Spring 2013, week in the life: Saturday

Today, I am tired.  Not in the Navigating the Mothership sort of way (seriously, her lack of sleep is truly monumental), but in the oh-my-god-my-baby-is-crawling sort of way.  Crawling started, today.  My sneak preview into my future life makes me weary.

5:00 a.m.  Greta wakes up, furious.  She sucks down a bottle and looks wide awake.  I stick her in the swing.  Every evening I resolve not to rely on the swing, but every morning it just works so darn well.  Sleep is going so good right now, I really don't want to mess with it.

7:00 a.m. I hear MJ yelling down the hallway.  So I yell back.  "Your clocks don't match yet.  Go back to bed."  I say this every morning, and it never works.  But this morning, miraculously, it does.

8:36 a.m.  I glance at the clock and assume something sinister.  Like, she's snuck downstairs and is gorging herself on candy.  Or she has snuck upstairs and figured out how to turn the TV on.  These are the two things that might keep her quiet this long.  I lay in bed for a little bit, savoring the fact that I got to sleep to such a godless time of the morning.  Only people who've been out partying the night before get to sleep in that late, right?  I google some information about electricity, including "What happens if you connect a life wire to neutral wire?"  Answer: Nothing good.

8:45 a.m.  Finally the suspense is too much.  I open MJ's door not knowing what I'll find, but she is, in fact, laying in bed, and the sound of the door wakes her up.  She grins from ear to ear, gloriously well rested.  We talk about how great sleep is (I'm hoping this sinks in) and go down the hall to wake up Greta.  She also grins from ear to ear, happy to be alive.  I love mornings like this.

9:00 a.m.  We go downstairs and eat breakfast.  MJ requests Cheerios, her go-to food.  I mix up some yogurt with apple sauce and oatmeal for Greta.  She takes two spoonfuls, then I set the bowl down to close to her and she knocks the whole thing onto the ground.  Vito dutifully licks it up; MJ wants to sweep it up and doesn't believe that this is a bad idea.  A ridiculous argument ensues with me threatening to take her broom away if she doesn't listen.  Thankfully, Vito's fast.  Another bowl for Greta.

The yogurt aftermath.  Vito is sporting a patch on his person and you will notice the bit he couldn't reach.

9:15 a.m. I call my Dad and we Facetime.  MJ used to love Facetime but is less enamored with it lately.  This makes the grandparents bummed but I'm hoping she'll grow out of it if I don't push it.  I quiz my Dad about our electrical issue (after my post last night I got an email from our renter that their power in their bedroom isn't working).  I show him our unfinished fence and we catch up, since we haven't talked in a while.  MJ causes much disruption and little contribution.  I put Greta on the floor after she finishes eating and she scoots all over.  This is new; just yesterday she wouldn't scoot more than a foot or so and would get tired and frustrated.  Now she scoots across the room and doesn't seem to wear out.  Every time I try to help MJ with something G has something else gross in her mouth.  I immediately see that this is going to be a problem and just hope she poops herself out.

The typical morning routine, watching my lion cubs wrestle.  MJ is clearly establishing her dominance.

Thankfully, she is also establishing her love.

10:00 a.m.  We wake up Dad.  He loves the riotous children-in-your-face wake up, whereas it is my personal torture.  But we're all happy to oblige.  I hand him the girls and warn him that G is scooting all over the place and can't be left alone for a moment.  I take Vito for a quick walk with MJ (since we currently have no fence I can't let him out back) and head to the rental.  Hubs takes the girls to the park.

Greta.  Into everything.

10:30 a.m.  Commence electrical work.  Lots of voltage readings and circuit trippings later, the problem remains unsolved.  Thankfully I didn't electrocute myself, but an electrician will have to be called.  Our very nice renters seem not to mind.  Hubs drop by briefly, and MJ insists on using their toilet.  And drops a deuce.  In our renters toilet.  Yep, we're super professional.

12:00 p.m. Greta falls asleep on the ride home and we move her car seat into her room.  Next up: lunch.  On the back porch!!!  PB & J for MJ (shocker, I know.)  Leftover Cossetta's for hubs and I.  Far too many strawberries for all of us.  It is so nice to be outside, and I get motivated to try to get our back yard in shape.  Part of that involves solving our garage storage dilemma, so I spend the next 1.5 hours tearing down some old shelves in the garage and putting some new shelves in their place. While it doesn't look much better, it gets everything off the floor (which has running water during rainfalls) and will provide much more storage in the long run.

Meanwhile, MJ drags all her yard toys out and shrieks wildly about being a train conductor.  Our neighbors have some very yappy, annoying dogs and in that instant, as they try to sit peacefully on their back porch and MJ yells "Choo!Choo!" over and over again, I feel that I can no longer get annoyed about their dogs.  I finally get too annoyed as well, and send her inside to watch some TV.  She's ecstatic about this option.

2:00 p.m.  Greta is up.  I realize I have barely sat down all morning, and now both kids are awake and energetic.  Hubs watches her for a bit while I finish up the garage so I can pull the car back in.

2:30 p.m.  Dad leaves for work, I feed Greta and then decide I need a shower.  This is when it became very clear that Greta is no longer (so) easy.  For the longest time (3-4 months) I've been able to sit her up with some toys and she plays happily while I shower.  Today, she did not.  She wanted nothing to do with the toys offered, and instead tried getting into the garbage can, the closet and wrapping the phone cord around her.  I finally tasked MJ with watching her while I showered.  I blow dried my hair after, but MJ announced she was done watching G so it was a very interrupted blow dry.  With another pause to give G a bottle, it was 3:40 before we finally left the house.  We're headed to a birthday party.  The party is for my husband's coworker's sons' birthdays (I think I punctuated that correctly).  I thought when I RSVP'd that hubs would be able to come, but was wrong.  I thought about not going but I know MJ will love it, so we pack up and go (incidentally, I'm totally glad that we did).

This was more important than watching Greta while I blow dry my hair.  I figure if I'm going to post a naked picture of my kid, it had better be blurry.  

So much child proofing to do.

3:50 p.m.  Arrive at Target.  In my abundant organization, I didn't remember to get presents in advance.  The party starts at 4:00, half-an-hour away, so... I tell MJ this will be quick.  She decides we should get Barbie makeup as a gift.  I try to explain that most boys don't like makeup.  So she suggests a Barbie purse.... hmmm.... I'm trying to avoid the total gendering of toys, but this is a hard one.  I convince her to get nerf guns instead, and have probably damaged some feminist in the process.  She's also convinced that only boys can be doctors, so I'm trying to do more cross-gendered toys and stereotypes, but it's hard to have it both ways.

4:20 p.m. Leave Target.  Hit the road.  MJ falls asleep about halfway there and Greta falls asleep with only five minutes remaining.  Part way there I realize I have forgotten both food and bottles for G.  Winning at parenting.

4:50 p.m.  Arrive.  Instantly long for the suburbs and wonder if our city dwelling days are numbered (I don't think they are).  But the yard!  And the space!  I wake up MJ and bring Greta inside, still sleeping in car seat.  A second nap is rare for her, so every moment is a bonus.

It takes MJ a while to warm up, but as soon as she sees the Curious George cake she's into it.  I realize that many people there don't know each other and no longer feel like such an outsider.  Greta naps for about 35 minutes, then wakes up and is on the move.  She keeps getting underfoot but is otherwise smiley.  Classic party games (pin-the-butterly-on-george, pinata, etc.) that MJ is totally into.  Cake and ice cream, of course.  And her and the birthday boy get along so wel that we resolve to get them together more regularly.  Both girls have a great time and it makes me super glad I came.

Dutifully waiting for the pinata.

I love this picture.  So many wars are being waged.

Turns out this girl has an arm on her.  T-ball, here we come.

I think she may have shoved her way into top candy-hoarder position.   Note to self: the paper bags worked well because every kid walked away convinced they got the most candy.  

MJ is having to learn better cake guarding technique.  She is not a fan of Greta's new skill.  The days I have warned her about have finally arrived.

6:45 p.m. Depart.  I almost have to drag MJ out.  Stop for gas on the way home, but the credit card machine is down and I must find another.  My fuel gauge tells me I can only go 9 more miles and I get a little uncomfortable.

Some final crawling before bed time.  Need to see what big sis is up to.

She's taking orders.  I requested ravioli but all they had was dog food.

7:15 p.m. Home.  I am wiped out.  The last stuff in the yard I want to do will not be happening.  I feed the girls a bit more (and myself) since they were too distracted to eat much (and since I didn't bring anything for G, oops...)  MJ creates a game that is essentially would-you-rather with food.  "Would you rather eat dog food or a baby bottle?"  I'm impressed by her creativity.  I can feel myself getting crabby.. I push food into everyone then badger MJ into jammies, teeth brushing and potty.  We read a quick book, because G is starting to melt down, then tuck in by 8 sharp.  I give G a bottle and sing to her.  She goes to bed easily despite seeming very awake.  I take Vito outside on a leash to pee; he is not impressed by the promise of a walk (in the form of a leash) with no delivery other than the trees directly in front of our house.  Pick up the kitchen, wash bottles....

8:45 p.m. Finally sit down to write.  I will be excited when the week-in-the-life is done.  It is wearing me out, I confess.  My mom loves it, and I think would appreciate this much detail in every conversation I have with her.  Interestingly, I find myself taking fewer pictures than ever this week, I'm not sure why.  One more day.  I think I can do it.  Maybe I'll make a final push and actually edit my post tomorrow....

And because I forgot any self portraits today, you get my nighty-night tired self.

 Proof reading is over rated.  Hope you all agree with me.