I have been a full time stay at home mom for a while now. My schedule is a little more relaxed in the morning than it use to be. I USE to get up at 5:15 and shower, fix my hair, and do my make up before my kids were up out of bed. When they got up around 6:30, they required my full attention. (They are a little high maintenance in the morning.) If I was all ready for work, I could devote my hour from 6:30-7:30 to dragging kids out of bed, breakfast, brushing teeth, making beds, straightening up the huge mess we make in the morning, and just being sure we are all ready to go. At 7:30, I could get dressed, put on my jewelry, and off we would go to work and to school.
That’s not how our mornings go anymore unless I have a meeting, a coffee date, MOPS, or something where I might see another human being that isn’t related to me, I sleep until about 6:15. I stumble to the bathroom and brush my teeth and wash my face. On a good day I comb my hair, on a bad one, I put it in pig tales. I don’t put on real clothes, but typically throw one of Scott’s big sweatshirts over my PJ’s. I still do the whole dragging the kids up and getting them ready bit from 6:30-7:30. At 7:30, I put on some big sunglasses and we load up in the car. I have tinted windows so I figure no one can tell I’m not wearing make up if I just wear some shades. Lots of people wear sweatshirts, big sunglasses, and pig tales every day, right? Plus, I work out when I get back so why waste any time getting cute in the morning?!?
I have been totally happy with this routine until lately. I usually just drive up the hill to the school and pull up by the door. The kids hop out and run for school and I drive away before anyone notices I’m wearing flannel leopard print pj pants.
Recently, the school has added some safety and supervision in the morning. Now there are two teachers who act as parking attendants. You drive up and they open the car door for your kiddos and usher them in. This means they get a full view of my make up less face, crazy hair, and leopard pjs! Oddly enough, after careful consideration, I figured I am ok with this. It’s always the same two teachers and they are both really sweet. Totally not the judgmental type. I weighed the pros and cons and decided I could live with myself if these two nice ladies see me looking like a crazy nut!
After today, I have decided it’s time to make a change to my morning routine. As much as I hate it, I’m going to have to get up a little earlier and actually put on real clothes or something.
It all started this morning when Brayden woke up feeling awful. He has strep and was running a fever and wasn’t at all cheerful this morning. He was even more high maintenance than usual. I wasn’t feeling too hot myself. Gavin has a sinus infection and hasn’t been feeling great either. We were all a little tired and crabby. Lucky for me, after some gentle (and not so gentle) coaxing, we were all ready to go by 7:45. This is a little later than we like to leave, but still gets us to school plenty early. I wore my usual stay at home mommy uniform and didn’t even bother putting on slippers because we were late. This morning Brayden could have passed as my twin. He had on a t shirt and shorts, slippers, and his bath robe. His hair was a wild mess. Perfect! Off we went to school!
Gavin was a little nervous to go to school without his big brother. I assured him he was a big brave boy and would be just fine. Like a trooper, he jumped out and headed in to school. As he got to the doors, it started to dawn on my that the school looked pretty dark and empty and no one else had pulled up to drop off their kids.
CRAP! It was a late start day today! School was scheduled to start at 10:15 instead of 8:15 because of teachers meetings! Of course, by the time I remembered this Gavin was already in the building. Grrrrr!
After a quick family vote, it was decided that Brayden would go in after him. After all, he was at least wearing slippers. Like the sweet big brother that he can be, Brayden grabbed a tiger striped top hat that happened to be sitting in the floor and put it on to cover his crazy hair, and ran in to school to find Gavin. I anxiously sat in the car feeling like a big fat jerk! A few minutes later out came a heroic Brayden and a teary Gavin..being escorted by the vice principal. Fantastic! Busted by the VP in one of my most stellar moments as a parent.
Obviously, I will not be winning any parenting awards today. Gavin is probably scarred for life after walking around an empty school and sitting in a dark classroom until Brayden found him. Brayden may never forgive me for sending him in to school in slippers, a top hat, and his jammies. Needless to say, I will never again drive my kids to school in my pjs, bare feet, pig tales, and sunglasses!