a day in {my} life

Lately I've been having a hard time making myself sit down to blog.  And I know if it feels like a chore that I shouldn't be doing it, because this blog is for me.  Something that makes me happy.  But the reality, is that it isn't just for me.  It is for my girls.  So one day when they're older they can look back and see what life was like when they were little.  My life pretty much revolves around those two little girls, so I more or less owe it to them to keep this up.

I figured the best way to jump start getting back to documenting more of our daily happenings was with a day in the life.  It has been a while since I've done one.  I actually document one of our days way back in October, but I didn't take very many pictures and never converted my notes in to a post.  So it is about time to get one written out!

I haven't yet decided if I'm going to bring back the 'day in the life series'.  If you really enjoyed reading them let me know and maybe I'll think about it.  I just got a little worn out on organizing it (even though it isn't even that hard).

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February 12th, 2014 - Ryann is nearly four and Elsie just turned one!

2:20am:  I hear Elsie on the monitor.  Oy.  She had done so well sleeping through the night for a couple weeks, and now this is the third night in a row she has woken up.  I want to ignore her, but the fastest way to quiet her down and make sure everyone else stays asleep is to just nurse her.  I'm in her room for about 20 minutes, and I lay her back down awake.  She goes right back to sleep on her own and I manage to drift off quickly as well.

6:12am:  Ryann is standing over my side of the bed.  She could care less about sleep buddy these days and just comes out of her room whenever she feels like it.  And I'm pretty sure she knows we won't fight with her at that hour because we want Elsie to stay asleep.  Little punk.  Chris says he'll meet her in the family room, but I swear he starts snoring again so I get up.  He starts to say he'll go, but I'm already out of the bed so I make my way to the couch.  Ryann plays happily by herself for all of like two seconds before she wants me to join her.  I inform her that any interaction I have with her before 6:45am will happen from the couch.

Shortly after that Ryann tells me she saw a man walking in our house.  #$!&%^*!#$!  What?  After a lot of back and forth she claims she saw a man walking in our living room.  A bald one who was big.  I'm totally creeped out.  I'm hoping she is just making stuff up to get my attention, but nonetheless Christopher does a sweep of the house just to make sure.

6:48am:  We hear Elsie awake on the monitor.  I grab my camera charger and get it plugged in so that hopefully my camera will last all day.  Ryann goes in to bug Chris while I go to Elsie's room.  I change her diaper and sit down to nurse her.  Meanwhile Ry has Chris get her a muffin, and after scarfing it down she wants to watch 'her shows'.  She generally gets an hour of TV in the morning.  I feel guilty about it every day, but it does help me get some stuff done.

7:25am:  Christopher leaves for work.  Both girls are zoned out on Mickey so I try and quickly pick up a few things.  Our house is a DISASTER.  Laundry that needs to be put away, toys everywhere, party decorations still up, dishes on the counter.  It is to the point where it is such a hot mess that I don't know where to start.  I go with the living room and get a few things put away.  But as I'm dropping off some toys that belong in the family room I notice a not some pleasant odor coming from Miss E's direction.  After getting her changed I decide to make breakfast for the two of us.  Elsie starts off on the kitchen floor, but is quickly relocated to the pack 'n play because she just can't keep her hands out of the cabinets.

8:00am:  After turning off the TV Elsie and I sit down at the table to eat.  We share some scrambled eggs and toast, buttered for her, peanut butter for me.  It is nice to have a child to share my meals with (sometimes), it makes it seem more worth it to do some cooking during the day.  Ryann joins us at the table to color.  After we're done eating I rinse the dishes and get the dishwasher loaded, only to realize we're out of dish detergent.  BOO.  We all play for a little bit before I get both girls dressed.

8:56am:  I decide to lay Elsie down and see if she wants to take a morning nap.  As I expected she paces the crib and starts chewing on the rails.  We need to get teething guards badly.  I leave her in there for a little bit while I get dressed and fix Ryann's hair.  E starts getting really pissed so I give in and get her up.  Really I should just stop trying to get her to take a morning nap, but for some reason I still feel like she is supposed to?  No idea.  My kids are very anti sleep.  I decide that we are going to try and meet Sarah and Collins at an open gym, so we get stuff moving so we can head out.  A quick snack for Ryann, a quick nursing session for Elsie (although I don't think she is amused and would rather have snack with Ryann!).  I tell Ryann to go put on some socks and shoes, and what she comes back with is well, interesting.  ;o)  Not gonna fight it!  Naturally just as were finishing up putting on shoes and jackets Elsie poops again.  That girl, she makes no sense.  She is either constipated, or poops a million times a day.  There is no happy medium.

9:58am:  We're finally in the car and on our way.  I look up the address on my phone and see it is a pretty easy place to get to, something I'm thankful for because I HATE driving to places I've never been.  When we arrive at the community center I park by the main entrance, but only see old people going in and out, nobody with kids.  I call Sarah and she says just to go in the door and ask at the desk, that we're in the right place.  So we head in.  We find our way to the gym and Ryann is beyond excited.  There are a couple of bounce houses, tons of bikes and ride on toys and a couple of playhouses.  She is quickly off and playing.  I spend the next hour trying to keep up with her while letting Elsie play some too.  At one point I let Elsie get in a bounce house and she has zero interest in getting out.  She just keeps happily bouncing on her little bum and I have to drag her out when some older kids climb in.  She is not pleased with me at all.  At one point while we're playing in the gym E takes several steps on her own.  Getting closer to walking every day!

