A Day In The Life | Fall 2012, work day edition

Wednesday, October 17 | Truman is 2.5 years old, Cecelia is 4.5 months old

I chose a Wednesday for this quarter's DITL because I did a Wednesday in the summer, and my how things are different now that it's a work day again. This is still one of Nate's really long days at work which always makes the evenings tough as a 'single mom' but since I also work on Wednesdays, I'm especially worn out. Plus the kids are older, obviously, but that doesn't really change much--except Cecelia is waking MORE at night. Awesome. Here we go!
 
5:00 am | Nate's alarm goes off. I guess he was hoping to run before work, but since he gets up and hits snooze now... and again at 5:15 and 5:30, I don't think the run is happening. :)

5:45 am | C stirs in our bed so I nurse her laying down.

6:00 am on the dot | Truman's clock turns yellow and therefore he calls out for 'Daddy!' immediately. The boys go down stairs and C is nursing while asleep. I'm attempting to get out of bed earlier today than I did on Monday for work because I was really stressed and late all morning after getting up at 6:45.

6:20 am | Nate gets in the shower (curses! I was going to jump in there right now!) so I get up and pick out clothes for the kids (fave!). Cecelia seems to be staying asleep in our bed for now and Truman is downstairs playing trains and eating breakfast.

6:30 am | CC is up! Love how smiley she is in the mornings:) I take her downstairs and get her changed into a fresh dipe and clothes for the day. I heat up my water for coffee and get the cloth diapers from the dryer. Should have done these last night. Now they will sit in the basket all day, I suppose, but at least they are out of the basement. I make CC's bottles from the defrosted 10 oz of milk I thawed last night,



6:45 am | Nate is downstairs now, so it's my turn to shower. Get dressed, make bed, put on a touch of makeup, and brush teeth (although I haven't had my coffee or breakfast yet, but this is my best chance to clean the chompers in the morning).



7:00 am | Downstairs to see my fam again.



(loves her links these days!)


Make coffee and breakfast. Lately I've been straying from my standard bagel with PB and H and am really into eggs, sausage and a gluten-free waffle. Mmmmmm.




7:05 am | I hear Nate say, 'Can I help you get dressed, buddy?' SCORE! Love that Nate is helping me get Truman dressed this morning. SUCH a help, one less thing to do before I take the kids to daycare.


Of course, making my own breakfast is never that simple. This little guy keeps running in to request more graham crackers.




Nate also takes out our recycling and sees that a can of black beans made a huge freaking mess inside. So he fills the bin with water and sets it into our sink to 'soak'. My inner neat freak does not handle this sight too well---want to wash it out immediately and put it back in it's proper place but I don't have the time. Ugh! And the dishes are already piling up, too---wish I could unload the dishwasher and reload it before work.



7:15 am | I finally sit down with my breakfast and Cecelia is shrieking, not happy from being on the floor so long. I have to sit her on my lap while I eat and as soon as I lift her up she barfs everywhere. On both of us. Great. Now the big question is, 'Can I save either of our outfits or does this spell another change of clothes for us both?' WHY?! No time, there is never any time. (Saved By the Bell, anyone?) Nate is walking out the door right now, too, and tells us all 'goodbye'.





7:25 am | Nurse Cecelia for one last fill up before we go. Forgot to put in nursing pads this morning so I hope I don't soak my bra on the other side right now. Truman is playing a game with us where he gives us imaginary, surprise trains. Enthralling:)


7:33 am | Done nursing. Making a mental list of everything I need to do before work and luckily I have a bit of time after I drop off the kids before I see my first patient. That doesn't always happen and sometimes I have to haul everything out all at once and then I pump for the first time in parking lot before I see patient #1. Today I get to stop back by our house because my first patient lives blocks away. YES! So I decide we have time to change clothes. Both of us.



(so tough to make another outfit while saving the onesie underneath. Settle for a tiny hoodie and roomy pants--great combo)

(I got clean pants, too!)


7:45 am | Game time. Put on my shoes, Truman's shoes, Truman's jacket. Pack Cecelia into her car seat. She spits up again but luckily not enough to warrant another outfit change. Grab the daycare bag, entice Truman to come along, and head out to the car.




7:50 am | And we are off!




(little bit of time on the highway but no traffic!)


8:02 am | Arrive at Lori's, drop off the kids after lots of kisses.




On the drive back to my house, passing the elementary school that my kids will attend someday. It's always CRAZY there at this time of day and my heart always jumps a bit when I think of our family being in that mix.


