On Saturday we did a little Christmas shopping. First I went out and Reas stayed home with the kids. Then we switched.

As I was happily prancing around Kohl's all by myself, I noticed other moms who weren't as lucky as me - they had their kids with them. And then I made a BIG mistake. I laughed at them. Just in my head, of course. And the only reason I felt justified in this cruel behavior was because usually I'm THAT mom - the one shopping with the kids. I don't think that I was actually laughing because they were so miserable, but more because I was so happy to not be them at that moment. See? I'm not really all that bad. But still, I should not have laughed. Carma would soon teach me that.

My shopping trip went smoothly. I was gone about 2 1/2 hours. I came home a new woman. When I walked in the front door everything was in order. Kids were happy, Lily had slept for nearly the whole time I was gone, Reas was even able to rake leaves and clean up the yard. He and Ty were happily lounging in front of a football game. A pretty simple success for him, I'd say.

THEN HE LEFT.

Here's what I did in the 1 1/2 hours he was gone:

Finish making and cleaning up lunch

Start working on my mom's gift and soon realized it's NOT going to work

Claire's complaining of a tummy ache

Bundle up Claire, lay her on the couch, and continue to listen to her complain

Listen to the others fight while they're trying to play Uno.

Put away the crappy Christmas gift supplies

Still cleaning up lunch

Lily's crying...loud. Can't figure out why.

Hear the familiar sound of throw up coming from Claire...on the floor, on the couch, on the pillow, on the blanket, in her hair, down her shirt, on me.

Strip down Claire and leave her standing there while I at least get the stuff cleaned up off the floor, so it's not tracked around the house.

Get Claire upstairs to the bath.

Lily's still crying. She'll have to wait.

Back downstairs to scrub the couch.

Throw a load of puke clothes in the wash.

Scrub the cushions.

Pick up Lily because she's still crying. Smell poop. A lot of it. It's everywhere - on her clothes, on the couch, on me.

Clean her up and get a diaper on her.

Run upstairs because Claire's crying. She wants out of the bath.

Get her out. Get her dressed.

Run downstairs to finish dressing Lily.

Scrub the poop couch.

Rinse poop clothes.

Back upstairs to bring Claire down to the couch.

She's complaining of a tummy ache. More throw-up.

Put another load in the wash.

Oh! Reas is home.

Claire falls asleep.

Lily falls asleep.

...and I am done.

Next time, I won't laugh.