Hey y’all, I’m Eliza. You know, from Finding Time?

Anyway, ugh. I woke up yesterday morning to my older son throwing up.  I had a horrible night. There are nights when I can’t fall asleep, and I’ll spend hours tossing and turning, begging my brain to shut off.  I started trying to sleep around 10pm and by midnight, I was still awake. I got up and took a sleeping pill.

Hey – don’t judge me.

My younger son still sleeps in our room, though he does have his own bed. My elder son woke me up at just over 1am because his fever had begun and he was hot and cold. He also had foot cramps. Poor thing.

I’d finally, finally – fallen asleep.  I changed his clothes, and carried him back to bed, zombie walked down the stairs and crawled back into the warmth of my own. Only to have the youngest hurl himself on top of Jett and I, and wedge himself in between us.

I tried to fall back asleep. I mean, it’s cute to snuggle up to him sometimes.  Then he started to head butt me, and kick Jett in the back, and that was it – I scooped him up, stepped over Jett and put him back into his own bed. (All the while trying not to fall over in my sleep deprived, barely awake state) I slid back into bed. I think I glanced at the clock and it was around 3am.

My eldest daughter, Rose, is an early riser, so when I heard her elephant stomps and the TV turn on at 5am, I groaned. Why me! Why do I have the only children on the planet who think O dark thirty is a good fucking time to wake up!

I may have even started to sing, “Goblin King, Goblin King, wherever you may be, Take these children farrrrr away from me!”

But I’m not sure.

So, at 7am I rolled out of bed (literally) and put on my pajama pants, helped prepare the kids bags for school and then yelled at the coffee maker to, “brew faster!” Some days, there just isn’t enough coffee.  I walked into Jett’s arms and said, “Do you have any Calgon? I could really use some Calgon. And a hotel room. For three days. Alone.”

He laughed and rubbed my back, kissed me and left for work. I’m not complaining, but it is hard work being a (stay at home) mom. If I want to take a shower – generally there are bodies in there with me, happily playing with my $10 bottle of organic Shampoo. If I need to go the bathroom, they happily kick and pound on the door demanding chocolate milk, “Right this instant!”

And forget about taking them to the store. I have to plan around melt-down times because frankly, they don’t allow you to duct tape kids to the carts. Which I think they should, if they want my money, but whatever.

Motherhood – Not for the faint of heart.

It’s easy to lose yourself in the routine and monotony of taking care of others. I like taking care of others, it gives me pleasure, but at the same time, having a family of six is daunting and there are days I feel trapped in a world of my own creation.

I read because it’s the only place my family can’t follow me.

Anyway – So that was how my day started yesterday, and it never got any better. I ran on fumes, had to cancel appointments, pay bills, clean the house, cook breakfast, lunch and dinner, clean more, and take care of sick children who oddly reminded me of newborns with incessant wailing and glaring at me like it’s all my fault.

Just another day in the life.

You can read more about my life if you pick up a copy of Finding Time. It even has sex in it!