Day in the Life | Winter 2014

It's that time again! Laura at Navigating the Mothership is linking up for the quarterly DiTL. I'm totally down.

Sunday, January 19, 2014 | Nate and I are 32 years old. Truman is 3 years, 10 months old. Cecelia is 19 1/2 months old. I am 15w5d pregnant.

4:00 am |  Truman calls out for Nate, seemingly distressed. I can hear Nate trying to soothe our boy but all Truman wants is to sleep in our bed (bad idea, he is a bed hog and we never actually sleep when he bunks with us). Nate comes back to bed and T is still crying, so I try my turn at snake charming him back to sleep. Truman tells me he had bad dream about monkey hitting people. Poor babe. I said I love to cuddle him but there isn't room in our bed, so I would just lay with him for a bit in his room and talk him off the ledge. Got him to relax and his eyes were droopy again (mommy score!) so I went back to my bed at 4:30. Wide awake. Took a long time for me to drift back to sleep.

7:00 am | Truman is calling for me and he needs to pee. I feel like I got hit by a truck because I was in a deep sleep finally. I went in there and told him to go potty alone. CC is fussing from her crib and I guess she *has* been asleep for a solid 12 hours but OMG, I'm so not ready to start our day. I checked on her and she is ok, beloved pacifier still in place. I fall back into bed and ask Nate to rock Cecelia for awhile. I need a few more minutes of rest or I might have to pull the pregnancy card and demand to stay in bed while the rest of the family gets up and moving.

7:30 am | Truman marches into our room and is proud he waited until his clock turned yellow. Yawn. It's late and I suppose I can find the determination to get out of bed. Nate and CC are in the nursery, so T and I peek in to see them sitting in her chair---awake and peaceful. I do love weekend mornings when we all four see each other for the first time (assuming that is an acceptable time of day). The family heads downstairs, and CC needs to be held by me non-stop for a solid 30 minutes before she is awake enough to deal with her day. Take Henry out while holding C. Get ice water for me, water for CC plus yogurt as per request, and then the boys play Angry Birds Race on the iPad while us girls cuddle and Cecelia starts to eat. This is when I decide to do DiTL after pondering about the timing of it this week. I admit that I always feel a sense of dread embarking on these babies since I make them way too complicated for myself, but knowing this might be the last time I catch a glimpse of our family with just four members is enough to force me into participating this quarter. I mean, surely I can do it again this spring but all bets are off after that season;)

(Very shaggy dog)

(Common face of the day-disgruntled)


7:55 am | I fold laundry that has been in the basket since last night. I'm letting go of my psychotic folding ways and allow this process to take more than a few hours now. Fun fact: I do all the laundry but Nate doesn't like how I fold/put away, so he manages that part on his own. I just stack all of his clothes in a semi-neat fashion on our bed and he gets to fold them his 'correct' way eventually. I flip on The Today Show for a second--it's national popcorn day! I decide I want to make different popcorns for our game night next weekend and get very excited about the possibilities. Make Truman a waffle with PB and syrup, Cecelia says she is fine with just her yogurt. We will never make church at 8:30 but I still want him to do Sunday School at least, so I try to get this morning going. Check the weather---cold again. Big surprise.


8:05 am | Both kids eat, CC eats yogurt with her hands.



Nate makes coffee. Need.Badly. I fold more and start to feel famished. All of a sudden CC wants her nuk but we are trying to stick to the 'crib and car' idea. Yesterday she didn't feel well and we let her have it a lot more than we should have. Uh oh, we might pay for that today. She wanders around house whining and eventually playing in playroom. I turn Thomas on for T for a bit at 8:15-we get to watch the last half of an episode we've already seen, but Truman still acts like it's the best thing ever.

(sorted 'lights' laundry!)


(wants the nuk, didn't get it this time)


8:15 am | I take clothes upstairs and remember I have another basket full of folded clothes to put away, too. If I don't eat immediately, things will get ugly so the clothes will have to wait. Think of making toast and eggs, but Nate is making his own breakfast first and I will wait my turn. Kids are playing and eating together. CC spots the new high chair (amazing find on Craigslist, $65 and in fantastic condition! A new Boon chair is $280 so I'm even more excited for this purchase). Cecelia wants to try it out---so I must conquer the removal of the tray. Instructions necessary, steep learning curve there. T says the high chair reminds him of his basketball hoop because of the base. I guess I can see that. I start a grocery list on the phone as I make my breakfast.

