DILT - Fall 2015
Tuesday October 6th, 2015
I am 34
Matt 33 (finally!)
Lily 5.5
Ben 3.5
Hugh 14.5 months
5:50 - Thump, thump, thump...I hear Ben running around upstairs. It is still dark out. I hop out of bed and meet him on the stairs. We talk briefly about why the sun is still asleep and he agrees to go back to bed to play with his stuffies for "just a little bit".
6:10 - Lily and Ben are dancing around outside our bedroom door. I hear Lily trying to encourage Ben to be the one who comes in to ask for phone time, but he is clearly aware that it is too early. Ben comes over to my side of the bed and talks in a whisper with his lips up against my cheek. It is stupidly cute but also not going to work. I send the kids up to the playroom and remind them that Mommy and Daddy get to "sleep" until 7 :)
6:45 - Hugh is squawking. Why is everyone up so early?! I nudge Matt and bat my eyes for him to make coffee. I toss the kids a phone as I go upstairs to get Hugh. They are delighted and agree to snuggle while they watch. (I had no idea this was such a long standing part of our routine but past DITL posts don't lie)
Hugh is smiley and very happy when I open the door. Note the crib is 10 inches from the wall because I am sick and tired of moving it to retrieve pacis.
7:15 - After a diaper change I bring Youkie downstairs for breakfast and start taking pictures of the sorry state of our house. I swear I don't save all of my housework for DITL posts! The laundry is just that relentless.
7:30 - I join the family at the breakfast table and drink my coffee. The kids have cheerios with frozen blueberries followed by peanut butter toast cut into various shapes. Matt usually makes 100% of breakfast, today is no exception. We all chat about the day. Lily tells us about a dream she had...something about a toy she wants for Christmas. I'm pretty sure she is making the whole thing up as an excuse to talk about said toy. Ben then tells us his own tall tale. Just as I am about to call him out on the made-up-ness of his "dream" he bursts into laughter and says, "just kidding, that didn't happen." - HAHA. I love toddlers.
8:00 - The kids are finished with breakfast and Lily wants to write in her "sketchpad". Matt helps her take notes and they play tic-tac-toe while the boys and I play with trucks on the couch. 8:10 - I take all three kids upstairs to get them ready for school while Matt cleans up the kitchen and gets himself ready to go. On Tuesdays and Thursdays Matt or I drive the kids to school. First Lily is dropped off as close to 8:50 as we can get it, then we race across town to drop Ben off at preschool. He is never there right at 9:00 but we do the best we can. Getting all three kids ready for the day is sort of a circus. Lily insists that she needs to take notes which, although adorable, prevents her from doing just about anything productive. I change Hugh's poopy diaper and get Ben dressed. He is being amazingly cooperative. 
8:30 - I finally have laid down the law with Lily and insist that she get dressed. She brushes her teeth and washes her own face. I brush her hair and whip it into her signature "top pony". She adds a headband for extra style points.
8:40 - Matt and the bigs leave for school. Hugh and I bask for a moment in the glorious silence. Then we play trucks on the couch some more. I check my email, IG, and make a few notes for this post. I marvel at Hugh's baby hair.
9:00 - I plop Hugh in the playroom and start to tackle the picking up. Matt gets back from dropping off the kids around 9:30 and starts to work at the kitchen counter.
10:00 - I put Hugh down for his morning nap and go downstairs to pick up the kitchen. On my to do list today, mail the giant stack of thank you cards that Lily and I made for everyone who donated to our St Jude team. I find a medical bill on the counter that really needs to be addressed. Our former insurance company (Anthem - Blue Cross, ie the devil himself) is STILL fighting us over some of Hugh's medical bills...from when he was born! I refuse to pay them and slowly but surely they have reprocessed each and every claim, except this one. Matt and I have a brief discussion about how being a grownup is hard and he agrees to call the pediatrician's office to once again assure them we are working on it and ask that they not send the claim to collection. *sigh* 
11:30 - The laundry is put away and most of the house is finally picked up. I get myself looking at least half way presentable to go get Ben from school. He would prefer that Mimi pick him up and stuff him full of treats at the playground (not that I can blame him!) but today he gets boring old mommy.
12:00 - My big boy greets me very enthusiastically! Their Monarch Butterfly is getting ready to hatch from its chrysalis and he is super excited to show me. The class named the caterpillar "Neb" (Ben spelled backwards) for reasons that are still unclear to me, but it is a detail that Ben is quite proud of. The kids made explorer hats in honor of Columbus Day and went on a leaf gathering expedition. I can't thank the teachers enough for sending my son home with a bag full of dry leaves ;)
12:15 - Ben and I arrive home. I get Hugh up from his nap and I make everyone some lunch. Ben and Hugh each have some sliced ham, a cheese stick, and some pretzels. Hugh also has a yogurt pouch and some apple slices. Matt and I have grilled cheese.
