A Day in the Life
I often wonder myself what I do all day. So I mentally took notes yesterday of the order of my day. While days do vary considerably, here is a typical day in my life...
*Jenna (12m) wakes me up
*Struggle to kitchen to get coffee and greet Allison (5) & Mia (3), who are at the table eating breakfast. They get up earlier with Patrick who, THANK GOD, is a morning person. Patrick goes to get ready for work.
*Check my email and the weather. I started doing this because I once sent Allison to school in a turtleneck & sweater and it was 70 degrees. I *thought* because its February, it was winter.
*Put Jenna in high chair for breakfast; clean up A & M.
*Dress & assemble A & M. They attempt to do this on their own, but still need some help in picking clothes, doing hair, teeth,etc.
*Natalie wakes up. Put Natalie in high chair, get Jenna down--change & dress her.
*Assemble school stuff--lunch, homework, snack, etc.
*Get Nats down--change & dress her.
*Potty for A & M.
*Load car for preschool (this is at least a 10 min process for a 90 second drive to school).
*Mid morning: Met a mom expecting twin girls in a couple of weeks. She got to observe what it will be like for her in a year. She didn't have a lot of comments...not sure if that's good or bad! Ha!
*Twins napped in car there and back.
*Potty & diapers for M, N & J.
*Prepare and eat lunch. This is a somewhat long process as I am holding 1 twin while the other begs for food at my leg and Mia talks incessantly about what she wants/doesn't want for lunch.
*Clean up lunch--again, not a quick process with a 3 yr old and 2, 12 month olds. (ie. more food on floor than in mouths).
*Load car for preschool pick up.
*NAPS. HALLELUJAH! Mia, Nats and Jenners take good naps. Allison has rest time for 1hr. I do bible study, email, laundry, vacuum, pick up, computer time and prepare dinner.
*Allison gets up and needs 1:1 mommy time. We do homework, crafts, read, etc.
*Mia gets up and needs 1:1 mommy time. We mostly snuggle, read or "talk."
*A & M snack.
*A & M play (aka make a huge mess & fight), twins get up. Eat, change, etc.
*Finish dinner prep. Jenna is holding onto my leg 100% of the time (I often wear her in the Beco now).
*Daddy comes home!!! Whoo Hoo!!!
*Attempt dinner as a family. This is getting much easier and enjoyable....except the nightly fighting on who gets to sit next to Dad. No one ever thinks sitting next to mom is as good. Hmmmmm.....
*Bath, clean up dinner, PJ's, etc, etc, etc.
*Bedtime.
*Write my blog, catch up on FB, go out with a friend, grocery shopping or errands. It's just too hard with 2 or 3 kids to do during the day. Some nights I stay home and relax with Patrick (or we both fall asleep reading/watching TV).
I also do a lot of cleaning up spilled milk, fixing broken toys, band-aiding skinned knees, wiping tears, holding/nursing/cuddling twins. I sometimes get to make cookies, organize the next set of clothes, have a glass of wine with my neighbor, clean a bathroom (shocking, huh?), or have a date night with Patrick.
*Jenna (12m) wakes me up
*Struggle to kitchen to get coffee and greet Allison (5) & Mia (3), who are at the table eating breakfast. They get up earlier with Patrick who, THANK GOD, is a morning person. Patrick goes to get ready for work.
*Check my email and the weather. I started doing this because I once sent Allison to school in a turtleneck & sweater and it was 70 degrees. I *thought* because its February, it was winter.
*Put Jenna in high chair for breakfast; clean up A & M.
*Dress & assemble A & M. They attempt to do this on their own, but still need some help in picking clothes, doing hair, teeth,etc.
*Natalie wakes up. Put Natalie in high chair, get Jenna down--change & dress her.
*Assemble school stuff--lunch, homework, snack, etc.
*Get Nats down--change & dress her.
*Potty for A & M.
*Load car for preschool (this is at least a 10 min process for a 90 second drive to school).
Mrs. H in carpool line. They have been awesome about helping me with the kids.
*Mid morning: Met a mom expecting twin girls in a couple of weeks. She got to observe what it will be like for her in a year. She didn't have a lot of comments...not sure if that's good or bad! Ha!
*Twins napped in car there and back.
*Potty & diapers for M, N & J.
*Prepare and eat lunch. This is a somewhat long process as I am holding 1 twin while the other begs for food at my leg and Mia talks incessantly about what she wants/doesn't want for lunch.
*Clean up lunch--again, not a quick process with a 3 yr old and 2, 12 month olds. (ie. more food on floor than in mouths).
*Load car for preschool pick up.
*NAPS. HALLELUJAH! Mia, Nats and Jenners take good naps. Allison has rest time for 1hr. I do bible study, email, laundry, vacuum, pick up, computer time and prepare dinner.
*Allison gets up and needs 1:1 mommy time. We do homework, crafts, read, etc.
*Mia gets up and needs 1:1 mommy time. We mostly snuggle, read or "talk."
*A & M snack.
Mia fell asleep on the chair one day while I was putting the twins down.
*A & M play (aka make a huge mess & fight), twins get up. Eat, change, etc.
*Finish dinner prep. Jenna is holding onto my leg 100% of the time (I often wear her in the Beco now).
*Attempt dinner as a family. This is getting much easier and enjoyable....except the nightly fighting on who gets to sit next to Dad. No one ever thinks sitting next to mom is as good. Hmmmmm.....
*Bath, clean up dinner, PJ's, etc, etc, etc.
Mia lost this night and had to sit near mom :-)
*Bedtime.
*Write my blog, catch up on FB, go out with a friend, grocery shopping or errands. It's just too hard with 2 or 3 kids to do during the day. Some nights I stay home and relax with Patrick (or we both fall asleep reading/watching TV).
I also do a lot of cleaning up spilled milk, fixing broken toys, band-aiding skinned knees, wiping tears, holding/nursing/cuddling twins. I sometimes get to make cookies, organize the next set of clothes, have a glass of wine with my neighbor, clean a bathroom (shocking, huh?), or have a date night with Patrick.
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