Imperfection.

I was home alone with the girls on Monday, Columbus Day. I consider Columbus Day a half-holiday. Half-holiday because many companies are open on that holiday and also a half-holiday because in some years I worked Columbus Day, even if my employer was closed. The second and third week in October is generally a busy time in corporate accounting - working to get the books closed and reporting completed for Q3. This Columbus Day I did not work, but Sarah did.

My day with the girls, right up until bedtime, went smooth. Too smooth. It was just too good to be true.

In the morning we had breakfast,the girls palyed together, they watched some of their TV programs - all was good. The sun was shining brightly, but it was not forecasted to be warm, so I stepped outside to check the temperature and decided the temperature was nice enough to bring the girls out to play in the yard. It was a bit cool, but the girls had fun for about an hour with the "big girl" slide, play garden tools, their swing and all their other toys.

After lunch, the girls went down fairly quietly for their 2+ hour nap, which they had not done for Sarah or me for a couple of weeks.

The hour and a half between nap and dinner was spent outside playing in the driveway, without incident. I was now three quarters through an almost perfect day with my girls.

Peapod then arrives with our groceries. (I should note that we use Peapod infrequently -about once every two to three months.) The grocery order included Ellio's Pizza, which the girls love. Ellio's pizza for dinner! All was well with Allie, Anna and Em!

A short time later the girls become ecstatic about mommy's arrival home.

Next order of business is (1)clean up, (2)put the girls to bed, (3)have our dinner and (4) go to bed. The prefect day would then be complete. Somewhere between (2) and (3) perfection becomes imperfection. The order of events between 7:45pm and 11:00pm are somewhat fuzzy but included Sarah sitting on the floor next to the girls' cribs. It also included Rich and Sarah. And then Rich. And then Sarah and Rich again. In between we each managed to scoff down some dinner.

Emily has needed a great deal of Sarah at night - both at bedtime and the middle of the night. Many a night the past 2-3 weeks Sarah and Em have slept on sofa cushions on the living room floor. That sleeping arrangement, as you can imagine, is not comfortable at all, especially for Sarah. Monday night was no exception with Emily at bedtime, but she did end up being the first to fall asleep. ALLIE WOULD JUST NOT FALL ASLEEP. We tried everything before putting her in the bed with us at about 11:00.

Somewhere around 2:00 am, on cue, Emily woke up crying. Downstairs with Emily Sarah went to sleep on the sofa cushions.

To cap off the "perfect" day, Anna woke up crying sometime around 5:00 (if my memory serves me correct). When I came downstairs later, I discovered that Sarah had pulled Anna out of her crib to join her & Em on the sofa cushions for the remainder of the morning.

The 24 hours of imperfection ended sometime before 7:00 am with the arrival of Grammy and our departure to work about a half an hour later .

Things have gotten S L O W L Y better as the week has progressed, but I think we have a way to go. Actually, don't tell anyone, but Sarah & I are making plans so that each of the girls has their own room! Stay tuned....