6:15 AM: Nell’s awake to eat, but I’m not ready to get up for the day. I pull her into bed with me to nurse while I catch a few more minutes of sleep and kiss Mr. B goodbye for the day. I give him my standard: “I love you, drive safely, have a good day.” I can’t let him walk out the door in the morning without saying it.
7 AM: I wake up to Thomas singing into the monitor: “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! I ready to play!” I look at Nell who’s asleep in the crook of my arm, gently transfer her to her crib and go down the hall to get Mr. Thomas. I walk into his room and he tells me that Corduroy’s in timeout for hitting Goose. He continues, “Sad choice, Corduroy. How you touch Goose?”, then he uses Corduroy’s arm to gently touch Goose. I feel a certain amount of triumph that Thomas is learning this lesson to the extent that he then role plays it with his stuffed animals. And a certain amount of exasperation that we’ve had to have this conversation (though insert Thomas as the hitter) umpteen million times to get to this point. But mostly triumph.
7:15 AM: Nell’s awake now, too, so we change her diaper, get her dressed for the day and all head downstairs for breakfast.
8:00 AM: I clean up breakfast, get the kids ready and we all head to Target to buy diapers and pick up my prenatal vitamins (which I continue to take while breastfeeding).
9:00 AM: Back home. I feed Nell while Thomas plays with his trucks.
9:15 AM: Thomas and I color Ds for “D Week” while Nell Plays on her playmat.
9:45 AM: We put dinner in the crockpot so that Mr. B can eat between work and class.
10:00 AM: T, Nell and I build block towers and sing “The States” – Thomas’s current favorite song.
10:30 AM: I put Nell down for her morning nap but can tell she’s not going to go down easily today. My neighbor drops off his little girl for our twice weekly playdate/babysitting swap and we make owls out of foam pumpkins.
11:15 AM: Nell’s nap didn’t last, so I put her in the moby wrap and take the toddlers out to play in the side yard. They both climb into the wagon so we go for a short walk after playing on the slide and in the sandbox.
11:45 AM: I make lunch for T and M (Turkey and Cheese Quesadillas, Mr. B’s mom’s homemade apple sauce, goldfish and milk) and proof yeast for homemade bread.
12:00 PM: Feed the Kiddos. Nell starts crying so I pick her up and bounce her, then start feeding her at the table while the kids eat.
12:30 PM: Our neighbor comes to pick up his little girl. Thomas and I clean up the toys and I take T upstairs for his nap around 12:50.
1:00 PM: Nell didn’t eat well at 12, so I feed her again now that there’s quiet in the house. She falls asleep eating, which I try to avoid but knew would happen based on her lack of morning nap. I take her upstairs to her crib, she rolls to her side and falls asleep. I quickly throw some bread in a pan to rise, clean up the kitchen, and sit down at the computer to get work done while both kids are asleep.
2:15 PM: Nell’s awake, so I put the bread in the oven then go upstairs and read books to her while she has tummy time on the floor of her room. She starts to get fussy, so I take her downstairs so she doesn’t wake T up and feed her again (she’s on a 2 1/2 – 3 hour feeding schedule, but I prefer to feed her just after she wakes up so she doesn’t get used to nursing to sleep). She’s just finishing up on one side when my work phone rings. I dash into the office and take a quick 20 minute call, holding Nell all the while.
2:30 PM: I hear Thomas wake up on the monitor. He’s been taking shorter naps lately, but I’m still on the phone. The timer goes off for the bread in the oven, but we’re in the middle of an important topic so I figure 5 more minutes can’t hurt.
2:35 PM: I jump off the phone, grab the slightly crusty bread from the oven, run upstairs to get Thomas, get him a banana for a snack and we sit down to do puzzles.
3: 21 PM: My work phone rings again. B’s due home in 9 minutes, I answer the call and hope for the best.
3:30 PM: B walks through the door, takes the kiddos from me and I tell him I’ll be off in a minute.
5:00 PM: I get off my work call, dash into the kitchen to shred the chicken in the crockpot, B’s already ahead of me and has started making rice. We chat for a few minutes while I feed Nell.
5:15 PM: We sit down to a very quick dinner of Salsa Chicken over rice.
5:30 PM: B dashes out the door for the bus to campus for his Tuesday night class. I kiss him as he heads out the door and say, “Love you, have a good class, tell the bus driver to drive safely”. B laughs at my standard class night farewell and Thomas yells “Yove you, dada!” and B hits the road.
