A Day in the Life | Winter 2013

I chose a Thursday for this quarter's DITL post, just because I've always done a Wednesday in the past. In the summer I logged a looooong day of maternity leave, in the fall I logged a work day, and this time it was a day off for me. And Thursdays are always my fave because Nate usually gets home around 2:30. I love having the morning as a SAHM and the afternoon as a whole family on Thursdays. This post was still exhausting to complete but the day as a whole feels a lot more manageable than the previous DITL posts did. Enjoy!


Thursday, January 17 | Truman is 2 years and 10 months old, Cecelia is 7.5 months old (almost 8!)

6:30 am | I hear Cecelia gigging on the monitor and her seahorse is playing music. Very odd since she normally doesn't mess with that thing. Nate is already in the shower, so I go and get Cecelia from her crib. She is kicking the poor seahorse and finds it hilarious. Big girl only woke up once last night at 2:30, taking a bottle from daddy and then ALSO needing to nurse after that. Must be growing. One wake up = totally acceptable to me. So I'm extra happy with her as I carry her into our bedroom to lay down and nurse a bit more.

6:45 am | Truman is calling 'Mommy!' so I pull Cecelia off of me and go into Tru's room with her. Truman demands to see his sister each morning and gets genuinely excited when he lays eyes on her. 'Hiiiiiii, Cece!,' he says. I give him a kiss and he says we must get downstairs immediately so that daddy can tell CC hi, too. Sigh.

6:50 am | Make my bed really quickly before taking the kids downstairs. Nate obliges Truman and says 'hi' to his daughter.

6:55 am | Truman wants to watch an episode of Dinosaur Train right away. He usually needs to 'wake up' for the morning with a little boob tube, but I've been making him pee first. Because otherwise he will push it until the last possible moment and then it's a crisis situation for all involved. So now he is throwing a mild tantrum over my request to pee before TV. Is it really going to be like this all day? I SO want to snap a picture of his meltdown for this post but refrain from pushing his already angered buttons. ;)

7:05 am | I win. He pees and so we flip on his episode. I grab a cup of coffee freshly brewed by my loving husband. I make Truman a waffle while Cecelia plays on a blanket.


Then Truman informs me that he wants a granola bar FIRST before the waffle. Whatever. I start making my own breakfast--reheating some of the amazing crock pot pumpkin steel cut oats. I was having a freak out moment earlier this week thinking my supply was tanking (it wasn't) so Nate made me a bunch of this amazing goodness.


As I take the above picture I hear Henry scratching at our outside door. Uh-oh. Nate must have forgotten that he put the dog outside for a pee. Poor Henry is not pleased. At least he got some fresh air?


7:15 am | Eat my breakfast on the couch with the kids. Cecelia doesn't believe in staying on a blanket anymore.


Nate leaves.


Change Cecelia's diaper. She does believe in eating her feet.


7:15 am | Quickly email Dizzy about our plans for today. We had mentioned a playdate but I think I'm just going to do the library instead in order to get back home early enough for an 'early' nap. You see, Nate is coming home SO early today because of a meeting--he is usually back at 2:30 on Thursdays but today it will be 12:30! This simple fact makes me abnormally excited, if you can't tell. I mean he has his really late nights on Monday and Wednesdays and didn't get home until 7:20 last night. So we are due for some extra family time. Cecelia is fussing on the floor.

7:35 am | Put CC in her highchair and get her breakfast together.


Turn on music, using our new sweet Apple TV to play songs directly from our computer. Love. Sidenote: Did I mention that we got rid of cable in the name of saving $90/mo and got Netflix instead? Apparently the Apple TV comes into play somewhere in there, I don't know, but it's pretty awesome. Really into 'The Antlers' lately--my brother gave us over 800 of his favorite songs for Christmas. Love discovering new artists! I feel so young and hip! Shortly after I start playing them Truman demands we listen to Raffi instead. Now I just feel young but not so hip. He is playing with his trains really nicely on the floor and it's so cute to hear him talking in character voices. My imaginative son = heart bursting over him.


