One Chaotic Day in the Life of a Mom with Three Kids

By Erin, Contributing Writer

In last year’s Day in the Life post, I confessed that I was in the midst of a very chaotic season. I had three kids; my oldest was a new 4, and my youngest was a newborn. The girls are now 5, almost 3, and 13 months.

Life is still chaotic.

Although I can say…since my baby turned 1, the fog is starting to lift!

We moved into a new house in August, and I am still getting the house set up and our routine in order. We mainly have two variations of our days at our house. I’ve written about them on my blog here.

But I decided to share a more interesting day with you instead. 🙂

I think we all have chaotic days, but we’re afraid to share them with others. Let me give you a peek inside of mine. Maybe you’ll feel better about yours.

Thursday, August 29–3 weeks after moving into our new house

6:30 a.m. I wake up to my husband yelling: “Erin! Get up! Now!”

I panic, hop out of bed and meet my husband in our guest second-floor bathroom.

The bathroom is flooded.

I walk downstairs and see that the kitchen floor is wet as well. Water is coming out of the light fixture in the kitchen.

My husband turns off the water and the power in the kitchen.

I try to call the insurance company. Unfortunately, they are closed. I try to call the home warranty office. Same story: Their after-hours lady tells me she will try to get someone to call me back.

Hubby tries to clean up what he can but also has to finish getting ready for work. I feel like I’m walking in a daze–and just hoping the girls will stay asleep a little while longer.

Just then I hear the garbage truck. I had told our next-door neighbor I would take her trash out while she was at the beach. I run outside in my pajamas. I meet the neighbor from down the street in the next-door neighbor’s driveway.

“Nice to meet you,” I say.

And then I realize how I must look.

“Uh, I’m sorry. How embarrassing. I don’t even have a bra on,” I stammer out and cross my arms.

“Ha! Don’t worry, honey!” she replied. “I don’t wear a bra either.

*Insert awkward laugh.*

I still feel like I’m in a daze, and I.just.need.coffee.

7:00 a.m. My husband leaves for work, and the girls wake up shortly after.

I keep trying to call the insurance company, and I then call my mom. I’m not really sure what to do about breakfast. I’m so blessed my mom lives just 10 minutes down the road. I ask if she will come and help with the girls as I try to figure out what in the world to do with this mess.

9:00ish a.m. My mom arrives with a Bojangle’s fast food breakfast–and coffee. Bless her.

Yeah–we don’t normally eat fast food, but today I’m thankful.

9:30 a.m. I put the baby down for  a nap.

The other girls play or watch Netflix while I am on the phone with the insurance company, a local contractor and the home warranty company. The warranty company will not cover this. The insurance company is sending out a mitigation (clean-up) crew, and they will send out an adjustor in a couple days. Looks like we’ll be out of pocket the $1,000 deductible (ouch).

10:00ish a.m. The mitigation (clean-up) crew arrives.

It strikes me at some point during the day that I have no idea if these men know the Lord or not–and who knows–this may be their one chance to be inside of a Christian home. I turn KLOVE on the Roku and hope they hear it while working.

Noonish: The girls are getting hungry, and we don’t have anything to eat for lunch.

I call in an order at Chipotle (my favorite!), and Mom–who has stayed the entire day!–comes to the rescue again. She leaves to go pick up our food.

1:00 p.m. I have a post due!

I realize that today is when I am supposed to turn in a post about–of all things–toilet paper and cleaning cloths. (Fun stuff us bloggers do for a little extra cash. 😉 )

I dive into the bathroom with my phone and begin snapping pics. I upload them to the computer and quickly crank out the post.

Where are the girls? They pretty much either play outside or watch Netflix the entire day. The bathroom that flooded was right beside their bedroom, and the water seeped in their room as well. The carpet is pulled up in their room, and there is no way they can sleep there–or anywhere upstairs.

Yes, the entire house is in disarray.

Sometime in the afternoon…

It’s time for me to sign some papers, so the head man and I sit down at the dining room table. The girls have been playing dress-up, and my almost-3 year old is going through a phase where she likes to change her clothes multiple times per day.

“Um, mam,” the man starts. “I thought you might like to know that your little girl has taken all her clothes–and diaper–off and is running around that room in there.”

Oh me. Oh my.

After getting her re-diapered and dressed, I go back to signing papers.

Late afternoon…

The girls are tired. Mommy is tired. Believe me, Mommy is so, so tired! The afternoon grumpies come out as none of the girls have a place to nap.

My 5 year old runs screaming from the playroom and into the living room: “She biiiiit me!”

Sure enough, there is a big bite mark on her arm.

I call the almost-3 year old into the room. “Did you bite your sister?”

“No,” she lies.

“Well, who bit her then?” I ask.

“The man upstairs bit her!”

Oh great…Blame it on the clean-up crew!

We have a little discipline session and talk about both biting and lying.

5:30ish p.m. My husband returns home from work.

He walks around and assesses the damages with the men.

6:30 p.m. The girls are huuuuunnngry.

My mom goes to pick up gluten-free pizzas from Dominoes. (So Bojangles, Chipotle, and Dominoes. Yeah–how’s that for a whole foods day?!)

She then swings back by and picks the girls up to take them to her house. The men have told us it will take about three days to dry out our house with the huge fans they’ve brought in, and the temperature in our home will be unbearable to live in. So it looks like we’ll be spending the weekend with Mom and Dad.

Before Mom leaves, I grab my pizza box–a gluten-free veggie. I’m quite hungry myself. I scarf down about 3/4 of the small pizza in a matter of minutes.

9:30ish p.m. My dad arrived a little while ago, and he and my husband continue to dialog with Carlos–the only worker still here.

At some point in the conversation, my dad asks Carlos if he knows Jesus as his Savior, and Carlos says he does. I’m excited to hear a bit of his testimony–and proud of my dad who is ever the evangelist.

10:00 p.m. My dad and I take off to my parents’ while my hubby waits to lock up the house after Carlos and the fan guy finish setting up the fans.

I get to their house and finish the rest of my pizza. Yep–I eat the entire thing.

It’s been a long day.

Am I the only one who has chaotic days like this? Can you relate to having chaotic days?

автоматический полив теплицы