Day in the Life - Summer 2012

Just wanted to take a moment to say that as I do this little blog project season after season, year after year, it's building a momentum that is bigger than any individual day. I'm getting excited about the eventual compilation of all these Days in the Life. I plan to put them into a photo book, probably a series of books. And the ordinary will turn extraordinary.

So, I encourage anyone with a blog to do this now. Sometimes there is nothing special about now, or at least it feels that way. But what I wouldn't give to have this type of detail about my days from when I was in college, or a single lady with her cats in her apartment, or a newlywed building her career. Anyway, a call for others to join in, once again. Just get your days posted by Sunday, August 12 and email me at navigatingthemothership @ gmail.com. More info here.


SUNDAY, AUGUST 5

2 AM - Oliver wakes up crying. Biggieeeeee! Why you gotta be this way? I wait to see if this is just a blip, but it goes on for a few minutes. Since his molars are still very slowly (excruciatingly slowly) poking through, I go nurse him for a few minutes. He goes back into his crib easily. Back to my bed and back to sleep.

3 AM - A little creature crawls into bed beside me, but instead of settling in, she wiggles and thrashes and keeps me awake. Eventually Bella says, "Mama, I need a drink of water." We go to the bathroom and I get her a drink, have her pee, and bring her back to her room. She begs me to stay in there and lay on the floor, but I say no. She continues to beg as I kiss her and walk out and close the door. It's hard to ignore her when she seems so desperate, but girlfriend needs her sleep. As do I. Husband sleeps through it all. It should be noted that I love Husband a little less at night.

3:45 AM - I finally fall back to sleep myself.

5:50 AM - Oliver is up for the day. Since it's Husband's weekend day to get up with him, I helpfully nudge and push him awake. Very romantic and loving. He asks if I want to breastfeed Bubby. I decline. I briefly debate getting up to take advantage of "me" time, but no. Sleep beckons. I put on my fun white noise app on my iPhone (Relax Melodies Premium) and go back to sleep. Blissful, blissful sleep.

7:30 AM - I wake up on my own, feeling quite rested despite the multiple interruptions through the night. I decide to take the two minutes to brush my teeth/put on a bra/put my contacts in since I'm sans Oliver. I make sure to wear this dress today because it's been my favorite everyday dress of the summer. I notice I'm having a random fabulous bed head hair day. My secret? Um...forget to buy shampoo or conditioner for weeks and be forced to use only Super Sensitive California Baby stuff. Also? Brush it rarely. (I have a very sensitive scalp. I swear. Brushing hurts like hell and getting my hair cut or colored is akin to torture. Why doesn't anyone belieeeeeeve me?) (You: Uh, cut your hair short, fool.)

7:35 AM - Where Husbo be at? And the baby? I walk down to the dock to see if they are there. Yes!  Oliver dives towards me when he sees me and then doesn't want to leave my side, per usual. I mostly love it, but it's hard to be so very needed.

7:45 AM - We head back to the house since B is likely to be waking soon and I hate the though of her wandering our new-ish place looking for us. She sleeps in much later now that naps are more of an occasional thing. And the fact that Bella sleeping very late = some other children's usual wake times still makes my nostrils flair, but such is the joy of each child being unique. Ha:)

Bella is coming down the stairs just as we get inside the house. She is in a sweet mood, very snuggly. That pj combo was picked out very carefully by her the night before.

7:50 AM - I get B breakfast and make coffee for myself (to which I add a little sugar only since I'm watching my dairy & gluten to try to make my drama belly happy.) Bella and I also sort out our supplements for the week into their little daily compartments. This is one of her favorite things to do. (And a detailed post on what supplements we all take is still in the works...)

During all of this Oliver is doing laps in the loop that goes between the kitchen and the living room. He's so giggly about it and it's ridiculously cute to see him toddle around. Outfit pairing courtesy of Husband.Teething necklace courtesy of slowest incoming molars ever.

8:15 AM - We decide to take a short walk on the state trail right by our house before Oliver's first nap because the weather is just wonderful. Crisp and sunny and such a respite after several weeks of hot & humid. 

