It’s an “A Day in The Life” post from Carolyn! Wahoo!

Some of my favorite blog posts I’ve ever read are the ones by moms who lay out the timeline of what a typical day in their life looks like.  The wonderful thing I’ve found in every post I read from each blogger is that we’re all so similar, and these phases of getting NOTHING done, of being tired, of wanting to roll our eyes, are so normal.  It’s refreshing, and relieving, and encouraging.

I’ve wanted to do this forever and in an effort to complain about my pregnancy ailments only passively, today’s the day!

What I’ve done is written out a typical day, based mostly off of yesterday’s experience, but not in exact detail.
Some days are filled with much less diaper changing.  Some days are filled with much more. Some days, I won’t touch anyone’s diaper until noon.  Some days, I let the boys graze and consume an entire bag of pretzels throughout the day and I crochet as if my sanity depended on each stitch because Craig won’t be home until after 10pm. Others (albeit far and few between) I jump up, shower, and we GO somewhere.
We are living with my parents while we house hunt so I have the invaluable benefit of my mother (who works part-time) being present for many hours of the week, available to watch the boys as I stumble to the grocery store. But it hasn’t always been this way, and it won’t always be this way.

This is a glimpse into our current phase of life, but not the whole picture. More days than not, yes, I’m super tired and super frustrated that I can’t get finished what I want, but I am overwhelmingly filled with gratitude and joy to have a hard-working and supportive husband, a supportive, encouraging sister, mother, and mother-in-law who ignore my flaws and love me anyway, and of course, little hellions who depend on me so much for comfort and love.

Warm fuzzies aside, begin!

 

9pm Monday night   Everyone brushes teeth, I change diapers.  We lay in bed and watch Curious George on Netflix until 10. I’d always sworn off a television in the bedroom until we had Emmett.

10pm   TV goes off. Emmett protests in the form of screaming, crying, leg and arm flailing, and tossing his body recklessly in the bed. Lexington and Collin are sleeping, blessedly oblivious.

10:20  Craig holds Emmett while he continues to wail and flail.

10:30  Emmett has fallen asleep. So has Craig. I get up to pee.

1am  Collin wakes up crying and scratching his eczema.  I reapply his ointment.

2am   I get up to pee

4am  I get up to pee

7am I get up to pee.  Craig gets up and leaves for work.

7:30am  Lexington gets up and preps breakfast bars and “juice” cups for himself and his brothers.  He plays with LEGOS quietly/watches Curious George on Netflix. We watch a lot of Curious George.

8am-8:30am Collin wakes “HI MOMMY!”  I get up with him.

8:35 I change Collin’s diaper. I make coffee. Eat breakfast. Collin and Lexington play together with LEGOS, or they color.

9am  Emmett emerges.  I direct him to the granola bar and drink Lexington has prepared. This piques Collin and Lexington’s hunger for second breakfast.  I get them fruit.

9:15 I sip coffee, check email, and browse through my social media outlets (post this pic on Instagram) while the boys finish eating.

9:30 Change Emmett’s diaper. (Emmett’s 4 years old, with autism and nowhere near ready for potty training.)

9:45 I get my drawing supplies out to work on something I needed to start last week. I wish to blog, but I’ve got to start this first.

10am Collin: poop #1

10:05 I suddenly remember I’d bought a roast to cook for dinner today.  If I don’t get it in the crockpot now, it’ll be too late and then I’ll need a plan B for dinner.  Don’t have plan B. Toss roast in crockpot.  (Mom and I typically take turns making/planning dinner)

10:30 Mom’s home from daily Mass/errands.  I get side tracked in conversation with her.

10:32 Emmett: poop #1. Requires wardrobe change

10:45  I sit to re-begin my drawing. Get sidetracked by emails/social media notifications.

11am  Collin is begging for “elevensies” -aka: third breakfast. I tell him no. He falls to the floor in dramatic disappointment.

11:05 Lexington is hungry too. I tell him no.

11:10 Bathroom break for me.

11:15 I remember I need to make an appointment for Collin for allergy testing, and a hospital orientation for me because I’m delivering at a different hospital this time around. It’s at the only accredited midwife-run, water birthing center inside a hospital in the entire state, and I’m so excited and can’t believe I didn’t research this with my past three pregnancies.

11:16 Get distracted looking online for an outfit to wear while giving birth. And nursing bras.  I desperately need new nursing bras.

11:35 Totally frustrated that after raking through online birthing forums for an idea of what other women might wear for a water birth, I’m the only one who still prefers to be mostly covered even when giving birth without medical intervention. There seems to be nothing more than expensive sports bras, even more expensive nursing sports bras, and bathing suits. I want my bum covered.  I want something long but not loose and fabric-y. I might get out of the water, and if my bum’s not covered, it’ll wreck my birthing groove. YES. EVEN IN THE MIDDLE OF LABOR. Ask me how I know.  I am not a comfortable naked person. And NO, I am not into wearing a hospital gown. I’m stubborn and I know it, and this is all silly, but it really makes a huge difference for me.

11:45 Still searching.

NOON  Boys are threatening canibalism, Emmett is screeching his hungry screech.  I make them lunch.

12:15 I call offices to make the appointments I’d remembered an hour ago.  They’re both at lunch and won’t be in until 1pm.

12:20 I make myself lunch. I should shower, but we all know it’s not going to happen.

12:25 I attempt to work on drawings.

12:35 Emmett: poop #2. Requires bath.

