A Day in the Life

I was reading my friend Allison's blog a little while ago, and I enjoyed a "day in the life" post she wrote. I know in a few years I'll struggle to remember exactly how crazy it was with a 3 yr old and a 3 month old, so I wanted to capture it here and have it to look back on.

Every day is a little different with a 3 month old in the mix, but this captures the gist of it.

4:51: Liv wakes up hungry. Bless his heart, Mike gets up and feeds her and lets me lay in bed a while. When he needs to get ready for work at about 5:15, he brings her to me and we snuggle in bed a little while.

She is fussing a bit so I take her downstairs and make her a couple more ounces of formula. She often likes a "top off" after she eats, before she goes back to sleep.  She hangs out in her bouncer seat while I whip up her snack.

5:30: After her top off, she is back to sleep as I expected. Check out that formula drool.

5:40: Ben is up. He is always up between 5:30 and 6 these days, when he wanders into our room, loaded down with stuffed animals, and climbs into bed with us. But there is no back to sleep once he is up. He is always wide awake and ready to go. Mike intercepts him in the hall and tells him to keep it down because Olivia is sleeping.

Olivia is still out like a light.

Ben pretends to be asleep too. I wish!

6:00: Mike heads to the train and off to work. I get up, get myself ready for work, and get Ben dressed. I pull my premade smoothie out of the freezer for breakfast. (Thanks Emily for the awesome tip about making a big batch and storing them in the Ball freezer cups. Perfect!)

Since we are killing time because Olivia is still sleeping, Ben eats breakfast at home this day instead of at school. Yogurt and oranges are his choice this morning. His stuffed animals join him at the table, but of course he has to sit on the table to eat instead of in a chair.

And please note his pajamas -- super man pants and a tank top. He is currently obsessed with this combo.

6:45: Still killing time because Liv is asleep, I load up all our crap in the car.

And get Ben buckled in. He's in his Thomas swim suit because it is Wednesday, which is "water day" at school during the summer months.

7:00: I finally just carry Olivia down still in her pajamas and put her in the car seat. She wakes up at some point on our drive to school, cooing and smiling the entire drive.

We've been having so. much. rain. This day was no exception. The skies were cloudy and rain was imminent.

7:10: Ben leads the charge back to the infant room to drop off Olivia.

7:20: Since Ben ate breakfast at home today, I just get him some milk and juice. He and his buddy Cameron are having a good time, so I am able to get out the door with no fuss or drama from Ben. Hallelujah!

7:45: At my desk, ready for the work day. It is nothing worth blogging about, so I'll spare you those details. ;-)

4:45: I head to daycare to get the kids. Olivia is smiley and happy to see me.

5:30: We're home! Ben gives Olivia a kiss. Such a good big brother!

5:45: After I get Ben settled I put Olivia in her bouncer in the kitchen while I make dinner. Sophie the Giraffe keeps her entertained for a bit.

6:00: Olivia gets hungry, so I abandoned dinner prep to feed her while Ben plays with his airplane. Notice he is already back in his favorite tank top and superman pants.

6:15: Once Olivia is fed, I can tell she is tired so I put her in her swing for a cat nap and go back to prepping dinner.

Dinner is ready for the oven. Tonight I make a new recipe -- ham and cheese baked sandwiches. Mike tells me later that the sauce is too sweet and he isn't a fan, but at least I tried.

Dee has no qualms with the dinner I'm making.

6:30: Ben snacks on some pretzels while we wait for dinner to bake. I check on Olivia. Still sleeping.

6:45: Daddy's home! Dee is the very excited for his arrival.

We eat dinner and dessert. Ice cream bars for us and Oreos for Ben. He just likes to lick the cream off them. He won't eat the cookie part.

7:15: Dinner/dessert is done and I get some cuddles from Ben. Yes, I'm wearing pink pig pajama pants. I think it is obvious who Ben gets his "style" from.

7:20: Olivia is up from her nap. I play with her while Mike takes the garbage cans out. At one point she is laughing and it is the cutest thing ever. Mike was still out in the garage taking out the garbage so I couldn't get a video. Maybe next time.

This is a common scene in our house. Ben always wants to climb up and sit with us. Occasionally Dee jumps up too. I miss the days when I actually had a chair all to myself sometimes, but I love my cuddlers!

7:45: I get Olivia ready for bed and Mike gives her a bottle while I give Ben a shower. Mike will cuddle with her on the couch until she is asleep, then carry her up to her bed. Usually around 8:45. We take turns putting the kids to bed. Tonight is my night with Ben and Mike's night with Olivia.

8:00: Out of the shower and Ben insists on getting his pajama's on by himself. He is a big boy!

Where's Waldo? Can you find Ben in the huge pile of stuffed animals he keeps on his bed?

Spotted. One 3 yr old with way too many stuffed animals.

8:45: Lights out for Ben and I head out. (You can see the red nightstand I recently painted and some of the art I hung up. I need to do a post on the kids' rooms one of these days.)

9:00: After washing up for the night, I head back downstairs to clean the kitchen, prep Olivia's bottles for the next day, pack lunches, and fold a load of laundry.

10:30: Mike and I head up to bed and check in on Olivia. I was brave enough to snap a few pictures. Luckily the flash didn't wake her. She is a good sleeper, this one.

Here is the art I recently hung above her crib. 5 of the 6 are free prints off the internet, printed from my computer. All are framed in Ikea frames. You have to love cheap/free art!

11:00: I fall asleep in the middle of reading "The Diviners" on my Kindle. The morning comes way too quickly and we start all over again...

Liv's First Day of School

Today ended Liv's second week in daycare. It feels like longer than two weeks ago when I look at these pictures. Time is certainly flying these days.

Her first day started out with Ben (who was up around 5:30) helping me get Liv up since we heard her stirring. She loves to sleep with an arm thrown over her like this. You'll find her in this position 90% of the time you go to get her up.

We got her fed and dressed, then she hung out in her bouncer while I got Ben ready.

Ben asked to wear his Big Brother shirt on her first day. So sweet! I packed up his breakfast to eat at daycare but he asked for a snack of crackers before we left the house.

It is shocking how much crap we need just to get out the door. Liv's bag with extra clothes, diapers, wipes, and a blanket; Ben's bag with his stuffed animals and blanket; Liv's bottle bag - we take in 4 5 oz bottles and that seems to be working well ; Ben's lunch bag with his breakfast in it - daycare provides snacks and lunch; and my purse and lunch bag. And on this particular day we had Ben's school mascot backpack because it was his weekend with it. Good grief!

This is Ms. Sara. She is actually the teacher for the next room up but we know her well from Ben's days in her classroom (and she is also a friend of a friend).

It was super hard leaving Olivia, even though I'd been back to work for a week and a half already while Mom was home with her. But leaving her at daycare was just much harder. Not that I worried. I know she is in excellent hands there. But she's my baby. My last baby. I may have cried.

Then it was time to take Ben to his classroom. Our routine is to set him up with breakfast before I head out.

Then I went back to Liv's room to check on her one last time. She was totally fine, of course. But it helped me to see her content and enjoying the new scenery.

That evening when I picked her up, they presented me with this to commemorate her first day. Aw.

She adjusted with no issues. She still naps sporadically but she loves the other kids and the activities and is her happy, smiling self for them.