DITL - Spring 2014

This is not my first attempt at a 'day in the life' post. As a matter of fact both in the fall and this past winter I carefully documented a day in our little lives via my phone in the form of notes and pictures. For one reason or another I never had time to sit down and type out the post. Both have since become 'permanent drafts' in my queue that in theory will one day be written, ahem.

The good news is that unless something comes up in the next two hours I will have this post finished and ready to go. (My hand to God after I typed that last sentence I heard a little too much giggling coming from my 'sleeping' kid's room so I went up to investigate only to discover that not only was Ben out of the crib but had also taken off his pajamas! Two new tricks in one weekend, hold me)

Back to our day...

Friday April 25th 2014

Lily - 4 years old
Ben - 5 days shy of 2 years old
April - 26w5d pregnant with Baby #3

I chose to document a Friday, which for us is typically a day at home. The rest of the week can be so hectic that I like to have one day a week when the kids know that we have no where to be and no place we have to go. As all of you know (SAHM or not) a day at home certainly does not equal a day of leisure, haha.

3:45am - First wake up of the day. This is actually pretty excellent and means that Ben has slept through the night up until now AND that Lily has kept my bed dry. On Monday and Thursday nights I let Lily sleep in our bed since Matt is in the city. She views this as a reward so I happily use this privilege to my advantage during the day when Daddy is gone.  I check Ben on the monitor and decide he doesn't 'need' me, get up to pee, and then return to snuggle.

6am - Ugh, its early...and Ben is howling for me. Mama, Mama, Maaaaaaammmmmmmaaaaaaaaa!

Lily is less than thrilled by our early wake up call so I offer to let her watch PBS on my phone for a few minutes while I go upstairs to get her brother. To my shock she declines but insists she is not getting up yet.

Ben is working on perfecting his new trick of unzipping and wiggling out of his pjs. Unfortunately for me this just makes him cold and cranky. He begs for a book while I change his diaper, which then leads to begging for me to read the book. Lily, sensing she is missing something downstairs, comes up to join us.

6:25am - We all march downstairs together for breakfast. Ben goes from content to miserable in 0.01 milliseconds. Clearly he is being starved to death.

6:30am - The toaster is finally finished torturing my son and we all sit down to breakfast. The kids each have a piece of peanut butter toast (Lily's are cut into triangles and Ben's are squares) and a bowl of strawberries. I have the same thing I have every single day of my life...cheerios with strawberries and a cup of coffee with cream and sugar. The coffee is only ok, Dingle makes me a perfect cup of coffee when he is here. Lily is mad because I didn't cut the crust off her toast, oh well. 

6:45am -I take my favorite picture of the day (possibly ever) of Ben being a wild man as we finish our breakfasts.  

6:55am - Lily asks to go outside and as soon as she says the words Ben heads to the door to get his sneakers. I check the weather on my phone and discover that it is only 44 degrees, too cold for Mommy, but if these nuts want to go out so be it.

I go upstairs to get the kids some warm play clothes and have a small panic attack thinking about all of the laundry and cleaning that needs to be done today. The kids are playing happily downstairs so I take a few minutes to make the beds, gather laundry, and wipe down the kid's bathroom sink. 

7:10am - I go downstairs to find the kids snuggling on the couch. Rather than remind them that they were hoping to go out I turn on Curious George (which is a big treat since neither of them asked to turn on the TV) and finish gathering the laundry, make my bed, and jot down a todo list for the day. I reply to a text from a friend regarding her upcoming wedding and her wedding dress only to realize how early it is! Oops, sorry again lady! 

7:30am - The monkey is over and despite their loud protests I turn the TV off and offer to get them dressed to go outside to play. Ben happily agrees but as I get closer to the couch I can tell he has an unpleasant surprise waiting for me in his diaper. I go to get supplies from my room only to discover that the wipes container is empty...thank you husband. I go upstairs for wipes and snap a few pictures of the mess for "before" pictures to use in this post later on. I come back down and change Ben's diaper, apparently the cat and the dog feel the need supervise. 

7:50am - I get Lily ready to go outside. While we are in the bathroom brushing her hair I hear a crash, bang, bang, scream, that sends me into a sprint. I can tell from the sounds that Ben has fallen down the stairs but I am so relieved to find that it couldn't have been more than the last few. Unfortunately for him, he was only wearing a diaper and has a few more scratches and bruises than he would have otherwise. I check him all over from head to toe and once he is calm I get him dressed. Afterwards I snap a few pics of the boo boo on his head, mostly because I can tell he likes the extra attention. 

8:00am - I send the kids outside. Our new house is so fantastic because the yard is very private and from almost every room I have a full view of the yard. Lily knows the rule is to stay where I can see her. Ben is obviously less reliable but I never take my eyes off the front yard for long enough for him to get out of sight anyway. The kids both want me to help them with bubbles, which I agree to do for 'a few minutes'. 

                     

8:05am - Bubbles inevitably get spilled. Lily screams as though someone has been murdered, Ben then screams as though he is being murdered. I completely lose my temper and take the bubbles away. Both kids continue to scream and I go in the house to regain my composure. Not my proudest moment for sure. 

After a few minutes I go out and apologize to the kids for snapping. Both kids apologize for the screaming. I offer to push them on the swings for a few minutes which they both agree sounds fair. Hugs and kisses are exchanged and Lily asks if she can have another try with the bubbles later in the afternoon...I tell her that sounds great. 

I go inside and switch over the first load of laundry and then fold the towels from the dryer in the living room where I can watch the kids in the sandbox. 

8:30am - Lily comes up to the door asking for a snack. Again, before the word has even fully left her lips Ben is on board. I let the kids in and throw their coats and shoes into a pile by the door (organizing the closet is on my todo list today anyway.) I get distracted taking a few pics and checking IG. I reheat my coffee and clean up the breakfast mess. The kids have forgotten for the time being about their snack and they both disappear upstairs to the playroom. I can hear Lily talking Ben into a tutu, which doesn't take a whole lot of convincing. I can't get him to stand still long enough to even grab a blurry picture. Lily asks why I am taking so many pictures, haha. 

8:50am - The kitchen is clean and I fix the kids a snack. Regular crackers (wheat thins) and teddy grams in a small dish. I call to the kids. When they come down a particularly catchy song is playing on the radio and Lily asks Ben to be her prince (to dance). 

9:00am - The kids clamber onto the couch with their blankies for a little TV/snack time. Peg Plus Cat it is. 

While Lily and Ben watch TV I go upstairs to tackle the playroom. There are times when I make the kids help me clean up...then there are days when the mess is just too overwhelming....this is one of those days. For one reason or another the day to day tidying up hasn't happen this week and there are so many toys out that even I don't know where to start. It takes me about a half hour to do the job myself. It could have easily taken three times that long had I insisted the kids help. 

9:30am - How is it only 9:30?? 

I get dressed, brush my teeth, and clean up the bathroom. I check the temp on my phone again and although it says 52 it feels a lot warmer on the deck. The kids are thrilled to not wear heavy coats. Ben asks for bubbles again and even though there is yet another spill everyone keeps their cool :) 

10:30am - I go back inside and switch over the laundry (again). When I come back out the kids have made their way to the swing set and I take full advantage by plopping down in a deck chair and watch them in the distance. I go through the pictures on my phone and delete a bunch that I know I wont use and I make some notes about the day so far. Check IG and text with a few friends. 

11:15am - I go inside and fold two of the loads of clothes and put away Matt's and mine. Lily is kicking a ball around the yard and Ben in playing in the sand. 

11:45am - I figure now is as good a time as any to make lunch. The kids love it when I offer them food that they haven't asked for yet, haha. Kid lunch is pretty standard around here. I fix each of them a peanut butter sandwich, cheese stick, almonds, craisins, and a cup of ice water. Lily would prefer to have yogurt in place of the cheese and since I am going to set them up on a towel on the deck I cross my fingers that yogurt is not a disaster waiting to happen. I make myself a similar plate and grab a slice of watermelon that we can share as a treat. 

12:15pm - While we are eating lunch my dad shows up to help us cut down some trees from along the road. I go back inside to make him a sandwich. Once everyone has eaten the kids beg their Grampy to push them on the swings. My dad also makes the mistake of throwing the ball to the dog and now has a new best friend for life. I take the lunch plates inside and clean up the kitchen. 

12:45pm - I give Ben a five minute warning for nap time and he comes running (and crying) to the house. By the time he reaches the front door he is in full blown tantrum mode. I get a glimpse of my summer...breaking my son's heart every day at nap time. Lily agrees to come in and get washed up too so that Ben won't be so upset that he has to come inside. 