11:23am:  Back in the car and on our way home.  The mission?  Keep Elsie awake until we get there.  The biggest downfall about letting her skip her morning nap is that when we are in the car between 10:45-11:30am it is quite the task to keep her from falling asleep.  Thankfully between a book and Ryann yelling we manage it.  When we get home I get to work on lunch while the girls play in Ryann's room.  At some point Elsie wanders in to the kitchen and I notice she stinks yet again.  I quickly finish getting Ryann's lunch together and on the table and then change Elsie.  After lunch we all play a bit more, and while Ryann is 'crafting' who knows what, I take Elsie to her room to nurse her and lay her down for a nap.

no need for sign language, you'll know if she wants more ;o)

1:00pm:  I've been letting Elsie nurse to sleep for naps (sleep training fail), but today no dice.  So I lay her down.  Surely she'll go to sleep, right?  I read a couple of Curious George stories to Ryann and then work on picking up the family room a little bit.  Why I do that I have no idea, as soon as Elsie is up the girls will trash it again.  After about half an hour E is still just wandering her crib and kind of pissy, so I check to see if she needs a new diaper.  Nope, so I tell her to lay down and put her back in her crib.  Ryann and I start working on her valentines for school.  Elsie continues to whine and yell for another 30 minutes.  Not cool at all, no nap just isn't an option in my book.

2:05pm:  I cave and nurse Elsie to sleep.  Really I think it is just better for all of us if she takes a nap, and Ryann and I have valentines to make!  Our valentines were definitely nothing special.  But Ryann helped put all of it together, and she was so incredibly proud of her work that it made it all worth it.  I loved watching her sign her name, and she drew some of her friends little pictures.  Her teacher had given us stickers with each child's name on it to help the kids pass them out and I was impressed that Ryann recognized every name without any prompting from me.  She selected which bubble wand and which dum dum each kid got, helped me punch the holes and string ribbon through the cards.  She was really just so dang proud of herself I couldn't help but smile.  Definitely beats me putting together some perfectly calculated corny play on words card and just having her write her name (not that I find anything wrong with that, because it is totally what I wanted to do).

3:43pm:  Elsie starts fussing so Ryann and I clean up our mess.  We go in to get Elsie and wouldn't you know, she pooped again.  I get her changed and then we all go to play in the family room.  We also face time with my parents who are in Georgia right now.  So jealous.  I hate snow and cold so much.  Not the point though.  Ryann and Elsie lose interest pretty fast but we talk for a while.  I manage to get Elsie to walk a few steps so they can see.  After we've hung up with them we read some books and then move on to dressing up.  Ryann decks us out, and after I take a picture of her and Elsie, she wants to take a picture of me.

5:17pm:  Daddy is home!  Christopher did me a HUGE favor and came home for an hour between work and a dinner he needed to attend for work.  We live 30 minutes away from the hospital so it meant an extra hour in the car, but man did it make a world of difference in my attitude for the evening.  I know I'm not the only mom who feels this way, that I can handle 7am-4:30pm by myself like a champ and we get along just fine, but from 4:30-7:30pm on my own pretty much feels like hell.  At least one of them is always crying at some point during that time frame, especially in the half hour before dinner is served, so it is much nicer to have a second pair of hands around.  Ryann begs Chris to play in our bed while I finish up dinner, so I start walking Elsie to the bedroom to hang out with them.  I let go and she manages to walk the length of the hallway by herself.  When she finally plops down Chris and I cheer and I think it scared her.  Whoops!  The girls and I eat dinner, and then Christopher gives them a bath.

6:30pm:  As soon as the girls are dried off and in pajamas it is time for Chris to head back out.  Ryann has been VERY in to watching Planet Earth type movies, so we pop in one about the Congo in Africa.  I have no idea why she likes them so much, I'm also skeeved out by all the creepy crawlies and I don't like watching animals fight and such.  But she loves it.  Elsie and I play in the family room while Ryann is watching the video.

7:10pm:  I take Elsie back to her room to get ready for bed.  Dry diaper, cozy jammies over her cotton ones and a little nursing session and she is good to go for the night.  I don't understand why at bedtime I can lay her down wide awake and she goes to sleep without a peep, but for naps it takes her at least 25 minutes to wear herself out enough to sleep.  When I head back to the family room I find Ryann watching the menu of the movie, poor girl.  I have no idea how long it has been over, and she was just staring at the screen.  I'm going to guess she was tired.  I grab some books and snuggle up with her on the couch to read.

7:55pm:  We start getting Ryann ready for bed.  One last trip to the bathroom to go potty and brush teeth and then we both crawl in to her bed to snuggle.  Bedtime has gone a lot smoother if one of us just lays with Ryann until she falls asleep.  Otherwise she comes out or plays in her room for a long time before actually falling asleep.  Usually Chris lays with her but since he is gone it is up to me.

9:05pm:  I wake up in Ryann's bed.  Whoops.  The main reason Chris is the one to lay with Ryann?  I ALWAYS fall asleep.  I think I've only not fallen asleep maybe 3 times?  Then I just feel like butt and have to go to bed myself.  But I really do enjoy snuggling with her.  Just as I'm coming out of her room Chris comes in the door.  We both grab a little snack and sit on the couch and talk for a while.  Then I remember I needed to add some tape to Ryann's valentines because the stuff kept falling out of the ribbon.

10:00pm:  We're both tired, it's bedtime!