It was precisely 2:03am. Pitter-patter came creeping down the hallway and climbed in my bed. “I need water,” he said in a New Jersey accent. Twenty minutes of shut-eye occurred before baby Rita begged and begged and begged to be nursed. I obliged. At 2:47 I was back in my bed. At 2:48, I was asleep. At 2:49, my neck decided to revolt. I will never again forget to thank God for my head’s full range of motion.

The morning chaos ensued sometime around 7am. My yearly St. Patricks Day purchase of Lucky Charms laid a fresh blanket of brightly colored crunchiness on my floor, strawberries stained the carpet, and somehow, Josie managed to climb to the tippy top of the pantry and enjoy chocolate covered espresso beans. If i had been able to turn my neck I may have cared more. And then, the weirdest event of the day occurred. James opened an old suitcase of Jim’s. Out came all of his childhood teeth. I gagged, and my carpets and I thanked God I wasn’t pregnant with morning sickness. James asked, “um, Mom, why did Daddy do that with his teeth?” Good question, James.

Off to the library we went to do absolutely everything except read. It was James’ first day in underpants in public. Five times we went, and five times he shouted “oh no, I’m going to pee on the floor” in a 45 minute period. I realized how much Pampers pampered me, wondering what I would do with the other two as the loud flushing provoked terrified screaming, and wished libraries could be just a wee bit noisier. Josie’s never ending caffeine buzz encouraged dancing on the train table, as James knocked down all the puzzles in his effort to get “that one puzzle at the way bottom.” Rita’s enormous diaper bomb would be found much later, and for that, Rita, I am sorry. And when the 8th and final brawl broke out over whose turn it was to climb on top of the water fountain, the tiny voice of the sweet old lady behind the counter (no motorized cart, unfortunately) had enough. “It’s getting very loud in here,” she said. So I scrambled to put back the puzzles that I’m convinced were made for rocket scientists and began to become really concerned about my processing speed. I did everything I could to carry three children in two arms with zero neck mobility. Just as I thought we were good to escape, Josie knocked over a whole row of books, and my hatred for the Dewey Decimal system grew stronger. “See you tomorrow!” I chuckled. No one laughed.

The rest of the day included mother of three normalities: nap protests, messes, pee on the floor, etc. Dinner guests were to arrive at 6pm. I scrambled to the store to pick up my husband’s ever specific request for “white hominy pozole.” Guests arrived, kids threw tantrums and helped themselves to sour cream, guests feared ever having children, someone, not sure who, eventually fed Rita, dinosaur puzzles were built and destroyed.

With wine in my glass, and entirely too much pie in my belly, I decided. It’s a good day to start a blog.