1:00pm - Ben is all tucked in and I can see on the monitor that he is already almost asleep. Lily gets out a small basket of 'pets' and dolls and dumps them on the couch to play. I get out a wire shelving unit that I have been meaning to put together for our shoes. Lily is instantly curious about what I am doing and asks if she can help. She watches me assemble the first bracket and then insists that she can 'do the rest' by herself. I am seriously floored and SO impressed by my little engineer that I offer her some money for her piggy bank for being such a good helper and trying something new. (The project takes at least twice as long, obviously.) 

2:00pm - Lily asks to go outside and check on Grampy and do chalk. Sure. I check Ben and he is out cold so Lily and I take a short walk to see what Grampy is up to. He has managed to cut down and stack several large dead trees that are ready to burn. It is supposed to be cold and rainy this weekend so Matt will have to go out and take care of the wood this afternoon when he gets home. 

Lily and I make our way back to the house and I decide I can't survive another minute without sweeping the garage. Lily plays chalk and rides her trike. When I am finished with the garage floor we play badminton for a few minutes. She is terrible, haha. 

2:38pm - We get the best text of the day!

2:45pm - My dad gets packed up to leave but not without pushing Lil on the swing for a minute. She reluctantly helps me clean up the outside toys and we head inside to get Ben up from his nap and have a snack. Ben is still sleeping so I agree to play dollies on the couch. About 5 minutes into playing Lily starts to complain that her foot is hurting. I am not sure exactly when this happened but over the past week the bottom of her feet became very chapped and one of her heels actually cracked. I get the first aide kit and she eats up the mommy doctoring. 

3:10pm - I go up and wake Ben. He is less than thrilled. The promise of a snack seems to turn his mood around. 

3:30pm - The kids settle in once again on the couch with their snack and play dollies/trucks (Ben dons a tutu) while I get dinner started. I decide on chili because all the baby wants to eat is spicy mexican and it is easy. Matt will be excited because it means he will have leftovers to eat throughout the weekend. 

4:18pm - We hear the garage door and both kids scatter to hide from Daddy...giggling hysterically. Ben is extra sneaky and gets a pacifier from the crib...he knows this is a no no! 

4:30pm - Daddy changes his clothes and takes both kids back outside to 'help' him move the wood. I finish getting the corn muffins and kid's dinner ready. Fold one last load of laundry and get it put away. The only thing I didn't get to that I was hoping to do was vacuum...oh well. 

5:00pm - Call to the kids and get them washed up for dinner. Set the table and plate Matt's and my dinner. We all sit down together by 5:15. The kids do a great job with their meals and each have a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream as a reward. Per usual dinner takes almost 45 minutes. Lily is the slowest eater in the entire world...even when there is dessert. 

6:20pm - I throw both kids in the tub while Matt finishes bringing in the wood. He joins us in the bathroom in time to help with hair washing and getting out which is such a huge help to me! 

6:45pm - We all head upstairs for teeth brushing, jammies, and a bedtime story. I am totally beat and when we realize we left no less than three things downstairs it is all I can do to climb the stairs yet again. We get all settled in. I read Ben's book of choice, set up Lily's pee pee pad, sing to each of the kids, give Lily a kiss, hug, and a big squeeze and as we close the door Daddy and I each do the secret handshake. whew! 

7:00pm - Matt goes back outside to finish up with the wood for real. I decide that I have gone far too long without a shower. 

7:45pm - Matt comes in and we watch the last few minutes of Jeopardy together. He decides to take a shower and I start to work on this post. When Matt is done showering we decide to catch up on TV that we don't get to watch together during the week. 

9:30pm - We both go up to check on the kids and Matt takes Lily to use the potty. When we are done I decide to watch TV from bed in hopes that I will fall asleep any second. Matt gets his laptop and I have absolutely no idea how long he works because as predicted the last time I look at the the clock it is 10:10pm. 

12:30am - Ben wakes up screaming and I think that I can make out Lily whimpering in the background. I go up and sure enough Ben can't find a pacifier and Lil has had an accident. I change her jammies and replace the pee pad. Tuck both kids in and head back downstairs. Luckily I fall right back to sleep (thank goodness)! 

6:10am - Ben is up, soon Lily will be too...lucky for me it is Saturday and Daddy is home ;)