A friend of mine recently wrote a blog post documenting a normal day in the life of her daughter. I decided I wanted to do the same. This post is mostly for me--so that I can remember what every day life was like at this stage. Hopefully my kids will one day enjoy looking at these pictures as well.
8:00 AM
When D wakes up a little bit early (like he did today), I usually lob him a bottle of milk and it buys me 10 extra minutes or so to jump in the shower or finish getting ready. If there is one thing I've learned while being alone with 3 small children, it's this: If I don't get a shower before they get out of bed, I usually don't get a shower at all. He doesn't seem to mind having breakfast in bed once in awhile.
"Is it time for wake up?" is usually the first question out of her mouth when I walk into her room each morning.
He sleeps with Lightning every night. This "Big Lightning" is his current McQueen of choice.
9:00 AM
After finishing breakfast it's time to get everyone ready for the day. Davis entertains himself in the mirror while I work on giving him rock star hair.
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| Maddie did not appreciate Davis pulling her hair while I helped her get dressed. I don't blame her, he has quite the death grip these days. |
I finally convince Ike to put his clothes on after asking him quite possibly a gazillion times.
10:00 AM
I promised the kids we could play with play dough today. After realizing that Grandma got rid of all the old play dough while we were in Colorado, we looked up a recipe for the homemade stuff.
1 box Funfetti cake mix, 1 square of softened butter, and 2 TBL water later we had the edible variety. Maddie could hardly contain herself.
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| Watching the mixing dough. |
Cookie cutters and butter knives keep them busy for over and hour while I clean up the kitchen and decide what to make for dinner.
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| Much more eating than cutting happening with this little girl. |
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| Davis missed out on the fun and took his morning nap instead. |
11:00 AM
Davis plays with the ice chips in his teething toy.
Isaac and Maddie are really into books on tape lately. I love them too, until they start fighting over who gets to hold the book, of course...
Maddie's new favorite game is to come up to me and say, "Mama, make a sad face!" When I do, she proceeds to ask me in a very concerned voice, "Mommy, why you so sad?" I then rattle off some reason for being sad and then she demands I make a happy face, to which she questions, "Mama, why you so happy?" We go around and around with this little game.
It was also at about this time that she came to me and declared, "Mama, I tink I poopy!" She was right.
12:00 PM
The kids play outside on the deck while I get lunch ready. You can't see Maddie's face but she is having a minor meltdown here because she spilled her water on the way outside.
The gigantic leaf Ike found on the deck.
They stay outside for a total of 2 minutes (it took me longer than that to get them bundled up...) before coming in to tell me that Isaac's trike wasn't working. Today was Grandpa's day off so the three of them work on fixing his beloved toy.
Meanwhile I pull out the Puffs to entertain D and hold him off until I can feed him something more substantial. He has recently figured out how to get them from the tray into his mouth.
Chicken nuggets for lunch per Maddie and Isaac's request.
1:00 PM
Isaac loves to put his head in D's lap and then wait for Davis to slobber, kiss, hit, or pull his hair. This ritual happens at least a dozen times a day.
I'm sure it's about this time of day that Isaac starts composing a mental list of all the stall tactics he is going to use on me to ward off the inevitable nap/quiet time.
This is quite possibly one of those many stall tactics, but I love that they insist on giving hugs before nap/bed time. I will enjoy this while it lasts.
Ike and I read an "I Spy" book before nap time. It's a current favorite.
2:00 PM
Check out that drool. Teething much? D goes down for his afternoon nap.
Ike is on-again, off-again with naps. This week he is more off-again, so quiet time it is.
Sleeping Maddie. So sweet I could eat her...
3:00 PM
The only picture of the hour because I didn't want to risk waking the sleeping kids up and Isaac was actually playing quietly so I thought better than to mess with that magic. This is where I check emails, browse the web, make phone calls, and sometimes clean or start dinner prep. Today it was mostly email-checking and browsing because taking pictures of my three crazies all morning was surprisingly exhausting.
4:00 PM
Flushed cheeks from just waking up. Practicing his pre-crawl moves.
About once a day I catch her trying to sneak her beloved blanket out of her crib. Here I am making her put it back. My mom thinks it's cruel and unusual punishment to prohibit her from dragging that thing everywhere. I think it's cruel and unusual punishment to make me wash it every day because she gets it into everything. So we compromise: whenever Grammie babysits them, the blanket goes everywhere. When I'm in charge, it stays in the crib (where I believe it belongs).
I snap the ends off of the beans for dinner. Ike and Maddie break them into pieces and pop them open. They discover they don't really like the taste of raw beans.
In a moment of sheer stupidity I give Davis a raw bean to entertain him, thinking there was no way he could break it in two without any teeth. Two minutes after this photo was taken, I was frantically fishing chunks of raw bean out of his mouth. Sorry, no picture of that.
5:00 PM
The older kids head outside to help Grandpa rake leaves and watch him put up the Christmas lights. I finish getting dinner ready while simultaneously entertaining Davis.
Watching Grandpa on the roof.
Aunt Shelly comes to dinner and Maddie is thrilled as usual to see her. Here she is showing off her "pretty shoes" as she calls them.
6:00 PM
Davis eats a cracker while the rest of us eat dinner.
Sante Fe chicken with quinoa, guacamole, salsa, and green beans.
Ryan is the dinner police. He always makes sure the kids at least eat part of their food. By this time of day, that is a battle I usually choose not to wage, so I give the kids two choices: Take It, or Leave It. Tonight both Ike and Maddie left it.
Grandpa sneakily sprays water at Maddie through his two front teeth while she tries to figure out why her shirt is all wet.
Grammie and Maddie check out the Christmas lights. My dad surprised my mom by putting up new ones this year.
6:30 PM
Bath time. Davis never lasts very long when they are all in there together. Just too crazy. Especially while I'm trying to take pictures and keep him from drowning at the same time.
Ike and Maddie pretending to be fish. Without fail Isaac complains about taking a bath, but then once he's in, he never wants to get out. Crazy kid.
7:00 PM
I braid Maddie's hair while the kids watch cartoons. I have been asked how I get a 2 year-old to sit still long enough to braid her hair. Two words: Little Einsteins.
Watching cartoons on Grandma's bed.
Davis wakes up from his late afternoon power nap, which (if he takes one) usually isn't much longer than 30 minutes.
8:00 PM
Brush teeth, books, prayer, bed.
Grammie and D watch
The O'Reilly Factor while I get the two older kids to bed before I feed him one last time.
After all the kids are in bed, my mom and I watch Modern Family. My dad says that I sound (not to be confused with look-now that would be a compliment) just like Gloria when I get snippy in Spanish with my kids. He's probably right.
My favorite line of the entire show was when Luke was trying to convince his mother that he did, in fact, like to be with her: "You are a fun parent. You put that chip inside my sandwich. That was a crunchy surprise."
As exhausted as I am at the end of most days, I am so thankful for the opportunity to stay at home with my children.
