Where's My Award?

Today has been a busy day, so the fact that I forgot...wait, let me back up for a second to fill in a few blanks for you all.

My morning started early (7:15 is early for me!) so I dragged myself out of my warm, comfy bed and showered. I managed to get fully dressed (this means hair was done & makeup was applied) before the carpet cleaner showed up at the door at 8:15AM. While our carpets were being cleaned, Ian & I sequestered ourselves in his bedroom to work/play for a few hours. Around 10:45 Ian & I had a playdate scheduled at our local Chick-fil-A with some of our MOPS friends, then we hit the bank, then headed home for a bit. We were home for about an hour when I received a phone call from my MIL indicating that she would be leaving her house, which meant that Ian & I needed to leave as well - we were going to meet her at a nearby store so that she could pass off my 2 older monkies who had spent last night with her. Afterward, we hit Target to grab a few things, then headed home again.

While driving home, my younger sister called, so I answered and began what turned out to be a long conversation about allot of different topics - your basic chit-chat between sisters :) When we got home, I pulled into the garage, told all of the kids to grab their stuff and put it away, taking care not to track dirt onto my still damp carpets in the process, then proceeded with my conversation. I walked into the house, put my stuff away, then began lighting candles scattered around the house...all while chatting away. Morgann & Alex put their things away, then proceeded to interrupt me about 10 times each, both asking to go play with the neighbor kids who were out in the front yard swinging (on their tree swing). I stopped talking with my sister long enough to make sure they had put all of their things away, then gave them permission to go play outside for a bit. They took off out the door, and I continued my conversation.

About 30 seconds later, Morgann & Alex came back in and stood in the doorway, staring at me, but not saying a word - which is odd since they'd just spent the better part of 5 minutes following me around the house taking turns interrupting my phone call! Anyway, I looked at them with a curious look, but didn't bother to ask what was going on. Alex simply looked at me and said, "What about Ian?".

I gave him a look, told my sister to hold on, then said, "Yes, Ian can go play too", then went right back to my phone call.

"No mom! What about Ian? He's still in the car!"

"Oh my gosh! Hold on, Ian is still in the car!" while running out the door at break-neck pace. At this point, my younger sister is laughing hysterically and scolding me for being such a bad mother, but I'm only half-way listening as I run, thinking to myself the exact same thing.

Since I was busily talking to my baby sister, catching up on the events of her spring break trip to Florida last week, discussing life away at college, and just general nothing-ness, I had managed to forget to unbuckle Ian from the car seat that he cannot yet undo on his own! When I finally made it back to the car, he had huge crocodile tears and was breathless - I can only assume he had been yelling & crying in hopes that his dear mommy would come back to release him from the confines of his car seat. When he jumped out of his chair, I tried to hold him, but he simply pushed me away and exited the car on his own accord - apparently he had a few hurt feelings as well - go figure!

Yes, I think I deserve the Mother of the Year award, don't you?