i hope i always remember how tough it is to be a parent

And just to make sure I do, here is what happened right before lunch:  It had rained a little this morning, but it must have been more than I thought.  I had let the dogs outside since Grandma was coming over while I went to the store.  When I got home, Tobey wanted to go outside and play.  So when we went outside, I saw that Miles was COVERED in mud.  Awesome.  So I out Jonah in the playpen and gave Miles a bath,  During the bath, Jonah cried the whole time, and Tobey and Penny got all muddy outside.  Jonah started screaming so I left Miles all suds-ed up in the tub (I knew he would stay in because of his torn ACL) to check on Jonah.  Miles started barking, but I had to check on Tobey and Penny.  Tobey and Penny now had more mud on them, and Jonah cried even louder.  Okay, back to Miles.  I got him rinsed off and started to dry him when he got loose from me and shook himself and ran all over the house.  The bathroom and the hallway were soaked.  Meanwhile, Jonah is getting all red-faced and teary-eyed.  I got Jonah out of the playpen and into his high chair and gave him some puffs.  He finally calmed down.  Next I was able to brush the mud off of Penny...turned out it was surface dirt as opposed to caked-in mud.  Penny then took off for my room, jumped on the bed, and laid down in my spot.  And that's when I noticed that in fact, she did have mud on her paws!  AAHHHHGGGG!  But, whatever.  Then it was time to take care of Tobey who was actually a little angel.  He helped me take off his muddy clothes and went straight to the bathroom and washed his own hands.  I then got the kids lunch and noticed that I was so hungry that I was about to barf.  Once I fed Jonah some, I finally got to eat.  And while all this was going on, I had a time limit in getting the kids down for naps because I had a phone appt with the insurance agent.

But the craziness was all worth it.  I heard Tobey making siren noises during his "quiet time", and that made me feel better.  Not that it doesn't make being a parent tough, but it somehow makes it worth it.