7:45 am | She is pretty much over her breakfast, getting fussy again. I drop a full spoon of yogurt everywhere--the first of many messes, I'm sure. The kids have an adorable moment together while I clean up, as Truman declares, 'I want to sit next to CC here, mommy. You sit there.' Okay! And I shall snap your picture in return for you being so cute. Then Instagram a shot of you, dear son. Man I wish my coffee was still hot.


7:55 am | Time to try a nap for little miss thang. She's fighting it but I keep trying to rock her and give the pacifier anyway. Truman is yelling for me to play trains with him downstairs. I hate when I need to be two places at once--haven't yet mastered that trick as a mom of two.

8:00 am | Sneak out of the nursery but she still isn't officially asleep yet. Hope she figures it out on her own. Hurry to get dressed while popping in and out of the nursery to replace a pacifier or beg her to just sleep. Truman is still mad I'm not crashing trains into each other just yet, so I have to pop downstairs a few times, too, to reassure him that I'm getting presentable and will be down soon. Realize after seeing this picture that we have the dirtiest mirror in the history of ever. Disgusting.


8:22 am | Fact: my daughter hates to nap for me. She naps for everyone else but her mother. I'm in her room for the last time, frustrated because now we are really going to be pushing it for time to make it to the library. I give in and nurse her because I know that's what she wants of me. Wonder if we should just go to the library right now and let her sleep in the Ergo once there? Or maybe just wait for the 11:00 Rhyme Time session instead?

8:30 am | She won, but at least she is sleeping.


Creep out of the nursery, pick out some 'soft' clothes for Truman since that is all he will wear lately (Jeans? HOW DARE YOU!). Come downstairs and T is still not happy with me for being gone so long. I give him two options for soft clothes and he creates his own combination---including wearing his clothes over the top of his jammies. Do not feel the need to pick this battle right now, and he is ridiculously excited to hide his jammies under clothes. Silly boy.

8:40 am | Reheat my coffee, but it's never quite as good this way. Convince Truman to come into the basement with me to start some laundry. Nearly fall down the stairs as I type notes about our morning on my phone. Close call, would have been the second wipe out on the stairs for me since I took a major tumble right before the new year (was not playing with my phone at the time). Bone head move will teach me not to be so obsessed with details.

Let Truman pick out a 'new' train from our giant Geo Tracks stash in the basement---still need to donate these to charity at some point. Start laundry with the assist of one mister T.


Notice a puddle of pee on Nate's workout mat. HENRY! When?! Must have done this at some point last night? Truman notices my DIY project of the week---two wooden growth charts made to look like giant rulers. He declares that they are....wait for it....train tracks!


8:55 am | Guess who is awake? Sweet nap, Cecelia. A whole 25 minutes! Grab a diaper and go upstairs with Truman to get this happy baby. She will just have to nap at the library now.


(need to drop the mattress down STAT)


Get her dressed with some assist from brother.


(hilarious princess hair bow that stayed on her head for approximately 2 hours)




9:10 am | Pack up the crew.


Realize I'm starving so I grab a granola bar. The house is a freaking disaster already and I mutter curse words to myself as I step directly onto a train, crippling myself momentarily. First of many freak outs of the day regarding our house being a 'disaster'.

9:20 am | We are off! I hit the curb while backing out of our driveway. Truman says, 'That makes me funny!' over and over again. I try to correct him saying that 'It's funny' or 'That makes me laugh' but he doesn't hear me through his laughter. 'I going to tell daddy you hit the curve!' Tattle tail! And incorrect grammar/word choice yet again!


9:30 am | Arrive at the library right on time! But wait....why are there very few cars here? Usually Rhyme Time means a packed house. Realize my mistake as we head inside. Duh. The sessions don't start until February. Total mommy brain on that one. We can still have fun here though, but I hope Truman isn't too disappointed not to see the 'teacher' and other kids.


















10:30 am | Go home.


Debundle and unpack. Freak out about the sheer number of trains scattered about this house. Ask Truman to help me pick up and he does it willingly (?!). I know this is a lost cause to pick up the house in the middle of the day but it's still nice to enjoy space on the ground for a few moments!


