Day in the Life: Wednesday in March
I haven’t done a “Day in the Life” post since January since my first day home alone with both kids. Things have settled down more since then and we’re on a slightly better routine and get to leave the house sometimes since the weather is better and Marlowe is older.
7:10 am – I hear Jenson stirring on the monitor, but since we are using Stoplight sleep/wake clock for Jenson, we don’t get him out of the crib until it turns green at 7:30. He talks and sings to himself while I doze and assess my soreness from volleyball last night.
7:30 am – The 7:30 mad rush…once one is up, the rest are up (at least temporarily). I hear Jenson say “mom!” because his light turned green, so I go up to get him. Boof thinks she needs to eat RIGHT NOW, but she has to wait. Jenson hands me his 4 stuffed animals and blankets to carry down and I ask if there’s one more animal to take (meaning him). He says “Yes, a camel and a horse” (he picks what animals he is each day…camel is two days in a row). As I carry him and all of his stuff downstairs, I hear Marlowe crying, so I lay him on the changing pad on the floor and run back to pop her pacifier in her mouth and promise I’ll be right back. I change Jenson, put on Doc McStuffins (“the doctor”), plop him on the couch and go back to feed Marlowe, with Boof close on my heels. She gives up on eating and gets back in bed. Luckily Marlowe is a quick eater and goes back to sleep right away. Boof’s turn. I let her out and feed her. Now she won’t die. Marlowe’s binky falls out, so I put it back in. I hear the pitter-stomp of Jenson feet coming to the kitchen for his milk and cereal. He likes to eat a snack cup of cereal while watching his shows, but he won’t eat breakfast that early. My turn. After situating him on the couch, I brush my teeth and make my coffee. Marlowe’s binky falls out again so I run back and pop it back in. Usually after putting it back in twice, she sleeps hard for another hour or so. Boof does too.
7:55 am – I settle in on the couch and snuggle with Jenson for a few minutes and then do some blog stuff for Columbus on the Cheap. He usually watches a couple of short shows in the morning – more tv than he used to, but I need a little “me” time, so I try not to feel bad about it. This time is usually peppered with me reading a book or two to him during his shows too.
8:35 am – He wants to read books, so he piles way too many books on the couch so we can “read these books togedder”. “I got couple books…I’ll get more books” gets 3 more books and then “I’ll get the other ones”. “I want to read all these books, how about you read this book and then we’ll read the other ones (pointing at the bookshelf)”. 15 books are piled on the couch. Below he was pointing out how the kids couldn’t reach their hats (that they had thrown in the air).
9:00 am – We read 2 and then I decide we need to eat breakfast ASAP to make it to Toddler Art at the library.I get him situated with his cereal and start to scramble up some eggs for me. I run into the bathroom to wash my face and put on some tinted moisturizer and brush my hair. Remember my eggs and flip them…they were pretty rubbery…yum. I gave the last bit to Boof because they were not good.
9:10 am – Marlowe wakes so I get her up and change her. Jenson is finishing up his food so I clean him up and change his clothes.
9:20 am – Feed Marlowe…she only wants to nurse on one side, so I know she’s going to get hungry before we are done at the library. We have a small bottle that was thawed for during my volleyball games last night that she never took, so I pack that with an ice pack to take with us. I’m not opposed to nursing her at the library, but she needs to use that bottle today anyway or we’ll have to throw it out.
9:40 am – Put Marlowe in her infant seat, gather the stuff up and steer Jenson in the direction towards the door to put on shoes. He wants his monkey hat because Marlowe has on hers, but I can’t find it and he luckily doesn’t fight me about wearing his dog hat instead. Get everyone and everything out to the van and tell Jenson to get in his side. He enjoys climbing up and getting in his seat on his own now, and it’s really helpful when I’m with them in public because he can get in Marlowe’s side and get over to his seat while I put her in the van, and then I can go over and open up his side and buckle him in. That way I don’t have to worry about him while I’m putting her in, or vice versa. Anyway, he was being too slow and wouldn’t/couldn’t climb up in the van and said he needed help, so I picked him up and put him in his seat because we were going to be late. This caused a meltdown because he wanted to do it. We didn’t have time and I knew he’d calm down by the time we got to the library – it’s only 3 miles away. He cried most of the way, but more of just a whine, and by the time we got there, he was fine.
10:02 am – We were two minutes late getting into the class and the tables were pretty full, but 2 ladies kind of snobbily made room for us to pull a chair up for Jenson when the teachers said we could sit at that table . There was an empty chair there already, but when I asked her if I could move her bag, she said her friend was coming (20 minutes later). Note to self – do NOT be late next week. They were painting with watercolors using different textured implements. It took Jenson a few minutes to get into it, but he ended up enjoying it. They had giant ink pads to make hand prints and he liked that a lot.Marlowe slept in her seat in the stroller during the whole class.
After we were done with the art, he wanted to play in the library. They have a lot of fun stuff on the kids’ floor and he loves it there. He played with the magnet and felt board, kitchen, named all of the letters on the wall, and then was ready to do the puzzles (his favorite part). Some of the moms/kids we like were on the rug over there, so it was nice. Marlowe woke and wanted out of her seat, so I got her out while Jenson did the puzzles. Eventually it was just Abby (who Jenson was excited to see when I said we were going to the library) and her mom, who I like. Marlowe was getting fussy, but she was NOT going to take that bottle from me. She looked at me like I was crazy when I tried to give it to her. I nursed her a little and she fell asleep.
