Too Many P's

So, to Politely Paraphrase the Rule of the 6 P's: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. I try to abide by this rule most of the time, and certainly expend Plenty of energy Planning. But, the other day, I discovered the exception to this rule. I call it the 3 P Exceptions:

1. Potty
2. Puke
3. Poopy

No matter how much Planning I do, there is no Preventing Poor Performance when any one of these hits, courtesy of small children (let alone all of them at once).

Now that I've established the rule and the Possible exceptions, let's talk about last Friday. As usual, I was up and down all night with the smallest member of the family. Exhausted by morning, I apparently elicited Franz's sympathy when Jackson started crying yet again. Franz diapered him and brought him to me in bed. Once the baby was fed, I Pulled myself out of bed, knowing that I had to get two kids ready for a big day at the zoo (no school that day). When I Picked the baby up off my bed, where he had been for just a few moments, I noticed a wet spot on the bed that corresponded with the overflowingly wet diaper. Enter #1 into my day.

At a fast pace, I began one-handedly stripping my bed and shoving sheets into the washer while cradeling Jackson in the other arm. Then, I walked to the girls' bedroom to find Katie still asleep in her bed. She is definitely NOT a morning Person, but it was late morning, and we were anticipating a zoo trip, so those two factors should have had her bouncing off the walls. Turns out, she had gotten up a couple of hours earlier with Maddie, but gone back to bed because her "tummy hurt."

Downstairs, Lana and Kyle were Pretty ready to go, and Madeline was hopping around excitedly. Katie didn't want any breakfast and said she didn't want to go to the zoo! To the touch, her forehead seemed maybe, slightly warm. So, we switched gears and decided that I would drop Lana, Kyle, and Madeline at the zoo. I Packed them lunches and got Madeline sunscreened and ready to go. As soon as Katie saw Madeline in tennis shoes, Camelback, and sunglasses, she decided that she did want to go, afterall. In a frenzy to get myself, Katie, and the baby ready, I began rushing around Packing bottles, more lunches, extra water, the stroller. I ran upstairs to throw on some clothes and brush my teeth while Katie scarfed down some cereal.

Finally, around noon, we hit the road for a 30 minute drive to the zoo. About one minute away from the zoo, I looked in my rearview mirror to see Katie looking a little green. I asked her if she was going to be sick and she shrugged and said she didn't want to. As the light changed to yellow at the corner nearest the zoo, I scooted through the intersection and turned into the Parking lot. As the car shifted into Park, it happened. #2 Presented itself into our day.

Poor Katie, for the third time in her life, threw up in the car. She managed to keep the mess in her lap and carseat, amazingly. Of course, I'd just had to empty my car of all Personal items the day before for a showing to someone, so I didn't have my wipies, napkins, and other mom-necessities. I had 1 Plastic bag, 2 tissues, and 3 napkins. As you may imagine, those were not very effective weapons in the war against the Puke.

We unloaded the food (which we had removed from the convenient backpack we Packed in originally since we were going to put it under the stroller, so it now had to be carried by hand in individual baggies), and Lana, Kyle, and Maddie. I mopped up Katie, who was NOT looking forward to the 30 minute drive back to the house, as much as Possible, and left the others to fend for themselves.

Once I arrived at the house, I had to unload the car of the extra lunches, the diaper bag, my Purse, everything Katie had carried into the car, the baby in his seat. Then I began the delicate Process of extricating Katie from the third row of the SUV without getting anything on anything. Meanwhile, Jackson began screaming because he was hungry.

Fully clothed, Katie stepped into the downstairs shower while I ran upstairs to get all her shower things and a new set of clothes, along with a pile of washable blankets to maker her a bed. While she was in the shower, I Picked up Jackson to change and feed him. The diaper I changed was a blowout, creating yet more nasty laundry for the day; enter #3. Finally, the baby was changed, fed, and sleeping, and Katie was showered and redressed and laid out on the floor of the bathroom.

It was after 2:00 and I was starving, despite the obviously unappetizing start to my day. Sandwich in one hand, I went to survey the damage to my car. Luckily, only the seatbelt had been soiled. I quickly went to work cleaning the belt and scrubbing the Plastic Parts of the carseat. Then, I gathered up the covers of the carseat, along with the diaper and liner and ran another load of laundry.

By the time I had the situation under control, it was after 3:00 and the office had been calling off and on; it was a busy day there, as well, and I was needed on another front. About this time, the zoo troopers called for a ride home. Thankfully, Franz was looking for an excuse to leave work early and decided to Pick them up for me. I was NOT looking forward to loading that crew back in for another car ride! Frantically, I worked on work while the smallest two slept, and finally finished up after everyone arrived, at about 7:00 PM.

So, while I had anticipated a nice, relaxing day off at the zoo - no work, no school, no life details - and I had Properly and Priorly Planned, there was no Preventing Poor Performance for the day as I was inundated with the 3 P's of Exception. The one redeeming factor was a date night that started late and ran later, and gave me an excuse to get a shower(!) - thanks, Lana and Kyle!