610: William tiptoes into our room, a solid thirty minutes before he usually gets up. I pull him into bed and convince him that he needs to lie back down for a little bit. Just as he gets settled, Garrett starts to stir. I have get up to give him his pacifier back (and hopefully buy a little more sleep out of him), but the downside is that now William is up for good.
620: After a quick change out of his wet pajamas, William plays with some toys while I steal a few minutes to check Facebook--heavy rains the night before caused some major flooding.
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| Photo borrowed from KSFY, taken by Dan Thrice |
705: Garrett stirs again, and this time there is no settling him back down. He is ready to start the day.
715: After sitting through a few stories with William, Garrett decides he is ready to eat.
730: I come out to find William reading to himself after I'm done nursing Garrett, so we sit down and read a few more stories together.
750: Garrett and I head downstairs to join William; I bring the fingernail clippers so I can cut back Garrett's claws while he is (mostly) distracted watching big brother.
820: First poop of the day award goes to Garrett. I take the dirty diaper upstairs to throw it away and use the opportunity to make my bed and finish getting ready. I'm back downstairs by 830, but it isn't soon enough because both boys are fussing about something or another by the time I get down there(Garrett had fallen onto his belly away from his toy, William, well, who knows. Sympathy cries maybe).
850: Garrett decides he is done with being awake. We rock for a few minutes, sing a few verses of "Jesus Loves Me", and down he goes. I take inventory of the diaper bag to make sure it is ready to go for the day and do some light cleaning.
900: William makes his way upstairs and catches me putting the grapes away from breakfast. Naturally he decides he is hungry and has to eat some RIGHT.NOW.
902: Garrett starts to fuss. Thankfully he settles back down once I give him his pacifier back (yes, I know, this kid is in dire need of some sleep training, but this Momma just isn't ready to do it yet).
905: William, aka My Bottomless Pit, asks for more grapes. For the sake of variety, I convince him to eat half an avocado (which--if you know William--doesn't take much convincing at all. If anything it was difficult to convince him to only eat half).
910: More stories and puzzles with William. We've been reading through a bunch of "new" stories from the library about camping to help him prepare for our camping trip Labor Day Weekend.
935: Garrett starts to fuss again, and nap time is officially over because William barrels down the hallway and into the nursery yelling "Garrett cry! Garrett cry!". He then insists on being put into the crib with him.
940: Start getting the boys ready to leave so we can make it to the library by 1000 for story time. I let William play with my phone (aka look at the photos and videos--his favorite thing to do) so we can get out the door more quickly (although it causes a tantrum when I make him give it back, but he is all ready to go at this point so I just pick him up and carry him out to the car). I grab an apple to eat in the car.
1000: Story time at the library. This story time is geared for babies under two, so Grandma comes to help keep William occupied so I can have some one-on-one time with Garrett (I decided he was too young for Kindermusik this fall--especially for the cost of it--so this is my alternative to Mommy and Garrett time).
1045: Leave the library and take the long way home because some one wants to drive over the train tracks. I also decide to drive past a garage sale in our neighborhood that I saw advertised earlier to see if it is worth stopping at. The extra driving causes Garrett to fall asleep in his car seat.
1100: William makes a beeline to his high chair for lunch almost as soon as we get home. On the menu--leftover carrots and beets from last night and leftover bacon chicken ranch pasta from a few days ago. Garrett stays asleep when I bring him into the house, so I move him to his room to let him keep napping (never wake a sleeping baby!).
1115: Lunch is over, and so begins the game of keeping William entertained until nap time. Puzzles, toys, books, the whole nine yards. Occasionally he gets engrossed in an activity and plays independently, so I clean up his lunch and do some other tidying while he is entertained. And, well, for the sake of honesty, I also catch up on Facebook and my email a little bit. Today I also start making a list of things we need to take to the lake when we head there over the weekend.
1215: Start getting William ready for his nap--clean diaper, ice water, stories, etc). On a scale of one to ten, the tantrum he throws during the process is only a four, so I consider that a success.
1230: William is down, Garrett is still sleeping(!!), so I get my lunch going--leftover pasta and a salad. Lunch of champions.
1250: Good thing I had all those years teaching to train me to eat lunch quickly. Garrett wakes up and is--not surprisingly--famished. Get him fed, then head to the kitchen to work on marinating the pork for dinner that night and make sangria for the lake tomorrow.
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| My little sous chef! |
210: Playtime gets interrupted thanks to a spit up from Garrett that requires me to change my clothes.
215: I remember that I need to cook a sweet potato for Garrett for dinner, so I get that in the oven and then make sure I have snacks ready to go for the car in case we head out to garage sales.
