April 3, 2011

a day in the life - brenna

Surprise!  You get an installment of 'a day in the life' today.  I didn't have it ready to go on Wednesday (all my fault) and then I had a hard time with the pictures and yadda yadda yadda...  So today I hope you enjoy a peek in to Brenna's life!

***

First of all- let me introduce myself! My name is Brenna and I am married to an Army Blackhawk Pilot that goes by Koko (we have a crazy Polish last name that most cannot pronounce)…

I blog over at Enjoying These Moments

day1
day2

We have an 8 year old daughter named Hais and our lil man, Carter, will be turning 1 next week!! Where has the time gone? We are an Army family… I met my hubby when we were both in nursing school in 2000. We are currently living in southern Germany in a town called Lehrberg.  We have been here since Sept 2008 and will leave here around July 2013. I love it. I am a stay at home momma but I spend lots of time volunteering in our community. Anyhoo- we are here about Ashley’s “A Day in My Life”... Since no two days are really similar- I will just run with today’s schedule and call it good!

day3
day4

7:15am… I am up for the day- got to sleep in. Hais was over at a friend’s house for the night so I did not have to wake her up for school this morning… Normally she does not have sleeopvers on school nights but we have been dealing with some yuckys in the house lately and I wanted her not to get sick before our trip- so she got a sleepover at a friends… I head downstairs and hear lil man playing in his crib- so I grab him from his second floor room and continue down to the kitchen… lil man gets put in his high chair and gets a fresh sippy of milk and a banana… I make coffee.

7:30… I decide to run a load of laundry and read some blogs, check Facebook and look into possible flights to take this weekend to the states, while he is tearing apart the banana- I am never sure how much he actually eats cause so much seems to end up on the floor- lol

8:30-9:15 ish… Carter spends this time driving me crazy… he likes to take everything out of his toybox in the living room, tear all the books off the bookshelf, blow on the glass doors and randomly come over and lay his head down on my lap for some loving…

day5
day6

9:30-11:00… morning nap time. He is a super consistent sleeper. He still takes a morning nap and an afternoon nap- each being right about 2 hours. This morning I use the time to take a shower and get ready for some errands I need to do before our trip to the states …

11:00… I can hear lil man playing in his room- so I go in and get him ready for errands… He is all dressed and given a cookie to head out the door…

11:15- 2:30…. We run into my hubbys work- bringing him lunch and checking on his paperwork for us being able to fly to the states for a month… Lil man walks around the flight planning room being held by several different pilots- I think he appreciates being around all the boys!! Daddy was deployed for the first 7 months of his life- so lil man was surrounded by nothing but women for that time… We swing by the mail room to pick up a box I ordered with headphones for the kids for the flight - we will be flying on a military plane and it will be noisy- the headphones got here JUST in time! A quick stop at the health clinic for a medication refill… lil man sleeps from about 2:00- 2:40 in the car…

day7

2:40… gave lil man a few slices of a quesadilla… a fresh sippy of milk and lay him down for a real nap… Then I scurried around trying to hurriedly pack for a family of four traveling internationally for almost a month… nothing like waiting til the last minute right??

3:00- Hais is home from school and grabs a snack before heading out to play… Still packing, desperately searching for passports and all the paperwork for the trip (car rentals etc)

4:05… Lil man is awake and wanting to cuddle. We think he is cutting more teeth (which is hard to believe- he already has 6)… I take a break from packing and lay on the living room floor reading his favorite book… “No, David!” He loves to look at the pictures and hit the book over and over while laughing… it cracks me up!

5:00… We jump on our bikes (lil man loves riding in the trailer) and we head down to the Getraenkemarkt (drink market)… cause on Wednesdays they have a truck that comes and sells Doner Kabobs that are fabulous. Since it is bowling night for me… this is dinnerJ We load up on Doners and head back home…

5:30- 6… Us adults and Hais eat some doners (sounds gross when you think of it) and lil man snacks on some sweet potatos and noodles… He is a pretty good eater and there hasn’t been anything he really turns down so far (knock on wood!)…

6:05… I head out the door- I bowl on Wednesday nights with three of my friends in a league… Our team is called 3 Hawks & a Hooker (Explanation: 3 of our hubbies fly Blackhawks and 1 hubby flies a Chinook helicopter- aka Hooker)… we really just bowl for fun… we definitely are not winning the league or anything…

day8

6:05- 8:30… While I am gone… Hais takes a shower after dinner and lil man gets a quick bath. The water here is rough on baby’s skin and has lead to some eczema- so his baths are limited… Next, lil man gets some play time in Hais room while she reads with dad. Lil man gets a sippy of milk at about 6:45 and is in bed by 7:15… Hais heads to bed about 8:30…

day9

8:30 on… Momma and dad free time. Usually we watch some tv (we are super limited here- we only have 10 channels on the Armed Forces Network-woohoo)… I usually am on the computer looking at FB or blogs… and we usually crawl into bed sometime between 9:30-10 and watch my favorite show EVER King of Queens. I have watched every episode 100 times- it is sort of an addiction- but it is SOOOO good! I sorta compare myself to Carey a little bit- lol…

Thanks Ashley for including me in your blog!! I think it is SUPER fun to be able to see how other mommas spend their days!!

What's the most surprising thing about being a mom?
Honestly- that I can love my second kiddo as much as the first. I know people tell youthat but it is hard to believe! My daughter was our only kiddo for 7 ½ years and she was our everything. About 5 months into my pregnancy with lil man- I started freaking out that I would not love Carter as much as Hais… that it would totally change the relationship I have with Hais. Answer- totally love Carter just as much as his sis. And it did change my relationship with Hais- it bonded us in a totally new amazing way!

What are some tips you would give to new moms, or soon to be mamas?
Put kiddos in their crib asap. With Hais- we kept her in bed with us til she was like 13 months. I loved it but did not sleep great for that whole year. Carter went into his crib within 2 weeks.

Have a bedtime routine people!! My kids are in bed at the same time every night. It has been that way with Hailee since she was about a year and a half. And you know what- at 8- she goes to bed without a hassle still. Some of my friends are amazed but kids do great with routine!

What are your top 3 baby products?
Sleep Sacks- this is a new one that I did not know about (or they did not have) when we had Hailee. Lil man is in it every night. We have a fleece one for winter and a thinner jersey type for summer… we do not have air conditioning here- so it may not be necessary every night once summer hits but it was amazing for winter!

Pacifiers- yep- I am a pacifier momma! Both my kids took them and they helped save my sanity at times… hopefully lil man will wean from his as easy as Hais did!

Stroller hooks by Jeep brand. I found these and thought they would be a cool accessory. Little did I know! They are on all three of my strollers. They are just little hooks that I can hang my purse/diaper bag on. I love it cause then I am not having to dig my bags out from under the stroller when I need something…

***

Thank you so much, Brenna, for putting together a post and letting us peek in to your day!

No comments: