a day in the life - tara

Good morning!  Hope you enjoy today's installment of 'a day in the life!'

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hi! i'm tara, and i blog over at the brody chronicles.  

i am a mama of a sweet, three year old little boy named brody, i'm a full time pediatric icu nurse, and a runner. my hubby and i work crazy hours and alternate schedules, so my little man goes to school four days a week.  i try to make the one day that we are home together during the week a fun day.  

i choose to document one of our days home together, specifically october 3rd, 2013. 

{b is just a week shy of turning 3}

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5:30 am

hubby's alarm goes off... i say good morning and roll back over.  he leaves for work right before 6:00.

6:37 am

b is awake, crying that he wet his bed.  he has been potty trained for almost a year, but we still have a few occasional nighttime accidents.  if there is an upside to an early morning bed wetting, its that once he goes back to sleep, i usually get a few extra hours in myself.  

8:25 am

b is awake, asking for milk and some snuggles in momma's bed.  he watched a little bit of brother bear on the iPad.  i put his wet sheets into the washing machine. 

9:10 am

we had a little mini meltdown over getting out of bed, which resulted in a few minutes in time out.  he is pretty good at letting me know when he is done crying.  

9:15 am

breakfast time. todays request was for cream of wheat soup. b isn't a great eater, so when he requests something, i try to make it work. my breakfast was peanut butter pumpkin oatmeal. it tastes better than it looks.  

9:55 am

making my bed.  i had such a great helper.  i am trying to instill the habit of making my (and brody's) bed each day.  its not going so well, so far :)  move sheets into the dryer. 

10:05 am-11:45 am

we get dressed and head out to the park. we have a great park close to our house with a nature classroom, a lake and a playground. we play on the playground, check out the nature classroom and walk around the lake, then we head back to the car.

12:05-12:30 pm

home from the park, i set brody up with his crayons and some coloring books while i start prepping lunch.  today was grilled cheese, yogurt, grapes and milk. today i am pretty satisfied with how much he eats.  and i didn't have to try to convince him to eat.    

12:50pm-1:00 pm

i put clean sheets on brody's bed, and get him down for his nap. he is starting to fight nap time so i never know if we will actually sleep or have about an hour of quiet time.  while i was waiting to see if he would actually fall sleep, i put on some new jamberry nail wraps (insert shameless plug here, check out my website), did a little yoga and took a shower.  

2:30 pm

b hadn't napped and was in his bed playing with toys.  right when i go to get him up, i realize he's finally asleep.  i took advantage of the extra time and do some laundry and dishes.

3:30 pm

i hear a little voice calling for momma.  he says "momma, i had a good dream... is it time to get up yet?!"

3:35 pm- we settle into the couch for some post nap snuggles.  b requests a movie, and picks wreck it ralph. we  have a snack and spend the next hour and a half watching ralph and felix for the zillionth time. 

5:08 pm

we head out for our night out. b is having a playdate with his little friend trenten, and i am going out to dinner with the girls.  this doesn't happen very often, hooray!

5:20 pm

it starts pouring on us, but we see a pretty rainbow, so that makes it tolerable. 

5:33 pm

the boys run off to play without a second glance. we head out for our girls night. 

5:45 pm

there is a new{isn} natural beauty product store in town, so we stop in for a visit.  the owner Tammy, makes all her products using essential oils and all natural products.  i am trying hard to limit the chemicals in the hair and beauty products i use so i am excited to meet her and ask lots of questions.  unfortunately, she is out tonight, but i was able to check out some great products and promised that i would make another trip in to the store.

6:10pm

we finally make it to dinner at fort hills golf course.  this is a local golf course with a very casual vibe. the cardinals game was on, so we watched the game, chatted and had a nice dinner. 

i had salad, lasagna and we split a piece of chocolate cake. 

7:30 pm

i head back to pick up b from trenten's house and find them having a ball.  trenten's dad said all he heard was giggling and squealing all night long.

7:53pm 

we are finally home, now it is bath time, lotion, jammies and bedtime stories. daddy makes it home just about the same time we do.  he eats my leftovers from dinner, and meets us for story time.  

9:00 pm

he is finally out for the night.  we are about an hour past our usual bedtime, but we don't do it often so i don't feel too bad when we are out doing something fun. i spend the next 30 minutes getting my clothes ready for work the next day, washing my face, brushing my teeth, putting my work bag by the door. oh, and finding my keys. 

9:45 pm

hubby and i settle onto the couch for an episode or two of how i met your mother on netflix. i love it, but can't wait to get to the end of this season! 

10:45 pm

i fall into bed and am asleep within minutes!

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we don't have what i consider a normal routine, with my crazy day/night rotating schedule, my 12 hour shifts and our hour long commute to work, but we do the best we can and always try to fit some fun into our days.   

ashley asked us to answer three questions... 

while i am a little out of the baby world, i'll do my best to answer them. 

1. what is the most surprising thing to you about being a mom?

i think the biggest thing for me was how much my priorities would change.  when b was born, i was in grad school, with sky high ambitions of becoming a hospital administrator.  in the years since, i have come to learn that i am happy with my job as a nurse, and enjoying the time we have together with my little family.  there will be time to go back to school when b is a little older if i decide that, but right now? i don't want to miss a thing.

2. what advice would you give to new or soon-to-be mamas?

the biggest piece of advice i would like to share is to make time for yourself.  it is really easy to lose your identity when you become a mom.  i can't stress the importance or taking some time for yourself.  go on a run, go to a yoga class, take a bath, just sit and read a book.  go on dates with your hubby.  and don't feel guilty about it.  it has done wonders for me.  i had a rough time with postpartum depression, and looking back, i feel like if i would have asked for help and taken some time just for me, i would have come through a lot more quickly.  even now, as a mother of a toddler, i find that 'me time' is what helps keep me sane!

3. what are your top three baby products?

1)  a video monitor.  we are actually on our second one, the first one was used so much it was worn out.  it is such a relief to just peek at the monitor and see what your little one is doing.  it saved my nerves at the beginning, and now, is easy to see when little man is out of bed playing with toys instead of going to bed. 

2)  the summer infant swaddle wraps.  my hubby couldn't figure out a swaddle to save his life, but that swaddle wrap was just the trick.  it was easy to use, and it let b know when we were getting close to bedtime, plus he was never successful in getting out of it! he slept in it until he was a little over 6 months old.  

3) a sound machine.  something to help block out the noises around the house. we always played the same lullaby, and it helped b fall asleep when we were in a different environment, by having something always the same.  plus, now he still asks me for it sometimes if he is having trouble falling asleep. 

thanks ashley for having me.   i hope you all enjoyed my day in the life post!

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Thanks for sharing your day Tara!