We hope to see the turtle down by the lake, but he's not there. Nor are there any more shedded snake skins to take home and add to Bella's collection (AHHHH#*$&#*44343784798!!!!! And a warning to anyone who comes over - she makes sure to include them on the house tour and will hand them to you before you realize what is happening.) We did, however, get to see a mama bird bringing food to her babies that were in a nest under the bridge. My pictures were too blurry to share here but it was really neat to see their little beaky heads poking up out of their nest.

9 AM - The second we get home I put Bubs down for his first nap. The crisp weather has me itching to get out and run so I get ready right away before I lose momentum. Which means sports bra of steel, a.k.a. my Enell. The thing is a freaking corset - do you see all those little hooks? - but it works.

I haven't run much for weeks now (ugh, I guess that means months) and it feels really good to move. Especially since I'm not pushing 100+ pounds of kids & stroller. The run is going so well, in fact, that I just kept going and going, a la Forrest Gump. Since I don't really know all the paths yet, I end up much further from my house than I intended. My 30 minute run turns into more like 60 minutes and I know I will be sore for days. But good sore. I look forward to future runs and figuring out different loops.

10:20 AM - When I get home I pass the relay baton to Husband so that he can get a run in, too. We plan to meet up at the beach in 30-40 minutes for some playing and a picnic. I quickly cook up some scrambled eggs since I haven't eaten all day. Just as I finish cooking, Oli wakes up. I get him and regret not having the camera because he's so smiley. I bring him downstairs and warm up some whole milk to give him a bottle. We are still doing bottles a couple times a day even though the "experts" say we should be done with them. I'm not really worried about it since he happily drinks from sippy cups, straws, regular cups, etc. Bella likes helping to give bottles and even though Oli is perfectly capable of giving it to himself, he enjoys the sister time. Her other favorite baby care task is checking for poopy diapers :) It's actually a very convenient thing.

In order to eat my scrambled eggs and pack up picnic food, I let the kids do their own thing in the kitchen. Bella keeps checking out all the condiments - she can access everything in the fridge here and it's quite the novelty. I put Bella's mostly uneaten eggs on the floor for Oliver to snack on. I mean, on a plate on the floor. Yeah, I feed my boy like he's a puppy sometimes. Everything gets really messy very quickly. It's a classic conundrum of parenting - in order to take care of a task you have to knowingly let a mess happen elsewhere.

The final picnic spread: peanut butter & jellies for Hsuband, Bella, and Oliver (size based on weight - ha!), tuna salad with tomato & avocado on lettuce for me & whoever else wants some, veggies & hummus for all & some potato chips.

By now things are turning kind of ugly and the kids are being demanding and crying and OMG HOW CAN I BE THINKING ABOUT A THIRD CHILD? I text Husband to say we'll be late and he should just relax at the beach. I'm a little jealous.

Make that a lot jealous.

But by the time I finally get us on the road, everyone calms down and B is back to normal. The trick is always to get us out the door. It's just the getting out the door that is the hard part.

11:20 AM - Arrive at the beach a few miles from home and Husband meets us at the car. He has been hanging out on the grass looking at boats on Craigslist for the past 20+ minutes. We'd love something small and simple for our little lake but have had major sticker shock over the fact that even the oldest and ugliest boats are over $200.

11:45 - The kids are having fun, but wow, Oliver is such a handful here. He also wants me next to him or holding him all the time and gets very upset when I leave to grab something from the car for a few minutes.

Look at those pursed lips:)

I'm still in my running clothes, I didn't see a point to changing since I wasn't going to actually swim. That's Husband & B in the water.

 

Lots of fish!

12:30 PM - I get a call from my dad, who is flying in from my cousin's wedding in Ohio, saying that he needs to stay at our place tonight because he doesn't yet have anything for his apartment (their lease just started, my mom will be moving later after wrapping some things up in Montana). 6 hours notice...this is typical. I text my friend Audrey to see if she can do dinner a bit earlier as we had plans for that evening.

