Every Step I Take Hurts

Thursday has been a really, really long day. We were up by 7am and going strong. Breakfast and some last minute preparations to make sure we were ready for teaching preschool. I arranged the million little things and had all the dishes cleaned before the kids arrived at 9:15. Maddie stayed for the first time today and it was a bit of a challenge to say the least. She wanted my attention and her binkie the whole time. I mostly got away with ignoring her ridiculous demands to be held and other things. I tried to get her to participate as much as possible and had materials for her to do all the projects. The major project of the day was making applesauce with the kids. I helped them all chop the apples up and cook them. I didn't let them cook quite long enough though and they were a little bit harder than I'd like, so the sauce machine was a little tricky. On the bright side, I did get them cooled off enough that no one got burned from boiling apple mush squirting out of the strainer.

Once the kids all left, my visiting teachers came for a quick visit and the moment they walked out the door I started baking. We had stake auxiliary training tonight and each of the stake leaders was supposed to bring two different desserts. I had finished the pumpkin bars on Sunday and froze them knowing how busy my week would be, but still needed to make finger sized brownie bites. They are fantastic, chocolate, chocolate chip with cream cheese swirled inside. They just take a long time to make up. I got both batters mixed up separately and filled my first pan just before 3pm. They wouldn't come out of the pan and I knew I was in trouble. I planned to cook, dump, clean, cook, dump, clean with the same mini-muffin pan. My plan was really NOT going to work. I called my neighbor, Aimee, to go pickup 4 more mini-muffin pans from Mali's house since Maddie was asleep. What a life saver. I made more than 150 mini-muffins and finished about 4:45.

By this time, every time I took a step or shifted my weight on my feet, they just burned and throbbed. I knew I was in trouble with swollen feet. Darn pregnancy. Anyway, I finished the muffins just in time to make dinner and feed the kids to walk out the door by 5:30. Then it was off to drop them at a sitter's house for the evening and help them settle in before I ran to the church to set up the chairs, room and food. My legs and feet were getting really bad and just hurt terribly. It was so nice to sit down for the training meeting. Then we cleaned up, which I admit I didn't help with much, I was just soooo tired. Then I skipped out early to get the kids.

I was at the babysitters by 10 pm. Ben was passed out and in deeper sleep than I've seen him since he was 6 months old. Maddie was wide awake and excited that I had shown up to play with her again. I carried Ben to the car, which is no simple feat with my huge belly and got him buckled in. My friend Deborah brought Maddie Mae and we were off. While I really wanted Maddie to fall asleep in the car, I was secretly praying she wouldn't. Since we park in a parking lot, I hate having to leave one kid sleeping in the car in the dark to carry the other one in. I'm not really scared for their safety, but if they wake up stuck in a car seat locked in a car in the dark alone, they would freak out!!

Maddie didn't sleep at all. She was totally awake. So, she walked herself into the house but Ben was rough. He was as dead as could be to the world. I hoisted him on my shoulder the best I could, but the kid is getting big and I'm awkward right now to say the least. I did fine until I had to unlock the front door. Ben started slipping and I couldn't get his floppy body back up. Pretty soon I was trying to get up the stairs with the kid just holding around his waist while his head and arms flopped backward in front of me. How can this kid NOT wake up? I'm about to drop him and it would be impossible to sleep while someone was flipping your body all around and you are basically folded over backwards with your arms flopping around above your head.

I did eventually make it up the stairs with Ben and got him in Maddie's bed. His bed was just too overwhelming to me to lift him up and into the loft. Then Maddie and I unloaded all the leftover food in the truck and repackaged it to fit in our fridge. She seemed to think it was fantastic that she was awake so late. In the end, little Maddie Mae went to bed just a few minutes before 11pm. Tomorrow will be rough.