Thursday, March 6, 2014

A Day In The Life

5:30 Hear Bea calling for us on the monitor. Look at the clock and grimace.  Her usual wake up time is 6-6:30 but just for funsies she’s been getting up at 5: 30 the last week or so.  DMS gets her , puts her in bed with me, gets dressed  and leaves.  He gives himself a generous 8 minutes to get up, dressed and to the bus stop in the morning. It’s amazing but he makes his bus most mornings.  Bea cries that she doesn’t want more sleep.  I roll over.

5:55 Lou busts into my room, announces he’s hungry and jumps into the bed. His hair, per usual, is sticking straight up. He is one of those people that is AWAKE and READY FOR THE DAY as soon as his eyes open.  It can be a lot to handle if you aren’t one of those people.  Ahem.   The kids start playing and annoying each other so I shush them loudly and try to sleep 5 more minutes.

6:05 I give up and take everyone to the kitchen to start breakfast. I give Bea her food first (yogurt with cereal mixed in) and have Lou check his blood sugar while I weigh out his food.  We discuss what he wants to eat (cereal with milk, a banana that he will cut into his cereal) so I know how much insulin to give him.  One of our bar stools broke so Bea has been demoted to the booster and Lou doesn’t like the remaining bar stool so he eats at the dining room.  They are quieter in this set up but I actually like the camaraderie that the kitchen bar affords and make a mental note to order more stools. 

6:30 Go to my room, make the bed, get dressed in sweats because I’m just taking the big kids to school and I can’t wear pants with a button this early in the morning.  Its an affront to my sensibilities.  Hang up my clothes from last night, think about how closest needs to be organized and add that to the mental list of Things I Should Do. Bea calls for me and says she’s done eating. I go back to kitchen.

6:31 Go to take Bea out of the booster but realize she’s only “done” because her brother is done and she wants to play too. Lou eats like he’s in prison and someone will take his food if he leaves it too long.  He eats more than anyone I know (kid or adult) and he eats faster than anyone I know (kid or adult.) He’s also built like a whippet. I take her out knowing she will come back and eat two more times before we leave.  The kids play in living room because the baby still sleeping (all three kids share a room.)  I wash breakfast dishes, make a bottle for the baby.  Have a few moments of quiet, I watch the kids play some sort of animal/lego/pretend game that involves a lot of toys and all the couch pillows.

6:45 Hear the baby, Bea says she has to poop.

6:47 False alarm. “The poop isn’t ready, it still has to get dressed.” I feed the baby.  Lou barges in. If Charlie gets wind that any of his siblings are awake he refuses to eat and wants to watch/interact with them.  Lou’s interruption means Charlie is done and he starts squirming out of my hands.  He drank half an ounce and will be a delight because of this on the way home from carpool. (He won’t finish a bottle until the kids are out of the house.) I’m annoyed at Lou because he knows he not allowed in the room while I feed the baby. I hold on to this anger longer than I should.

6:48 Big kids get dressed/run around naked while I get the baby dressed. After much cajoling, all three are ready.  I attempt to help Bea with her sock that is twisted she gets upset.  I tell her to relax, I’m just fixing the toe part.  She tells me to chillax she wants to do it.

7:06 All kids dressed, hair and teeth brushed. I leave them to attack each other. Go make my breakfast.

7:08 Fiber One Honey Clusters with milk and my iphone. Catch up on social media. Listen for the kids to make sure they aren’t maiming the baby.

7:20 I hear too much noise. Mom radar says something is amiss.  I go into the kids room and find Bea has re-decorated the play kitchen and other furniture with Dora stickers.

7:25 We remove all the Dora stickers and I tell the big kids to start getting shoes and coats on.  I try to feed Charlie one more time and he ends up drinking 5 ounces.  Awesome!   Lou’s sneaker strap broke and I’m still waiting for his new pair to arrive from Zappos. In the meantime he’s wearing a pair that are way too small but he has PE and can’t wear boots today.  Bea opts for her sparkly mary janes even though she has PE too. For some people less is more, for Bea, more is more.  Charlie goes in the infant car seat.  I feel like he’s getting too big for it but he’s only 7 months and on the small side.  Can he really be outgrowing this?

7:30 We walk down a flight of stairs to pick up Lou’s best friend  who is also our carpool.  I leave Bea with them (they take the pre-school contingent, I get the big kids) and take the boys to the elevator.

7:40 Fitting 3 kids in the back of Accord is annoying but do-able.  It’s less annoying than car payments.

7:47 Hit the road. Its 5 exits on the highway to school, kids hop out and go into the building on their own, I drive back.

8:30 Back Home. Am sooooo tired.  So very tired.  Charlie is asleep in the back seat so I power nap in the garage for 10 minutes.  This is not an infrequent occurrence.

8:45 Made it home without waking up Charlie. The curse of high-rise living is that to get from the garage to our apartment 30 stories up involves going through three loud metal fire doors and an elevator ride with at least one dog.  I put Charlie in the kids room and shut the door.  I make my beloved coffee and wash Charlie’s bottle and Bea’s dishes. 

9:00 The nanny arrives.  We chit chat and then I head to my “office” aka the desk in my room. I really just want to spend the day reading Life After Life so I can finish before book club on Sunday but I have a grant update I need to finish by end of day Wednesday and a host of other kinda urgent work stuff so that’s not happen.

10:00 Phone meeting with my boss. Hear the nanny singing Gwen Stefani’s B-A-N-A-N-A  song to Charlie as she feeds him a banana. 

10:30 Phone meeting is over.  She has moved onto “bananas in pajamas dancing everywhere…”  I debate more coffee but know that if I do I won’t be able to have a diet coke this afternoon and decide to wait for the soda later.  I want a snack but don’t want to have to go out and see Charlie and the nanny. I should also focus on my project.  I think about the cookies in the cabinet. 

12:30 I’m annoyed at my project. I have too many screens open on the computer, my desk is messy 
and I feel disorganized. It feels like I’ve been working for years. I decide to break for lunch but am unhappy with my progress.  Mentally calculate how much I can still do before afternoon carpool and how much I will have to do tonight.  I go to the kitchen and make my salad (cucumber, bel  pepper, tomato, pistachio, tuna- no mayo, handful of shredded cheese) and head back to my desk.  Poke around on the internet while I eat.

2:10 I have to leave for carpool. Really I have to leave so I’ll have enough time to stop at Walgreens and then go get the big kids. This means I have to wear real pants. I do not like this idea. Legs ache a bit from sitting all day.  Regret my decision to drop out of bootcamp.

3:00 sitting in the carpool line and wishing I had Life After Life.  The 15 minutes in carpool with my book are one of my secret joys during the day.

3:15 boys are in the car chattering about their day. Its Dr. Seuss week and they read  green eggs and ham day and ate eggs with spinach, toast and jam.   We drive to their after-school program which is at Bea’s pre-school.  I stop at the produce market on the way and pick up 10lbs of sweet potato and some parsley.  The pre-school is co-op ish and all the parents have to bring in food for lunch a few times a year.  I have no idea what’s on the menu this week but now I know they’ll be getting sweet potato.

4:00 drop off the boys pick up Bea and head home.

4:30 Bea is weepy about something.  Unclear exactly what.  Perhaps 5:30 is too early a wake up? Hmmm? She watches Sophia the first and I take Charlie to the Bath. Bea announces she is not taking a bath today.

5:00 Nanny leaves, feed Bea dinner (leftover chicken, sliced bel pepper, leftover rice, water with ice) bring up the subject of her upcoming bath. Meet resistance.  Put on some Pandora (family folk songs station) and we sing along.  Charlie sits on the counter watching Bea eat.  We sing, he yells. 

5:30 Take a non-cooperative Bea to the bath, let her have playtime while I go make Charlie a bottle. Check in on Bea, she’s heavily soaping her arms.

5:45 Lou comes home, he gets the same dinner as Bea and eats in under 3 minutes.  Escapes the table to go play on the floor with Charlie.  Game soon devolves into him being some sort of animal that climbs. Charlie is unhappy that Lou moved on. Wash Bea, get her in PJs, brush her hair. She asks for more Sophia and I give in so I can put Charlie to bed.

6:00 Charlie goes to bed, Lou takes a shower by himself, I read to Bea on the couch.  Check on Lou who will take a 40 steaming hot shower if I let him.  Remind him about soap. And rinsing. Remind him to come out. Go back 10 minutes later and remind him again.

6:30 Lou is in PJs. Kids playing in the living room. I clean up from dinner. Wash bottle.  Go through Lou’s back pack. Check the calendar for the next day. Give Bea a 10 minute warning for bed.

6:45 Start negotiating with Bea about bed.

7:00 Pick Bea up, have her fly like Superman to the bathroom and then to bed. When she first moved 
into the bottom bunk, she asked for a big poufy blanket and proceeded to only sleep on top of it which always makes me think of the princess and the pea story.  We say our prayers and I tell her how proud I am of her that she had such a wonderful day. She says she’s proud of me too. She rolls over and is asleep 30 seconds later. I check on Charlie, he’s horizontal in his crib but fast asleep so all is good. Go back to living room and Lou.

7:30 Have quiet time with Lou. Talk about his day, whatever is on his mind (animals, how to build things, cars, weather phenomena) and read a book. I would love for him to read to me but he only wants me to read to him.  He asks to sleep in my bed  but I tell him I have to work more tonight and he as to sleep in his bed.  We go to his room and he crawls up to the top bunk. I stand on a stool next to the bed and say prayers with him and rub his back for a minute. He says his bed is “like a desert” and therefore, too hot to sleep in. My bed however, is “lower down and much, much colder.” Nice try. He stays in his bed.

7:45 Lie on the couch and text DMS to see when he’s coming home. Try not to fall asleep. Think about making myself dinner. Lie on the couch more.

8:15 Wake up. Stumble to the kitchen and make myself dinner (leftover hamburgers from Monday.) Eat at the coffee table in front of the TV. Wait for  DMS.

8:30 DMS comes home we chit chat about the day. He lays on the sofa. We watch an episode of Chopped.

9:30 Putter around the house. Clean up a bit. DMS makes himself dinner. We talk about stuff we need to do, when we should have Lou’s birthday party, life stuff.

10:30 I start getting ready for bed. DMS makes Lou’s lunch for the next day and refills his back pack with his insulin supplies. I read a bit in bed and doze off. DMS comes to bed a few hours later. He stays up to do work and have some downtime. 

Hopefully none of the kids wake up.  Someone usually does- Bea needing water, Charlie wanting a bottle, Lou going to the bathroom.  A good night is just one kid waking up, a bad night is all three.
Here’s hoping for a good night….

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

You may me tired just reading your blog. Don't know how you do it! Admiration!!!