(The longest recap) of a Day in the Life

Okay SO. My cyber bud (but let's be honest, now I just think of her as a real bud because we text constantly and know very, very personal and peculiar details about each other and sometimes text about what exact vegetables and salad dressings we love on a Friday night ahem) Laura has been running this great Day in a Life series for years now. Bloggers document the minutiae of their day and then she links to the posts on her blog. (I think the round-up post is happening in a couple weeks.) 

It's fun to see how people all over the country, working or staying home or working from home or whatev, do their thing and (this was my main goal) it's fun to look back on such a specific day in time and space and remember all the rememberings. I got super detailed with my words because I type too fast maybe. This was a ton of work, but glad I did it. Here goes -- do not blame if you just skim skim skim. 

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Clay: 37

Amy: 32

Harper: 4.5

Bea: 8 months

Georgie: almost 3

Taking up most of King size bed. Just like her mama.

Kind of a strange morning because Harper and I had a sleepover in my bed last night. She'd been asking for a couple weeks (after an impromptu one last month when Clay was traveling), so we put Tuesday night on the calendar. Clay has softball Tuesday nights and comes home late and sweaty, so it felt like a good choice... He slept downstairs in the guest room. Probably delighted to have a break from my flopapotamous ways.

I wake up at 6:30 when Bea starts fussing (she nursed at 4:00 AM after going to sleep at 6:00 the night before -- 12+ hours with one easy feeding is heavenly for me!) and I hurry to get her before Harper stirs.

Chewing an iPod nano from 2006. Birthday present from Clay. Now baby teether.

Black tea + milk + agave

Bea and I go downstairs and I nurse her, change her dipe, and make myself some tea. Then we just play and chat a bit, walk around outside (it's so warm and she loves being out there and also there's a better chance Harper will keep sleeping if we're out of the way...) and get Harper's breakfast of frozen novelties (French toast sticks, drizzle of Agave) and a glass of milk ready. 

Sunrise! 

She LOVES our rooster weathervane. Obsessed. 

250-year-old stairs to Harper's room. 

Bea helping pick HJ's outfit. Pulls out EVERYTHING from EVERYWHERE phase.

Around 7:30 I hear Harper stirring (okay, she's yelling for me...) The girls say hello and snuggle/wrestle and then Harper gets Georgie out of his kennel. He goes pee and then Harper feeds him.

(Because Clay slept downstairs and hustled out quickly to catch the train to the city, there were but brief goodbye kisses to all 3 ladies and I didn't catch a pic.)

I will miss how easy this was when we're city livin. Big time. 

She loves a good job. 

Reading 'The Big Book of Why', one of her favs. 

I put on Harper's rock 'n roll/90s Christina Applegate headband and she eats her breakfast and reads books and asks questions.

I always wonder what the teachers think of her feasts. Meh.

Someone should wash this carrier.

I pack her lunch (crackers, raisins, celery sticks, and water). On Wednesdays, her school has homemade bread and butter for snack and the kids eat a TON. They eat that around 10:30 and lunch is at noon, so we've all learned to just pack a snack. Bea is tired and a little crabby, so I wear her for a bit. But she's not into that (she used to love the carrier, but now prefers to be squirming freely) so I put her on the ground to play with blocks and the other random things she prefers to actual toys (spoons, cups, remote controls). I tell Harper she's gotta get dressed and brush her teeth while I do dog stuff (he always has to go to the bathroom 100 times in the morning).

Lolz re: Harper's face. She's mad I'm taking so many pics.

Walkin to the minivan. 

School bus crew. Plus Bea, facing backward out of sight.

At 8:20 we head out the door and pile into the van. We start with Music Together jams, but Bea is not happy with life, so we put on Peter Pan for her. Instant fix. We pass by a cute roadside stand I like to get burgers and onion rings from. Harper reads a new hand painted sign they have up:

"Hot and cold cider. What? Why would I want hot cider?" (the horror!)

"Ohhh because it's so yummy in the fall! Sweet with maybe a little cinnamon. And sometimes even whipped cream. Mmm..."

*thoughtful pause*

"I think I'd just like hot water."

Okay, ya nut. I like how Harper generally likes to parent herself in making healthier choices. "I'm too young to see a movie in a theater." "Water will be better than that orange juice." "This Barbie show looks like it's for much older kids." And on and on.

Takes about 20 minutes to get to school in the morning and then drop-off is easy. Just park and walk Harper inside to put her lunch in her cubby and then take her back out to the play yard, where they start every morning. I head back to the car and chat with another mom for awhile about how our dogs are a ton of work. Then I nurse Bea so she'll be happier on the ride home. I load her up and scurry back, worried she'll fall asleep in the car.

Made it!

Mmm. Caffeine juice.

We pull in and I hustle upstairs to nurse Bea and put her down. She's been awake for 3 hours, so it's definitely time. She goes down easily and I go back downstairs. I get the coffee going and take a deep breath for the most odious of tasks. Removing a giant tick from George (another! The hell?) and applying the gross tick juice to him. (Frontguard? Is that what it's called?)

I reward myself with coffee + giant splash of half and half (oops haven't eaten breakfast yet), then pay a medical bill online and submit preschool tuition expenses to a tax deductible reimbursement program that has honestly always confused me, but I roll with it. We've got all these things I've gotta get used up and done before Clay's last day of work next week. Eep! Hurry.

Bea is up 20ish minutes after putting her down. Sigh. Got halfway through my coffee and completed 3 not-fun tasks. Nurse her and then change her dipe and put her into some real clothes. I'm confused by these Gap leggings I bought for two dolla off eBay. New with tags but so, so short for 2t (I buy big because her legs are long and I can roll them up a bit and use them for longer). Maybe capris? Meh.

I feed her a little in her highchair, but she's always least interested in this morning meal. Realize I still haven't eaten and have a bowl of cereal. I usually don't go this route because I've got weird blood sugar and cereal in the morning makes me feel weird, but -- easy.

Heart our land.

I talk to my mom on the phone for a bit while I do general tidying around the house and carry fussy baby (she's got a cold). I get off the phone because she is just not her usual happy self and still obviously very tired. I don't do many carrier naps these days because she does real crib naps pretty successfully and because ow my back, but... I need the exercise, it's like 70 degrees and she's sick. So we go for it. She's asleep in 5 minutes and I walk for about 30. George tags (very slowly) along and I listen to one of my thousand podcasts (Baby Geniuses this time -- not about parenting!)

#health

Come back inside, nurse her again and then strap her into highchair for some goo. Mmm goo. She eats the whole bowl and then I dole out some puffs while I clean up the kitchen a bit. I make myself a hot dog (purchased for and rejected by Harper -- always trying to get protein in her, even if it's gross protein) and use a slice of whole wheat toast as a bun. And then eat two mini candy bars. I've had weight loss success by eating less calories, but higher fat and protein. I find that often means eating sort of gross junky foods. Whatev, it's temporary.

Best teether.

Harper and best friend Ruby on the left. I love them so.

12:40, time to leave and pick up Shem. Take George out and then put him in kennel. One ride to school in a day is enough, thanks. Bea whines the whole way there, but cheers up when we finally get to sissy. They hug and soon Harper and her best friend Ruby are off to their "car playdate" which we have to have most afternoons. Ruby's mom and I chat and I nurse Bea again and other moms come and go for a little chat. The girls hang out for 40 more minutes, which is longer than usual. I know I'm pushing it because Harper will be hungry and crabby and I can see she's tired. But it's nice to kill some time on a beautiful day...

Lo and behold, she starts to lose it (usually in the form of extreme indecisiveness and slowness doing anything) and I quickly hustle us into the car and hand her some mini blueberry muffins she loves for after school. We cruise home in silence (well, Bea is squawking a bit). We get inside, I make HJ wash her hands, then set her up with a snack (sliced apples and mini rice cakes) and a show (Paw Patrol, I think?) I change an ick dipe, put Bea in something warmer for sleep (her room is always freezing) and take her upstairs. I nurse her and put her down. She wails for 20 minutes, but is clearly exhausted and collapses right at the 20 minute mark. Now it's time to take care of the dog's needs. Take him out and give him his lunch.

I cuddle up with Harper for a bit on the couch and drink a cup of tea. No pictures because she's watching her show on my phone, a strange but typical choice.

Bea wakes up 45 minutes later. We all play blocks and wrestle the dog a bit before I set up HJ with a pumpkin and paint and glitter to do with it what she will. That keeps her busy for about an hour before she finds an Anne Geddes book (remember her?!) she picked out at the library book sale. We all look at that together and I feed Bea little pieces of Fig Newton. I have a slice of toast with pb and j.

Old Gap sweaters are the new fancy baby wearing technique. 

Fennel. Harper eats fistfuls at a time. Strange, strange child.

Harper gets way into dressing up her dolly and then insists we take her outside to swing. The weather has decidedly turned cooler, but it's also the time of day (5:00) when both kids are feisty and I'm often out of ideas/energy, so sure. I try and keep Bea bundled in my sweater, but she'd rather scoot around and crunch leaves. Harper swings and then pretends to Irish step dance and then throws dolly everywhere and then eats fennel from our garden. I pick up Bea and chase George around which makes her giggle hysterically. It starts to rain and we scoot inside.

Heart emoji.

I plunk Bea in her highchair and mix her up some oatmeal and fruit. I heat up some brown rice for Harper and pour her some water. Celery from lunch (zero of which got eaten) is repurposed. Super fancy and high calorie dinner. They both eat and the dog catches every dropped crumb. Helpful and annoying.

It's 6:00ish and time for me to do the bedtime shuffle with Bea. Harper is still eating, so I let her have my phone again while I change another ick dipe, do a washcloth bath, and bundle baby up for the night. She loves getting ready for bed, always has. Strange! We have a nice, lovey nurse and then I place her in the cribby. She smiles up at me, I walk away and zzzzzz. She's the easiest at bedtime.

I come down and start grownup dinner while HJ is still working on hers. I'm making pasta with sauteed chicken sausage. Very easy and will give me some lunch leftovers for tomorrow. Harper and I chat while I cook and she CONTINUES to eat (going on 1.5 hours now) and does a variety of things. I really enjoy this last hour or so of the day when it's just the two of us (or Clay, but he's been in major busy work mode lately). I give her a little whipped cream in a bowl with a spoon and she is utterly delighted. I've figured out it's almost the only dessert (aside from plain shortbread cookies) that she'll reliably ingest. We don't usually do dessert because it doesn't interest her, so it's fun for me (sad?) when it does. "Whipped cream and water are the ONLY things you can have after brushing your teeth! It's great!" Since she hasn't brushed her teeth yet, I'm not sure why the weird trying to convince me, but sure.

Ham.

The cleaners came yesterday. Won't look like this again till they're back.

We head up to bed and it's pretty late for her now, almost 8:00. We chat while she gets undressed and brushes her teeth and puts on jammies. She pees for something like the 5th and 6th time in the past 20 minutes, something she always does before bed. She runs down to get dolly and puts her to bed in the drawer-with-a-blanket we fashioned on the floor a few months ago. 

I put on her music (some tinny Mozart from a music box she's loved since she was 1.5) and get her tucked in. Lots of talk about how you can divide 10 so nicely into two parts, but man -- 5 just won't work out. So you're left with an extra piece. Which she demonstrates by holding up her middle finger? I'm all yep yep, I loooove division, cool. Gottagotho! Lights out, a few smooches, and Seacrest OUT! I don't hear another peep. Hallelujah. 

I make myself a bowl of pasta and get cozy on the couch with a blanket and a dog. I've got a bunch of podcasts to listen to, but I'm in a teev mood. I put on the pilot for Gilmore Girls, a show I've saved up for years and years now. It feels like time! Melissa McCarthy's on it?! S-O-L-D. 

No more pics after this because my phone was dead and so was I pretty much...

Clay comes home around 9:00 (this is why he'll be crashing in the city at our new place when the lease and job start -- 4+ hours of commuting a day ain't alright), gets some pasta, we chat a bit about our days and then he watches the World Series while I stumble upstairs. Around 10:30 my head hits the pillow and that's all she wrote, friends.