Every day, Tuesday thru Friday, I take Asa to daycare around 9am. The prep work involved in getting us out the door isn't really all that hard but it's a process that involves me doing several double-checks and mumbling to myself and Asa along the way. We've gotten it down to a fairly streamlined routine that usually involves Jeff dropping my work bag and Asa's daycare bag off in the car for me when he leaves. Once that happens and Jeff is out the door, I have about an hour before Asa and I are ready to leave. I honestly don't know how the hour flies by so quickly but I can tell you that in that hour I put on my make-up (often forgetting the mascara which used to be the only weapon in my makeup arsenal), eat something (75% of the time I forget this crucial step), change Asa's diaper and get him into day clothes, nurse him, tuck him safely into some blankets to nap while I: pick up toys, put dirty dishes into the sink, find my socks, possibly remember to put on the mascara I had nearly forgotten, down a glass of Carnation Instant Breakfast (I count this as eating breakfast), bundle myself up with socks, shoes and a jacket (will winter ever end???), and then gingerly add a hoodie and winter hat to my sleeping baby's outfit.
By the time I open the front door, Asa in my arms, wrapped in a blanket, purse falling off my shoulder, other random, nearly forgotten items clutched uncomfortably between my fingers and car key in hand, the sleeping baby is usually awake and bleary-eyed trying to figure out what's going on. We struggle down the stairs and out to the car where I unlock the car, put my carkey on the roof, open the front door and throw all that random stuff into the front seat. I then open the backdoor, rest one foot on the door frame to create a seat to balance Asa while I unravel the blanket and move his seat buckles out of the way to set him down. Once I've got him sitting in the seat, I spend a couple minutes struggling to adjust him and the buckles and get him all situated. Lately he's started trying to sit forward to play with the leather of the car's backseat which makes this process all the more tricky. Once he's buckled, I throw the blanket over his feet, introduce him once again to his car toys (little wormy and monkey this week), kiss him, stand up, close the door, walk around the car to the drivers seat, realize I've left the car key on the roof on the other side of the car, walk back, grab the key, walk back around again, get in, turn on the car and start our drive out of the neighborhood. About 90 seconds in I wonder what that rattling sound is and see that my purse is sitting on the trunk (how did that get there?) ... throw the car into neutral, hit the parking break, run out, grab the purse, throw it onto the passenger seat already littered with random stuff, and we're back on track.
You don't even want to hear how I do it all in reverse, coming home, laden with the baby, the diaper bag, my work bag ... it's a testament to the dexterity of Homo Sapiens that I manage this every day. And silly as it may seem it's another way I've realized my life has changed since Asa was born, I can never just walk out and get in the car, it's now an event and a struggle and workout and a balancing act but of course, it's worth it and probably entertains any neighbors who watch me do this day in and day out.