10:55 am | Start Truman's favorite Thomas movie (called Thomas and the Magic Railroad---have any of you seen this gem? Freaking Alec Baldwin is in it and it's actually pretty cute! It does have 'old Thomas' in it, though, the creepy kind of clay-mation ones whose mouths don't move but their facial expressions are out of this world.) I usually let him watch another episode of something right before his nap/during lunch and today I am feeling extra cool so I go for the movie. Make Truman's lunch for him but I'm starving and wish I could just eat before him. Classic mom move--totally famished, but have to make sure the kids are fed before I eat a bite! CC is fussy. Must be exhausted because she didn't even nap in the Ergo today.
(sliced cheese and also shredded cheese...pushed into little balls to cut down on mess. I know, ridic.)


11:05 am | Diaper change.


Still starved. Feed baby first, nursing her on the couch, as I down the rest of Truman's apple. Truman goes to drink out of my water bottle and I tweak out because I'm just getting over a cold and the last thing he needs is to get sick again. I yank it out of his hand and water sprays everywhere somehow. Great. I feel bad for overreacting but he was not listening to me when I said not to drink it. He has his own water two feet away, of course, but wanted mine. Also, he is now regretting his decision to wear jammies under clothes. 'I'm too hot,' he says. I tell him he can take off his clothes and jammies then, but he is not happy with that answer. Begin uploading pictures from my phone onto Flickr to prep this post. Man this is hard work (first world problems, to the max)! Up to 75 pics and the day isn't even halfway finished.


11:30 am | Baby girl is out like a light. I put her down in her crib upstairs, come back down to find that her monitor has been turned off in her room. Go back up to turn it back on, praying that I don't wake her in the process. Truman is ready for seconds with his lunch and I'm officially famished and getting cranky because of it.


11:40 am | Make my lunch and Truman's second lunch. Take Henry outside. Grab a soda from the basement because it's just one of those days when I need a sweet treat;) Change the laundry while I'm down there. Ignore the dishes in the name of my immense hunger. EAT! Also help Truman remove a layer of clothing.


11:55 am | Like clockwork today, Cecelia wakes up after 25 minutes. She is obviously still tired judging by her cries. WTH. Load the dishes and hope she magically puts herself back to sleep without help. I hear babies are capable of doing that every now and then. Wash pump parts, too, to satisfy my urge to control and clean.


12:05 pm | Cave and get her. Forget about trying to force a longer nap because, HEY OH!, Nate is going to be home soon and I'm certain she will nap for him much better than she will for me.


12:10 pm | Nate calls and he is now going to get groceries. Curses and yet awesome. I take a few pictures with Cecelia to commemorate how we each feel about her not napping more than 25 minutes at a time today.


Play on the ground with Cecelia as Truman's movie finishes, then we all have a dance party with Raffi as our leader.




(baby yoga!)


12:30 pm | Nap time for Truman. Tell him one 'Truman the Conductor' story. He literally has 7 of his trains in bed with him at this point. The child is obsessed.


12:40 pm | Change a moderately offensive diaper. Nate is home. Cecelia is fussy. Decide to nurse her again for good measure to ensure the boobs don't explode on the treadmill and that she won't need a bottle while I'm gone.


12:55 pm | Change my clothes. I'm such a pansy when it comes to full body selfies---I mean, 'face only' shots any day of the week. And full body while pregnant? Yes. But am I really vain enough to take a full body shot of me at the gym? With other randoms in the locker room wondering why in the hell I'm snapping a picture of myself in the locker room mirror? Probably not ballsy enough, but I can totally do one at home. You know, in the name of capturing a visual reminder of me at this point in my life. All of me. In running shorts and pigtails (due to a recent short haircut again).


Truman is calling for me and wants his iPod to help him fall asleep. Sometimes he will just 'rest' there with his iPod until he nods off and one day he didn't ever fall asleep while watching it. I figure it won't hurt to let him try the iPod technique. Give CC a smooch as I leave, and Nate is now rocking her in the nursery to assist with a nap. She freaks out crying, apparently because I'm leaving. This is a new trick that I really dislike.

1:20 pm | Gym Time! Mommy time! ME TIME! I have never gone on a Tuesday or Thursday afternoon, as I usually go at 5 am. But knowing that Nate would be home with lots of time to spare for 'family time' today, means I get the luxury of working out when it's light outside. And because we cut cable this time on the treadmill means Bravo, HGTV, and TLC again. (thankfully didn't have to take a real selfie there. This is all I could muster. Ha ha haha.)