12 pm – We headed home for lunch. I changed and fed Marlowe. I let him climb in the car seat himself. 🙂
12:30 pm – Jenson in his high chair for lunch and put Marlowe in the bouncy seat in the kitchen. He wanted grilled cheese because that’s what Abby from the library was going to have. While I was making it, he ate a ton of cheese. I only made him a half because that’s normally all that he eats, but he wanted more once he was done, so I made him another 1/2. He ate one carrot shred, and it was very concerning to Boof. During this time, I ate some beef stew and held Marlowe until she fell asleep. I put her in the swing, where she slept for less than 25 minutes, which is about the longest she can go without me holding her. He wanted to listen to “Bus” which is a kids’ cd that begins with Wheels on the Bus. I sung to him and made up some stupid dances while he ate – he copies me while he’s in his seat, which is the point.
1:45 pm – He finally finished his lunch, so I changed their diapers, he peed in the potty and brushed his teeth (failed to do this before the library – whoops). We headed upstairs for books, songs, and nap. Jenson was all wound up and Marlowe was pretty fussy, but I finally got him in his crib around 2:07 – later than he should.
2:10 pm – Marlowe seemed sleepy again, so I fed her and took her back to our room and laid on the bed with her to just relax for a few minutes. She changed her mind and didn’t want to sleep, so I put her in the k’tan carrier to so I could actually do stuff. Jenson fell asleep sometime between 2:54 and 3:17. Marlowe was knocked out on me, so I did some laundry, picked up some stuff, checked facebook, and baked some pumpkin protein cookies because I had a can of pumpkin that needed used up.
4:23 pm – Jenson woke up, so I put Marlowe in the swing. As soon as I walked in his room he cried “put it down!” – pointing at my hair. Sometimes he really hates it when I wear my hair in a ponytail. Then he said he pooped in the crib. He’s been pooping during or after nap lately, and always says he pooped in the crib. Then while we are changing him, he keeps saying “Stinky” or “its gonna be stinky”. He only slept for an hour, so he was pretty crabby. Marlowe was crying hard because no one touched her in 5 minutes, so I picked her back up and fed her. Jenson had a meltdown about wanting milk (even though I was getting it for him) and then about an Easter book with pull-out pages that he couldn’t work on his own. He wanted to play Legos and then had a meltdown about that.
5:00 pm – He finally settled on coloring. Marlowe fell asleep so I sat with her at his table while he colored. He didn’t actually want me to color this time – just watch him color a little on each page. I checked FindMyFriends, hoping that Lo was on his way home – he was about 12 minutes away. Phew.
5:23 pm – Lo got home and fed a frantic Boof – who moments before was sleeping and not worried about eating. He changed and offered to take Marlowe, but I told him that since it was nice outside, he could take Jenson out and I’d bring her out in a bit. I put her down in the swing and she was actually happy for a few minutes.
5:50 pm – I got her in the baby k’tan and tucked a blanket around her and headed outside. It was too cold and windy for her, so we went back inside. We put another load of laundry in and I started making dinner. Lo had pre-cooked some ground beef, so I made up a sloppy joe sauce to go with it. The recipe I used sucked, despite being called “the best sloppy joes”, so I improvised with a few other ingredients to make it better. I actually measured everything too – which is something I usually only do when baking. So far, anytime a recipe is called “the best” – its not. Just move on. To be fair, I didn’t have quite the amount of worcestershire sauce for the recipe, but there’s no way that could have turned it around. I mixed up batter for pumpkin protein pancakes too – still using up that can of pumpkin.
6:15 pm – The boys came in and Lo got Jenson started with dinner. He had cottage cheese, mac and cheese, and applesauce – non of which he wanted until he took a bite and then declared “it’s good”. He barely eats meat or veggies still, so unfortunately he doesn’t eat what we eat. We’re working on it. He’s still so small for his age that I don’t want to have a stand off about food by trying to force him to eat things he doesn’t like. I offer and sometimes he’ll take a bite or a lick. I sneak veggies in where I can, like his banana spinach smoothie at lunch the day before, or pouches – plus he eats a variety of fruit everyday, so he’s probably getting his vitamins. Lo eats while I work on the pancakes and tote Marlowe around.
7:00 pm – Lo takes Marlowe and Jenson is finished, so I have him paint a plate orange for a leprechaun mask for St. Patrick’s Day. He wanted to paint with all of the colors, so I pour a little of each on another plate for him and he makes a bunch of handprints. Lo gives Marlowe the bottle that needed used up, which she begrudgingly takes – it was only 2 oz. I clean up Jenson and he gets about 10 minutes of ipad time. We have 4-5 educational games that he likes to play with.
7:25 pm – Jenson tries to go potty again, but nothing happened, so we brush teeth and get dressed for bed. Lo takes him up for bed, along with a sleeping Marlowe while I clean the kitchen, which I had destroyed over the afternoon.
8:10 pm – I take Marlowe from Lo and feed her and hold her while we watched tv for a bit. Lo is anxious for her to go to bed because he has to get up at 4:30 to get to work early for some system maintenance he needs to perform during a slow time for the police department.
9:30ish pm – She finally settles and they go to bed around 9:30 or so. I put on The Americans (so good!), fold laundry that Lo brought up, edit some pictures, and work on this post. I don’t know what happens to the time, but before I know it, it’s midnight, so I shut things down and head to bed. I always tell myself I’ll go to bed before midnight, but it rarely happens. Thankfully, daylight savings time has made the mornings a little more tolerable now that Jenson has been sleeping an hour-ish later each day (for now…)