1 PM - We round up all the stuff we brought (which is of course scattered all over the beach) and do a final rinse on our feet. Bella's lips are purple and she is shivering. She is happy to get into the warm car to head home. Once we are home, Husband takes off to check out a boat he found on CraigsList that might work. It's a stunning tan & brown 1960s number. (We end up passing on it.) I put Oliver down for his nap after quickly rinsing the sand off his cute bum.

 

1:20 PM - Oliver is sleeping, now onto Bella's naptime/restime routine. Since Bella slept in late, I knew a nap was not in the cards, but she still needs to rest. Our deal is for her to stay in her room until I come and get her in an hour or so. She is allowed to leave the room to go to the bathroom. Remarkably, she is now quite successful at doing this and entertaining herself for a decent stretch. Longtime readers will recall that this has been a struggle for a loooong time.

1:30 PM - I go take care of the litter boxes downstairs and as I come up I hear a little voice calling for "Mama!" Someone needs help wiping after going potty. Then she says she is really thirsty and still cold. I notice that her lips were still looking way too blue for my liking in her post-swimming state, so I agreed to let her have some warm milk if she sat quietly downstairs while drinking it and then went back up for her rest. I didn't really think it would work, but she was so good about quietly reading that I let her hang out there for 20 minutes. I do some cleaning in the kitchen from the mess made earlier. While I sorely miss naptime being a constant, it's much more manageable when your kid is able to do their own thing for a bit.

2 PM - Oli wakes from his nap and I am able to nurse him in the living room without him getting super distracted. Bella is now playing with her dollhouse. Like most days, I take this time to admire Bubby's chubby thighs. Super soft baby skin is amazing.

2:30 PM - Eventually Husband gets back home, and just in time as tempers were beginning to flair. I appreciate the 7:30 bedtime that comes with a no-nap day, but there is a lot more behavior stuff to deal with.

3 PM - I do more clean up while Husband plays with the kids in the playroom and outside. Then I quickly shower and get ready to go out to eat with Audrey.

4:30 PM - Audrey's here! Look at how big Oliver's hands are.

We show Audrey around the new digs while Husband runs out to get Chipotle for him & the kids. Weirdly, the same (chain) restaurants & grocery store that were very close to our other place are the nearest ones to us here: Chipotle, Punch Pizza, Lunds, Brueggers, Jimmy Johns.

Audrey and I go to Sunsets in Wayzata and sit on the patio. We met in 2001 when we studied abroad in London and were paired as roommates. Consequently, we are often drawn to fish & chips when we are together.

It's fun to catch up. Audrey definitely falls into the category of someone you can talk about anything, anytime, even if a few months have passed between seeing each other. Like you just pick up where you left off.

7:20 PM - I get home and my dad answers the door. He has just arrived 10 minutes earlier. We hang out and he eats my leftovers and we all watch the Olympics.

8:00 PM - My dad reads Bella a bedtime story. She picks a book she checked out from the library that's a compilation of traditional Indian stories. I think it's funny and random that she found that book and then wanted to check it out since she is 1/4 Indian.

8:15 PM - I do the rest of Bella's bedtime routine since it's my night and leave Husband & my dad in the kitchen watching more Olympics.

8:30 PM - My dad gives me this list of things he needs to borrow that my mom wrote up. Everything is still with my mom in Montana. As I look at the list I get a weird feeling of role reversal, especially since a lot of the stuff I give to him are things I borrowed from their house a decade and a half ago. I guess this means I'm really a grown up?

9 PM - After finishing up the dishes, we go downstairs to the basement to watch more Olympics and eat brownies.

10:15 PM - I am exhausted and just don't care enough about the track & field events to sacrifice any more sleep. I say my goodnights and leave the menfolk downstairs.

10:25 PM - Walk into my bedroom and get thrilled all over again. My bedroom! No kids! No crib! Bedside drawers not filled with Berenstain Bear books! MINE ALL MINE LOVE LOVE LOVE!

10:30 PM - I go and peek on the chickens. I adore sleeping kid pictures.

10:45 PM - Husband comes up to the bedroom and finds me sleeping with my glasses on and a book on my face.

THE END