(felt good for the 4 miles--sweating like a beast!)


2:25 pm | I'm back home and both kids are napping simultaneously. Score one for daddy! What shall I do with this extra free time? I suppose I should shower, or I could change and fold some laundry. Shower wins but I'll be honest when I say I do not mind sitting in my own filth for awhile, either. Peek at baby girl first. Try not to freak about the froggie being over her face.


2:50 pm | Got dressed, starting to dry hair and Cecelia is now awake. That was a great nap at 1.5 hours! Nate puts C into the Rock-n-Play so she can 'watch' me get ready. Love telling her about how someday she, too, will go through all of the trouble to blow dry and straighten her locks. Also, I'm totally sweating as I get ready. I hate how our bathroom has no freaking air flow! Did not clean the mirror yet, either.




3:10 pm | Come downstairs with my girl, grabbing two peppermint Jo-Jos because they are the most amazing cookies ever.


Change diaper. Nate goes to wake Truman up from his nap since he's been sleeping for about 2 hours now. If we let him go on his own he will easily clock 3 hours or more....and then bedtime is a disaster. Nurse Cecelia.

3:20 pm | The beast has risen and is in a fairly good mood. Eats a granola bar and somehow manages to get it ALL over the couch. Nate is joking with Truman asking 'who is the boss around here?' and Truman replies, 'Mommy is the boss.' I love this child so much.


3:30 pm | Pack up our clan of four for a running shoe shopping spree. You would think this could be a quick thing but it is not. Quite the feat. We go to a little local place where you test the shoes out on a treadmill and they analyze your gait. Nate does some presentations for them and all of them are REALLY into 'minimalist' running shoes. I won't geek out too much here but it's kind of mind-blowing. Yikes for it being a looooooong event and Yay for new running shoes! Did I mention that we are running in our first half marathon as 'parents of two kids' in May? Gulp.




(the chosen pair--after attempting 3 other new/different kinds, I had to go with my tried and true faves. I'm so boring. But my running shoes are bright;) )


5:15 pm | Finally leaving the shoe store. OMG. Both kids did amazingly well for the 1.5 hours we were there but it was still pretty chaotic. Cecelia is getting super fussy at this point and it's basically dark outside already. We consider just grabbing fast food since we are usually sitting down to eat dinner by 5:30 but forgo it for the meal we'd already planned at home. Also, Nate's road choice for the drive home is jammed with traffic. Making an already painful ride home even worse---and it's necessary for me to climb in the back seat to soothe a very unhappy little munchkin.


5:35 pm | Home finally. Nurse Cecelia immediately to calm her down. Truman spies a popsicle in the freezer and is begging to have it for dinner. Um, no. Nate begins to make our real dinner while I nurse and try to distract Truman. Feeling happy to have nursing as a tool to soothe Cecelia and as an excuse as to why I can't help with dinner;)

5:50 pm | Done nursing, change her diaper, and prep the kids food for our meal. It seems that when Nate is home for dinner he is in charge of the adult food and I am in charge of the kids. Not a bad deal for me;) Truman is playing with his beloved trains, I set CC down on her blanket with toys, and put on some tunes. Things are calming down around here again!




6:15 pm | Eating! Truman won't sit in his chair and is also doing a crappy job of listening to us. So he gets a timeout, which is pretty standard for dinner time these days. He also needed a potty break during dinner and specifically requests that 'mommy wipe my butt.' Appetizing!

(cheeseburgers, open faced, with a slice of Nate's 'sprouted wheat' bread. He is on a gluten-free kick again. It was amazing)






6:45 pm | Bath time for my hot mess baby. She gets a nightly bath and big brother joins her on Mondays and Wednesdays and sometimes Fridays. I think she kind of likes having the tub to herself.






7:05 pm | Jammies, then back downstairs to say goodnight to our boys.


(hate the front camera on my phone so much)


7:10 pm | Nurse to sleep in the rocker. Upload pictures from my phone to Flickr. Check emails and IG.

7:30 pm | She's out. Creep downstairs to find the boys baking cookies. I pick up the family room (again), go to the basement to feed Henry, get the laundry that has been dry all day, and start folding it as Truman plays at my feet. Nate gives T and I the beaters---and Truman says, 'Oh my gosh, it's yummy, daddy!' about a hundred times. Then he says, 'I really love sugar.' No kidding!






