Utter Exhaustion

I am looking after my friend's 9-year old step son this month. Because school starts on July 31st here, there aren't any summer or day camps in August for him. He's a really great kid, polite and well-behaved so it's no problem. Well, on Friday evening, an acquaintance stopped us and asked if I could watch her 23-month old daughter, starting Monday. She's active duty and her stay-at-home husband is leaving... for good. I agreed to watch her for a few weeks until she can find something - the whole situation seemed rather sudden.

This morning Mia came over and Ella is having issues with sharing and having someone divert Mommy's attention. Then Sebastian came and all was well. Ella loves older kids and because Sebastian is Lucas' big brother, he's used to playing games with a toddler. He had Ella playing tag and running around giggling as he chased her. It was an okay first day, though Mia and Ella napped a full 2 hours each... at totally different times. Mia's not been around other kids or at a babysitters for that matter so she's quiet, won't eat and grips her blanket and pacifier for dear life. That's been a hard adjustment as I'm used to Ella doing everything and forging ahead, fearless. I'm not used to having to coddle and coax a toddler into anything.

Five minutes before they got picked up, Sebastian puked all over my living room. Poor kid. Mia was picked up during the incident and rushed out and our friend came just in time to help me clean up his son. My rug is on our patio drying, the house is cleaned. I then cooked dinner for Ron, took the garbage out and got the mail. Ron did put Ella to bed but I'm still waiting for my wife of the year award. I'm exhausted and will start again tomorrow at 5:50am. I swear, if Ella ever asks for a sibling...