Mom brain. You hear about it. You make fun of your fellow moms about it. But then.. then, it happens to you.

D was duck hunting this morning, so Lee and I were on our own getting the household up and running. Lee joined us in our bed pretty early this morning. He is starting to get really excited about Santa so he has to keep checking to make sure he hasn’t come yet.

We took turns gently shoving each other, after snoozing the alarm twice, to see who was going to sit up first. “Lee go get me some coffee,” I whispered. “Mommy I don’t know how to do this!” he said before flipping over to face me. “I wanna watch Cars 3. And I need a hot cup of milk, please,” he says to me.

I get up and head towards the kitchen to get his milk when I hear him shuffling around. I peek back into the bedroom to see him stacking all four pillows behind him and pulling the covers up to cover his legs. I bring him his milk, turn on his movie, and jump in the shower. While I’m getting dressed Lee comes into the bathroom to keep me company.

Next we’re off to his room to get him dressed. D lets him pick out his own shirt in the morning so I have to hold up around 8 shirts for him to veto before he decides on his Avengers shirt. We go back into the kitchen and make Evie’s bottles to take to school, feed the dogs, and put them in the backyard to do their business.

Next up, Evie. Lee follows me into her room and starts gently singing to her while I pull out a set of clothes to dress her in. She had an accident that went through her pajamas and onto her sheet. No big deal, we clean her up and get her ready.

Fast forward about 25 minutes and we are in the car pulling out of the driveway. Lee and Evie are both in the backseat chattering away. We have made it! We left the house with time to spare! I’m feeling pretty good about myself right about now.

It takes about 15 minutes to get to the kids daycare from our house. Almost exactly 10 minutes into our drive, Lee says, “Mommy, we’re gonna watch the choo-choo train movie today.”

“No baby, you are watching Polar Express tomorrow after your Christmas Pajama party,” I remind him.

“But my PJ party is today,” he says.

“No baby, it’s the 19th. Which is Friday. Which is tomorrow,” I say. Right as I glance down at my Fitbit and see that today is the 19th. “Wait,” I say to myself aloud.

I pull off onto the shoulder of the road and grab my phone out of my purse. I pull up the school’s Facebook page and scroll down to the post about the party. “Christmas Pajama Party — Thursday, December 19th!!” stares back at me in bold red letters.

Just like Woody in Toy Story, I yell, “The party’s today?!?!”. From the backseat I can hear Lee giggling.

We U-Turn (safely) and head back towards the house. Once parked in the driveway, I unbuckle Lee and we run up the front steps. I grab the two presents for Lee & Evie’s gift exchange and tell Lee to strip while I start wrapping them. Right as I’m cutting the wrapping paper off the roll, I look over to see Lee stark naked.

Which causes me to start laughing. Which causes Lee to start laughing.

We get him into his Paw Patrol Christmas pajamas and bundle him back up in his jacket and beanie. We finish wrapping the two gifts and then run back out to the car where Evie is waiting patiently in her carseat. When I open her door to check on her she grins really big and giggles. Now, it’s about 22 degrees outside. Do I get Evie out of her seat? Out of the warm car? Out from underneath her blanket? Take her inside and put her in her Christmas pajamas too? No. I make a tough call. I tell myself that she won’t remember and she’ll have just as much fun regardless of what she’s wearing. Lee is at an age where he would notice and he would feel left out. I plant a kiss on her cheek and jump in.

On the way back to school, Lee starts singing Christmas songs in the backseat and Evie turns her head to watch him.

We get to school and I immediately apologize to the first teacher I see for showing up without the food I signed up to bring. She laughs at me, takes Evie out of my hands, and pats me on the shoulder.

Evie is content. She is watching the bigger kids run around with a huge smile on her face. Lee is one of the bigger kids running around. I catch up to him and take his jacket off of him and make him pose for a picture in front of the Christmas tree.

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When I get into my car to leave the school, knowing full well I’m definitely going to be late to work, I, a 27-year-old woman with two kids of her own, dial my Mom so that she can tell me I’m not a bad mom and it happens to everyone. And she delivers.

Unrelated, but below is a video of me trying to rock Evie to sleep. She has really started talking lately and this is too cute not to share!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

xxx A