12:50 Dress Emmett. Smell Collin: poop #2

12:51 Lexington announces he’s got to go, too. (He is currently learning the self-wiping skill, and doing very well, but I still need to check his work.)

1pm I sit down at my sketchbook. I’ve done nothing. I’ve made no progress. I am frustrated.

1:02 I become insistent that I won’t be bothered until I’ve made significant progress.

1:05 I remember it’s 1:00 and I make calls to schedule appointments.

1:20 I’m filling out online paperwork for Collin’s allergist registration (4 pages)

1:30 Boys are fighting. I bark at them to cut it out.

1:32 Still fighting.  Lexington goes to corner.  Collin goes (kicking and screaming) to corner. Emmett gets redirected to a different toy or a movie.

1:35 Collin begs for “sumfing else” to eat. Lexington chimes in. I tell them no, they whine a bunch.

1:37 I’m serving them second lunch.

1:55 Collin: poop #3.  Requires bath.

2:05 Collin is dressed.  I have to run to the grocery.  My mom’s home, so I can leave the boys with her.  Glory, glory hallelujah.

2:45 I’m standing in the kitchen with shoes and coat on, nappy mom-hair thrown into a ponytail (no, not a cute topknot.  A standard. pony. tail.) and keys in my hand, checking my email.  I notice a message from someone I’m creating a logo for, who is now asking for not one logo, but two logos, each more complex than previously planned. They want it in 5 days. I can’t do that. I can’t.  No.

2:46 I set keys down and reply to email, totally disappointed in myself and my inability to get things done. I want to do this. But I know myself, and I know it won’t get done and it won’t be done well if I rush. I send my regrets and apologies.  I’m totally bummed and I’m kind of relieved. How are those two sentiments possible to experience at the same time? I don’t know.

2:50 In car. Driving.  No music, no radio and I like it that way.

3:05 Tear through grocery store– THEY ARE OUT OF CANADA DRY. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT A HUGE CHAIN GROCERY STORE HAS EVERY CARBONATED BEVERAGE UNDER THE SUN BUT THEY’RE OUT OF THE ONE UN-CAFFEINATED BEVERAGE THIS PREGNANT LADY LIKES RIGHT NOW?! I flag a worker and annoy the crap out of her by asking to check the back for more.

3:15 NOPE. No Canada Dry in all the land.

3:16 I check out, get to the car and realize I forgot to get like 3 items but I drive home anyway ’cause hello, heavy Braxton Hicks contractions + a new tearing/burning pain of upper abdomen muscles being ripped apart by growing baby in the womb.

3:45pm  Back home. Unload groceries. Wash Hands. Boys are hungry. I tell them no. They cry and hover around me while their little heads hilariously bounce off of my enormous pregnant belly.   I pull out pretzels and hummus and let them eat too much.

 

4:00 I help mom with dinner, chat, and learn that Emmett pooped again while I was gone. Is this pooping all day just a boy thing?  Because, HELL.

5pm Dinner is in final stages.  Pap (my dad) gets home.  The boys are rowdy/cranky/still hungry.

5:15 Serve dinner.

5:30-5:45 Battle Lexington over the slightly burnt part of his meat. Ask him to eat “three more bites” 5 more times. Threaten him by giving the ultimatum that he either make a significantly large dent in his dinner, or he goes straight to bed.  He finally eats. Emmett, meanwhile is up and down from his chair.  Maybe he eats everything, maybe he doesn’t. Collin always does well.

6pm I text Craig “Are you coming home yet? Are you coming home yet? Where are you now? Are you coming home?” Not yet.

6:30 I want to blog. I want to sketch.  The boys are cranky, loud, and gaining their second wind, which involves running the length of the house, someone falling down, and someone crying. I’m exhausted. I sit in the living room and doze as the boys thump around me and bicker over cars.

6:45 Collin is hungry. Lexington is hungry.  Emmett is hungry. Mom’s angry.

7:30 Craig walks through the door. Boys gain third wind. Craig eats dinner then wrestles on the floor with them.  They laugh and shriek at decibels which make me wince, but I’m so grateful Craig loves them so dearly.

8:30 Craig announces it’s time for bed. Everyone cries. Lexington and Collin pick up toys (but mostly it’s Lexington).

8:40 Emmett sneaks into the toy room and dumps out half or all of the toys Lexington has put away while everyone else brushes their teeth.

8:45 Screeching and crying from Emmett and Collin. Change diapers. Jumping on bed. Final edict is issued to SETTLE DOWN.

9pm Everyone is in bed, watching Curious George.  Emmett continues to babble and screech and jump.

9:30 I sneak to the kitchen for tea. Maybe I can write a quick post! Maybe I can work a few minutes on my new-to-me editing program! I look and see the mess Emmett made, so I push it aside. Sometimes Craig sits with me and we chat or take 5 minutes to look through online listings, often interrupted by little heads poking into the kitchen asking what we’re doing. Sometimes none of this happens at all and we just crash.

10pm  TV off. Emmett is the only one awake, and now he wails and flails in protest OR he steals my phone and takes 500 of the same photos of himself.  I lay down with him.

10:15 Emmett is asleep.  I continue my fruitless search of birthing attire on my iPhone, catch up on the horrendous vaccine debates but mostly stay the heck out of it, read a few blog posts from my bloggy mamas, scroll through Instagram and Facebook.  Resolve that tomorrow, I will spring out of bed and shower and…

11pm Fall asleep.

Midnight I get up to pee.

Repeat to some varying degree.