Days

I seem to be filling up my time without blogging much. Shocking? Not when you consider Facebook.

But I'm not even doing that much of that, compared with how much computering I was doing when I was at work. So what am I doing all day? Yeah, I know you all want the blow by blow.

6:40 a.m. - Alarm goes off. On a good day, NPR is coming into the clock radio and I listen to the business news for a few minutes before I drag myself out of bed and start rousting the troops, getting out the cereal, and administering medication ... with lots of help from Dr. G-to-be, lucky me.

7:30 a.m. - I get the big boys into the car to take them to school.

8:00 a.m. - Having dressed myself and the little kids, I get them into the car and we head for the gym. I take Z to the potty when we arrive at the kids' club so she can stay dry while there. Then I am free. Usually I am plugged into HGTV while I do run/walk intervals on the treadmill or to my little MP3 player while I lift some weights (said in my A-Rod steroid voice) for about an hour. Then I shower and dress alone, something I could not do without my gym membership. I highly recommend it. It may not have made me skinny yet but it does keep me sane.

By the way, this time is a little flexible. If it's raining, we take G to work before we get to the gym, for example. Or some days, I am just slow getting ready. It is nice to have that flexibility that didn't used to be there.

9:30 - 10 a.m. - We do errands around town or come home for housework.

11:30 a.m. - Gourmet mama is in the house, cooking chicken nuggets, hot dogs or peanut butter sandwiches for the littles and microwaving leftovers or fixing tuna sandwiches for herself.

12:40 p.m. - We leave to take K to school. Z insists on checking out the scooters, sand table and slides in the schoolyard before we go home. Then she usually zonks out before we arrive. If not, I have to snuggle her to sleep. (Oh, what a chore, poor me!)

1:15 p.m. - My precious hour of peace. Maybe housework, maybe crafts, maybe (let's be honest, probably) e-mail and Facebook. Sometimes, when I am smart, I get a jump on dinner prep.

2:35 p.m. - Big boys arrive at home and the real fun begins. Homework, chores, rewards and negotiations. This is where I see the biggest change since I came home. I can stay on top of things that I could not before. And we have a lot of ground to make up. Some days it feels like an insurmountable task. But today we got S all caught up on missing spelling homework assignments, and I am feeling hopeful ...

4:15 p.m. - Pack up the van and go get K from preschool. Try to ignore the impatient looks from the teachers who just want to get the heck out of there while I wrestle Z away from the baby dolls in the dramatic play area (I think she really thinks she is their mother) or the cute short toilet in the kids' bathroom adjoining the classroom (just her size!).

5 p.m. - Check on homework and chores, start dinner, let kids watch a little TV - just movies at our house - no broadcast or cable so we don't even have to worry about the now-postponed digital transition. I love the element of control over what comes into our home! And say what you will, the good ol' boob tube is a pretty good babysitter for the price when mama's in the kitchen.

6:30 p.m. - G gets home and we round kids up for dinner. Z and A both eat my cooking lately. K tries (practically at gunpoint) and often gags. He's an onion hater. I always dreaded that. Big sigh. S still feeds himself cereal or crackers most nights.

7:something p.m. - G works on cleanup, kids play, I ... what am I doing by this time? Hiding, probably ... This is also the time when Z usually brings me her potty-seat insert with something inside it and I get to help her complete the final steps of the process. She is doing awesome, I have to say! Eventually I hope to help her learn to stop bringing the poop out into the living room, though.

7:45 p.m. - last call for bedtime snacks, final warning that bedtime is coming, and I start putting the littles in their pajamas. On really hyper nights there may be a couple of Trader Joe's low-dose chewable mint melatonin tablets involved for selected minors at this point.

8 p.m. - Toothbrush time. G puts the bigs down. I put the littles down. We are a lean, mean, story-reading machine. Z requests, "two books, peese." She and K both like to say their prayers without help now, which is funny and cute.

8:30 - 8:45 p.m. All quiet on the eastern front (where the kids' rooms are). We pick up a lot of stuff. I fold laundry until my hands feel like they're gonna fall off, or maybe indulge in a little Lexulous. G heads for the gym or works on grading. On the weekends we catch up on The Office and 30 Rock. It's all good.

10:30 - 11 p.m. Bedtime for grownups. Fervent prayers before we hit the pillow. There's a lot packed into these days.