A day in our life

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

8:09 am- Harry comes in my room to wake me up. He has become very skilled at climbing out of his bed in the morning, and he's the cutest alarm clock I've ever had. Jamie has been gone for six days and while I miss him terribly, I get great sleep while he's away because he's not keeping me up all night with his snoring sexiness.

Penny is also awake, or was awoken when H opened the bedroom door, so we all go downstairs together. Nobody told me that you were allowed to not feed your children immediately after they wake up, so I jump into action unwrapping two cereal bars cooking breakfast.

Waiting for their cage-free, egg white, flaxseed, omega, 7-grain, veggie omelets.

I realized long ago that it was a lot easier to get the kids ready in the morning (including doing P's hair which is never fun), if they are hypnotized during the process. So we watch a show while they eat and I dress them. The current favorite show is Paw Patrol which is Canadian and annoying.

8:45ish- The kids want to go outside to 'fix signs'? They've been very into 'fixing' things lately, and by they I mean Harry and Penny just does whatever he does. Let's hope it stays that way as I predict H being my serious, studious teenager and P being my wild card.

There was no time to change, this sign needed to be fix stat!

Penny's tool was a barrette that sprayed water? Somehow this fixed things?

And then they stomped on my shadow- what a fun game!

9:30ish (everything is ish in our house)- Head out for playgroup, we are meeting at the splashpad at Tower Grove park which is VERY exciting to two kids who were mostly anti-water last summer, so it is very exciting to me. (And I don't have very high hopes for this summer; when I told P that I was signing her up for swim lessons, she cried. I wonder who she gets that from...)

10- We get to the park, but the splashpad isn't turned on yet! And it considerably cooler and cloudier in the city (probably from all the pollution) than it was at our house. So we check out the playground while we wait.

 And then the splashpad is on! And my kids actually play in it for a while (although they are the first to say they are done).

After a little more playing, we head over to Cindy's for playgroup. We've been meeting with this playgroup about once a week for going on three years now (!) and I am so, so, so lucky to have found a group of moms and kids that I actually like and at least act like they like me. I have loved watching their kids grow up, loved watching the friendships between the kids develop, and loved having someone else prepare a meal for me once a week when it's not my turn to host.

Elsa and Anna or Ellis and Penny

Lunch time!

P was naked for a portion of the playgroup, she couldn't decide which princess dress to wear so she decided just to wear nothing. Seems logical.

And the boys did manly things like pull each other like a dog pulls a sled. Makes sense to me.

2 pm- Playgroup was over and since H and P don't nap anymore, I am able to run errands in the afternoon with them which is nice. Today's errand was a trip to Home Depot for flowers.

They LOVE the carts at Home Depot. I mean, how could you not, they have TWO steering wheels- just like a real car!

I got two tomato plants and a pot for them; we're not going to do a vegetable garden this year (it was never very successful anyway), but I'm hoping to have luck with tomatoes this year.

3 pm- We return home. This is usually the time of day when I start to get a little SAHM-crazy and start counting the hours (sometimes minutes) until Jamie comes home. But alas, he is in New Jersey so I instead count the hours until we can leave for my nephew's soccer game. As I've said many times before, I am not very good at the staying at home part of being a stay-at-home-mom. I'm not a good relaxer or good at just doing nothing, so these hours at home while the kids are playing with each other or by themselves are no fun for me.

To fill the time, we watch an episode of Paw Patrol, and the kids play outside while I clean, sweep and mop the kitchen and the bathroom. Harrison has an accident of course, so I take care of that and throw in a load of laundry to wash with his now pee-soaked sandals. (The number one reason I love Keens- they wash so easily!) He's been having an accident just about every day when he's playing outside, he tells me that he doesn't want to stop playing, but then I tell him that after he pees himself he definitely has to stop playing to clean up, but he hasn't made the connection yet. I also keep telling him how wonderful it is that he has a penis, and he should utilize it to its fullest capacity by peeing on trees and stuff, but it hasn't clicked. He prefers to go in his shoes.

5 pm- I heat dinosaur chicken nuggets and take the foil off a greek yogurt make dinner for the kids. They wolf it down and then we head out for Reggie's game.

5:10- 5:15 pm- Penny buckles herself in her carseat. This is her latest declaration of independence, and probably the one that I hate the most. I can't even look at her while she's doing it or she'll start the whole process over, and God forbid I try to help. I read this article once that saying 'hurry up' to your kids is a guarantee that they will be on meth by 14 or something drastic like that, so I bite my tongue and instead fantasize about the screaming matches we're going to have when she's a teenager and I can actually raise my voice to her without her falling to pieces and telling me 'You're scaring me' and causing a bigger problem than the original one that made me yell to begin with. Man, the teenage years are going to be fun- I can't wait!

This picture looks darker because the sun has started going down because THAT'S HOW LONG IT TAKES HER TO BUCKLE HERSELF IN!!!!

6 pm- Arrive at the soccer game, and both kids are asleep. Penny expended all her energy with the buckling apparently, and Harry...I honestly think if he were a singleton he would still be napping. Luckily I have my stroller, so I make the seats flat and put them on their sides so they aren't instantly crabs the second we get to the game.

My nephew is really talented, and as boring as I find all sports to be, I do enjoy watching him play soccer.

He's leaping!

Harmonie! And she's not looking at me in total confusion which is the look I normally get. She looks happy?

My niece Gracie

There was a strong wind

6:45 pm- Game over (They won! Undefeated for the season!) and we head home. While I'm on 370 my mom calls me and asks if we want to go out for ice cream...boo. I have to go home and bathe my children which is so much lamer.

7 pm- I tell the kids that if they can take a quick bath they can watch an episode of Paw Patrol (it has actually been the same episode all day- there are only like eight episodes). So they do, and we do, which is breaking one of my self-imposed parenting rules of only two shows a day, but I was really depressed about missing out on the ice cream, so I wasn't thinking straight.

7:45ish- Show and snack are over, P's hair is mostly dry so we can avoid the blow-drying torture, we brush teeth, go potty, and head upstairs. Our nighttime routine is short and sweet while daddy is away, two books and a story (which is really just three books), hugs, kisses, lights off and done. Jamie adds like 75 things on, which I'll never understand, including tickling, talking to stuffed animals, laying on the floor for one minute (which usually turns into a nap for Jamie)- you know, all the things a good parent would do. Personally, by this time of the day I cannot get out of the room fast enough.

8 pm- Sweet, sweet freedom. I celebrate with a bottle glass of wine, dinner that I haven't had yet, and fight with the wireless box for a good half hour. I really miss Jamie for the first time. He is good at channeling the magic of the wireless router. I watch a couple documentaries, one about Tori Spelling and her current marital crisis, one about some wives who live in houses in New York City, and one about different wives who live in houses in Orange County. Really deep stuff, I'm learning so much!

11 pm- Head to bed and read for an hour. I'm reading Americanah which I'm enjoying so far.

So that's a day in our life. Riveting stuff!