This morning I was actually sweating when I got in the car to pull out of the garage. A little morning workout before heading to the office, you ask? Nah. I mean, who needs Richard Simmons when you have Elena? Every morning feels like a race against the clock (and my toddler) to get out the door – and let’s just say I’m rarely the winner. This morning was certainly no exception.

It all begins innocently enough – a shower, a cup of coffee, throw some bread in the toaster for Elena and Ian (who is already downstairs and looking at me longingly for some food), grab some cereal, pour two cups of milk, start to get together the things for my lunch. You know, same gig, different day. Once I’ve got things well underway, it’s time to wake up the littlest Burpo. I opened the door, set to pick out the clothes for the day, and find her sitting there quietly in her crib with an unpleasant smell permeating through the room. Oh jeez. As soon as she saw me, she immediately started pointing down with an innocent “Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh!” I won’t go into gory details, but any parent knows what I’m talking about and “uh oh” isn’t what I felt like saying as I’m looking at the clock. Tick tock, tick tock. Luckily Jeff, who was about to head out to drop Ian off at school and then take off for a few days on business, was still downstairs. I certainly didn’t want him to miss out on the clean-up fun so I kindly requested he come up. He worked on the wall – exclaiming something about Elena needing to eat fewer berries -while I got her changed, both of us washed up and downstairs to corral her in the chair for breakfast. Tick tock, tick tock. Meanwhile, I headed back up to get things soaking in the laundry sink.

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