1:00 - I take the boys upstairs to play. It is approximately 90 degrees in the playroom. I LOVE this house but the heat rising into the loft can be a bit much. In any case it prompts me to finally change Hugh out of his pajamas. Ben does "tricks" off the balance beam while Hugh mashes the buttons on a toy laptop.
1:30 - The boys play happily while I clean the upstairs bathroom. I sit down on the couch to make a few notes and scroll though my pictures. Immediately upon sitting down Ben asks me to help him with a toy. NO! No, no no. I know what he's going to hand me before I even turn around. This thing is the bane of my existence! Don't let its small size fool you. This thing will be the death of me.
It is a transformer. At some point in time, like 1987, it easily held it's shape as a either a car or a robot. That time is no longer. This stupid, stupid, robot car is broken. It no longer wants to be a car...only a menacing robot. Ben does not want it to be a robot...ever. Always a car. BUT IT WILL NOT STAY. I have seriously tried to make this thing disappear, clearly it is possessed because no matter what, it finds its way back into the playroom. Curse you tiny robot!
2:00 - Ben finally gives up on the demonic robot car and asks me to read him "a big stack of books". He gathers books and I read while he a Hugh pretend that I am a human jungle gym.
2:30 - The boys go down for naps. Ben is terrible. Some days he lies right down and goes to sleep. This is not going to be one of those days. He gets out of bed repeatedly for 15 minutes and I threaten to take away everything that he has ever loved. Mother of the Year! It is maddening...and it is keeping Hugh up, which really makes me angry. I finally resign to sitting on the floor outside his room. I email some family to ask for donations and type up some of this post.
2:50 - Matt leaves to go pick up Lily from school. I tell Ben, who is still getting out of bed once a minute, that if he stays in bed until Lily gets home then he can cut his "nap" short and get up. This finally works and he lays in bed quietly playing with his stuffies for about a half hour.
3:30 - Lily is home! She tells me all about her day, who the star of the day was, what she did in gym, and how much of her lunch she ate. The big kids are bickering over my attention and I remind them that tonight is pajama-rama at the library, and if they want to go they had better find a way to get along. Cheering and hugging ensues! Matt comes in from the other room and informs us that no, pajama-rama has been canceled. Wah wah. Since I had already had my own heart set on pizza for dinner we decide to go out to our favorite place, which is a big treat because we normally just do pickup.
Matt leaves for a run. Hugh gets up from nap. The kids and I play with some new learning puzzles that Mimi brought over a few days ago. The cat is very in to the puzzles for some reason!
4:45 - Matt is back and while he showers I get the kids ready to go out to dinner and loaded into the car. The harsh reality that summer has officially ended hits us all the most when it is time to get in the car seats. The kids all sort of freak out and complain loudly that they are "so uncomfortable" with their coats on. Too bad, "buckle up for safety!" I say no less than a dozen times.
5:00-6:00 - The kids are Aaaah-mazing at dinner. Hugh is a little bit of a handful, grabbing everything within reach and tossing it on the floor. If that is the worst of the behavior, then we have ourselves a win right there!
The kids are asking for dessert. Matt spells s-w-e-e-t-f-r-o-g, but mean old Mommy says no. About two minutes later I reconsider and suggest it as if it were my idea! Matt totally calls me out, can't blame a mom for trying. We pack up our extra pizza and head out for fro-yo. This is completely crazy for us on a school night, but to be fair we are still going to be home before we would have if we had gone to pajama-rama.
Again, we have amazing behavior and happy kids!
7:00 - Arrive home just in time to start the bedtime routine. The kids had a bath last night so tonight should be relatively quick. Hugh is especially tired and within ten minutes he is in a fresh diaper, fuzzy jammies, and all tucked in with his blankie and three pacis.
While I get Hugh ready Matt helps the bigs brush teeth and get ready for bed. I must have left my phone and camera downstairs because I don't have any pictures of the kids getting ready for bed or story time. It is Ben's turn to pick the book and he chooses Who Wants A Dragon? which is a very cute book that Lily checked out from her school library. It is neat to see what she chooses when left to her own devices.
7:25 - Matt and I come downstairs to relax. We turn on Jeapordy and Matt gets out his laptop to do some work. I have a run scheduled for tomorrow so I turn down his offer to get me a beer. I already cheated and had one with dinner! We have been watching The Walking Dead from the beginning since I missed the first few seasons and the new season starts on Sunday. Before I know it we have watched three episodes and I have not written a single word of this post. Oh well. TV time is crucial to my sanity :)
10:30 - I call it for the night. I head upstairs to check on the kids. Matt comes up and puts Ben on the potty. After everyone is tucked back in I get myself ready for bed.
11:00 - I grumble because I can't believe that it is so late, where did the night go?! I flip through the channels on the TV in our bedroom to find something mindless to watch. Matt sits up with his computer clicking away next to me. Chopped starts and before they even start cooking the first basket I am sound asleep!
