The Life of a Wife Through the Eye of a Guy

I was thinking about my wife last night/this morning at around midnight (we woke up because of the stinkiest diaper I have ever experienced - we started Lou on medicine last night that has a side affect of diarrhea). I thought about writing what I Tina has been going through on a typical day. I'll start when she wakes up:

She is very tired from the typical interrupted sleep from either a mosquito buzzing in her ear, dogs barking, kids waking up for various reasons, or any number of other things. Getting up quickly to read and spend time with the Lord is the most important thing, so she gets up quietly before Lou wakes up (he is always the first child to wake up). She gets anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes before I bring Lou out to where she sits and I, too, read.

As soon as Lou is out and in the room and after about 5 to 10 minutes (and after changing his diaper), he is demanding food by staring at her, grunting, and pointing to the kitchen. She tries hard to bring as much variety as she can to the table during each meal. After cleaning the counter tops from termite wings and while making the food, she gets tired of Lou's demands and brings him to the other side of the house, so she can get stuff done in the kitchen. We ask the Kayla and Carter to play with him to distract him - it rarely works (oh, the food joys we experience just as most people do adopting from Haiti...).

When it is time for breakfast, we wash hands and sit down. After praying and with Lou on her lap, we all eat and she begins to feed herself and Lou. He doesn't like to drink much, but she tries to get him to drink (there is a reason that the saying goes: "You can bring a horse to water..."). She tries to mask the flavor of the medicine in various foods with some success (drinks don't work). As she feeds him, his reflux causes him to throw up in his mouth and most of the time he just eats it. It is cleaner that way, but either way it causes his breath to smell really bad. After a while, her food tastes like either vomit or poop. Lou smells unpleasant most of the time in spite of showers. It makes it difficult to day after day because he is being carried by her most of the day.

After breakfast, she cleans up with some help from Kayla and Carter. Dad leaves for work. She does not get much time to clean herself up to help her to feel better about beginning the day. After getting some things done and ready in the kitchen, it seems as if it is snack time already and time to get Kayla and Carter in. After settling an argument or two over things like swords or toys or food, she prepares a snack and then cleans up. If there is laundry to do, she tries to get that going. More times than not, there is someone else's clothes in there which adds to the struggle. Further adding to the struggle is my dirty clothes. She is also keeping them going on some class/schoolwork.

She checks with me to find out when I am going to be ready to do lunch and then she gets it ready in time for why I come home. When I get home for lunch, Lou wants me to hold him, but the best I can do is wash my hands and not get him near my dirty clothes. This means that Tina is left holding him again while he eats. Once again, I eat and run without helping clean up much. Kayla and Carter are helping to clean up.

Once lunch is done, she begins thinking of dinner. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays she has to come up with something to eat for dinner. If she isn't doing laundry as well, she is mopping the floor, cleaning up the house, figuring out what to order for food, and managing the activities of the children. Cleaning up diapers and vomit are also part of the routine. It's not always as simple as it sounds as Lou will throw up in a bucket of toys or on a rug. That adds to the work.

When I get home from work, I immediately take a shower after running away from Lou (because he wants to hug my dirty and greasy pants). If we are eating with the group we barely have time to shower (and Tina often doesn't have time) before we have to go to dinner at 5:30. That will usually last until 7:30 or 8:00. Then we get ready for bed, read, and then crash - and then start from the beginning again.

If we are not eating with the group we have a little more time and Tina can relax a bit more. These nights seemed to get filled up with visitors or other miscellaneous things where we often don't find ourselves relaxing alone. Then we get ready for bed, read, and then crash - and then start from the beginning again.

Tina and I haven't been getting much time to talk. I usually try to type on this blog with Lou on my lap and she is making dinner or early in the morning. Time to chat with Tina and then get back to work. I am looking forward to not having anywhere to go tonight - although I did agree to speak for an hour during the camp, so I have to get ready tonight...