This has been the first week in a long time where I don't have anything concrete planned and I am loving it. I worked three days last week and have been getting over this yucky cold, so a week of being able to get stuff DONE is making me happy.
So what's a typical day like for a mommy of two little ones trying to get stuff done? Here's my life in a nutshell: (warning...this is SUPER long and mainly only intended for me to read later in life.... it's looong and boring and you can just stop reading now).
5:30: Liam wakes up.. I try to stall him by giving him back his pacifier, but he continues to whine and I can't risk him waking Eli up. (Eli's usually a pretty heavy sleeper and isn't disturbed by Liam unless it's after 6:15 or so.... after 6, we're entering the danger zone...). I sucked it up and got up and brought Liam out to the living room to feed him. I always lay him down on the mat we have on the floor, change his diaper... then hope that he stays quiet for a minute while I run to the bathroom, feed the cats, grab some water for myself and clean up the cat poo. (Yes, I have a cat who enjoys pooping outside her litter box. Every. Single. Day.). I then feed Liam... I used to be able to put him right back to sleep, and he'd sleep til Eli woke up around 7:30... but this past week, he's been wide awake, so I'll play with him, cuddle with him, talk to him, hold him, etc...til about 7:15 or so when I'm able to put him back to sleep. Eli always wakes up between 7:15 and 7:45 and immediately wants to come out and watch a movie (these days, it's Toy Story or Peter Pan). It's a bad habit we've gotten into, letting him watch a movie every day right when he wakes up, but it's really one of the only things that has kept me sane in the morning.... allows us all to wake up, me to make breakfast, take care of things, etc. These past few days, Liam has miraculously been able to sleep through Eli and his movie and has been waking up around 8:30 or 9.
Our mornings consist of watching TV (Fireman Sam, Dora (the ice cream one) and Diego (the Linda the Llama one are our favorites right now), coloring (he now insists that I draw either a smiley face or a pirate, depending on the day, with each one of his crayons. He then lines them all up in a nice long row and we do it again), putting stickers on his cards (he's JUST now starting to be able to take stickers off himself - yay!), playing cars, ice freezing each other (Thanks, daddy, for letting me watch spiderman), chasing each other around, reading, etc. It's usually a crazy jumble of all of those things, and usually I end up keeping the TV on for much longer than it should be... BECAUSE when Liam wakes up, I'm trying to do all of those things while holding Liam/trying to pay attention to Liam. Poor guy gets carried around on such a crazy whirlwind OR completely ignored for long stretches of time. Liam is NOT down with sitting in his Bumbo chair for more than 2 minutes or sitting in his froggie recliner for more than 5 minutes. He's pretty good with tummy time and will lay on his belly for a good 10 to 15 minutes without whining (less now that he's rolling over more consistently!). He also enjoys being on his back, but I can't often leave him on the floor with Eli constantly running/jumping/spinning/throwing things. Don't get me wrong...Eli's been a VERY good big brother and we're so proud of him (today, it was quiet and I peeked out of the kitchen to see Eli putting one of his toys in Liam's hand), but he's two and if he wants to catapult himself off of the couch, he's not always going to stop to think about where Liam is. So Liam kind of gets shuffled around a lot.
When Liam starts to get cranky, that's our cue to move it move it move it to get ready to head out for whatever errand we need to get done. I learned a few months ago that if I lay Liam down for his first nap inside, that's pretty much trapping us in all day...cause when he wakes up, Eli goes down, and then Liam wants to go down again when Eli gets up.... it's a bad cycle if you want/need to get out (but great if we're going to be in for the day.... then I get quality time with Eli while Liam is sleeping and vice versa). This is where it gets crazy, cause I have a cranky/tired baby screaming his head off, a 2 year old running around in his jammies NOT wanting to get ready, and me.... still in the clothes I slept in and usually without a breakfast in me. Eli usually has a FIIIIIIT and a half when I try to get him ready to go outside, most recently telling me "no mommy... I'll stay HERE. YOU go." I usually tell him that he can bring two toys (he either picks two cars, two trains or buzz lightyear and one of the toy story crew) and bring them with us if he agrees to be the driver right away (He sits in the front of the double stroller, so I've always referred to getting in the stroller as "being the driver for Liam."). About 40% of the time, he gets in with only minimal struggle, 10% of the time he climbs right in, 30% of the time I have to chase him/pick him up, carry him and forcefully put him in and then there's that lovely 20%....where he becomes stiff as a board/super kicker/complete terror and it's nearly impossible for me to get him in the seat. Those are my most favorite days. Not.
Regardless of how Eli gets in, I have about 23 seconds before Liam starts to lose it. So much for me getting dressed (I just live in sweatpants, mostly), brushing my hair (I'm lucky if I was able to fix my ponytail from the morning), getting stamps on any of my million things waiting to be mailed, grabbing anything nutritious to eat (I live on granola bars and nutragrain bars), finding any of the coupons I stayed up late cutting out, figuring out what to have for dinner/looking at recipes, cleaning up the explosion of toys..etc.