8:00 pm | Uh-oh, she is crying. This happens sometimes and isn't always indicative of a horrible night to come. So I nurse her on the other side assuming she is still hungry. Looking through my phone some more I notice that today is 'Throwback Thursday' on IG. Go into Facebook to hunt for a fun old picture, but never settle on one. Just get lost in the memories instead;)






8:20 pm | She is really out this time. Go back downstairs to finish up the laundry folding. Slam three freaking cookies. Surprised that the boys are still downstairs as Truman usually goes up with Nate by 8:00. I set the timer for 10 more minutes to prompt Truman that it's almost bedtime. Nate's searching for a particular train online because Truman informed us he wants 'Merrick' for his upcoming birthday. Apparently he is in luck because there is an awesome track that has good old Merrick at Amazon. This kid is pretty easy to please these days. I finish the folding and go upstairs to put it all away.


8:35 pm | The boys come up to begin their bedtime routine and I'm finished putting clothes away. I choose outfits for myself, for Cecelia and Truman and lay them all out for easy access tomorrow morning. Definitely have to do a lot of prep for a work/daycare day to make the mornings just a little more tolerable. I usually prep my work day notes the night before which is a good 30 minutes or more but I am really not feeling it tonight. I think I will have enough time before my first patient to prep notes tomorrow, so I just bought myself extra 'me' time. The luxury! I get Lori's bag ready instead and also pack my lunch.


8:45 pm | Crap, just glanced at my work phone and I have 3 voice mails from earlier today. Really dislike how even on my 'days off' I feel the need to be available for my job. Send an email to my boss to follow up on her voice mail and since I'm already logged into my yahoo account, I start replying to a few other emails.

9:00 pm | Nate comes down which means it's my turn in the bedtime routine. I tell T four 'Truman the Conductor' stories. Kiss my buddy goodnight. He requests daddy one more time. I get back to my emails.

9:10 pm | I am beckoned back upstairs for one more story. Man, this is late. He is usually asleep by 8:30 but whatever. I know he is tired, so I kiss him goodnight again (after making up the lamest story ever!) and get back to emails.

9:40 pm | How is it this late??? I've only fully responded to three emails at this point. Maybe I'm a little long-winded (wink wink). I guess it's time to pump now. Kind of bummed that I won't have time to work on my current craft projects (Growth charts! Daily activity calendar!), and that I didn't get to lay on the couch with Nate. He's zoned out with his own laptop right now though and we are both ridiculously tired already.

9:50 pm | Pump, finish emails, and start attacking my Google Reader while uploading more pictures from my phone.


10:05 pm | Done pumping. More GR.

10:30 pm | It's way too late! Clean my pump parts, grab a bottle to have in our cooler pack upstairs in case baby girl needs a bottle from daddy tonight. I used my 'free' 1.5 hours for emails and blogs tonight which isn't a total waste but why aren't there more hours in the day?!

10:35 pm | Upstairs with Nate, get ready for bed. And Nate and I both fall asleep mid-sentence.




2ish am | CC crying, Nate gives a bottle while I saw logs.

5ish am | CC crying, I bring her to bed and pass out nursing. Haven't done this in quite some time because she is usually up just one time these days. Cannot imagine how we survived the weeks (months?) of 3-5 wake ups. Shudder.

6:00 am | Alarm! Work day!

{I'm too worn out from typing this to even reflect on the day as I had intended. But I will say that having a baby who is no longer a newborn is awesome (although I love newborns in their own way---but it's no freaking joke when the newborn is your own). Sleep is also awesome. And having a husband at home before 7 pm is even more awesome. And being able to really work out again without lugging a double jogging stroller is the awesomest. Life is still hectic most of the time but it's feeling more comfortable than it did last summer, for sure. I wonder if it will be even more settled in the spring?

Until the mythical time period of 'calm' arrives, I will try to accept that I will constantly step on trains, will never feel like I get enough 'me time', my house will likely be a disaster, and I will have moments of overwhelming love for my children and also overwhelming fatigue.

And that is my philosophical reflection moment for you tonight.}