A Day in Our Crazy Life III
I’ve been meaning to do another “day in our crazy life” post for a while; I started the tradition last year and I’m trying to do it every six months. It’s amazing how quickly these kids grow and how much our daily routine can change in such a short span of time.
So... here was today!
(Sorry the pics are all blurry cell phone. I just used what was readily available to me.)
5:35 AM: My alarm goes off. I hit the snooze a couple of times. Everything in my mind and body is telling me to go back to sleep (life is exhausting these days) but after 10 minutes I force myself awake. I know if I miss my running time now it won’t happen later... there is no other time. My girls don’t tend to be as patient about riding in the double jogger lately.
5:48 AM I get out of bed and put my running clothes on. Normally I have time to pack N’s lunch before I head out the door for my morning run, but my snoozing has left me with no time for that.
6:00 AM I put on my reflective vest, grab my flashlight and my phone, and I’m out the door for my five miles. The first three are slow and rough. But as the sun starts to come up and I can see the beautiful fall colors, my pace quickens and I’m so glad to have this time to myself before the crazyness of our day starts.
6:50 AM I walk in the door and immediately hear that C is awake. I don’t even have time to put my flashlight away before L emerges, rubbing her eyes and saying “C is making SO much noise in there.” (The two little sisters share a room.)
6:52 AM I run in and grab C before her noise can disturb N in the next room.
6:55 AM: I’m surprised to see that M is just waking up (he’s working from home today). Normally he’s up at 5 for his run, and then gets right to work after that, but apparently he’s feeling some exhaustion too. He’s been playing single dad a lot while I’ve been working in the evenings.
7:00 AM: M makes the coffee, then heads downstairs to start working. I slice some Super Fiber bread for L and C. I put C in her booster seat with the bread while I start making breakfast.
7:09 AM: L is completely dressed. She found her own clothes that Daddy had laid out the night before, and put them on all by herself. She's been amazing about doing this every morning without even being asked.
7:15 AM: N is awake. The girls all munch on their bread while I make start making some eggs and pouring some juice and blueberries to go with them. L wants to come in and help me crack the eggs and butter the bread, so she does:
Super helpful, that girl, And definitely a morning person.
7:30 AM: Breakfast is ready for the girls, and they continue to sit and eat, but I realize that I still haven't packed lunch for N (this is why I try to do it before I leave for my run... time is short once everybody's awake). Luckily my amazing husband made me my favorite oatmeal combo
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| oatmeal made with soymilk, topped with cinnamon, blueberries, and chia |
before he went downstairs, so I alternate shoveling down mouthfuls of this and gulps of coffee
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| My brother got me this mug for my birthday. If you can't read it, it says "Super Mom". I LOVE IT. It's so gigantic! It makes the statement, "Behind every good mom is at least three cups of coffee." |
while I make N's lunch.
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| avacado & crackers, apples & pb/chocolate chips, honey roasted peanuts & a clementine |
7:35 AM: C and L are finished, so I wash up C and get her down to play. I sit down with N to finish my oatmeal.
7:54 AM: N gets up from the table (she still hasn't finished her breakfast... unlike her sister, she moves veerry slowly in the mornings these days). She is distracted by the game her sisters are playing and gets up to join in. I have to remind her to come back to the table and finish eating, and then I glance at the clock and have to remind her to *quickly* finish eating, as the bus comes in 20 minutes.
(N has been sleeping later and later these days due to kindergarten exhaustion, and so we've been skipping violin. The first few weeks of school she was ready by 7:40 and we could do a quick lesson before the bus arrived. I'm trying to figure out a good solution... she's usually too tired after school to focus for a lesson.)
(N has been sleeping later and later these days due to kindergarten exhaustion, and so we've been skipping violin. The first few weeks of school she was ready by 7:40 and we could do a quick lesson before the bus arrived. I'm trying to figure out a good solution... she's usually too tired after school to focus for a lesson.)
8:00 AM: The next 15 minutes are a flurry of me getting the baby and myself dressed, N getting herself dressed and brushing/washing up, mommy finding everybody's shoes (we have places for their shoes-- really we do-- we just have three girls who like to try on each others' shoes and wear them around the house and leave them in places where we can't find them when we need them. Grrr.)
8:15 AM: Daddy races upstairs to take N out to the bus stop... a nice perk of having him in the house; that way I can stay in with C and we don't have to worry about her running into the busy road. I give N a kiss and L accompanies them outside.
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| not a pic from today, but a similar morning |
9:15 AM: I go downstairs to get L and C and tell them that we're going to the mall play area. This is one of L's favorite things to do. Since L has been the one who seems to be feeling my absence most keenly while I've been working so much lately, I really want this morning to include some quality time for us. We find everybody's shoes (again), use the potty, grab some bananas for a snack, and we're out the door.
10:00 AM: Arrival at the mall. We head straight for the play area. I had brought my laptop because I had one quick work-related task on my mind to complete, but the wireless signal at the mall is spotty and so I just watch the girls play. It's more fun anyway.