(there is my happy girl!)

(High chair for dummies---and how big does my 'baby' look in this thing??)


8:30 am | TV off. T is not happy but decides to do his 100 piece Angry Birds puzzle. I eat, devouring my food as quickly as possible. T gets a granola bar. C still working on yogurt and sharing my eggs. She is starting to perk up and keeps saying,"Daddy pooped" and then she laughs. Discuss meals, check phone for various social media updates, enjoy our family time and work on the puzzle. Take a video of CC being hilarious. Weekends are the best.




Timehop = the best for reminiscing. C's baby butt, baby Tilly on my lap at my St. Louis baby shower.


Really liked my haircut 6 years ago. Maybe I will grow it out like this. And Molly had her baby!!!!

Still can't believe he can do a 100 piece puzzle with little help.

The fam.


(VIDEO of the cuteness)




9:00 am | I empty the dishwasher. Meal planning and grocery lists complete. Family is still doing the puzzle until Cecelia wipes out trying to scale the new chair. She is ticked. Truman informs her that, "CC! You have to have great balance like me". Boys take a break from the puzzle and go upstairs to get dressed.




9:15 am | CC and I go up, too. Have Truman get dressed, have him brush teeth, I put away all clothes, the kids hide in closet, we listen to music.

Chaos.


9:30 am | The boys leave for Sunday School, and Nate says he is going for a run by the church after dropping Truman off. Us girls keep getting ready (which will now take us 3x as long since it's just me and my girl who is into everything BUT getting dressed these days). She goes through an old purse of mine and questions if everything in it is 'poop'. She also tears up Truman's room by dumping random containers. My hair looks pretty good without a shower, so no straightener needed-- just pomade. Easy peasy.



CC found fruit snacks in my old purse and she does not approve of my decision to throw them away, very unhappy with her mean mother. I let her play in tub water to distract from her anger.


Then I get her dressed in a new Valentine's Day inspired outfit. She plays with the otoscope and Ear Check and makes sure mommy doesn't have an ear infection.

(Little Miss Long Legs)




10:15 am | We finally make it downstairs. I was hoping to do Target before getting Truman but obviously that was overestimating our abilities to get out the door quickly. CC eats a granola bar as I pack our bag. IG pic of Cecelia and me.




Load up Target's cartwheel app. Nate gets home from his run and wants to come to Target with all of us. I will never turn down the option of a second adult for a trip like this!

10:40 am | We leave to get Truman after Nate adds windshield wiper fluid to my car. I was too scared to figure it out myself but driving on the winter roads without fluid is just as scary. Thank you, dear husband, for taking initiative.

10:45 am | I go in to the church to get our boy. He looks SO cute sitting at his little table when they open the door, and he is finishing his snack so I tell him to take his time.




(Zipping up his fleece, and his favorite rainbow-hand wall at church)


His report of the day: "I told miss Kristen that sometimes CC pulls my hair and you take my dump truck away. And daddy tickles me." Nice representation of family roles! Also says,"someone tore someone else's paper and he cried, but then miss Kristen taped it up."That is all he remembered and could not tell me what the lesson was about. At least he told his teacher that Cecelia and I are the bad guys at home and Nate is the fun one :/

(Sunday School papers)

(On the way to The Red Store.)


11:10 am | Family Target trip! American, middle class weekends!



So apparently a girl's twin sized quilt is $70 and boy version is only $30? I know exactly what I want and it's the girl version of Truman's current quilt (which was, in fact, $30), but apparently that isn't possible. This is not ok. I wanted to get Cecelia's big girl sheets and quilt for when we move her to the big bed in T's room, but we decide to wait and look around a bit. We aren't in a rush but man, I loved that expensive quilt so much. Raspberry pink, adorable stitching, and the flower sheets go so well.

(there she is---and an adorable canvas sign we didn't get, but I love)


I have a gift card burning a hole in my pocket and with Nate present, I take advantage of looking at clothes for myself (shocking!) and even splurge on dressing room time. I find a few cute maternity things. Can't have too many leggings, tanks, cardigans, and long tops (my staples).





All of the Champion C9 stuff 40% off, so Cecelia gets a cute fleece and Nate finds a few items for himself. Truman wants to take pictures of birthday ideas, of course. We get half of our groceries from Target, too, and a few other random things.



