Get up. Turn on “The Young and the Restless.”

Noon: Watch “Days of Our Lives.”

1 p.m.: Watch “Another World.”

2 p.m.: Watch “Santa Barbara”

3 p.m.: Take a nap.

4 p.m.: Mom comes home from work. “What have you been doing all day?” she asks. Roll your eyes and storm out of the room. Parents!

Let’s compare this to my daily summer schedule now:

2:30 a.m.: It’s storming outside, which is causing the cat to have a nervous breakdown on the front porch. Get up and let him in.

4 a.m.: The baby wakes up wanting only her mother.

5 a.m.: Go back to bed.

6:30 a.m.: Recent kindergarten graduate crawls into Mommy and Daddy’s bed.

7 a.m.: Baby is up again.

7:30 a.m. Make breakfast.

8:30 a.m.: Schedule therapy appointment for the cat.

9 a.m.: Give baby a bath.

9:15 a.m.: Dry off. First the baby, then you.

10 a.m.: Both kids are dressed now. You, however, are wearing what you woke up in yesterday.

This could get boring. Let’s just say that the next 12 or so hours are filled with laundry, cleaning up messes, driving kids around, finding new ways to be rude to telemarketers, cooking and cleaning up more messes.

9 p.m.: Recent kindergarten graduate asks, “What does ‘sexy’ mean?” Spend the next hour trying to answer her in a way that won’t leave her confused.

10 p.m.: Child is now thoroughly confused. Put her to bed.

10:30 p.m.: Go to bed.

11 p.m.: Husband inquires about possibility of having a third child. Relocate him to the couch. Go back to bed.

The most difficult thing about this schedule is working in time to take a shower. This involves getting both kids, the husband and the cat to leave me alone all at the same time. Hopefully by August, I’ll have it figured out. In the mean time, you might want to keep your distance.

One more thing — could someone tell me what’s happening on “Days of Our Lives?”

Deana Nall’s column appears every Wednesday. Her email address is cldjnall@verizon.net.