It's been 6 months since I did a Day in the Life. I photographed the summer edition, but I was on vacation and just didn't have it in me to write it up. So when
Navigating the Mothership made a call, I couldn't let this one pass. Furthermore, this is supposed to be a Week in the Life, which I'm at least going to attempt. Though today was so involved, we'll see if I really have that in me. When the hubs set to work the next 5 days straight, I'm not sure what the week will hold.
Today is October 14, 2015. MJ is 5, Greta is 2 and Teddy is 9 months. Because he still wakes so much at night, I started my day the evening before.
11:00 p.m. In bed. So nice to cuddle next to husband, one of the great things about winters and our feather bed. I love when he's home in the evening and we get to talk at bed time. For some reason, it is the time that we often (lovingly) mock our children while recapping the day. He goes to bed and I play a mindless game on my iPhone for 15 minutes to turn my mind off. Can't decide if this is a bad habit or a good habit
11:20 p.m. Night night!
3:00 a.m. Teddy wakes up and cries for a bit; it sounds like he might fall back asleep. I wait to see if he will but he gets quite upset and so I decide to go in and give him a bottle. He downs about 4 ounces and I question whether I needed to go in to begin with. When I put him down he cries for a little bit and then goes to sleep.
6:00 a.m. Teddy starts crying, likely awake for the day. All in all, not a bad night for him. Hubs said last night he would be the one to get up with the kids this morning. He seems to not be a fan of that idea this morning. Begrudgingly, he does get up with Teddy and I pop in some ear plugs.
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| My messy kitchen with the terrible colors. Hate starting the day looking at a mess. |
7:00 a.m. Hubs is backand it is now my turn to get up. I'm a bit grumpy, because I thought he meant he'd get up and stay up with them, and because I was deep asleep. The time after I put in ear plugs, when I know he is on duty, is always the best sleep I get. Otherwise I sleep pretty lightly and every little noise wakes me up. I go downstairs, where Greta and Teddy are eating Cheerios, and give Teddy a bottle. I make coffee and think about how when I can yet again use my French press in the morning I will have returned to a state of low commotion
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| G thinks the flash is hilarious and asks for me to do it several times. Weird. See also: Go dog go! |
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| Somebody wants to be part of the book reading action. A first for him. |
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| Look Mom! I can write a day in the life post too! |
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| Trying to figure out what's so great about chewing on things. |
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| G spots an older lady in the paper and is CONVINCED it is Nana. She refuses to put it down. |
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| There's a fish in this book. Thus, her rendition of fish face. |
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| Our fish face selfie. You saw it here first, folks. |
7:20 a.m. Sit down to read "Go dog go!" I've had dreams about this book lately, I've been reading it to Greta so much. Teddy pukes all over my arm and the couch pillow, so I have to interrupt the sotry to try to clean up the mess. I sit back down to finish the book. Teddy actually listens for one of the first times I can remember. He gets super squirmy and I pause to finish giving him the bottle. Greta takes over flipping pages, and I discover that she really doesn't care when I flip five pages at a time. I've been known to do such things, when I'm tired and don't feel like reading the book for the 7th time om the day. Teddy starts chewing on my flip-flops and my knee and I talk Greta into getting him some toys so he stops. Greta steals my phone and starts using the auto dictation, as I've been doing while recording my day. And she pretends take pictures. Now that I'm awake and have my coffee, I find these guys to be a riot in the morning. Perhaps I should start setting the coffee pot the night before.
7:40 a.m. I stopped to change G's diaper, because it smells and apparently is the same diaper from last night. I often change her on the floor, so that I don't have to drag everyone upstairs, but that requires fending Teddy off from crawling in the messy diaper. While I'm changing her, Teddy grabshold of my coffee cup and tries to chew on the side of it; I grab it just in time. This boy is teething on everything this morning. Greta decides she wants to go try to poop on the potty. And it's almost time to wake up MJ. I set up G on the potty with some books, and instruct her not to get off if she poops, but to yell at the top of her lungs for me. The moment I start walking upstairs she starts yelling "MOMMMMM!!". I should not be surprised by this. I continue to go back-and-forth between upstairs and downstairs. While I'm getting Teddy dressed she yells insistently. I go down to check on her and she has peed on the potty. She's so proud! I think this girl could be potty trained if I had the wherewithal to commit to it; she'll sit on the potty for long periods of time if she thinks she has to go, and she really wants to succed.