As soon as we get outside, both boys are happy. Yay! I am happy to get out...always. It always makes such a difference when you're not trapped in one room all day, when you can see other people walking around, etc. We are usually headed to the grocery store (our favorite...as Eli is the local celebrity there and the checkout people literally stop whatever they are doing to come talk to him), the post office (NOT FUN going there, as there are double doors and stairs and a teeny aisle we have to force ourselves down if we want to get to a teller. If we have to wait in line, Eli twirls the ropes and is generally LOUD), or any number of places around. Today, we hit both the grocery store and the post office and then went to Payless so I could measure Eli's feet... (he's still a 7...so what the heck do I do? Buy 7s for the winter and know that he will outgrow them or buy 8s knowing they will be too big? 7.5s don't really exist), went to 7-11 to get mommy a slurpee (YES!), went to The Children's Place to capitalize on the 40% off of dress shirts sale (so that I could buy the boys matching nice shirts....I know, I know...corny, but I love it) and went to a street fruit vendor where I got a bunch of radishes, a bag of onions, 2 pomegranates, 2 heads of broccoli, and a bunch of bananas for $5.75!). (All of these stores are on the same street, thankfully). We also passed by the fire station twice in hopes of seeing the trucks, but the doors were closed. We then went to our favorite local restaurant so I could pick up a beef empanada for Eli (the only time he ever eats meat!). I have found that if I let Eli eat it outside, he'll eat the whole thing...so we walked around until he finished it. He then threw a BLOODY MURDER FIT that we weren't continuing down the street and that we turned around to go home. He was SCREAMING "Go THAT WAY, MOMMY!" for a good 10 minutes, all the way up to and inside our apartment.
When we get inside, both kids start screaming because they both want OUT and it becomes a battle of how to take care of them both plus unpack the groceries. On a good day, Eli will play by himself while I try to fix Eli's lunch as fast as possible while usually holding a screaming, hungry Liam. This is why his lunches aren't the most balanced or nutritional and usually consist of chicken nuggets (which he will eat 2 or 3 30% of the time), a piece of bread (what he calls a sandwich), a fruit rope, some crackers and whatever else i can get out of a jar/package.
When Eli is eating, I feed Liam. When Eli is done with lunch, we "play a little bit" and I try to get us reading stories by 1:30. Liam is usually SSSSUUUUPPPER cranky during storytime but I try to keep him up so that I can have a dual nap. I put Eli down around 2 and for the most part, he goes right down. I cover him with his favorite blanket of the moment, line up his toy story dolls, put some books in the corner of his crib, turn on his safari lamp, turn on his night night music, and leave. He's usually asleep for 2-3 hours. Yay! Liam is harder to get down for naptime, at least recently. I have to rock him several different times before he falls asleep...and his naps have been much shorter... lasting an hour tops. When he gets up too early for himself (like right now, today), he's a cranky crying mess and I have to just pray that he doesn't wake Eli up.
"Break" time SHOULD be spent cleaning (which I can't really do, cause Liam is out in the living room and a light nap sleeper), cooking or something productive, but usually by that time, I'm so drained (physically and mentally) that all I want to do is sit on the couch and do completely mind numbing things.... like watching Ellen (which I tape every day but only get to watch once or twice a week) or Project Runway or Top Chef... while chatting to friends on the computer, updating this blog, or uploading pictures. My scrapbooks sit on a table 10 feet from me, begging to be worked on, but I know that if I take time to spread everything out, the boys will be up and I'll have to pack it all up again. I should be better about getting dinner started or doing the dishes, but I ALWAYS ALWAYS say "ah, I'll just go on the computer for a few minutes and then get to that" and NEVER do.
When Eli wakes up, it's usually crunch time.... Mike gets home around 5:30, so I start dinner and time just goes whooooooooosh. It is NOT easy making dinner with two little guys. Liam usually hangs out in the kitchen with me and I move his bouncy chair from place to place to try to keep him entertained. Eli usually plays by himself or I let him watch TV. On good days, I get to make a nice dinner without problems. On most days, I usually am trying to appease Liam, cook/wash dishes, run around trying to clean up the living room a little (it really becomes a disaster zone), play an inning or two of baseball with eli, play stickers/read a book with Eli.... all at the same time. When Mike comes home, I feel better cause I am no longer ignoring Liam... and by 6, dinner is usually on the table. (We're trying not to order out so much to save money and I genuinely enjoy cooking... I really like doing it). I usually feed Liam while the boys start and then get to join them right when Eli is having a fit about wanting to get down. He's not the best eater these days and we usually have to bribe him with a yogurt pop/ice cream/popsicle to get him to eat dinner.
After dinner, we play a little bit, usually some kind of family sport thing...basketball, baseball, chasing, etc... some nights are bath nights. We then try to get everyone in "the big bed" by 7:30 or so to start reading books. We usually read about 5 or 6 and then Eli goes to bed. If I got to feed Liam during storytime, then he goes down, too... otherwise he comes out with us for some Liam/Mommy/Daddy time.
He's usually asleep by 9:30 or so, and then I sit down and lose every ounce of energy and willpower I have to get anything done. Throughout the day, I am always 100% confident I will get to addressing my cards/letters, working on my scrapbook or any one of my million other projects... but I never, ever, ever have the energy to do that. I SHOULD just go to bed then, but I really cherish that time to mindlessly surf the net, watch the occasional TV show with mike, etc.... It's my ME time and it's what keeps me sane.
WhEW. That was a loooot longer than I intended, but I'm glad I wrote it all down so that one day, I can look back on this and remember!
