So we started my toddler in preschool this year. It was a very, very big step for us as he has been home with me since, well, forever. It was time though - for him to find some excitement in the day since that wasn't happening stuck in the house with myself and his two 10 month old twin brothers.

If it was just Brody - I would have had this all nailed down in May. However...having not one, but two little ones (in addition to my hurricane of a toddler) to look after has completely made me lose my game. And by that I mean my organized, detailed to-do list which the former teacher in me thrived upon.

I found this school late. All of the other ones in the area were full, and I took the suggestion of a friend and we investigated this one. They had two spots left.  Curious, since everyone else was full, right? Well, I didn't really think too long since we had literally days to make a decision. We agreed to go in and see the school (was this really them checking us out?) and set up an in-home visit...wait. What?!

We set the date for the in-home visit to be on a Saturday, last month. My husband and I both synchronized our smart phone calendars to reflect 3:00pm August 13th. I still had to prep for a trip but I knew I could shop in the morning, come back and clean the house before their visit. After all, wasn't this another interview, on us? What was I getting us into?

Saturday the 13th arrived, and I was out of the house by 9am shopping for clothes for MYSELF which is so rare it's laughable. I wasn't rushing, but I wasn't completely lolly gagging either. I wanted to be home by 12:00pm so that I could clean, clean, clean while the kids were napping. I browsed, I perused, I chatted with the LOFT salesgirl - oh la, la, la I never get to do this..la la la! Ok. Enough. Time to get home. Obligations mom!

I was serene as I drove home - with some much needed retail therapy under my belt I pulled into my subdivision. Ka CHING- text message! Oh, what's this? From my husband. It says : "TEACHERS ARE HERE." Huh? It's 11:18am. Not 3:00PM!

WHAAAAATTTT???!!!! I gun it down my street (where the speed limit is posted much lower than I was driving) and pull up to my house. They parked in the driveway, where the bags of dog poop from the walk were still sitting. I come to the front door, quasi-dressed up (which is also laughably rare) and go in..toys- everywhere. Dry diaper pail on stairs: overflowing. Husband: holding one infant while the other one crawls on the floor. TV: blaring PBS Kids (thank goodness it was that at least, right?). My toddler- squeals 'Mama!' and I try to take in what he is wearing: a t-shirt (not the one I put him in when I left) that is at least one size too small, with shorts that are plaid and not even in the same color family. Huh? And there they are-standing in the middle of my son's toy room which is beyond a disaster- 'Oh..yes, hello. I'm sorry. We must have written down the wrong time?' Ugh.

Are you cringing yet? No? Well good because I'm not done. They wanted to see his room! Oh yes. Really. To accomplish this we all get to trudge up (and down) the stairs past the overflowing pail of cloth diapers (dirty of course) and into his room. THANKFULLY my husband found a second and discreetly closed our bedroom door- which was a kid disaster alone. But my son's room was trashed. Total and utter disaster besides the fact that the comforter was still on his bed from the night before (he sleeps on top of it). I slouched on the floor next to the wall and watched the two of them try to find a space not covered in--well...a toy, book, train, shirt, child, etc etc etc. I remember thinking 'Are they going to call CPS on us?'

So this is just the beginning of our preschool adventures. We are learning that I am not on the ball when it comes to ordering the monogrammed book bag, paying for it once I do actually get it, or volunteering for enough parental duties to name just a few. There are days I wake up and think to myself...'When did I become this person?! I used to BE A TEACHER!!!'

I look forward to sharing more (because how can there not be more?) of my 'Imperfect Parenting' moments. Nothing would make my day brighter either if you shared your own- so please do!  :big grin: