My sweet friend Jessica over at Farm Fresh did a "Day in the Life" post the other day, which inspired me to do the same. I loved how it captured the tiny little moments that make up our days, which are so fleeting, often wearisome and overwhelming, but truly ordinary and quite special at the same time.
And with that intro, I give you...our day.
7:20am: I hear pounding footsteps in the hallway, the sounds of a boy running toward my door, and then suddenly the door slams open. Did you a know a door can slam open? I glance at the clock, grateful for getting to sleep in (I was up until midnight making lemon bars), but irritated that he woke up his baby brother who was happily dozing next to me. But, he was so excited to show me that Daddy had gotten the wheels on his car-- an assemble-it-yourself project leftover from one of C's birthday gifts that after several attempts, I had all but given up on ever being able to assemble my self. I told him I was really excited for him that he got the car put together, but that I was feeling really angry that he woke up his brother. He leaves and before picking up the babe, I silently ask God to give me the peace, joy, and strength I need to have a day where we all experience peace, joy, and strength. Potty the baby, head downstairs.
7:35am: Say good-bye to the hubby who seems a bit harried, running late, trying to unload some things from his work truck, disgruntled that he's off to do some things he'd rather not be doing, a quick, "I love you," and the door is closed and it's just the boys and me. They are adequately, and unusually occupied for the moment, so I take the opportunity to pump. I go in spurts with how regularly I can pump for donation, some weeks I make it every day, other weeks none at all. While pumping this morning, I open my email to read my verse of the day, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, that transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind." (Phil 4:6). I take a moment to pray that my heart and mind would indeed be guarded by God's peace.
B always wants to play RIGHT AWAY when I come downstairs, but I always need food RIGHT AWAY, so I ask if he'd like some eggs and though he always eats breakfast with Daddy before I'm up, he always says yes to some eggs. Make three scrambled eggs (took a moment to notice that we are up to using three a day versus the two we shared for so long...baby is eating his share of food quite consistently these days), toast, and bananas, sit down to the cup of leftover coffee the hubby always leaves me, and we eat.
8:00am: Breakfast dishes (and lemon bar dishes from last night) are done being washed, and I notice that the washing has aggravated a sharp cramping pain in my shoulder that's been bothering me for several days. I am reminded that today we MUST go to the chiro, I can't take it anymore. We play for a bit, I check my email and FB, get everyone dressed, teeth brushed, compost taken out, and by 9:00, we're ready to leave. I buckle B and he reminds me that we didn't get a breakfast hug and kiss, so we do that. In the car, B asks for his "Daddy's big strong songs." He loves to listen to Daddy's rock and roll CDs.
9:10am: C and I get adjusted at the chiro. B says, "No adjustment for me this time." That's fine. C cries through my whole adjustment (lately he's been freaking out when I lay on the table, he used to think it was fun...ah, separation anxiety) until the secretary takes him for a stroll around the building. B and C both love "going on a trip" with Miss Julie. A new chiro student is there today, one I've never met. He does a good job adjusting me, I appreciate it. I am so grateful we get to go to the outreach clinic to get adjusted by the chiro students, for free and whenever we want without appointment!
On the drive home, I decide to reroute to the garden center for some bird feed and flowers. B is excited, he loves looking at the animals and was thrilled at all the flower options. Each year I like to stick with a color theme and get all sorts of flowers for my window box or pots in that color. This year I chose purple. I also remembered to pick up a few tomato cages as every year we always get those in way too late and end up mangling our tomato plants trying to secure them inside the cage.
10:00am: We make it home and I decide C is due for his morning nap. I nurse him, attempt to snuggle him, he writhes and cries, wanting no part in going to sleep. It hurts me physically when he fights his nap so much, especially after just getting adjusted, I realize that maybe this is why I'm so out of whack. He is a strong baby! I pause and wonder if he's outgrowing his morning nap. I bring him back downstairs to play for a bit.
10:45am: Second attempt at C's morning nap and he konks out almost immediately. I snuggle him a bit and read a few pages of my book club book (Shadow Baby) before heading downstairs.
11:00am: While the babe sleeps, B and I plant the flowers we bought, put the tomato cage over the tiny seedling in our vegetable garden, and setup the bird feeder and seed that we bought. B found a learning/play packet in my stack of piano books earlier that morning and asked if we could play with it now that C is asleep. We opened it and worked on some flashcards and did some humming and clapping, practicing rhythm and note duration. He learned about half notes and half rests and then talked again about letter-names for notes on a piano keyboard. He was enthralled.
