First, do no harm

Today was my first day posing as a single mom to my sister's 2 and 4-yr-olds. Oh my God. My back and feet are killing me, I've hardly eaten anything all day, and I'm absolutely exhausted, and it's only 9:15. And did I mention I just now got a shower today?

It started innocently enough. Of course, my sister's mom-in-law was still here this morning. I took Anna to preschool on time and came back before she left. Then Colin and I had the day together. What to do... I decided to take him down to Austin's Central Market, which also has a nice restaurant and great playground.

I took a wrong turn and got lost on the way, so I think we were driving for 45 minutes or so. Colin's a trouper, though, and kept me entertained with his sightings. "Duck!" (truck) "BIG Duck!"

We finally made it and played on the playground for about an hour. By that time it was noon, so we headed to the restaurant. Uh, oh...the line is out the door! I thought Colin wouldn't do well waiting in a long line, so I decided to drive to Freebird's, a great burrito place on the way home.

Guess I missed the exit for Freebird's...not doing so well navigating Austin at this point. Now Colin is telling me he's hungry. I had the diaper bag with me and dug out a container of Cheerios for him. Only problem is, I forgot to bring a sipee cup of anything. I know, I know. BIG mistake.

About 5 minutes later, Colin asks for "mimi" (milk). I tell him I don't have any. "Juice?" Sorry, bud. "Water?" (sounding more desperate) I tell him I forgot. "You forgot?" I feel really bad, like a terrible auntie.

I took him to Rudy's, a BBQ place that's good and noisy and that he's been to before. I bought milk first off and thought we'd split beans, cream corn and chicken. He wouldn't eat any of it. All he would eat was the nasty white bread that would make his parents very displeased with me. They also didn't have high chairs, so he was on my lap or on the bench next to me. That didn't last long. "Down." No, I told him, you can either sit with me or sit here on the bench. Small whining episode ensued. I decided to pack up our lunch and take him home.

We weren't here long before we had to get Anna. She was happy to see me when I picked her up. A couple hours later, she was howling that she wanted her Mommy and Daddy home RIGHT NOW. She had 3 accidents (pee) tonight, one on my lap, thank you very much, and threw a really nice tantrum at dinner. I repeated all the phrases I've heard Jenn and Anthony tell her, and told her to go to her room if she was going to continue. She refused to budge, so I carried her to her room and shut the door. Howling ensued. I swear, if she knew how, she would have been cussing out her Auntie Emily.

Neither one of them ate much for dinner, and I'm concerned now that I didn't get enough of each of the food groups in them. I did manage to bathe and get them into bed pretty close to the plan. And as I was reading Anna her bedtime story, she alerted me that two of the chickens were out in the yard. Yes, my sister the vet has a dog, a cat and 5 chickens that I'm also taking care of. I had to chase the chickens around, grab them and put them back in their coop. They squeal like pigs when you pick them up.

Janet said I did ok because I kept the kids safe. They are still each in one piece. Tomorrow, my cousin Beverly (15) comes to help me out. Thank God for Beverly.