I swear--I never get any writing done when I really want to.  I am really liking the premise of my story and have come up with a bunch of stuff to happen to my main character but I never have time to write.  After I posted the second part of chapter one last week my computer died.  I was without access to it for 3 1/2 days.  I was darn lucky I posted the whole chapter online because my hard drive crashed and I'm not sure I can get any of the stuff off of it.  We bought a new computer but will eventually get the other one fixed.  Then the day after we got the new computer I fell and sprained my ankle really bad which has kept me on the sofa all week.  Sitting at the computer causes all the blood to my ankle--which really hurts.  Then, Wed. was Brenna's 4th birthday and the weather was nice on Thursday so I took the kids out to play (despite my injury).  Not to mention my husband has been working double so I am alone all day with the kids.  Thanksgiving is coming up and we will probably be out of town from Wed-Monday which doesn't leave me much time to write this dang story, lol.

Anyway.  here is what I have of Chapter 2 (written over the last few days).

It took Amy ten minutes to walk the four blocks home.  What was it about puddles that was so attractive to little boys, she wondered about half way home.  She was already feeling down about going off on Flannel Guy and now she felt like all she was doing was yelling at the kids.

“For the last time, Austin, stay out of the puddles!” she yelled again.  But before she even finished the sentence he was ankle deep in yet another puddle.  Amy grabbed him the arm and yanked him out of the water.  “What did I say?” she yelled into his face.  Austin just smiled brightly at her.

“My feet are wet,” he said with a giggle.

“Your butt is going to be sore if you don’t stay out of the water,” Amy told him, pulling him along behind her while trying to push the heavy double stroller with the other hand.  His shoes made a sloshing sound with every step.  Connor followed behind still whining about wanting to play at the park.  It is so nap time, she thought.

Finally they got home.  Connor and Austin threw the back door open and started up the stairs before Amy could even yell at them to take their wet, muddy shoes off.  Amy felt like screaming.  She tried to pick Holly up without waking her up but didn’t succeed.  Holly started wailing as soon as she was in Amy’s arms.  That woke Carys up who also started crying out of confusion.  She grabbed a girl under each arm and tried to pry her wet shoes from her feet without getting her socks wet or dropping a girl without any success.  Ugh, she thought as her foot sunk into the wet carpeting on the stairs.

“Get your wet clothes off and in the bathroom,” she yelled to the boys up above her.  For the millionth time since they moved into the apartment she wondered why the door was downstairs when they lived on the second floor.  The boys were in their room taking off their clothes when she got upstairs so she took the girls into their room and started changing their diapers.  Carys’ pants were soaked from the leaky diaper so she grabbed a new shirt and pants from her drawer.  She spent two minutes trying to cram her chubby legs into the pants thinking Carys had grown an awful lot the last month only to realize she had grabbed a pair of Holly’s pants instead.  She rolled her eyes before finding a pair of Carys pajama bottoms on the floor near her.  She sniffed them and they didn’t smell like pee so she put them on her.

“But I don’t want to go to bed,” Carys cried.

“You don’t have to go to bed,” Amy said as she grabbed Holly before she rolled out the bedroom door and down the stairs.  She quickly changed her diaper and put her in the crib, much to Holly’s dismay.  She started wailing as soon as she hit the cold surface of the vinyl mattress.  Amy had long since stopped putting sheets on the crib.  The kids just pulled them off and got tangled in them and Holly learned the trick much earlier then the other three.  Holly looked up at her with her big puppy dog eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks.  Amy took a deep breath and tried to center herself.

Austin came running in wearing just his Bob the Builder underwear and one wet sock.  “Mommy I have to pee!” he yelled holding himself.

Amy shook her head.  “So go pee.”

“Connor is in the baffroom!” he screamed at her.

“I swear.  Boys can’t do anything themselves.  Like a bunch of babies,” she mumbled under her breath.  “Connor, hurry up so your brother can use the potty.”  She heard the door open so figured the boys could work it out and went downstairs to put the stroller away.  Great, she thought as she got to the bottom of the stairs, it’s starting to rain again.  Like we need more rain.  She stepped on the toe of her wet sock and tried to pull her foot out of it but instead she lost her balance and fell back onto the wet stairs.  Swearing under her breath she tried to manhandle the stroller into the small store room inside the door.  The swiveling front wheels kept catching on the door frame.  Finally, with a shove, the wheel turned and the stroller lunged into store room, knocking over a box of outgrown clothes.  Amy almost lost her balance but caught her self on the door.  She locked the doors after grabbing the mail.  She could hear the boys upstairs laughing and making a racket in the bathroom. 

