saturdays

When I think of Saturdays from my childhood, I remember long days of doing whatever I pleased. I would sleep in (especially as a teenager), make myself breakfast, read, go out with friends, pretend to do homework or whatever. We usually did some chores but otherwise Saturday was pretty relaxed. Even after I was married, my husband and I followed pretty much the same schedule. We were so grown-up!

Those days are no more. Actually I haven't slept in for at least two years. It's very distressing since that was one of my favorite pasttimes. Once on a Saturday morning when I was 20, the youth pastor of our church called me at 7 in the morning to ask if I would please help him out because the piano player who was supposed to leave on a ministry trip with him and his team in a few hours had an emergency and could I please come if I wasn't busy. I should have been flattered but I was totally ticked off because he had interrupted my Saturday morning sleep-in. I told him no and he was surprised and apologized for disturbing me. Even today he remembers this story and marvels that later I became his secretary for three years in which time I was much nicer.

Fastforward to today and I will give you a snapshot of what my Saturday looks like. My husband works every Saturday (the only downfall to his otherwise perfect job) so it's just me with four girls at home. I don't have the car and right now the baby is too small to be able to take just anywhere. So basically we stay home and I try to think of things for the girls to do so they won't be bored and start to whine and annoy me. We wake up at 8 and I make breakfast which they eat in front of the TV. I find that the girls are able to entertain themselves until about 10:30 and then they neeeeeeeeed me. So then I'll make a fort for them or get out the ball house or playdough. Usually this will entertain them until about 11:30 at which time I'll either put on a short video for them or make a game about cleaning up (this still works!). Then we have lunch, which is usually Macaroni & Cheese, and then Sakura goes down for a nap. Emi & Misaki follow her an hour later and they all sleep until 4. From then is another period of time where they seem incapable of entertaining themselves. All their toys are dumb and everything I suggest is equally dumb. Somehow we make it through to dinner when daddy comes home. From this time the girls are magically perfect and happy. I'm sure my husband has a hard time wondering why I dread Saturdays since the girls seem perfectly easy to manage when he comes home. Around 7 he gives them a bath while I recuperate on the couch and then they go to bed (my favorite time of the day). All throughout this day, the baby wakes up every 3 hours to nurse, play and then go back to sleep.

Honestly every Saturday is a test of my patience, sanity and brain cells (which have diminished with each pregnancy) but somehow I make it through and have many stories to tell my husband once the kids are in bed at which time the stories seem funnier and my children seem more adorable than they did all day.