Week in My Life: Friday

Happy Saturday everyone! I'm posting yesterday's Week in My Life post late because yesterday was, well, kind of a fail. I apologize for the lack of pictures!

I didn't feel good, and so my wonderful husband got up with Joseph in the morning. I was able to sleep until 7, which felt amazing...for the first time in who knows how long I actually slept for 6.5 hours straight. I felt better once I had been up for a while and had my second (of 3!) cups of coffee.

Joseph sat down to look at a catalog while Mommy cleaned up from breakfast

Dan went to work at 9 and I put Joseph in for a morning nap. Instead of cleaning, organzing, etc (which is what I usually do when he sleeps in the morning) I sat on the computer and caught up on a ton of stuff that I was behind on. It felt good to finally do that!

When Joseph woke at 11, we headed to Stop and Shop to stock up on some hurricane essentials like bread and water. (We actually needed both of those things. We stopped off at CVS for batteries too, just in case.)

Then it was home for lunch and naps. Stephanie spent the day obsessively playing with her Valentine baby, who needed her own cup to drink from at lunch.

After lunch Stephanie asked to have one of the lollipops that she had gotten from my Aunt during our Thursday Halloween party. She had never had one before, so I made sure to document the occasion.

While the kids napped I worked on my November meal plan shopping list and read a little of my book. They woke up at 3:30 and we went to the park with Stephanie's best friend and her Mommy. While we were getting in the car, Stephanie was so excited to find a wish flower.

Saying goodbye after a fun park trip

The kids had a great time, and as we left I looked at the setting sun and thought about how much I love this time of year. It's cool and crisp, the trees are alight in gorgeous color, and the holiday season will be here soon. I love it all!

When we got home at 5, we went to Dan's office to pick him up. (Stephanie loves to do this, and begs to pick him up all day long. Even 10 minutes after he's left the house.) Then it was home for a "gourmet" dinner...progresso soup and pillsbury cresecent rolls.

Then Dan gave the kids baths (seriously...he's awesome. We take turns giving baths and he never complains about it) while I cleaned up the kitchen and dining room.

Then it was teeth, books and bed for the little ones. I decided to take the night off...no blogging, no FB, no online shopping or research for the holidays. I curled up on the couch with a glass of wine and my book and just relaxed. It was so nice, and I feel much better today, which I attribute to taking the time to relax. Now if only my kids could get rid of these awful colds that have them up all night long...

*As always, a big thanks to Melissa from Adventuroo for putting this project together! If you want to check out my Week in My Life posts from earlier in the week you can do that here: Monday Week in My Life, Tuesday Week in My Life, Wednesday Week in My Life, Thursday Week in My Life

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A Week in My Life: Tuesday

Welcome to day two of "Week in My Life!" If you missed yesterday's post, you can check it out here and see what this whole thing is all about.

MORNING:

Today started a little later then yesterday (6:15 versus 5:45) but both kiddos woke at the same time. We headed out to the living room for coffee and sippy cups of milk.

I did my best to get a little bit of work done on the computer.

In order to accomplish that, this went on:

By 7:00 it was time to get dressed so we could get Stephanie to school on time. The process of getting dressed isn't always easy, and this is why: 

The half-dressed boy would much rather do arts and crafts with his sister then lie still for a diaper change and to get his clothes on...

Once I finally wrangled them both into their clothes, the kids woke up Dan and then played while I made breakfast.

Breakfast today consisted of:

We headed out the door for school at 8:30, and dropped Stephanie off at 9. Joseph and I ran errands while she was at school You know we stopped here for a little pick-me-up:

We picked her up at 11:30, and got home at noon.

AFTERNOON

After walking in the door, taking off shoes and washing our hands, I made a peanut butter & jelly sandwich for Stephanie, a jelly sandwich for Joseph, hard boiled eggs for myself and clementines for all of us.

Stephanie colored and stickered her wooden bat mask while I did all the lunch prep.

We ate, and the kids played while I washed the dishes. The TV came on so that I could get it done quickly. Peep and the Big Wide World annoys me...

I'm ready to tackle these dishes!

Ahhh, all clean

Of course after I was finished cleaning the kids were playing nicely together.

I hated to interrupt them, but it was 1:20, which meant we needed to read books so the kids could get down for their naps. These are the ones Stephanie chose for us to read:

Joseph was in bed by 1:30, Stephanie by 1:45. I made a cup of tea and then did some research on the computer. Joseph was up at 3:15, and Stephanie soon after. Stephanie then got a bloody nose, and Joseph spent 15 minutes screaming and pulling on me while I sat with her to try and get it to stop bleeding. Once it was all set we jumped in the car to go to CVS for:

Now that Joseph drinks milk, Stephanie has started having some whenever he does. (She used to be a one cup in the morning kind of girl.) At this point I think it may be cheaper to just buy a cow...

EVENING:

We got back from CVS at 4:30. Stephanie played dollhouse in her playroom while I started dinner. Joseph kept me company in the kitchen...

Right after I took this picture, he started pulling on my legs and whining. Instead of taking the risk of dropping the knife on him, I did this:

Goldfish in a snack-trap kept him entertained. Since it was Tuesday, Dan had class and wouldn't be home for dinner. Usually the kids and I will have "kid" food like waffles, pizza or macaroni and cheese. I sometimes feel bad about these unhealthy meals, so I make sure to include a veggie every time, use whole-grain waffles and buy Annie's organic macaroni and cheese. However, in honor of this time of year, I bought this:

Stephanie loves finding the bats and pumpkins, and I figure having it as a treat once in a while can't hurt. Plus...I love Kraft!

While the carrots and macaroni & cheese bubbled on the stove, Stephanie came up from her playroom and sat down to do some "Santa List." She takes the fisher price catalog and circles all the things she wants to ask Santa for. (Notice the change of shirt. That was thanks to the bloody nose.)