11:45am: I bring out the leftover taco dip from last night's dinner as well as the bowl of guacomole and a bowl of tortilla chips. B asks, "Can we watch?" as he loves to do that with me on the rare occasions we get to each lunch while C sleeps. Sure, I say, and he jumps up and down with giddiness. He chooses a new show on Hulu: The Doozers, a spin-off from Fraggle Rock. We only get to watch for a little bit because C wakes up. I bring him down and give him a bunch of mango chunks and a bowl of guac.
12:15ish pm: A friend stops by to pickup our leftover seedlings for her garden and brings honey for a trade. Yum! She and her hubby are beekeepers and have some seriously stellar local raw honey. While she is here, C makes the most incredible mess with his guac.
12:30pm: I get C cleaned up and put some new clothes on him and declare we're going on a walk, possibly to a park. B is excited, but then it occurs to me that I'd like to see if my sis-in-law is home, so I call and inquire whether she'd like some visitors. She says she would, so we make the trek to her house, which is hardly a trek, maybe a 7ish minute walk. I get our things together, buckle the kiddos into the stroller, grab the dog who is excitedly whining, wondering if she can come too. We don't leave before B reminds me about our lunchtime hug and kiss. (I try to follow the recommendation from the Parenting Manifesto of Joy that reminds us to hug our children as often as we feed them, which is a good measure for me to make sure I'm showing physical affection to the boys often).
12:45pm: On our walk, B and I have in-depth discussion on homophones and try to come up with as many as we can. He is a little confused as to why not all color words have a homophone pair, since red/read and blue/blew do. We get to my sis-in-law's house and her 2yo is finishing up lunch. The boys all play outside together and she and I discuss and look through the cookbook, "Deceptively Delicious," which we both have. It's a good one, mamas!
1:30pm: Realize it's approaching naptime, we walk home. Surprise (or not), Daddy is home! He's hardly been getting any hours at work these past couple of months. Makes us nervous, but the Lord provides. He has some side-work to do out in his shop on some guitars and a violin, so he's happy. I decide it's time to try out those lemon bars, so I slice one up for B and me each while hubby eats his lunch and C munches on some strawberries and Ritz crackers. The lemon bars are divine! I used an extra lemon per my cousin's recommendation and they are extra tart. Love that! My bestie makes these for me from time to time and I had a disappointing one the other day at a local coffeehouse, so I knew I needed to attempt tackling my bestie's recipe in order to satisfy my craving.
2:00pm: Put C down for his nap, he fights me a bit, but not like the morning nap, and is soon asleep.
2:15pm: Go downstairs and get B, who is watching Peg + Cat on the iPad (that is a seriously good show if you've never seen it) and I ask him to turn it off. He happily obliges and I thank him for how cooperative he's been today. We go down to the basement to go potty and notice some drips on the floor. We discuss our hypotheses and though he guesses it's water, he can't think of what it's from, and I tell him I think Kedzie's been drinking from the toilet. We head upstairs and read one book (usually at naptime he gets two, but the one he chose today was loooong). No argument, I know he's tired. He rolls over and falls asleep quickly.
3:30pm: After spending some time reading and blogging, I decide that last night's midnight bedtime is catching up to me, and I lay down for a bit. I admit that I am slightly addicted to naps.
4:00pm: Nap is ended with baby waking up to pee. He's like clockwork, waking up at 4pm every afternoon. Go downstairs, note the mess, but also catch a glimpse of a seed packet we were given from the Botanic Center a few months ago during one of our winter excursions there. Do a quick Google search for "purple coneflower" and am excited to find out that it's REAL name is Echinacea! How am I so dense that I didn't know that!? Head out to plant it right away after checking with hubby (the gardener in the family) to confirm my idea for the location: amidst the sunflowers.
4:30pm: Decide to wake up Burkley from his nap. Generally I wake him at 5:00, but yesterday he napped shorter and bedtime was a breeze, so I'm hoping to recreate that today.
Miscellaneous wrestling ensues. B and C on B's bed. B, C, and me in the play room. It gets crazy. These boys are vicious!
