Time

Time it takes to:

feed S & V breakfast - 40 minutes

get everyone dressed: up to 3 hours

comb S's hair: up to 40 minutes

feed S a snack: 2 minutes

"run" to the grocery store for 1 missing ingredient: 45 minutes

V to sing herself to sleep: 10 minutes

get S to use the bathroom before we go anywhere: 20 minutes (and sometimes a treat)

take a kid-free shower or bathroom break: 0.25 minutes

I used to be so efficient with my time.  I could accomplish a huge list of things in just a few hours.  As we have added children to the mix, my life has exponentially slowed down.  I spend most of my time talking to what often feels like the wall.  I must say the same things 3,000 times a day.  I must say the word, "NO" 10,000 times a day.  Now I know why my Mother used to use words like, "cross", "crazy", "screaming-mimi", and "grounded" regularly.  There really are days that I would like to run out the door screaming.  I can totally picture Savannah's face if I did that.  Her eyes would be big and bright, and she wouldn't know whether to laugh or to cry.  And for once, she wouldn't have anything to say for a few minutes.  I know this for sure, because she is a mini-me and that's how I would be, only on the other side of the door.
Thankfully I took my Mom's advice years ago when she said this:
"Keep a little file of some of your college exams and papers that you wrote and did well on.  Someday, when all you do all day is change diapers, sweep the kitchen floor and clean up messes over and over again, you'll have something to look back on and remember that you used to be SMART."

Time to open the file.