I had a blog years ago when I was a first time mom and struggling with my colicy baby.

Years later, now a working mom of two, life is so different and so am I!  I’m just going to jump right back in with a day in the life post.  I always like readying these and seeing what other people’s daily lives are like. So here goes.

5:45 a.m.             I wake up as my little one starts to stir in my arms.  She’s been sleeping there for hours.  I try to nurse her but she’s not interested so I go for the pacifier instead.  She still fusses so I think maybe she wants to lay in her bassinet so I put her there and she closes her eyes and drifts off to sleep.

 

I walk down the hall to quick check on my 3 year old. I do this every night at some point.  She’s sweetly snuggling her stuffed animals.  I cover the sheet over her that she kicks off in the night so she won’t get cold.

 

Walking back to the bedroom I hear my baby fussing again. I swear I hear an elephant?  I get her up and back into the crook of my other arm and nurse her.  She dozes off after a couple minutes.  I never thought I’d sleep with my baby in my arms.  All the dangers, plus the fact that the few times in desperation we tried it with my oldest I got no sleep because she was so squirmy.  Yet my youngest has so far been a completely different baby.  She loves being snuggled into the crook of my arm, doesn’t really squirm much and I’ve set up the bed to make it safer for us to sleep this way.  We usually don’t start the night this way, but at some point always end up this way.  I doze into a light sleep again for a little bit.

 

6:54 a.m.             I wake up and immediately realize I forgot to do something at work yesterday that needs to be done ASAP!  I tell myself that its ok, I can do it as soon as I get up and try to close my eyes and fall back to sleep.

7:00 a.m.             Yeah, not going to happen.  My brain is up.  Just then my older daughter starts crying from her room.  My husband gets up and is gone for a few minutes while I lay in bed and read my Bible verse for the day.  He comes back and tells me she had to pee and he took her to the bathroom.  This is big.  My daughter who has been potty trained for a long time still wears a pull up at night and doesn’t stay dry.

7:15 a.m.             My husband tells me he wants to go run so I tell him to go ahead and I get annoyed because I think he’s going to wake up our baby.  She stirs and he and I both tip toe around the room as we head downstairs.  He gets changed to run.  I get my laptop from the car and start logging on to complete the work that I failed to do yesterday.

While that’s running I start making myself breakfast and again I hear an elephant! Its coming from the living room and I realize one of Taylor’s baby toys is pressed against something in the toy box and its permanently pressing down the sound button!  I start fishing through the toys to find it and accidently push another toy that starts making sound.  The dog hears me and comes up from the basement and starts whining.  I have to check myself because I’m starting to get grumpy. We had a wonderful evening with family the night before and the kids were up late.  I didn’t want them to wake up early, especially because Alex will be skipping her nap today so we can make it to our other family plans.  I am irritated at our dog who will sit there and whine, but then when you let him outside, he barks and barks loudly.  I apologize to my husband and decide to change my attitude.  Its Thanksgiving!!  I quickly say a silent prayer thanking God for my wonderful family and this day and all I have to be thankful for.

I make my breakfast and enjoy some cereal when I hear Taylor waking up.   Its 7:50 a.m.

I go up there and she is all smiles. I just love her!  I quickly change her diaper and bring her downstairs with me.  I move my coffee and my laptop into the living room (which right now is actually a PLAY room) and set her on the play mat with all her toys.  She lets me work a little bit on the laptop as she plays.  I finish my coffee.  Its 8:07 and I’m going to play with her, after I get another cup!

 8:40 a.m. I hear big sister Alex waking up. Tim is stretching after his run and we all head up to her room.  I put her baby sister Taylor on her bed and climb in myself.  I wish her a Happy Thanksgiving and remind her that we will be seeing her cousins today.  She is happy and very excited.  We giggle together in her bed for a few minutes before we head downstairs to get some breakfast and watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade!

 9:10 a.m. Alex decides she doesn’t want more pancakes without syrup so we move into the kitchen.  I feed Taylor some sweet potatoes for the first time!  She ends up wearing more than she eats and then she cries when we clean her up!

 10:00 a.m. I’m scrubbing sweet potatoes and putting them in the oven while the girls play in the living room.  Tim spills a bunch of coffee grounds on the floor and we tell Alex that they will burn her feet if she walks in them to keep her from spreading the mess!  White lies are ok right?

 10:20 a.m. I am nursing Taylor in Alex’s room in the rocking chair as she’s playing with my hair and falling asleep.  I soak this moment in.  This is the good stuff!

10:24 a.m. I’m leaving the room that Taylor is sleeping in and head downstairs. I mess with my photos for a few minutes and then start making a turkey project with Alex.

 

11:10 a.m. I’m cleaning up the turkey project as Taylor wakes up.  And the potatoes are done!  And Tim is downstairs shaving.  Oh the wonderful chaos!

 11:40 a.m. I’m getting out of the shower and I hear Taylor fussing.  Its hard for me to not want to run down there and step in.  Tim likes to let me know he can handle it.  So I try to get myself ready and just cringe hearing her cry.

Noon: This is where the craziness starts.  Tim needs to shower and suddenly both kids just want my attention.  I need to get ready still and get both girls dressed.  I thought maybe I could dry my hair today with a blow dryer but its looking like that’s not going to happen.  The next 50 minutes are spent rushing around.  We’re finally all in the car by 12:50.

1ish: We arrive to my Mother in law’s house and Taylor fell asleep 3 minutes before we arrived.  I stay in the car with Taylor while Tim and Alex go in and warn everyone we will be bringing in a sleeping baby. I bring her into my Mother in law’s bedroom and we start visiting with family.  This makes it all worth it!  Alex is already running around with all her little cousins.  Just as we’re getting ready to eat I hear Taylor crying.  Two short naps so far today, yikes!  Tim offers to wear her in the carrier.  I ask if he’s sure because sometimes he volunteers but then acts frustrated when he’s trying to eat.  He assures me he wants to.

2:00 p.m.             We’re eating dinner, I’m enjoying everyone’s company and Tim gets frustrated trying to eat his stuffing which makes me feel bad and wish he would have just let me wear her.  Husbands.  J

2:45 p.m.             I’ve finished eating and the kids are all running around again.  I get Taylor on the rug on the floor and she LOVES watching the little girls run around laughing.  My favorite nephew is sitting by us on his ipad.  I should mention he’s also my ONLY nephew and he’s also the oldest so he doesn’t exactly have someone to play with at these family events.  He’s got a heart of gold and he starts playing with Taylor.  She loves it and gives him lots of smiles.  He tells me she’s cute and he continues to play with her.  I’m happy, this is what this day is all about.

7:30 ish p.m.       We are leaving.  Alex doesn’t want to and since she skipped a nap she quickly gets very whiney.  Taylor is also tired, though I did get her to take a little nap again in the carrier.  Its dark out and its been a wonderful day with family.  Now we are heading over to my father in law’s to bring him some turkey and check on him since my husband couldn’t get a hold of him all day and he’s been having health issues.  We start driving to his house and the kids both are out in just a few minutes.  Alex hasn’t fallen asleep in the car in probably 2 years!!  Tim starts calling the area hospitals to see if his dad is there before we get there and finally he confirms that he is.  He makes some phone calls and we start heading home instead.

8:10 p.m.             We pull into the driveway and Tim just sits there.  I ask what he’s doing and he says “Just enjoying the silence.”  Just then Taylor’s eyes pop open and she looks like she’s ready to bust any minute.  I tell Tim we need to get moving.  He takes Taylor into the house and I try to get Alex out of her car seat without waking her up.  Fail.  She wakes up and is all disoriented and starts bawling as I’m trying to carry her into the house.  I rock her in her rocking chair until she calms down.  I think about how big she is and how long its been since I’ve done this with her.  I enjoy stroking her hair and having her curled up in me.  Then Taylor starts crying with Tim though and I feel like its my responsibility to calm her down so I need to start moving on this precious moment with my oldest daughter.

 8:38 p.m.             I’m leaving Alex’s room with Taylor in tote and start nursing her.  She calms down immediately.  Tim comes down and tells me that Alex didn’t say a prayer while I was in there.  I look at him.  I can’t be in two places.  Ask him if he can tell her to tell me the prayer tomorrow?  He goes back in her room.  I feel bad.  Taylor finishes nursing and she starts trying to stand up on the chair.  So I put her on the foam mat and she starts scooting around.  I’m a little hungry, so I make a little snack and come sit on the floor with Taylor.  She keeps getting into the crawling position and then backs down.  Then suddenly she moves one leg forward about an inch!  I start getting excited and tell Tim to get in here!  I think I scared her and she backs back down. She tries it one more time and then starts getting fussy.  I scoop her up and nurse her to sleep.

9:32 p.m. Taylor is sleeping, Alex is sleeping and I’m exhausted.  Tim and I go to bed.  Such is the wild life of a mom with a baby and preschooler.