A Day in our Life

Totally copying this idea from a few other blogs I read…I wish I’d started it when Mallory was born, and done it every 6 months or so. Oh well – better late than never…so here we go!

Our “school-day” mornings usually start with my alarm going off sometime between 5 & 5.30a. If the alarm sounds closer to 5a and actually does the additional job of saying “GET YOUR A$$ IN FRONT OF THE TV AND DO YOUR WORKOUT VIDEO”, I’ll work out and then start getting ready for work.

Then I wake Rick up ~6a, and then the kids. The order of waking them up depends on whether or not Carson is quietly making noise, and whether or not Mallory made her way to our bed in the night. Waking Mallory up usually involves some tickling and talking about what “day” it is that day (sharing day, gymnastics day, etc.). Waking Carson up involves LOTS of smiles from behind his pacifier, and he usually has a foot or two stuck through the rails of his crib, and sometimes he has his little crib soother on when I go in too. When I pick him up, he pushes the button to turn off his crib soother music and then drops his paci & puppy blankie back in his crib (there are exceptions to this – once in a while he feels the need to keep them with him for 10 minutes during wakeup, but usually he’s very good about leaving them in his crib).

We get both kids dressed and head to the bathroom for their vitamin and teeth brushing. Mallory will open the not-very-child-proof top of their vitamins and take out two – one pink and one yellow – and give them both to Carson. Carson eats the yellow one and then puts the pink one in Mallory’s waiting mouth. Why this is remotely fun for them – I have no idea – but it’s what they do. Then they jockey for position on the stool in front of the sink so they can brush their teeth.

I usually try to get out of the house at this point so I’m not late for work…but after I leave, Rick gets breakfasts and lunches ready while the kids play or watch Mickey Mouse. The other day I called home in the morning and Mallory answered and said daddy was in the basement so I tried to make small talk with her. She cut me off and asked if I could call back later to talk to daddy because she really had some coloring to do. Okay, then.

The kids are at daycare from 8a-3.45p-ish most days. With the weather being yucky, I’m fine with them being there later because if I get there too early, they are still on the playground and this causes two things to happen. One – I have to take off all their snowpants and boots and stuff to bring them home, and two – there is no way I’m playing outside with them when it is cold & snowy so it’s better they are at school getting some fresh air ;-)

When we get home, the kids usually play for a bit while I check the mail, figure out dinner, start dinner, play on the computer for a few minutes, etc. When the weather is nice, we try to fit in a walk around the block either before or after dinner to allow Cooper to get out of the house ;-)

If we don’t have evening activities, we try to eat by 6p, so we can have Carson bathed and in bed around 7p. Mallory usually takes a bath after him, and goes to bed around 9p – which is too late for my tastes, but since she naps at school, she simply isn’t tired until that late, which is TOUGH. They do the same vitamin and teeth brushing routine at bedtime.

Carson goes down VERY easily at bedtime – like last week I wanted to rock him and the bugger pushed me away and reached for his crib. Mallory isn’t so good – when she’s already tired, it makes bedtime 100-times worse (like last night) – she fights everything and begs me to go to bed with her. We have been letting her fall asleep in our bed because she usually doesn’t mind Rick moving her in the middle of the night (probably one night every two weeks she wakes when he’s moving her and she asks to stay in our bed). The whole “you’re four and get to sleep in your own bed!” thing worked for about a week…and now she’s back in our bed. I don’t mind it, really, it’s just when she won’t go to sleep because I won’t lie down with her that makes me think we need to enforce her sleeping in her own bed. But with the bowl trip and a work trip for me and a vacation in February on our calendars, I figure we should wait until those goofy sleeping arrangement trips are done before trying again to make her sleeping in her own bed. I know it’s a bad habit, I really do, but I love that little pumpkin with all my being and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love that she wants to snuggle with us. (OH, and she somehow gets the daycare ladies to rub her arms at naptime to put her to sleep – that started when she was in the toddler room {Carson’s current room} but she’s never asked us to do it for her, but lately she’s asked me to “ruv” her arms with my fingertips – it puts her to sleep in about 4 seconds – amazing!)

I would like to be in bed by 9.30p (remember, my alarm goes off at 5a) but its usually closer to 10/10.30p. Rick comes to bed sometime; I have no idea when because I’m asleep! Sometimes he’s up late watching TV or he’s at work late or he’s at hockey or he’s at work working out.

Here are the changes to our schedule:

• On gymnastics days, I leave the kids at school and come home for some laundry folding or picture editing alone time and then go back and pick them up and head to gymnastics. We pick up dinner on our way home (love $2 Happy Meals on gymnastics day!) and then the kids jump right in the tub when we get home.
• On dance class day, we always eat hot dogs because dance is at 6p and there isn’t enough time for me to actually make anything for real. So it’s turkey dogs, “scream cheese” (string cheese) and pretzel day.

Okay – so was this as boring to read as it was to write? Blah!