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| Trying to corral them. It's an exercise in futility. |
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| Teddy threw this rug in the shower. I bet you can guess what happened when I took a shower five hours later. |
8:15 a.m. The final push to get out the door is truly difficult today. I think because Nana left yesterday and we're not used to it yet. G ends up wearing MJ's coat; Teddy wears big boy shoes because we can't find his. We just can't get it together. We walk MJ to school and she wants to walk into the school by herself. We stand and talk to Jenny, an aid in MJ's class, who gives us the low down on MJ;s new boyfriend. Yesterday, Amir walked her from the breakfast line into class. She has also told us how he likes to watch her dance. What? Weird! Jenny talks about how cute they are, and that they dance together. How he's struggling in school but this is really helping him. And how she has the self confidence to say a firm "no!" if she doesn't like something. I had previously heard that Amir wasn't nice, prior to MJ deciding she really likes him, so I'm not sure what changed for her. I'm more than a little concerned that she is already drawn to the trouble makers.
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| Ready for school. |
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| Apparently this is my "no one is listening to me" face |
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| Hubs about to join us on our walk. Travel mugs are at a premium in our house. |
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| I love going for walks in our neighborhood at all times of year, but especially right now. |
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| Hubs, looking pensive. |
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| My third little dare devil |
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| If you look very closely, you will see that there is a squirrel in the stroller. Trying to get G's apple, I imagine. She was not going to have that. |
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G is very concerned about making sure Teddy doesn't try to climb up on the horse. I think because she is bucking wildly and doesn't want to hurt him, but I can't be sure.
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8:30 a.m Back home and trying to get ready to go for a walk. I cancel my reservation at the gym because hubs has decided to join us. G completely undresses and we have to completely redress her. We get everyone in the stroller and I forget my camera. I go back to get it and it's not until we started walking I realize I've also forgot my phone. We run into a neighbor and discuss siding for our house. We walked to the Holly tot lot (where I think we went the last time I did a day in the life). There's one other mom there with her two year old son; it turns out I recognize her from MJ's school. We play for a bit but G gets tired and wants to go home. She throws a tantrum when we ask her to put on her coat. I put both of them in the stroller and give them each an apple.
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| Guess who the coldest one in this picture was? Guess who then threw a tantrum because she was cold? Ugh. She's so two. |
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| My first 7 years living her I saw no chipmunks. I've seen about 5 this fall. Amazing. |
We all walk to a nearby bakery, where I get some treats and drop Hubs off at the restaurant across the street. He desperately wants to have a sit down breakfast, but I'm not game and would rather just take them home. Teddy falls asleep in the stroller on the way back.
10:00 a.m. Arrive back home. I drag the stroller up the stairs into the house with Teddy asleep, and fight Greta to come in the house. G gets a snack of cheese and bananas, while Teddy miraculously stays asleep and I pick up a bit. G practices drawing in a book of letters, but it is still far beyond her.
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| Fast asleep, despite being bounced up the stairs. |
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| My lefty. Trying to teach her something about writing, which was really just scribbling. |
10:40 a.m. Teddy wakes up. I try to vacuum, but Teddy keeps unplugging it and I don't accomplish much. Hubs gets home from his breakfast and I start getting ready to go pick up MJ.
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| Look at that amazing sweater! Thanks Baba! |
10:50 a.m. Head out to get MJ. Both littles are unhappy when I leave, and I feel kind of bad for leaving them in such a state. Prob just in need of lunch, Teddy didn't eat much for breakfast. I get to MJ's school and the teacher is reading a story. I forgot to remind MJ about her doctors appt and I'm not sure if she'll come easily, but luckily she does. We pile in the van; it feels weird to have only one kid. I give her a granola bar to tide her over, since we usually eat lunch right after I pick her up. We discuss shots. And her drop off at school that morning.