5:45 PM: Kitchen’s cleaned up from dinner, so Thomas, Nell, Casco and I head out for a walk. Thomas asks to ride his new bike and I agree. We walk at snail’s pace behind the new bike rider…Casco looks at me like he’s annoyed.
6:30 PM: We walk back through the door and put together Thomas’s favorite puzzle, a map of the United States. He points out the states to me and he tells me that Uncle Paul lives with the Presidents in South Dakota, Mama loves Maine, Gigi was born in Minnesota, Nana was born in Virginia, and Bunny and Pop live in Florida. Then we talk about our upcoming trip that will take him through six different states.
6:45 PM: We head up the stairs to start getting ready for bed. We brush T’s teeth, get him in his jammies, and he picks out his books. He only wants one tonight, Charlie the Ranch Dog. We read it, say prayers, he asks me to sing “Coffee” (Darius Rucker’s “Come Back Song”…I’m raising a little country music fan much to Mr. B’s dismay), and I put him in his crib. Nell, Casco and I leave his room.
7:00 PM: I pad down the hall to Nell’s room, feed her, change her into her jammies and put her to bed in her crib. I run down the stairs and she starts crying, so I turn around, run back to her room and rock her for a minute, and put her down when she’s just barely awake.
7:15 PM: I throw a load of laundry in, sit down at the computer to handle a bunch of tasks that came up as a result of my calls that afternoon.
7:53 PM: Political calls start rolling in. Woohoo swing state. I unplug the house phone.
9:15 PM: I head into the kitchen for a break, chug some water, make sure Parenthood is recording…I’ll watch it someday…and head back to the office for more work (a client of ours is launching their new website next week, so it will be lots of last minute tasks and late nights this week).
9:50 PM: Mr. B is home! He comes into the office and kisses me, asks me how the night was, and goes to get a snack in the kitchen. He cues up the Daily Show and Colbert Report for us to watch on the DVR, I grab the laptop and sit in the big green chair editing more content for the website launch while getting my sarcastic news commentary in the background.
10:30 PM: I pump before going to bed to build up a stash for Mr. B to feed to Nell when my sister and I are out of town next month for her 30th birthday trip.
10:45 PM: We lock up the house and head upstairs for bed…not as late as I was thinking when I got off the phone at 5 today, but it’s our tradition to always go to bed together.
11:30 PM: My mind’s going crazy and I can’t fall asleep. This always happens on B’s school nights – he gets home and I haven’t talked to an adult in hours and so I just go and go and go and can’t shut my mind down. I head downstairs and do a little more work while B is fast asleep, realize I haven’t posted in almost a week and write this blog post, then go back to bed sometime after midnight.
4:00 AM: Nell wakes up to eat. Mr. B goes to get her out of her crib for me and I feed her in bed, then put her back in her crib while counting on my fingers how long she just slept. 9 hours! Score one for the team! She might not be the greatest napper, but I can’t complain too much about her nighttime sleep. I fall back asleep immediately knowing that we’ll wash. rinse. repeat. in just about 2 hours.
It’s a crazy life, but one that I’m blessed to be living.
This sounds a LOT like my days. Working at home with two little ones is tough. I hate that panicky feeling when you get a work call when they’re awake, and aren’t sure if you should answer it or not.
Hi – I just found your blog and read this post. I remember the baby times as being so intense, that there was never a spare 10 minutes in the day. My kids are now 8 and 5 and I feel like I’m cruising in comparison. However, I still seem to have lots of conversations – mainly with male work colleagues – that having young kids is not a walk in the park (well, there may literally be a walk in the park, plus an assisted swing, slide and dig in the sandpit etc). Next time I try and convince someone about this I will not make any exasperated sighs or foot stamping – but just direct them to your post. cheers Kate
This sounds a LOT like my days. Working at home with two little ones is tough. I hate that panicky feeling when you get a work call when they’re awake, and aren’t sure if you should answer it or not.
that exhausted me. go em go!
Love this. It’s nice to have a little peek into your life. You are a working Mom rockstar!
TOTALLY understand about school nights! I’m the same way on the nights that Justin has school.
Hi – I just found your blog and read this post. I remember the baby times as being so intense, that there was never a spare 10 minutes in the day. My kids are now 8 and 5 and I feel like I’m cruising in comparison. However, I still seem to have lots of conversations – mainly with male work colleagues – that having young kids is not a walk in the park (well, there may literally be a walk in the park, plus an assisted swing, slide and dig in the sandpit etc). Next time I try and convince someone about this I will not make any exasperated sighs or foot stamping – but just direct them to your post.
cheers
Kate