Relaxation

I wrote this back when my daughter was still pretty small, but I thought I would put it up here as even now that she is 18 months I still cannot seem to have a bath all by myself with no interuptions.

Mom's Relaxing Bath:
It is a regular kind of evening. Dinner is over, my husband is snuggling our sleeping 6 month old daughter, and our 3 year old son is playing with his toys. It has been a long day and I decide to sneak off to the bathroom to read my magazine in a nice hot bubble bath before the kids require my attention.

I fill the tub with hot water and add some kid friendly grape bubble bath. It is the only bubble bath we have, I hope I am not jinxing myself. The bathroom fills with steam and the scent of grapes. I grab my magazine and slide into the  hot water. I pick up my magazine and begin to read. Heaven.

I have not read more than a paragraph when I hear a knock on the door. My husband's apologetic face appears around the corner. The baby has woken up and has had a diaper blow-out. He has cleaned her up as best as possible with wipes, but she needs a good rinse off.

I put my magazine down and take the baby. She loves baths and hot water and is very excited to join me. I clean her up and enjoy watching her splash away happily until my husband returns to collect her 10 minutes later.  He wisks her away to be diapered and dressed, and I reach for my magazine.

This time I read no farther than once sentace before I hear another knock at the door. My son peeks his face in. "Mommy I have to poop" he says as he runs in with his pants already around his ankles. The once quiet bathroom is now filled with grunts from my son as he goes about his business and the room now smells of grapes and poop.<sigh>.

He takes his sweet time finishing up and then daddy comes in to help him clean up. They finally leave the bathroom and I pick up my magazine again. As I try to find my place on the page my son re-enters the bathroom naked and proceeds to climb into the tub with me. "My turn" he says with a smile. I put my magazine down again and play "sharks" with him. My husband peeks in to see if we are ok, I ask him to come get him in 10 minutes. 15 minutes later my husband returns to take him out. He dries him off, and off they go to get his pajamas on. I add some more hot water to the tub, grab my magazine, and try again to read.

 I manage to read an entire paragraph before there is another knock at the door. OK, seriously? What on earth could they need now? Apparently my son spilled his glass of milk all over himself and the baby (and the living room floor) they both need another rinse off while dad cleans the carpet. I sigh and put my magazine down, I guess I'm not going to get to read anything tonight. I rinse both kids off and my husband takes them out one by one promising it will be the last interruption. The water is cold, I can hear the baby crying (she wants to be nursed) and my son wants mommy to read him a book.

I give up. I pull the plug, dry and dress myself, and join my family in the living room. My husband asks "Did you have a nice relaxing bath?" Good thing he is kidding.