8:15 am | Home. Really annoyed by how messy the house is right now although it doesn't look too awful in this photo.


Grab bags to use for trash in my car (it's filthy), grab nursing pads, make a second water bottle for today (so thirsty!), and reheat my coffee. Hate that I never have time to enjoy it on workday mornings. Make my lunch--usually do this the night before work but didn't last night. Whoops!


8:30 am | Get pump parts together (again, usually done the night before since I usually don't come back home after dropping off the kids) and start to pump. Check work voice mails. Ha, the office says they want me to take a 'rude' patient because they think I will be tough on him. Great. Two new ones for Friday--my schedule is already filled to the max for today.


8:35 am | Have to call a new patient for Friday's schedule. Hate to do this while pumping, it has to sound so weird in the background! Make a new to-do list for this evening as I'm feeling super scattered right now.

8:45 am | Done pumping! Have to use my stop watch lately or I lose track of pumping times and may go way too long. Got 5 oz which is pretty good considering I just nursed Cecelia twice in the past 2.5 hours.




Coffee is cold again. Wrangle Henry from under our bed upstairs and get him into his crate. Off to my first patient with my collection of bags (at least no daycare bag or baby in a car seat right now!)


(love the view down our street as I pull away from the house)


(bye, house!)


9:55 am | Leaving first patient's house, running late. Gah! That was a longer treatment than expected. Check voice mail and make two phone calls while driving to patient #2. A little perplexed that my laptop's battery is halfway drained already, after charging it all night. So annoying. But look! A pretty house with burning bushes! ;) (not my patient's house, don't worry). See second patient.


10:40 am | Leaving patient #2, made up for lost time with a quick treatment. Make two more phone calls. Starving, eat the apple from my lunch. Get to patient #3 a little early, so I sit in my car and do a note from this morning. See third patient.

11:55 am | Third patient was another abnormally long treatment, but I'm super close to my house again so I decide to run back and get my dumb power cord for my computer. Check my voice mails, make two calls while yanking my power cord out from the wall. Multitasking at it's finest right here.

12:10 pm | I need to pump but have to bust it to make it to my next patient's house. Decide to set up my pump while I'm in my driveway and I'm going to have to drive and pump this time. And eat lunch, too. Great! Supposed to have 30 minutes of a lunch break to do this stuff but with my long treatment and a patient who is sort of far away for the next one, I have to scramble.

(chaos of my car/portable office)


(I'm buckled up though!)


12:30 pm | Arrive to patient's house right on time. Have to unhook the pump, got another 5 oz. Someone is parked in their car across the street and I'm totally paranoid that they are watching me take off my pump parts! See fourth patient.

1:15 pm | Done with patient #4. Have 10 minutes to spare, so I do notes in my car before heading to patient #5.


North side of Milwaukee has some amazing blow up Halloween decor! ;) See fifth patient.

2:15 pm | Done with fifth patient. Do some more notes before I head to my last one. Starving again, eat my granola bar. See sixth patient.


2:50 pm| Done with my last patient after a super quick visit! Notes in car. Would be SO NICE to get everything done for the day before I get the kids at 4. The 'no incomplete documents' is a precious sight, my friends. This never happens and I usually do paperwork for at least an hour each evening after the kids go down.


3:30 pm | Home, after debating about just parking at Starbucks near Lori's house to pump there. But I'd always rather come home even if it's just for 5 minutes to drop off my work and pump bags. Life is 100x easier if I can take/get the kids without extra bags to carry. I have 25 minutes before I have to leave for Lori's. Take Henry outside (much better without kids, too!)

Unload my lunch bag, fill up my empty water bottle (thirsty!), let Henry back in, unload my work bag and pump bag. Time to pump again really fast before I head out. Check my email, forgot to email the girls about Halloween--do that now. Check blog for comments. Check IG really quick for the first time all day (the horror!). Check Google Reader but no time to actually read the posts:(



Can't believe I got to pump at home two out of three times today. That never happens! Most days it's all three times in my car but I will take this situation any day.

3:40 pm | Done pumping, went a little longer than my goal 15 min. Got 4.5 more ounces, so 14.5 for the entire day. Not too shabby. Feeling REALLY tired all of a sudden, though.





3:50 pm | Leave to get my kiddos!

4:00 pm | At Loris, get a quick report from her about their days (they both did great today, love that kind of report). Head home with my babes.



Truman wants me to read the 'Lori books' when we are at stoplights. I usually oblige because it's fun to read about their days in detail:)



Note that Cecelia is REALLY into grabbing for things now and her coordination is good enough to succeed!


