Monday, October 13th, 2014
6:17am Hear EJ stirring via the monitor, sneak upstairs to grab her, bring her down to the living room, feed her, chug a glass of water, set her up on the living room floor with a few toys.
6:30am Refill my water glass, sit down at the kitchen desk, open laptop, check email and Facebook. Open a Verve.
6:40am Pick EJ back up, change her diaper in our bedroom, snuggle in bed while talking to Hubz, who is getting ready for work.
7:10am Say bye-bye to Hubz, set EJ down in living room again, go back to my computer. Check in on a few Vemma team stats, make a mental note to email two customers I need to get in touch with, check on my monthly auto-delivery because we are out of the protein/energy drink that I’m addicted to and mama’s starting to get cranky without it. It will arrive tomorrow. Thank goodness. Make final edits to a blog post I wrote the day before, hit Publish. EJ is still happily rolling around the living room.
7:40am EJ starts complaining, pick her up, tidy the living room together.
8:00am Feed EJ again, daydream about future blog post ideas and writings while I do so. Grab my phone and jot a couple notes in my Writing Ideas and Snippets file in the Notes app. Addy starts stirring, watch her via the monitor while I journal.
8:15am Take selfies via PhotoBooth with EJ, pour protein cereal for myself, ignore the magnetic pull of the donuts sitting on the counter that are leftover from a Sunday splurge.
8:30am Play on floor with EJ. Addy is still half sleeping – amazing! Continue to ignore the donuts.
8:45am Give in and eat a leftover donut.
9:00am Addy is finally fully awake and yelling, go up and change her, come back down to set her up with cartoons and milk, take EJ up to feed her and put her down for a nap.
9:15am Back downstairs, decide to make cookie dough so that later in the week Addy and I can bake and decorate pumpkin sugar cookies. Make Addy scrambled eggs.
9:45am Finish cookie dough, clean kitchen, turn off Addy’s cartoons.
10:00am Realize I’ve been meaning to do a day in the life post forever. Sit down at computer to record notes about our day so far. :)
10:05am Continue cleaning kitchen – wipe off counters, put dishes away, and load dishwasher. Get distracted by dirty hand mixer and start detailing it. Realize baby monitor has died – crap! – run into bedroom to plug it in – phew – EJ is still sleeping.
10:10am Realize kitchen floor is disgusting, pledge to clean it today. Addy is playing with her play kitchen off the living room.
10:15am Organize pile of never-ending papers and magazines that pile up on one of the kitchen chairs – chuck half into recycle bin, most of them unread.
10:25am Finish tidying the main floor – good grief we were lazy last night with our chores. Grab step stool and hang a curtain rod that we recently painted. Step back, realize that the curtains are terribly wrinkled. Must be ironed. Ugh. EJ is awake, go upstairs with Addy. Change both girls’ diapers, get both dressed, brush hair. Take two minutes to grab several shirts from Addy’s closet that somehow escaped my large clothes clean out from the week before, chuck them out into the hallway with intentions of carrying them to the attic closet where we store the too-small/too-big clothes. (They remain in a heap in the hall for two days.) Read a few books, play, make funny faces.
11:10am Back downstairs, throw on some makeup, clean clothes, put hair in a bun. Addy plays with “her” makeup (several pieces of my old stuff) in the mirror while EJ rolls around the bathroom floor collecting hair. Fill up two sippy cups with water, grab a granola bar, shove all three things into my purse. Hunt down Addy’s shoes. Feed EJ. Check weather and realize it’s POURING outside. Momentarily consider not going out. Dismiss idea because a) we already have our shoes on, and b) I don’t feel like being stuck inside all day.
11:38am Out the door. Confirm we have an umbrella in the car.
11:50am Arrive at Costco. Still pouring. Throw EJ’s carseat over my left forearm, hold umbrella with my left hand, purse across my body, Addy on my right hip, drag us all into Costco. Arrive inside the doors, three people are staring at us. Move along, people. MOVE ALONG. Look for my Costco card, can’t find it. Can’t find it ANYWHERE. Begin unpacking my entire purse and setting the items with Addy in the cart, she immediately starts throwing them out onto the ground. Take a breath, back-up, walk into the exit to talk with customer service. Obtain temporary print-out with my member info, walk back into the entrance. Stuff two giant boxes of diapers into the cart. Nibble on popcorn, mango juice, and dried blueberry samples with Addy. Stop to try on a “leather” jacket sitting in a giant pile in the clothing section. Decide it’s cute and throw it into the cart before I even know what I’m doing. Check out, quickly teach Addy how to hold the umbrella, get smacked in the eye after two steps out into the rain when she loses her grip. Make it to the car. I’m soaked, but girls are only sprinkled on. I’ll consider that a success.
1:05pm Return home. Rain has temporarily slowed, stand at edge of garage with Addy and “catch” some drops. Let the dog run for a few minutes. Carry everything inside, catch a door frame with one of the large diaper boxes and almost lose a lung when it recoils back into me. Swear. Wash my hands, wash Addy’s hands, feed EJ, set Addy up with some homemade granola and some turkey deli meat to round out her lunch. Let the dog out again as she’s whining.
1:15pm Set EJ on the floor with a few toys, give more granola to Addy, warm up red pepper soup on the stove, eat at table with Addy, talk with her while reading a few blogs on my laptop.
1:25pm Take Addy upstairs, change diaper, read a few books, put her down for a nap.
1:35pm Play with EJ on the floor for a few minutes. Check the monitor, Addy’s already asleep, SWEET. EJ rubs her eyes. Change her diaper, pretend to eat her feet. She finds this hilarious. Gobble up her feet 78 more times.
1:45pm Sneak upstairs with EJ, feed her, rock her, lay her in the crib. ASLEEP! Yes.
2:02pm Two sleeping babies! What to do what to do WHAT TO DO?! Put on fuzzy socks, turn up thermostat, text with my mom. Check the backyard, which we recently completely re-seeded, to insure it’s not a soggy mess with all of this rain, looks good, text Hubs about it. Remember leather jacket, grab it, wonder if I only thought it was cute because it was in the middle of a giant warehouse. Try it on. Holy buckets, it’s darling! I just bought a leather coat from Costco. Ha! My 22 year-old self would be apalled. My 33 year-old self is thrilled. Grab hummus to eat with a few pita chips.
2:29pm Record a couple very rough blog post drafts, spend a few minutes actively using social media, place Amazon order (bath accessories for guest room I’m finally decorating), eat some granola, get sucked into Facebook UGH. Stand up from laptop to figure out what to work on next. I get so disoriented when both girls are sleeping and I don’t have a plan. Walk down to basement fridge to grab a Verve.
3:05pm EJ’s awake, run upstairs (fast) to grab her so she doesn’t wake her sister, play on the floor in the living room. Grab iron and my no-sew tape, begin working on a window valance for the guest room. Sing songs to EJ while I’m ironing and trimming. Tidy kitchen, mudroom, living room.
3:45pm Addy’s stirring. Set EJ in her stand-up play center thingy, take out main floor trash, open diaper boxes and distribute to main floor changing station, put remaining on stairs to go up.
4:00pm Grab sippy cup with water, banana, and EJ, head upstairs. Set Addy up at the reading table in her room with snack and a few books. She eats and reads while EJ rolls around. Read a few books together. Take out Little People toys from her closet to play with. Work a few minutes on guest room decor (This frame here, or over there? Where to put this mirror? How about this bench under the window?) and install the new valance, tidy the girls’ bedrooms and bath, distribute the diapers, play with the dog who came up to join us, try to feed EJ while Addy plays, but the dog and big sis are distracting her.
5:05pm Daddy appears upstairs, home a little early, surprise! Yay! All head downstairs, briefly discuss dinner plans, I start the prep. Pause to feed EJ, give Addy a(nother) snack.
5:25pm Change EJ’s diaper, change into her jammies, set her in the stand-up play thing, she looks tired. Hubs types a few emails on his laptop at the kitchen table. Addy plays with magnetic letters on fridge.
5:50pm Take EJ upstairs, feed her, put her down for the night.
6:00pm Continue dinner prep, Hubz now playing with the letters with Addy, then they move into sunroom to color with markers (ruh roh). I tidy the kitchen, feed the dog.
6:15pm Hear EJ crying via the monitor, watch her for a while, pop dinner in the oven, prep Hubs on status of everything else dinner-prep-related, go back upstairs.
6:28pm EJ is asleep again. Grab jammies to carry downstairs for Addy. Eat with Hubs and Addy. Get lost reading a few blogs.
6:50pm Start dishwasher, pack leftovers into the fridge, wipe counters, leave the rest of the dishes for later, Addy starts screaming for some unknown reason.
7:05pm Play with Addy in living room giving piggy back rides and having conversations with Daddy about school (which she has the next day). Tidy sunroom, have Addy help pick up her markers and crayons. Change into comfy clothes, find a wooden milk carton, banana, and fish in our bedroom, carry them back to Addy’s play kitchen. Find real pinecones and acorns in her kitchen sink, remember that we put them there, what, four days ago? Five? Contemplate how long it will be until these things start to smell bad. Figure I have at least another week, so I leave them there. EJ’s crying again. Hubz grabs monitor from our bedroom, watches her closely.
7:08pm EJ quiets down on her own. Go girl!
7:15pm Make Addy’s lunch for school tomorrow, show her a couple new things we’re putting in this week. Prep her backpack with diapers and a change of clothes, labeling everything with a Sharpie. She asks for a carrot, I hand her two.
7:25pm Open a beer. Yes.
7:26pm Addy asks for another carrot.
7:30pm Continue cleaning the kitchen (HOW did we make such a mess today??), forget that I opened the beer. Gasp! Stop cleaning. Sip beer. Mmm. Carry beverage into living room where Hubs and Addy are playing. Alaska State Troopers is on in the background. Walk back into kitchen, record a few notes about the afternoon and early evening so my mommybrain doesn’t forget it.
7:35pm Addy is singing the ABC’s in the living room, ADORABLE. She hasn’t done that before. Grab video camera, sneakily record her singing.
8:00pm Hubz changes her into jammies and diaper, I take her up to brush teeth.
8:10pm Back downstairs, collapse on couch next to Hubz. Eat bowl of kettlecorn we purchased at the children’s farmstead the day before. Hubz falls asleep.
9:30pm Peel myself up from couch, do a final tidy of the entire main floor of the house, minus the dishes, those will wait. Walk into bedroom, realize I never picked up the mess the girls made this morning in there while I was getting ready. Old makeup, “products” from post-pardum, Q-tips, and travel-sized toiletries are everywhere. Awesome. Pick up everything, put away clothes, pick up all my boots that Addy threw about this morning while attempting to climb my shoe rack.
9:45pm Go upstairs to check on the girls, stand there in the dark like a creepster and stare at them for a while. Turn off EJ’s sound machine.
10:00pm Get ready for bed, trim and file my nails, assess the laundry situation: we have a good couple more days before it becomes Urgent.
10:08pm Climb into bed, check weather on phone (it’s STILL raining), scroll through Instagram, respond to a couple emails, avoid Facebook.
10:35pm Lights out.
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Phew! That was fun. And also exhausting. I think reading and writing about my day makes it sound even more insane. Thanks for reading, if you made it this far!
A few wins from the day: Both girls were happy and healthy – no sniffles today or time-outs or major tantrums. I actually cooked something for dinner and kept the house pretty tidy. I also made good progress with my current house project of decorating and furnishing the guest suite. A few not-so-great parts of the day: I didn’t get much work done. I sent a couple emails but didn’t make any major moves in my Vemma world or my writing world. I also didn’t get any cleaning done. Lots of tidying, but no cleaning. Also no major exercise today, unless you count the sprint into Costco in the pouring rain. #totallycountingit
Win some, lose some. Every day with flexibility to spend with my family, though, is a win.
Until next time…
Hugs,
AS
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Tagged as:
day in the life, mommyhood, musings, work-life balance
I'm an author, marketer, and mommy who loves to read, write, and drink coffee. My husband and I live in suburban Kansas City with our two little girls. This site chronicles my world. Thanks for stopping by!
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