After Cartwheel deals and my $100 gift card? $3.23 total! This is epic. Enter this into our budget app (HomeBudget--love it). Nate gets dirty diaper duty as Truman and I check out together. I can tell we are all really tired at this point.



12:40 pm | We head home. I really hope kids stay awake for lunch but they did have a few little snacks while shopping so we won't fight the car naps too much. I snap a picture of them both drifting off to sleep and Nate has to push my elbow out of the way so he can drive. He exclaims, 'Thank goodness we got that picture for Day in the Life right before we got T-boned. That will make a great part of the blog post!' Oh, husband.



12:50 pm | We are home and both kids are basically passed out. CC is fussing about something random and Nate says, 'Why can't kids be more rational? They cry about such stupid stuff.' Gem of the day, right there. Cecelia spots her hilarious 'lips' nuk and demands to have it for her nap.
Whatever kid!


Both kids go down for their naps. Unpack groceries, make lunch, take Henry outside.

1:10 pm | Eat lunch. I have goals for this time of the day: work stuff, blog stuff, go for a walk, and groceries (order of priority). We shall see what I accomplish. T hasn't napped at home in about 5 days so this is nice to have a daytime break for a change. Will surely mean a 9pm or later bedtime though, instead of the sweet 7:30 pm we are used to without naps. Trade offs! Nate is discussing mini-vans with me as I work. I just want to test drive and cannot say what color, if we should get AWD or leather, or pick between the Sienna versus Odyssey right now. Still fun to discuss and Nate says that although we were going to wait until Spring to get the van, Sienna's have 0% APR for 60 months if we buy before February. I tell him the timing of it does not matter to me much---I'm really no help with this decision process. I just want the van at some point and I will be happy.



1:50 pm | Finally done with my work prep. Boo to that taking 40 minutes but at least it's finished. Nate is going to grocery store (score!) and then he might swing by Collectivo for a coffee. Yes. I begin working on my blog 'Moms Make it Work' post for tomorrow, which is Laura's post. Sort of ironic since she is the one who sets up the DiTL posts---we are each co-linking to each other this week! Also have this post, my 16 week pregnancy post, and the 'Internet Questions' post on deck, so once I get Laura's post scheduled I move onto typing out part of this post. Really love taking notes on my iPhone, emailing those notes to myself, then plugging them into this blog to start the process. Still haven't found a great way to manage all of the iPhone pictures---there are just so many to upload. I suppose I could take fewer pictures but what is the fun in that? The blog has been getting a big chunk of my time lately but I really don't mind, and look forward to posting these days.

2:50 pm | I have typed all of the above post. I should start uploading pictures and combine a few into collages in Diptic. Nate is home with my decaff 'pour over' coffee. In heaven even without the hard stuff.

(I love you.)


I hear CC crying for me. Two hour nap = fair but I think she really needs a longer rest time if her cries indicate her mood. I go up and she wants to cuddle for a bit in the glider. I call for Nate to bring me my phone and take a picture because it's my favorite part of the day: just sitting in a quiet, dark room with my girl on my chest.

(I love you, too.)


Nate wakes Truman who is still super tired. CC wants to see her brother ASAP and we all go downstairs.

3:10 pm | Nate tries to wake Truman with promise of Angry Birds Race while CC and I snuggle on the couch a bit longer. She is fussy and probably still tired.

(favorite two pictures from the day, I think)


I decide that the two of us are going for a walk after checking my phone to see it's nearly 30 degrees outside. Get us all dressed and ready to leave, my girl demanding to wear her glittery pink Toms and her new pink fleece with purplish-pink hat. #TeamPink #AtAllTimes


3:30 pm | Finally leave, bring Henry along, and enjoy the walk around the neighborhood. C is pretty fussy throughout and is not eating the graham cracker she requested. Loves the creek the best. Sled hill looks awesome and the sky is amazing at this time of day. I'm sore from p90x yoga yesterday so this walk feels like more than enough exercise for today.



(Had to get a few house pictures for this post, since I love to compare seasons)

(Our neighborhood is the best, even when people don't fully shovel their sidewalks. Also, obsessed with the grays and mustard yellow door of this house. A fave on the block, for sure)

(For the locals! Cafe Hollander and the train tracks. Plus a very excited little girl)

(Love the water and the sky this time of year)




4:15 pm | Back home after our leisurely walk. Man, CC is still fussy and I wonder if she is somehow cold. She is not hungry apparently, but that baffles me. We all work on the puzzle a bit longer and T finishes it (proud!).



