MP Story by Stacey Rex (Saginaw, MI)

Writer / Editor * Mother of 3

It had definitely been “one of those days.” My four-month-old twin boys had been up all night – low-grade fevers and upset stomachs kept them from sleeping through the night. I stumbled out of the shower in just enough time to get them bundled up for day care and make their big sister’s lunch.

The four of us raced out the door. After dropping the babies off at day care and getting our eight-year-old to school, I was five minutes late for work. I was greeted with grief from my supervisor and an impossible stack of paperwork on my desk.

I struggled throughout the day to keep my eyes open and my mind on work. Finally it was five o’clock and the end of the day. Well, the work day anyway.

Our oldest goes to her grandparents after school, and I picked her up first. Then we went to pick up the boys. The babysitter and the grandparents had the usual bits of advice for me.

An hour later we got home, and were greeted by my husband who wondered, “what’s for dinner.” I snapped back, “Whatever you go and pick up!”

The babies started screaming – they were starving. I got their bottles and fed them, while my husband went and got dinner. He and our daughter ate while it was hot and I kept feeding the babies. Then it was bath time for the three kids, time to do laundry and time to pick up the house. In between there was another feeding, diaper changes and getting a snack for our daughter before putting her to bed.

At ten o’clock I started feeding the boys again while my husband went to sleep because he wasn’t feeling good. One of them was fussy and I lost my patience. As I started to yell at the boys to just go to sleep, they both smiled at me.

I melted. With my mommy power kicking in and getting a recharge from those smiles, I scooped each one of them up into an arm, snuggling contentedly with them in the chair until they dozed off. Putting them in their cribs, I looked back on the day and couldn’t wait for the next.