L makes lots of friends immediately. I hear her making the introduction to several people. "I'm L and I'm 3, and this is my baby, she's 1. My big sister N is 5. How old are you?" She seems to have a sort of motherly control over all the kids in the play area. There are several exclamations of, "Come on, guys! Over here!" and "Nothing to be worried about!"
She's friendly with the girls, but plays with the little boys more readily.
C plays for a while but then has to take a break to "draw sumpin". She seems to have N's gene of needing some drawing time at least once every hour. I give her a receipt and a pen from my purse.
10:30 AM: We stop by Old Navy and pick up some new socks and pjs for N, on sale. L finds the perfect shirt on the clearance rack for $4:
We can't believe our good luck!
11:00 AM: We head over to Panera for lunch. We never eat out, especially on a weekday, but I've got a gift card from my birthday and again, I wanted this day to be all about quality time... no worrying over making lunch or cleaning up dishes. It was wonderful.
The girls each had a mac n' cheese kids meal, and I had a broccoli soup, caesar salad and iced coffee. Delish delish. And even more so because I didn't have to make it.
The girls were both obsessed with the fire place. L kept staring at it and saying, "Mama it's a REAL fire!" "It's a REAL chimney!" "There's wood in there so the fire can grow!"
11:45 AM: Back to the car. I give C a quick diaper change on the seat of the car, because I'm pretty sure she'll fall asleep on the way home after our busy morning.
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| lookin' sleepy, and we hadn't even left yet |
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| L really wanted to change into her new shirt before we left for home |
12:15 PM: We arrive home. My prediction was correct; C is out. I gather her up gently and transfer into her bed successfully without waking her up. Hooray!
12:30 PM: L and I play trains together for a few minutes
and then it's time for her rest. I read her a couple of stories, she uses the potty (no more pull-ups at nap or bed time-- we're pretty much night trained now as of about 3 weeks ago), and she's out within 30 minutes. (This isn't a daily thing any more, but we had a busy morning, and it's been a busy week.)
1:00 PM: I head straight into my bedroom and break out the laptop to start working. My friend Missy calls, and it's wonderful to talk to her, so I don't end up getting much work done, but I don't care. I'm able to get my most important tasks done for the day after we hang up.
3:30 PM: M walks out to the bus stop to get N-- I'm still working.
4:00 PM: L and C wake up from naps.
4:15 PM: The girls watch Busytown while M makes homemade pizza for dinner and I throw together some pumpkin bread to take to L's preschool Family Night that we'll be attending later.
5:00 PM: Supper time!
5:30 PM: The timer goes off for my pumpkin bread, but it's taking waaaay longer than the recipe said to cook. I crank up the oven and throw it in for another 15 minutes.
5:45 PM: We have to leave so we'll get to Family Night on time, but I'm just pulling the bread out of the oven as M is getting the girls into the car. As a result, it's too hot and breaks in half when I try to take it out of the pan:
Epic fail, I think... but no, I manage to slice it and arrange it in an aesthetically pleasing manner, wielding a sharp knife while M drives (he asks me to put the knife down while the car is moving, and I do so reluctantly). Super Mom indeed.
6:00 PM: We arrive at Family Night, and the girls watch a puppet show
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| L was slightly nervous about the troll puppet in the Three Billy Goats Gruff |
and then enjoyed some snacks.
7:30 PM: We depart for home again, and all the way the girls are remarking about how spooky and dark it is (worrying about trolls, perhaps?)
7:45 PM: We arrive home and I clean up the supper dishes that we left everywhere while M does pjs, gummies, and teeth brushing with the girls.
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| L decided to wear her Star Wars shirt to bed too |
8:15 PM: The girls have read a story with Daddy and I'm just finishing the dishes. I go in to kiss them all goodnight.
8:30 PM: I change into pjs myself and hop onto the laptop to work. I work for about an hour before wandering over to my blog to write this post. M chats with his sister on the phone for a while, then reads and falls asleep.
(All in all, it sounds like I didn't work much today! But I had started the day off with the idea of giving myself a bit of a personal day and focusing on family and friends first. So I'm glad it happened that way. But on a more normal day, I'd be working two hours during nap time and then another two or more after the girls go to bed. I've still got a mountain of grading to do before Tuesday's deadline, and I may have to stay up really late to do it in future nights, but today I deliberately chose to procrastinate a little.)
10:54 PM: I go to bed myself! Looking forward to "sleeping in" until maybe 6:30 or 7 tomorrow...
8:30 PM: I change into pjs myself and hop onto the laptop to work. I work for about an hour before wandering over to my blog to write this post. M chats with his sister on the phone for a while, then reads and falls asleep.
(All in all, it sounds like I didn't work much today! But I had started the day off with the idea of giving myself a bit of a personal day and focusing on family and friends first. So I'm glad it happened that way. But on a more normal day, I'd be working two hours during nap time and then another two or more after the girls go to bed. I've still got a mountain of grading to do before Tuesday's deadline, and I may have to stay up really late to do it in future nights, but today I deliberately chose to procrastinate a little.)
10:54 PM: I go to bed myself! Looking forward to "sleeping in" until maybe 6:30 or 7 tomorrow...
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