Once the carrots were cooked, black beans were prepped and the mac & cheese was done we sat down to eat.

And after this I didn't take a single picture. Which kind of bums me out, since I did so well all day. But the rest of our night went like this:

5:45: We finished eating and the kids played while I cleaned up.

6:20: Dan came home and we had some family time.

6:45: Pajamas and teeth brushing time, followed by books and bed.

8:00: Right now. I'm finishing up this blog, Dan is unwinding by watching re-runs of The Mentalist, and as soon as i'm done I will be having a glass of wine!

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A Random Post About Nothing

I feel like I've been neglecting my blog lately. It's been awhile since I've had that "I MUST write about this today!" flash. I haven't gotten that flash today, but figured I'd write anyway. Here are some of the things that have been going on lately.

-Dan has been working until 11pm every night for the past week and a half. The first few days I felt like I was going to pull my hair out. Dinner, bath & bedtime is the most challenging part of our day and I felt overwhelmed doing it all by myself. But after a few days, we all got used to it, and it's been going really smoothly. My kids are awesome and (for the most part) have taken pity on me and behaved well.

-Joseph started using his exersaucer. He wasn't thrilled with it at first, but now he loves it. It's position next to the TV helps too. This boy loves him some Baby Einstein.

-I bought Stephanie new sippy cups. I'm sure this seems like a weird and boring tidbit of news, but it's big in our house. We'd been using the Playtex sippys that require those little flexible plastic valves to be spill-proof. After using them for a year, most of those pieces got moldy and were thrown away. I can't seem to find replacements, and we were down to two of them. Which meant I was constantly washing the same two cups over and over throughout the day. Finally I said "enough!" and bought different cups. It's very freeing to know that I can just grab another sippy from the cupboard when she decides she wants milk instead of the juice and water that she already has.

-I took the kids out on a major shopping excursion all by myself yesterday. First we took a trip to Babies R' Us. I had some returns, and Joseph needed food. Then we met my sister and niece at a local toy store for a Dr. Seuss story-time. The woman who was supposed to read never showed up, but the girls had fun making crafts and running around the store. Then we all went to lunch at Panera. Afterwards my sister went home and I took my two little ones to Trader Joes, Children's Place, and Carters. They were both on their best behavior, and it felt nice to be out of our apartment for the day.

-I finally read Two Kisses for Maddy by Matt Logelin. I don't read his blog often, but I knew his story, and had been wanting to read the book for quite awhile now. His touching memoir on losing his beloved wife and having to raise their newborn daughter alone brought me to tears. I highly recommend it!

-Joseph still doesn't sleep at night, but he's been giving us 2 and 3 and sometimes even 4 hour stretches at a time, and it is so refreshing. I know it's pathetic that I feel so refreshed after such a small amount of sleep, but after a month and a half of waking every hour on the hour, any longer stretch feels like a full night's sleep.

-I'm slowing getting back on track with my weight loss. I've slowed down the snacking, upped the water intake, and do some ab work every day. Once Dan's work load slows down and he's home at night, I can start doing cardio again.

Ok, are you bored yet? If you've kept reading in the hopes that there would be something more interesting at the end of this post, i'm sorry to say, there is not. However, I will work on trying to find some inspiration!

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Timing is Everything

One of the challenges i'm having with two little ones is figuring out how to time our days. I don't like staying home all day, and it isn't good for the kids to be cooped up inside either. Stephanie and I were always out and about before Joseph arrived. We'd go to restaurants for breakfast and lunch, playdates, shopping trips, storytime at the library, etc. I still want to keep up that level of activity, but it's difficult to arrange things around Joseph's feeding. (He's not even on a nap schedule yet, so I can only imagine how much harder it will be once he is.)

He eats every three hours, and still protests any powder formula. But, if we're going off shopping, I have no way to warm up a cold bottle of liquid formula, so it has to be powder. He will eventually drink it all, but those feedings take 30-45 minutes at a time. If he was my only child, this would be no problem. I could feed him in the car, or at a coffee shop, and take my leisurely time. But my precocious 23 month old is not up for leisurely hang outs. She is busy busy busy, and trying to entertain her while simultaneously feeding the baby is difficult enough at home, never mind if we're out somewhere. 

I've been working on figuring this out, and I actually have (sort of) developed a system. If we're at someone's house for a playdate, or out to breakfast/lunch I can just bring a liquid bottle and heat it up in a mug of hot water. And during these times, there are always other adults and kids around, so Stephanie has plenty of entertainment. But for those mornings where it's just errands that need to be run, I make sure that we do only the things that can fit into that 2 hour time-frame between feedings. This way we'll be home again before he needs to eat, and I won't have to worry about Stephanie running crazily around Dunkin Donuts or Panera while I struggle to get Joseph to stop screaming and just drink the powder stuff. 

Getting errands done between feedings does require some prep and planning. Before I sit down for the first feeding, I make sure that the diaper bag is stocked and waiting to go, Stephanie and I are both ready to throw our coats and shoes on and head out the door, my lists are made and loaded onto my phone, and my coupons are organized and in the diaper bag. (I forgo a purse on errand days, and throw my wallet, phone and keys in the diaper bag.) Then, when Joseph has eaten and burped we can get in the car and head off to where we need to go. This morning we did a trip to the grocery store, and a stop at the library. We made it home afterwards with plenty of time to spare before Joseph started demanding more food. Success!

Having a baby and a toddler does require some extra thought and planning, but if i'm organized, it's totally do-able. We can still be active, get things done, and not be chained to our apartment all day long. I'd love to hear any tips and tricks that you have for being on-the-go with your children!

 

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