Day in the Life of a Mom Without Her Kids

Today has been a rare day! My morning started out like most days. The baby monitor starts making noises with the sounds of Jayden moving around and smacking her lips because she is hungry. I wait until she starts fussing a bit more before I finally go into her room, change her diaper and bring into my bed to feed her. While I am nursing, Jena wakes up and immediately starts calling "mommy, daddy". Of course, Jeff is still passed out next to me (he is on his two week recess as well)  so I nudge him and ask "Can you get Jena?" He replies with a yes and proceeds to roll over and start snoring again. Meanwhile Jena is getting annoyed because her bed it a bit too tall for her to get down on her own. So once again I nudge him, with a little more force this time. He's now annoyed because I woke him up - he is not a morning person! By the time I'm done nursing Jeff has fallen back to sleep and Jena is playing with her Leap Pad next to me. I put Jayden in her swing and falls back to sleep while I get Jena ready for the day.

After breakfast, Jeff gets up and puts Jena in the car while I get Jayden ready and snap a few pictures.

He drives them to daycare and I can't help but feel guilty - a day without the girls and Jeff. What the heck am I going to do? Treat myself to a pedicure? Go to Nordstrom's to use a gift card I got for Christmas? Maybe go to the movies? Nope - none of these. I go to the grocery store and take my time.

I look at the labels and start packing my cart with a ton of fruits and veggies and get very excited to get home to try to make kale chips, but before getting home I have to check out and while I'm bagging my groceries a young employee asks me if I wanted help. Usually I'm not to keen on other people bagging my groceries. Weird right? I don't even like when Jeff bags the groceries. See I have a system that helps me when I get home. All the freezer stuff goes together, all the refrigerated stuff together, all the produce together, all the meat together and so on. I should also tell you I was a grocery clerk when I was 16 and learned how to properly bag groceries. I reluctantly say yes because I notice there is a line behind me and I have a lot of stuff. Yet I instantly regret it. Out of the corner of my eye I watch him shove all sorts of things into one bag. "Whatever, just let it go" I think to myself. But when I get out to the car I start rearranging some of the bags and notice my bananas are at the bottom of a bag with a pineapple and a five pound bag of apples on top. My 16 year old self starts yelling - in my head - what the heck? Who taught you how to bag groceries? Apparently they don't teach you that anymore, I mean why would they? It's not like it your job to know, right? I guess it is no longer common sense to put bananas and tomatoes on top to lessen bruising and eggs in a separate bag.

Once I get everything settled into the car I start thinking about how nice it's going to be to get home, crank up the music and put away my groceries in peace. By this point I am no longer feeling any guilt. It's now 4:30 in the afternoon and soon I will pick up the girls from daycare. It has been an easy day but I can't wait to get back to the chaos only kids can bring!