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| This girl never lets me take her picture. I gotta take what I can get. |
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| Always running away. |
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| The van feels so empty. |
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| Excited to be weighed. |
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| Add caption |
11:30 a.m. We wait for the dr. I read to MJ and she practices reading. She objects at first, but then realizes she actually enjoys trying. She's doing pretty well, despite having never seen this book before. It's the first time I'm confident that it's really sinking in and not just memorizing the readers we have.
11:50 a.m. Doc comes in. Asks her all sorts of questions, MJ keeps rubbing her eyes, clearly exhausted. Discusses shots, gives MJ the choice of nasal or shot for flu. MJ asks her lots of questions about the shots, what they do and why she needs them. She chooses shot, even though the doc tries to talk her into the mist. I'm proud of her eloquence, politeness, inquisitiveness, and perseverance in having her questions answered. The doc discusses inappropriate touching, which is a nice thing to hear her say. She discusses her tiny stature (6th percentile for height, 13th percentile BMI).. We discuss that she prob would have been ready for kindergarten but it's fine she's in prek. Given go dog go style book; I can't escape!
12:30 p.m. Shots! She's very brave but does cry. Says she wishes she got the flu mist. She asks for a Drive Through, which I think is funny, and I agree to stop. It's something we never do so I guess it's a treat for her. We call dad to ask for requests.
12:40 p.m. Long line at McDonald's. Thankuflly MJ chooses quickly when it's our turn. She's incredibly excited about her Happy Meal. Ha!
12:55 p.m. Arrive home. We have an interesting conversation in the car, about how Nana is afraid of the water because she's afraid of drowning, which MJ says is the funniest thing she ever heard. Then we discuss how MJ would rather play T-ball than soccer next summer, because she doesn't want to have to wear the same thing as everyone else, which I tell her is the funniest thing I've ever heard, because T-Ball has uniforms too. She says she only wants to be on a team where everyone can wear whatever they want.
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| The love of McDonalds apparently comes naturally. |
When we walk in the house I hear Teddy crying upstairs, immediately assume it's because hubs put him to bed too early. I go upstairs give him a bottle and bring him back downstairs. The girls and I sit down to eat lunch, husband runs upstairs to join a work teleconference. Greta makes a lunch of apple slices and chocolate milk, but MJ eats pretty much everything. I have a salad, which is a questionable decision because it has Dorito chips in it.
1:20 p.m.. Time to put G down for a nap. I run into husband coming down the stairs because he couldn't get into the teleconference. He offers to put G down for a nap, so I go back downstairs and talk to MJ. Teddy is crawling all over the place. MJ goes to bed five or 10 minutes later. I try to pick up and pay some bills. Teddy is fascinated by the chains hanging from the cuckoo clock and also sees me use the shredder and immediately wants to try. But he's pretty content with an apple that he finds in the stroller and gnaws on that for a while. Hubs runs to work for a bit.
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| Ugh. The mess is deep today. |
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| He found the corner we hide things we don't want the kids to get into. |
2:00 p.m. I lay Teddy down. I check on the girls (who are both asleep) then hop in the shower. I wouldn't normally take a shower, (I just had one last night), but we have family pictures later and my hair is looking pretty wonky. I come downstairs and sit down for a while. I've had to train myself to do this during naps, because sometimes I don't know when the next break will be and there's always plenty to do. I look at recipes and think about dinner when I rest. Decide on quiche. Look at Facebook and laugh to myself about people my age still posting their GPA from college online. Pretty sure that mocking this makes me a bad person. (But seriously, isn't this just the new age equivalent of waving your report card around? It was tacky then and it's tacky now.) Hubs comes home and lays down for a nap.
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| And one more! A 4th nap! |
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| The triple nap is a beautiful thing. |
2:50 p.m. Teddy starts squawking. I give him the rest of his bottle. He starts to fall asleep on my chest, but then Vito wanders in and T wakes up. I throw a shoe at Vito to get him to leave; I feel bad about this but it's the quietest way I can get him to leave. It's not use, though, because now T is quite awake and I rock him vigorously to try to get him to fall asleep again. Finally lay him back down at 3:10.