4:25 pm | Home!


Help Truman with his jacket and he's a bit frustrated that I won't just take it off for him:)

Unpack Cecelia from her seat and nurse her. Then Truman wants a granola bar, so while I'm getting it (one handed), Cecelia bites me for being distracted. Ouch! Peek through the internets on my phone while Truman watches an episode of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. So freaking tired. Need to get myself pumped up for this evening somehow.





4:50 pm | Pull CC off me and she is not happy about it, but I will be sleeping with her if I don't do something stat. Accepts the pacifier just barely. I crack open a Diet Dr. Pepper that I've been saving from the gas station the other day. It's amazing. Change my clothes finally. Start laundry---way too much in our laundry chute for my liking. Annoyed at the dirty dishes in the sink. Annoyed at my 'to-do' list for the night. Just mostly annoyed.

5:00 pm | Cleaned out the dumb recycling bin that is taking up half of our sink. Water splashes on my freshly placed sock. Want to stab someone over it. Kill a nasty bug on our ceiling. CC is shrieking in the other room. I think I need sustenance or I might get ugly here. Thank God it's leftovers night. Re-heat some chili for me and make Truman his own little dish, since he gagged on the chili last time I attempted that. :)







5:15 pm | Dinner time! C is freaking out so that means I get to eat with her on my lap. Again. Truman stalls a bit and needs to finish up an episode of Dinosaur Train before gracing us with his presence at the dinner table. Whatever.




5:30 pm | All together now, and my boy is being really wild. It's cute at first for sure, as he is eating well and showing me his 'cross' face.




But then he chokes on his water while laughing and thus begins the rapid decline of the dinnertime period. He got water all over his clothes and demands 'NEW ONES' but I can not handle undressing and redressing him during dinner. After all, I have a baby on my lap who is exhausted and we are doing baths soon anyway. So I help him strip down instead. He finds this hilarious and then refuses to sit back down in his chair. Two time outs follow. Living the dream right now.


5:45 pm | Then he has to potty and manages to fill his 'poo poo chart' with the final sticker, which means he gets a reward. He needs 6 stickers for poop and about 30 for pees---and someday we will have to stop all rewards but now is not the time. I promise him his 'reward' if he finishes dinner and is a good boy.




Cecelia found a friend while I'm bribing her half-naked brother.


6:00 pm | He finishes his dinner, hallelujah. I push it a step further and tell him that we need to do baths before a reward and surprisingly he doesn't freak out too much. This way he can be basically ready for bed and may be able to keep himself entertained with his new train while I put CC down shortly. Head upstairs and get ready for the dual bath---and CC's diaper is disgusting. Maybe that's why she has been so cranky? I have really crappy wipes upstairs and this angers me---why can't we have nice, new, wet wipes up here instead of this old crusty ones?!?

6:05 pm | Bath time! Adorable dual bath only slightly heart-attack-inducing because of the baby in the bumbo that sort of wants to float.




(and unprompted kiss from big brother--blurry but sweet)


Truman is sort of wild and soaks me accidentally with a stupid squirt toy. CC is on the verge of meltdown. Truman is upset with the water in his eyes. Time to end this bath ASAP.

6:20 pm | Done, get the babes dried off and dressed in jammies.





(my soaking wet arm---felt worse than it looks, promise) ;)


6:30 pm | I get Truman his reward from the attic stash--a new cart for a train he already has. It goes over well as I figured. I turn on some soothing music and try to hold Cecelia off from nursing a bit as we watch big brother play trains on the floor.




6:35 pm | That doesn't last long. Nursing, bedtime routine has commenced but we have to be downstairs with loud big brother and not in the nursery just yet. Eventually Truman switches from trains to the iPod---to watch train videos.






6:50 pm | Nate calls and is just now leaving work. Cecelia is already sleeping while nursing so I think I'm going to attempt The Crib Transfer. Truman tells her, 'Bye Bye, CeCe. See you soon!' very genuinely. I die.

7:00 pm | Lay her down and she is semi-awake. Hold my breath and walk out of the nursery. Change the laundry, wonder if our washer is capable of this next gigantic load.


Feed a hungry doggie named Henry.

7:10 pm | Truman is back to his trains and wants me to fix a very complicated track and my mushy brain cannot figure out how to attach these buggers. Ask Truman to just wait for daddy and I start unloading the dishwasher.


Did you spot my favorite glass? Cannot wait to use this bad boy later tonight!


7:15 pm | Nate is home! I keep doing the dishes while he shows off his train track expertise.


