my second favorite are the ones about people who create at home and run successful home businesses (see here & here). and the reasoning for this- i'm pretty sure this is something i want to take on in my life. there hasn't been a lot of creating in my life the past two years. i think the last thing i went creatively full-force ahead on (other than my stint in art school) was my wedding. and that was three years and a handful of days ago. i'm confident that more creating will creep into my life in the coming months. it's on my to-do list... so, ya know. it's going to get done.
one of my friends said the israelites made lists to commemorate (see nehemiah 7). in modern days we take pictures to commemorate- hello instagram! i think mothers who write "a day in the life of" posts do it for the exact same reason. to commemorate that this is their life. this short season of mothering tiny humans happened and is happening. and we are all surviving this. and this is how we do it.
so, to commemorate the last few days and weeks, i'm writing my own. a day in the life of a mama, a two year old, a four month old, two cats, and a night-shift RN husband. this is..."a day in the life"
8:00 am: aaron gets home from working the night shift. it's usually a hurricane when he steps into the door. the second i hear the car in the driveway i divert rorie's attention from whatever we are doing had have her go straight to the door because "daddy's home!" a phrase that i might secretly be more excited about that she is.
8:45 am: aaron has been playing with us and helping me out with whatever, but now he has to sleep because he works tonight as well. so we say "goodnight" to daddy.
8:50 am: jacob gets tired, so i change his spit-up soaked outfit and get him a new diaper. i ask rorie to read books, play in the playroom, or watch a show while i put him down for a nap. she's usually happy to do this, but it did take some time. she woke him up a lot at the beginning. putting jake down for a nap is always a struggle. there are always burps that need to come out. which extends the process even longer. i get very frustrated because it seems like there should be an end to the burps...but there isn't
9:25 am: jacob screams and i pick him up and he burps. if not for the burps...i imagine he'd sleep very well. rorie and i usually read books, play in the playroom, or do the dishes together during this quick nap.
9:30 am: jacob gets a bottle and we all watch pbs while rorie eats a snack. i've found that it's much less stressful if rorie is eating & watching during the bottle & burping process.
10:00 am: on thursdays i try to get us to the library for story time. if it's not thursday we head outside for a walk. if it's not nice out we play in the playroom. there's always lots of spit-up and most recently rorie has been very much acting her age. so...for the moment... she's not usually super fun to be around. i'll throw a load of laundry in. no one is excited about the laundry these days.
10:30 am jacob goes down for another short nap. i try to eliminate this one and it just throws off his whole schedule.
10:50 am: sweet boy... ugh. you drive me crazy. because your nap was 20 minutes again...
11:00 am: it's finally lunch time.
11:15 am: after lunch and potty rorie goes down for her nap. i rub lavender oil on her feet in the hopes that she drifts off for a while & quickly (usually not).
11:30 am: jacob gets another bottle. this dude refuses to go even three hours between bottles. it's pretty tiring because he doesn't nap either.
12:00 pm: i've been burping jacob and keeping him upright for half an hour now. the second i put him down he's squirmy. i pick him up and he pukes all over my shirt. jakey and i play on the floor for a bit because i'm so tired.
12:30 pm: i hold jacob in our rocking comfy chair. he is obviously tired, his eyes are rolling into his head, but he's squirmy and won't settle down. i get three more burps out of him before he passes out from exhaustion.
1:15 pm: i rock jacob through one sleep cycle. 45 minutes on the dot. and he starts squirming. sometimes i can get him to burp and go back to sleep. today i'm not so lucky. he wakes up uncomfortable and spits-up a bit. but then happily grins because he's awake and i'm awake too.
1:20 pm: rorie also wakes up at this time. a pretty good nap for her standards. she opens her door, sweaty hair matted to her face, as sleepy eyes lock on mine. "hi mama, how are you doing?" i tell her "i'm good." she asks, "did you sleep well?" and i tell her very matter-of-factly, "rorie i did not sleep because jacob does not sleep and now you're awake." she doesn't care. she wants a snack and she wants to play.
1:30 pm: jacob has another bottle.
2:30 pm: i put jacob down for a nap while rorie plays. she also asks for another snack because she's a bottomless pit.
3:00 pm: aaron finally wakes up and saves me! but really... that's how i feel most days. i need him. he will make coffee with rorie and spend time with the two kids while i run around like a crazy person doing all the suff i didn't get done- laundry, dishes, shopping, shower...etc. most days it's just one thing out of that list. some day's it's everything. jacob wakes up and i hand him off to aaron.
4:00 pm: i try to make sure jacob eats at this time so he will not be too hungry for his bedtime bottle. then we start prepping for dinner.
5:00 pm: we eat dinner around this time, but sometimes a little bit before because we need to get everyone showered and ready for bed before aaron leaves for work.
6:15 pm: aaron leaves for work after giving three kisses and reluctantly reading three books when he said he'd only read one.
6:30 pm: i get jacob ready for bed and feed him a bottle. rorie gets another show because he's so distracted at four months i have to feed him in my bedroom, which is also where his pack-n-play is. this is usually the easiest feeding, but he is the hardest to burp because he is so sleepy. half of the time he doesn't burp.
6:50 pm: i start getting rorie to bed. we read books, use the potty, and brush teeth.
6:55 pm: jacob wakes up screaming. i burp him and lay him back down.
7:00 pm: i put her in bed. do the bedtime routine. and i clock out.
7:30 pm: haha... that is a lie. rorie has already gotten up twice to "use the bathroom" and i've had to take the cat out of her room.
8:15 pm: rorie is finally drifting off to sleep when jacob screams. he is laying in a pile of his own spit up. i pick him up and lay a burp cloth on the spot. i bounce and sway and console my poor baby. he finally drifts off to sleep and i lay him on the opposite side of the burp cloth. i use the next 45 minutes to tackle my to-do list or relax.
9:00 pm: my bedtime. sometimes i go to bed earlier than this, but i know i need to get to bed at this time or i'll be tired- whatever that means!
10:30 pm: jacob wakes up an i stealthily make a bottle. i burp him and he goes back down. phew!
10:50 pm: rorie wakes up screaming. she has to pee. the light in the bathroom wakes her up and she tries to have a conversation with me. i really try hard to not wake her up more by talking, but she's adamant. i plop her back in her bed.
11:00 pm: jacob has a burp again... insert sad face here.
2:30 am: jacob eats again. and then poops after. i can't function.
4:30 am: jacob stirs so i bring him in bed with me and keep putting the paci back in for half an hour.
5:00 am: another bottle for jacob. he's the most alert thing after it too. i want to wipe that smug little grin off his face, but it's too darn cute. so we're up for the day. i put him in his swing and make something quick to eat because...
5:30 am: "hi mama. i'm awake". enough said.
5:45 am: pbs and cereal.
6:00 am: jacob is tired. shocker. so he naps.
6:50 am: i make some eggs for me and rorie.
7:15 am: i make tea, but...he's awake and wants to eat.
7:30 am: he finally gets a bottle. my tea is cold.
8:00 am: aaron is back again and the cycle continues.
i feel like it seems more glamorous in real life than when i write it down like that. i guess it's a good thing, right?! i do really enjoy my time with them. it's just hard being so incredibly tired all the time. luckily aaron has been helping me to sleep when he's home. otherwise i might go completely craycray.
this past week my two littles have both gotten the sniffles. which i think adds to the nighttime wakings. but that's ok. i hear they're only little once.
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