I go downstairs to make a quiche, adding about four times the veggies called for, and not sure if it will turn out. MJ wakes up about 3:30. I get ready to go, put on makeup, change my clothes, fingers crossed that Teddy won't puke on me. I wake up hubs from his nap. He wakes up G. Hubs takes shower, I get annoyed that he is not helping get anyone ready. Everyone changes, chaos, etc., bottle for Teddy. Greta is furious about having to change clothes and I basically end up wrestling her. I know I am supposed to seek her cooperation but I sometimes just don't have it in me. I take the quiche out of the oven, stick it outside with a plate on top (hopefully squirrel proof) so it stays a bit cooler. In the car by 4:30 p.m. Hubs brings Vito along, and I request some pictures without him because he is always trying to dash off and never looks at the camera. Everyone thinks I'm horrible. because he's part of the family, etc. I don't tell them about the shoe; maybe I am horrible.
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| Not bad for a mad dash into the oven. |
4:45 p.m. Arrive at the session. Haven't met this photographer before, but she's cheap and I try to do these every year. The kids don't have long sessions in them, so the mini sessions are perfect. It's only supposed to be 20 minutes but she goes to 45 minutes! I think she thought she was doing us a favor, but it was torture to try to get the kids to cooperate. G kept running off, MJ kept screwing around, Teddy just wanted to crawl away. True to form, Vito kept leaving the frame so we removed him. If we got more than 2 good shots I'll be amazed. I popped cheerios in Teddy's mouth to get 5 seconds of good behavior out of him. I bribed, I cajoled. I tickled. I actually wondered if perhaps I should be a photographer of kids, because I think I did a heck of a lot better than the photographer did. Eventually, I sang Happy Birthday, and they all set there happily, though they tried to sing along so their mouths are probably open.
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| This pretty much sums up our photo shoot. |
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| Some handsome dudes. |
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| Didn't intend to take such an artsy fartsy selfie. |
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| Wishing I had my good camera. |
When it's done, we let the kids run around a bit, then pile in the van and head home.
5:45 p.m. We get home. Hubs takes MJ and my step-Dads laptop to the UPS store; he forgot it here and we need to send it off. I pile Teddy and Greta inside to get some food in them before they have to go to sleep. Teddy loves the quiche (broccoli, turkey, peppers, onions, cheddar). After some quiche and pear the littles are done. I take recycling out. Greta gets put in timeout for screaming (the high-pitched, I'm-just-doing-this-to-piss-you-off scream). MJ and Dad come home, and MJ eats. The girl takes forever to eat! She brought lollipops home for her and her sister, and Teddy gets a hold of one that fell on the floor. He's pretty ecstatic about his discovery, but it doesn't take long for G to snatch it away.
6:45 p.m. Dad is on the phone. G is a crying mess, and Teddy needs to go to bed. I bring Teddy upstairs to change into jammies. I give him a bottle and he gets squirmy so I lay him down. I think he'll settle, but he doesn't (could it be because Dad and the girls are playing with the Nerf Gun downstairs?) He finally does and I sit upstairs, in the quiet, for a bit before I head back downstairs. I try to clean the dining room and the kitchen. It's better than when the day started but not as good as I hoped for. But I'm tired. Very tired. I finish the essentials (dishes, anything gross), corral the girls into helping me pick up a bit, then hand them the iPad to watch some Sesame Street.
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| Tucking baby into the kitchen drawer, giving her a bottle of juice. Must have learned that from me. |
7:45 p.m. I finish a little more in the kitchen, then grab a beer and head to the family room (third floor) to watch some Modern Family while I write. Hubs is in charge of putting Greta down, and at 9:00 I wander down to read to MJ and put her to bed. I love this girl so much. We've been getting along so much better, and she's becoming such a person. Such a nice, inquisitive, hard working person. I am more hopeful about our relationship than I have been in a long time. I talk about how proud I was of her at the doctor, because of how much she stood up for herself but how nicely she did it, and how bravely she took the shots. I tuck her in then finish this post.
(I don't finish until 10:30! Will need to tone it down in the future or I'll never get through a week...)
Exhausted reading this, as usual. Love the last part about MJ. It really is so amazing watching these kids turn into actual people. I love it so much.
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