220: I consider doing the dishes (honestly, I do), but then I hear William come out of his room. And he needs a diaper change. And then he wants some stories. And then Garrett starts to get fussy (but refuses to nap). And the dishes just don't get done.
245: Remedy for a fussy baby and bored toddler? Garage sales. Sure, it's work to get them both in the car and around the sales (thank goodness for my Ergo!), but it beats being cooped up in the house.
345: Get ready to head home from our last sale, and realize it's close to quitting time for Darrell. Since we aren't too far from his office, we decide to swing down there and pay him (and the ladies he works with) a visit.
430: We get home and the dinner chaos begins. I feed Garrett while Darrell gets started on our food. Thankfully, William goes downstairs on his own, so when I'm done nursing we take advantage of having four hands in the kitchen and get as much done as possible--because we know the time will be short-lived.
510: William comes back upstairs, and spends the rest of the time until dinner getting in our way or asking to eat. We take turns entertaining him as necessary. Garrett thankfully is able to entertain himself for the most part.
530: Dinner is ready so we sit down and begin the dinnertime roulette. I alternately feed Garrett and myself (first night of sweet potatoes! Not very successful). Darrell cuts up William's food before eating himself, and has to stop every now and then to give William more food or blow on a hot bite.
545: Garrett decides he has had enough with the dinner table and all his toys, so down he goes for a nap. Shortly thereafter, William also decides he is all done, and insists that "Mommy done, Daddy done" so we can all go downstairs. Not surprisingly, we aren't done eating, so we explain that he needs to wait. Somewhat miraculously, he actually entertains himself until 610, which allows Darrell and I to have some leisurely adult conversation.
615: We're planning to Skype with Darrell's parents tonight, so we work together to get dinner put away quickly, although usually one of us cleans while the other plays with the boys.
620: Garrett wakes up from his nap.
630: William gets to use the iPad to call Grandmom and Granddad on Skype (and don't you dare help him press any of the buttons!), and we spend the rest of the evening in the basement talking with them (which is mostly just them watching the boys go crazy while we try to have a little bit of a conversation over the chaos).
720: Garrett insists on having a little more to eat before bedtime. Some nights we let him nurse to sleep, but 730 is a little early for that.
730: We say goodbye to Grandmom and Granddad and start getting the boys ready for bed. Since it has gotten a little late we skip bath time.
747: Bedtime is hit or miss with William lately, but by this time we have his pajamas on and are brushing his teeth (with minimal fussing), so it seems like the night might go okay. Fingers crossed!
801: Lights out for William after some more stories. Definitely a successful bedtime night. Garrett, however, is having nothing to do with going to sleep.
810: Give up trying to put Garrett to bed. Since he is fed and happy playing with Daddy, I head out for a short run.
845: I'm showered and both boys are in bed. Life is good. Although apparently the boys sensed that Daddy was in a vulnerable position while I was in the shower... William got up--which isn't terribly uncommon--right after I got in the shower. Unfortunately, Darrell was busy rocking Garrett trying to get him to sleep. So he put (an unhappy) Garrett down to tuck William back in. And of course William wanted Daddy to cuddle, but Daddy had to say no so he could get back to Garrett (who was still screaming)--but he promised to come back after Garrett was calmed down. So he went back to Garrett's room, calmed him down, then went and laid down with William. Garrett fussed for a bit but then went to sleep, and William did the same. And I got out of the shower and was none the wiser.
915: Basic nightly "chores" are done (dishes and general tidying up), so we each grab a drink (hello, Friday!) and relax. At least as much as parents relax. Darrell works on editing some (adorable!) pictures we took of Garrett earlier in the week, and I finish getting stuff put together for the lake, including baking a pan of chocolate chip bars.
1015: Cookie bars are done. Time to get ready for bed.
1025: Joke is on us. Lest you think today seemed like a piece of cake, Garrett wakes up and is in a mood (which--unfortunately--has been happening somewhat regularly). He doesn't want to nurse, doesn't want his pacifier, doesn't want to be held, doesn't want to lay down, doesn't want to rock, doesn't want to swing, doesn't want ANYTHING. After about ten minutes of scream crying, he starts to settle down. I rock with him for a little bit and then put him down. He immediately starts to scream again. By now it's 1045 and Darrell comes in to take over so I can finish getting ready for bed.
1100: Garrett is finally settled. We wrap up a few last things, check in on William (please tell me we aren't the only parents who still do this!), and by 1115 it's finally lights out.
Garrett wakes up around three and does the same screaming crying bit that he did earlier, and then wakes up again at five ready to actually nurse--and by seven both boys are up and ready to start the "routine" all over. It's exhausting (what I wouldn't give for more sleep or a nap almost every day!), but that's life with two kids. Most days we love it--although some days it's harder to find bright spots than others.
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