I Instagram a picture from our walk, and get out the markers/stickers for a little coloring time with the kids.





Truman randomly touches Nate's stomach and says 'baby' over and over again, and his pants are down after the potty. Yikes. Truman is working on his letter writing and is not a big fan of upper case Rs or As ever. He can write his name but has no interest to learn anything else right now, so we don't push it and let him do his thing. Right now he rushes through this drawing for daddy and I can tell he's really not feeling it, so whatever.



The boys go through recipes in magazines together and I attempt to console CC who is just constantly whining. Her diaper is clean, she isn't hungry, and I don't think she is sick. Could be teething her two year molars, or could be some sort of awful developmental phase...who knows. Maybe she's just overtired but I'm almost to my limit with the constant whines. Thankfully Nate senses this and takes over both kids for a bit for some daddy rough housing.


(a favorite picture)


I veg on the couch with my phone and want to rest my eyes--so tired all of a sudden. I get baby doll shoved in my face.


Nate makes a fire after CC demands one. The kids begin to play very well together, without adult interaction (praise the Lord). The foam roller, CC's stroller, and Truman's dump truck are the main sources of entertainment.



(VIDEO)

Nate and I attempt to find the tiniest toy ever, which is missing since last night and Truman wants to play with it. Needle in a haystack is never found. I am feeling very uncomfortable and change into my lounge wear for the night. So much better!

5:35 pm | The in-laws arrive for dinner! They usually come over at least one of the weekend nights to eat with us here, or we go over there. Kids are still playing incredibly well together without us so we all prep for dinner.

5:50 pm | Eat. Kids play again after dinner. Where have you two been all day long?

(left over pizza, blueberries, and cheese for the kids)


(pork with an awesome sauce, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and my mother-in-law's amazing spinach/walnut/gorgonzola/apple salad. Mmmmm)


6:30 pm | Clean up. CC wants dessert but didn't eat that well, so she is mad at me for denying her. I change her diaper to add fuel to her fire. Eventually I cave and give her the nuk to keep her somewhat calm and I can tell she would fall asleep right now if we let her. Discuss Downton Abbey and the baby with Lois. Truman is being an extra amazing big brother to his fussy sister and is helping her take bites of food, is providing water to drink, and helping her fix toys that come apart. Oh, my boy can be so sweet to her sometimes.



6:45 pm | Dessert time, both kids are interested in the dinner table again, go figure. Truman wants to get into the high chair. Cecelia loves ice cream. They both play with Papa as we clean up again. CC wants to sleep in the dog crate and Truman wants me to tickle his belly.

(blueberry coffee cake)












7:15 pm | Tony and Lois leave. I take Cecelia upstairs for bed. Teeth, pick out her clothes for tomorrow, jammies, and books. She is seriously obsessed with the cup picture in this book and after we find it, she starts asking for her cup like this. I call for Truman to bring it up and he obliges. She is also a big fan of the 'cry' picture, the 'yawn' picture, and the kid's diaper that she refers to as 'poop.' My girl is too much sometimes. We review our day together and she mentions 'Papa' specifically. She is always so peaceful right before bed now and I can't help but smother her in kisses.





(why does she demand this ridiculous pacifier??)




7:30 pm | Night, baby girl! Downstairs to feed Henry and make some hot tea. Truman and Nate are going upstairs and T says 'I'm scared of having a bad dream.' We talk about this for awhile and I tell him to try and think of happy thoughts---like Christmas, his birthday, and seeing his grandparents. I figure those are the pinnacles of his short life right now.

7:40 pm | Boys go upstairs. I start on this post again.


8:00 pm | My turn for Truman's bedtime. Sweet boy is still asking me about what he should do if he has bad dreams. I tell him if he needs me to call for me even though I want my sleep---this is one of those times when I will comfort my babe when he needs me. And then I will get coffee the next day;) I tell three made up stories: one about our whole family chasing each other around the house, one about Truman racing his planes, and one about Sunday School. I decide to give him a rock for being so awesome with Cecelia tonight, so helpful. He eats that right up and our 'caught ya being good' jar is still a huge, huge hit here. Gives me a kiss and says, 'Night. I love you. Have a nice bedtime. Have sweet dreams.' Oh, my heart.


8:10 pm | Back downstairs, take laptop to playroom to watch Downton as Nate watches football in the family room. Work on this post again while halfway watching DA. It's so slow moving compared to the other shows we've recently watched (FNL and Dexter). Upload a million iPhone pictures to Flickr (technically just 198 but still). Text Andrea about Downton.



Look at Flickr as I'm uploading, see Erin has been hard at work with her DiTL post. And she is announcing her pregnancy tomorrow!! No turning back now, telling pictures on her Flickr! And speaking of that, MY BABY IS KICKING ME RIGHT NOW. God, I love pregnancy---both mine and my friends' ;)

9:10 pm | Ugh, so many pictures to upload and collage. I call in to Nate to see if he wants to watch an episode of Dexter. He does! We just finished season 1 last night and I can't stop thinking about it. Vow to only watch one episode tonight because we are both exhausted. Keep working on my pictures while watching. I really really want cereal but am trying to ignore that craving right now.




10:10 pm | Dexter is over, it was good but not as amazing as the last two episodes. Nate and I discuss tomorrow morning since it's his first week working as a TA on top of his full time PT job. He is getting up at 5:15 and I will set my alarm for 6am. I need to be totally ready by 6:45 when he leaves and think we can manage it. If only Truman and CC would sleep straight through the night without any BS tonight. He heads upstairs and I'm right behind him, as soon as I finish up these collages. And Instagram one final time (my favorites from DiTL in black and white).



10:30 pm | I'm calling it a night, too. I hear CC cry out on the monitor and later Nate tells me he went in to replace her pacifier. Sigh. I really hope she is not sick but if she is still fussy tomorrow I'm going to suck it up and have her checked at the doc. Wash up for bed, peek in on Truman one more time (I don't dare open Cecelia's door to do the same) and pass out.

(It's always interesting to see what people have in medicine cabinets. Here is ours. I like the '40 Carrots' skin line that my mom passed down to me when she couldn't tolerate it. But my skin is still super dry and a little weird lately with pregnancy)



(can you spot the little boy in the bed?)


5:15 am | Nate's alarm goes off. Kids made it through the night!

5:35 am | Truman calls out for daddy, and I go in since Nate is showering. T needs a tuck in and seems very awake. I lay back down and try to will myself back to sleep for 25 minutes and then Cecelia cries out. Good Lord. It feels really early all of a sudden. Contemplating whether I should just get up for the day. It's always the WORST to fall sleep for 10 minutes and then spring to life by the alarm. I doze a bit longer thinking about my horrid dream involving a previous patient of mine.

5:55 am | Turn off my alarm, C is still fussing every few minutes and Nate is out of the shower. I stop in Cecelia's room to replace the pacifier and beg her to sleep longer. It's going to be a loooooong day for me at work (six patients, busy busy) and I know my girl will be a mess all day at Lori's if she doesn't snooze more.

I won't detail the entire work day morning, but man---those are the ones that are jam packed with activities in the short amount of time we have! Shower, makeup, hair, get dressed. COFFEE. Take kids downstairs, breakfast for them. Breakfast for me. Pull out beef for tonight's chili. Pack up daycare bag, my work bag, make lunch for today, mail paperwork to the office (which, oops, it's MLK day and no mail but I won't realize this until later). Check phone: Nate comments on my IG from last night, text Erin about her pending announcement (!!). Cecelia is fussy only when I'm in the room and happy when it's just Nate. Maybe she secretly hates me? Rush through getting them dressed, encouraging teeth brushing, boots/coats/hats on. One last check through the house and we are off! Only a little bit past our goal time of 7:45 am, too. Happy morning, not too stressful with the earlier wake times. Might pay for it later today, though.













Whew!

I wanted to link to my other DiTL posts now because they are really racking up and are so much fun for me to read. Therefore, if you want your eyes to burn out of your skull after reading 4 million words about my life? Have at these posts.

Fall 2013
Summer 2013
Spring 2013
Winter 2013

Fall 2012 (working mom of two)
Summer 2012 (maternity leave with C)

Summer 2010 (new working mom!)

I love to read about other bloggers' days, too, and highly suggest taking a stab at one of these!