I wash  my pump parts and bottles, then begin the milk rotation/prep for Friday at daycare. Gotta use some of the fresh stuff I just pumped but I'm also trying to work my way through my frozen bags from June, so I'm doing partially fresh and partially frozen milk. It takes a minor in Milk Management to organize all of this stuff sometimes but so far so good!






Dishes done = my mental sanity just stabilized by about 50%


7:35 pm | I want to sit down, but force myself to do a Jillian DVD instead. Get really annoyed by her referring to her assistants as 'babies' but I think this is helping my energy level overall.

(note the creep above)

8:00 pm | Done. Nate has taken Truman upstairs to begin bedtime by now. Gotta keep going. Cloth diaper time!

8:15 pm | Done. Just in time to fold the first load of regular laundry.

But I get really distracted by Henry's AWFUL bangs. Time for a 'home trim' that our groomer will surely call me out on again:)

(before and after!)

8:25 pm | Nate comes down and is somewhat alarmed by all of the white hair on my pants. It's my turn for Truman and he requests three 'made up' stories tonight and one song. I give him a kiss and then it's Daddy's turn (again) to tuck him in.

8:40 pm | Stupid laundry. Nate did some of it while I was upstairs, thankfully, but I finish it off and bring it upstairs to put away. While I'm up there, T calls me in to sing one more song.

8:50 pm | Have to do a 'transfer' on my work laptop to get my notes onto the server. Check my work emails and get a little stressed that HR is telling me my Health Risk Assessment isn't yet completed for our insurance premium discount. I know I did it weeks ago because my big fat 67/100 score still chaps my butt. Will LOVE to talk to the 'counseling nurse' at the office about this score next week, since I got marked down because I don't get 8 hours of sleep a night (baby), don't exercise vigorously 5 days per week (kids), and eat too much animal protein each week (huh?). Please. Also, I answered too honestly on the 'stress' question and admitted that I'm 'sometimes stressed' which apparently is not acceptable. Overall the test said my 'health age' is 27.7 though, instead of my actual 31 which is a plus. But still. Aaaaaaaaaaand Cecelia is crying already. Great.

9:05 pm | I figure she *could* actually be hungry right now since she didn't get to eat much before falling asleep, one sided feeding only. Sigh. Hasn't woken up this early in at least a week.

9:25 pm | Pull sleeping baby off my boob. Place in crib. Back to work emails. HOW IS IT SO LATE ALREADY?!

9:40 pm | Come out to the family room and just stare into space a second. I really want to do something 'fun' and therapeutic for myself right now, like:  shower, catch up on emails, work on the kids costumes a bit, start this blog post, have dessert or drink wine. I suppose I should start folding that last load of laundry. But instead of all that, I settle on picking up the train explosion across the lower level of our house. Because even just picking up a bit will probably help me feel less 'behind' for tomorrow. The fun 'me' stuff will have to wait. I'm exhausted.

(want to add this adorable 'bumper sticker' to Truman's costume along with a few stickers. His request, of course. Guess it will have to wait until another night)


9:45 pm | Brush teeth, wash face. Um, my hair is dis.gust.ing after working out in a ponytail. Observe.


See bath toys all in the tub. Choose to ignore.

9:55 pm | Goodnight! Apparently nighttime exercise doesn't amp me up like it used to. And I'm sort of proud of myself for going to bed before 10pm. I need to do this more often.

10:50 pm | C is awake. Too tired to deal. Bring into bed and nurse sidelying.

1:40 am | Up again, nurse other side in sidelying.

5:25 am | Up again, I think Nate's alarm just went off but I might have been dreaming. C is sort of antsy and I have to nurse her sitting up in bed. Don't feel horribly tired, actually.

5:50 am | Hear Truman singing in his room, Nate is in the shower.

6:00 am | His clock is yellow and he's calling for daddy (still in shower). Cecelia is basically awake and staring at me while nursing anyway, so we both go into Truman's room. The cuteness is enough to kill a horse, I think.







Nate comes in and we have a nice little family moment. At 6 am.


I love that I'm off work today and can't wait to down some coffee at a more leisurely pace!

{I did a DITL when Truman was about Cecelia's age and it's fun to read back over that post and compare my life then to now! And I know these posts are suuuuuper detailed and long but it's definitely fun to record an entire day because everything changes so fast. What can I say, I'm a detail-oriented person. Hate that my iPhone takes such crappy pictures in low light--might have to get the iPhone 5 sooner than later. Or maybe next time I could try to use my Canon but I doubt that will actually happen}