5:00pm: I ask hubby to please take the boys outside so I can make dinner. Bestie calls, we chat while I wander around outside and then start dinner. Marcus and Burkley are playing ball in the lot across the street while I watch Cadriel in the yard while going in and out monitoring boiling water and setting aside ingredients.
5:45pm: Dinner, relatively uneventful.
6:15pm: Hubby realizes he has two phone calls to make for Anderson Lutherie clients and would like me to occupy the boys while he makes them. Of course, while he's on the phone, they both want to jump on him and play with him. I inform him that this is normal protocol for when I am on the phone as well.
6:45pm: Cadriel and I leave for La Leche League, but first I get our dinner hug-and-kiss from B. I only get to go to the Monday night meeting May through August because our small group is on Monday nights during the rest of the year. I'm excited to get to go again (although of course I love small group).
7-8:45pm: La Leche League. Of note is that Cadriel's dentist who did his lip-tie release was there and checked him, so now we don't have to go to his follow-up appointment next week. Woo hoo! Also, a mom there asked if the waistband she could see poking out of C's pants was a cloth diaper. I told her, no, it's undies, that we EC and are Diaper Free! It was odd to proclaim that so confidently, but yes, we have been diaper free for about a month now except for sleep (though we do EC at night too). Kind of weird to realize that.
9:00pm: Come home and find out that B and Daddy went bike riding tonight. Fun! They stopped at my in-laws' and B had his first taste of black licorice and loved it. (Gross!)
I am now nursing C to sleep and B comes in saying, "We didn't get a bike ride hug and kiss!" I give him those and he tells me that the dandelions he picked for me at my sis-in-law's earlier today have died. :( He was sad and I realized he didn't understand that that would happen. I told him I'd come in and snuggle with him after C is asleep and he told me, "I would love you to sleep with me because I love you and you're the best." (Aww shucks).
What a day! After the boys are in bed, Marcus and I will likely find something fun to catch up on on Hulu and have a lemon bar. So many little blessings throughout the day. It really was a great day, with minimal yelling and maximum cooperation. I'm impressed and have told Burkley so many times today. Every morning we talk about how we want to work together today, for obedience and gentleness and how as a team, we can make it happen. I'd say that today, we did! Here's hoping tomorrow goes just as well!
And since every post needs a picture, and I didn't take any today because my camera is M.I.A., I'll post one from Easter. :)
And with that intro, I give you...our day.
7:20am: I hear pounding footsteps in the hallway, the sounds of a boy running toward my door, and then suddenly the door slams open. Did you a know a door can slam open? I glance at the clock, grateful for getting to sleep in (I was up until midnight making lemon bars), but irritated that he woke up his baby brother who was happily dozing next to me. But, he was so excited to show me that Daddy had gotten the wheels on his car-- an assemble-it-yourself project leftover from one of C's birthday gifts that after several attempts, I had all but given up on ever being able to assemble my self. I told him I was really excited for him that he got the car put together, but that I was feeling really angry that he woke up his brother. He leaves and before picking up the babe, I silently ask God to give me the peace, joy, and strength I need to have a day where we all experience peace, joy, and strength. Potty the baby, head downstairs.
7:35am: Say good-bye to the hubby who seems a bit harried, running late, trying to unload some things from his work truck, disgruntled that he's off to do some things he'd rather not be doing, a quick, "I love you," and the door is closed and it's just the boys and me. They are adequately, and unusually occupied for the moment, so I take the opportunity to pump. I go in spurts with how regularly I can pump for donation, some weeks I make it every day, other weeks none at all. While pumping this morning, I open my email to read my verse of the day, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, that transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind." (Phil 4:6). I take a moment to pray that my heart and mind would indeed be guarded by God's peace.
B always wants to play RIGHT AWAY when I come downstairs, but I always need food RIGHT AWAY, so I ask if he'd like some eggs and though he always eats breakfast with Daddy before I'm up, he always says yes to some eggs. Make three scrambled eggs (took a moment to notice that we are up to using three a day versus the two we shared for so long...baby is eating his share of food quite consistently these days), toast, and bananas, sit down to the cup of leftover coffee the hubby always leaves me, and we eat.
8:00am: Breakfast dishes (and lemon bar dishes from last night) are done being washed, and I notice that the washing has aggravated a sharp cramping pain in my shoulder that's been bothering me for several days. I am reminded that today we MUST go to the chiro, I can't take it anymore. We play for a bit, I check my email and FB, get everyone dressed, teeth brushed, compost taken out, and by 9:00, we're ready to leave. I buckle B and he reminds me that we didn't get a breakfast hug and kiss, so we do that. In the car, B asks for his "Daddy's big strong songs." He loves to listen to Daddy's rock and roll CDs.