“I swear to God, if you two are playing in the water,” she called up the stairs as she opened her husband’s Discover Card bill.  The minimum payment made her stomach turn-$150.  There were $400 in new charges on the card, most from online gaming communities and Best Buy.  Daryl was like a big kid.  He spent more money on toys for himself then anything else.

Amy opened the bathroom door expecting to find the bathroom sink overflowing and the boys spitting water at each other but it was much worse.  “What the hell are you doing,” she screamed.

The boys were standing on either side of the toilet peeing at each other.  The toilet and walls were covered in urine.  It was all Amy could do to not grab them by the arms and throw them out the bathroom window.

“He started it,” Connor yelled.

“Not me, him,” Austin countered.

“What is wrong with you too.” she screamed, feeling her control slip away.  “What would possess you to pee on each other?  Get in the tub!”  Amy quickly filled the tub and left the boys happily splashing while she went to find the Clorox cleaner.  Twenty minutes later the boys were in dry clothes and loudly playing in their rooms and Amy was mopping up pee and bath water.    

“Mommy, I hungy,” Carys said as Amy came out of the bathroom.    Amy finished up and rubbed her temples.  Her migraine was getting worse.  The second the boys heard the mention of food them came running out of their room.

“I want pizzey for wunch,” Austin said in his sweet three year old voice.  He batted his long lashes at her.  Amy rolled her eyes.  That boy sure knew how to get to her.

“No, I want peaney butter,” Connor said, pushing his younger brother out of the way so he could use those puppy dog brown eyes on her.

“Connor, don’t talk like a baby.  You are four.  What do you want, Carys?”

“Hmmm.”  Carys put her little finger on her lips, tilting her head to the said as she thought about it.  Amy thought that look from Carys was about the most adorable thing any of her kids did.  But this pose could last forever before Carys made her mind up.  Amy once waited 45 minutes for Carys to decide which socks to wear with her Lavender dress.  There were only two choices--white with purple flowers or plain white with a lacy top.  Carys just couldn’t make up her mind.  She just sat there with her finger on her lips making “hmm” sounds every few seconds.  Finally, Amy couldn’t take it anymore and chose the lacy ones which caused an utter melt down in Carys.  After a temper tantrum that lasted 20 minutes Carys calmed down and chose the lacy white socks because they were “pwittier.”

But Amy didn’t really have time for her to make up her mind on lunch.  The boys were arguing over peanut butter sandwiches and pizza and Holly was wailing in her crib wanting out.  Amy sighed, opening the fridge to see what was available.  There was cheese and bologna in the drawer, leftover mac and cheese from last night and cold Chicken from Sunday.  There was half a bag of pizza rolls in the freezer but that wasn’t enough for all three kids.  There weren’t enough fish sticks, either and Amy sure didn’t feel like making another box of macaroni.  She still had all the dishes from the last two night to do.

“Pizza!”

“Peanut butter!”

“No, PIZZA!”

The boys started shoving each other in the kitchen, then Connor put Austin in a headlock and jumped on top of him.  Austin started screaming and thrashing about, kicking Carys in the leg and almost knocking Amy over as she tried to get across the tiny kitchen.

“Will you two knock it off,” she yelled.  She pulled Connor off his brother by the back of his shirt.  “What is wrong with you, Connor?  You don’t hit your brother.”

“I didn’t hit him.  We were wrestling,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.  “He likes it.”

“He what?  He sure doesn’t seem to like it.”  Amy let go of Connor who stomped off to his room and picked Austin up off the floor.  He hugged her so tight it almost broke her heart.

“Bubby hurt me,” he mumbled into her neck.  Amy fought back tears and the urge to go scream at Connor some more.

“Mommy, want woney sanwich,” Carys said, pulling on Amy’s shirt, oblivious to the drama surrounding her older brothers.  Amy guessed she was used to Connor and Austin fighting by now and just ignored it.  Amy wished she could ignore it, too.

There are no comments to this entry.