9:10am: C and I get adjusted at the chiro. B says, "No adjustment for me this time." That's fine. C cries through my whole adjustment (lately he's been freaking out when I lay on the table, he used to think it was fun...ah, separation anxiety) until the secretary takes him for a stroll around the building. B and C both love "going on a trip" with Miss Julie. A new chiro student is there today, one I've never met. He does a good job adjusting me, I appreciate it. I am so grateful we get to go to the outreach clinic to get adjusted by the chiro students, for free and whenever we want without appointment!
On the drive home, I decide to reroute to the garden center for some bird feed and flowers. B is excited, he loves looking at the animals and was thrilled at all the flower options. Each year I like to stick with a color theme and get all sorts of flowers for my window box or pots in that color. This year I chose purple. I also remembered to pick up a few tomato cages as every year we always get those in way too late and end up mangling our tomato plants trying to secure them inside the cage.
10:00am: We make it home and I decide C is due for his morning nap. I nurse him, attempt to snuggle him, he writhes and cries, wanting no part in going to sleep. It hurts me physically when he fights his nap so much, especially after just getting adjusted, I realize that maybe this is why I'm so out of whack. He is a strong baby! I pause and wonder if he's outgrowing his morning nap. I bring him back downstairs to play for a bit.
10:45am: Second attempt at C's morning nap and he konks out almost immediately. I snuggle him a bit and read a few pages of my book club book (Shadow Baby) before heading downstairs.
11:00am: While the babe sleeps, B and I plant the flowers we bought, put the tomato cage over the tiny seedling in our vegetable garden, and setup the bird feeder and seed that we bought. B found a learning/play packet in my stack of piano books earlier that morning and asked if we could play with it now that C is asleep. We opened it and worked on some flashcards and did some humming and clapping, practicing rhythm and note duration. He learned about half notes and half rests and then talked again about letter-names for notes on a piano keyboard. He was enthralled.
11:45am: I bring out the leftover taco dip from last night's dinner as well as the bowl of guacomole and a bowl of tortilla chips. B asks, "Can we watch?" as he loves to do that with me on the rare occasions we get to each lunch while C sleeps. Sure, I say, and he jumps up and down with giddiness. He chooses a new show on Hulu: The Doozers, a spin-off from Fraggle Rock. We only get to watch for a little bit because C wakes up. I bring him down and give him a bunch of mango chunks and a bowl of guac.
12:15ish pm: A friend stops by to pickup our leftover seedlings for her garden and brings honey for a trade. Yum! She and her hubby are beekeepers and have some seriously stellar local raw honey. While she is here, C makes the most incredible mess with his guac.
12:30pm: I get C cleaned up and put some new clothes on him and declare we're going on a walk, possibly to a park. B is excited, but then it occurs to me that I'd like to see if my sis-in-law is home, so I call and inquire whether she'd like some visitors. She says she would, so we make the trek to her house, which is hardly a trek, maybe a 7ish minute walk. I get our things together, buckle the kiddos into the stroller, grab the dog who is excitedly whining, wondering if she can come too. We don't leave before B reminds me about our lunchtime hug and kiss. (I try to follow the recommendation from the Parenting Manifesto of Joy that reminds us to hug our children as often as we feed them, which is a good measure for me to make sure I'm showing physical affection to the boys often).
12:45pm: On our walk, B and I have in-depth discussion on homophones and try to come up with as many as we can. He is a little confused as to why not all color words have a homophone pair, since red/read and blue/blew do. We get to my sis-in-law's house and her 2yo is finishing up lunch. The boys all play outside together and she and I discuss and look through the cookbook, "Deceptively Delicious," which we both have. It's a good one, mamas!
1:30pm: Realize it's approaching naptime, we walk home. Surprise (or not), Daddy is home! He's hardly been getting any hours at work these past couple of months. Makes us nervous, but the Lord provides. He has some side-work to do out in his shop on some guitars and a violin, so he's happy. I decide it's time to try out those lemon bars, so I slice one up for B and me each while hubby eats his lunch and C munches on some strawberries and Ritz crackers. The lemon bars are divine! I used an extra lemon per my cousin's recommendation and they are extra tart. Love that! My bestie makes these for me from time to time and I had a disappointing one the other day at a local coffeehouse, so I knew I needed to attempt tackling my bestie's recipe in order to satisfy my craving.
2:00pm: Put C down for his nap, he fights me a bit, but not like the morning nap, and is soon asleep.
2:15pm: Go downstairs and get B, who is watching Peg + Cat on the iPad (that is a seriously good show if you've never seen it) and I ask him to turn it off. He happily obliges and I thank him for how cooperative he's been today. We go down to the basement to go potty and notice some drips on the floor. We discuss our hypotheses and though he guesses it's water, he can't think of what it's from, and I tell him I think Kedzie's been drinking from the toilet. We head upstairs and read one book (usually at naptime he gets two, but the one he chose today was loooong). No argument, I know he's tired. He rolls over and falls asleep quickly.
3:30pm: After spending some time reading and blogging, I decide that last night's midnight bedtime is catching up to me, and I lay down for a bit. I admit that I am slightly addicted to naps.
4:00pm: Nap is ended with baby waking up to pee. He's like clockwork, waking up at 4pm every afternoon. Go downstairs, note the mess, but also catch a glimpse of a seed packet we were given from the Botanic Center a few months ago during one of our winter excursions there. Do a quick Google search for "purple coneflower" and am excited to find out that it's REAL name is Echinacea! How am I so dense that I didn't know that!? Head out to plant it right away after checking with hubby (the gardener in the family) to confirm my idea for the location: amidst the sunflowers.
4:30pm: Decide to wake up Burkley from his nap. Generally I wake him at 5:00, but yesterday he napped shorter and bedtime was a breeze, so I'm hoping to recreate that today.
Miscellaneous wrestling ensues. B and C on B's bed. B, C, and me in the play room. It gets crazy. These boys are vicious!
5:00pm: I ask hubby to please take the boys outside so I can make dinner. Bestie calls, we chat while I wander around outside and then start dinner. Marcus and Burkley are playing ball in the lot across the street while I watch Cadriel in the yard while going in and out monitoring boiling water and setting aside ingredients.
5:45pm: Dinner, relatively uneventful.
6:15pm: Hubby realizes he has two phone calls to make for Anderson Lutherie clients and would like me to occupy the boys while he makes them. Of course, while he's on the phone, they both want to jump on him and play with him. I inform him that this is normal protocol for when I am on the phone as well.
6:45pm: Cadriel and I leave for La Leche League, but first I get our dinner hug-and-kiss from B. I only get to go to the Monday night meeting May through August because our small group is on Monday nights during the rest of the year. I'm excited to get to go again (although of course I love small group).
7-8:45pm: La Leche League. Of note is that Cadriel's dentist who did his lip-tie release was there and checked him, so now we don't have to go to his follow-up appointment next week. Woo hoo! Also, a mom there asked if the waistband she could see poking out of C's pants was a cloth diaper. I told her, no, it's undies, that we EC and are Diaper Free! It was odd to proclaim that so confidently, but yes, we have been diaper free for about a month now except for sleep (though we do EC at night too). Kind of weird to realize that.
9:00pm: Come home and find out that B and Daddy went bike riding tonight. Fun! They stopped at my in-laws' and B had his first taste of black licorice and loved it. (Gross!)
I am now nursing C to sleep and B comes in saying, "We didn't get a bike ride hug and kiss!" I give him those and he tells me that the dandelions he picked for me at my sis-in-law's earlier today have died. :( He was sad and I realized he didn't understand that that would happen. I told him I'd come in and snuggle with him after C is asleep and he told me, "I would love you to sleep with me because I love you and you're the best." (Aww shucks).
What a day! After the boys are in bed, Marcus and I will likely find something fun to catch up on on Hulu and have a lemon bar. So many little blessings throughout the day. It really was a great day, with minimal yelling and maximum cooperation. I'm impressed and have told Burkley so many times today. Every morning we talk about how we want to work together today, for obedience and gentleness and how as a team, we can make it happen. I'd say that today, we did! Here's hoping tomorrow goes just as well!
And since every post needs a picture, and I didn't take any today because my camera is M.I.A., I'll post one from Easter. :)
What a terrific day. God answered your morning prayer in spades :) Love "daddy's big strong songs"
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about your day!
ReplyDelete