Monday, January 23, 2012

Portrait of a Day

For funsies, I thought I'd take pictures throughout a pretty typical day.

This day begins at 5:10 AM, when Buddy Boy starts fussing from his crib.  He's battling a tooth.  The Mister is out of town, so I am uncharacteristically on duty for the morning shift.  That'll make you miss your sweet husband real fast!  A few minutes of Buddy Boy fussing, while I do the heavy psychological work of convincing myself to arise, means that Little Guy also wakes up and is ready to start his day.

We all stumble out to the kitchen and they spot the Trix, which Little Guy convinced me to include in my CVS couponing trip the day before, and there is no question what they're having for breakfast.  Days without Daddy need a little mood elevation, anyway.
For me, raw oats with a heap of dried fruit and a  drizzle of agave nectar.  Yum!
Then, a little pre-dawn coffee table jumping.  See the big brother lecturing the little one about safe jumping?
He's fearless.
On to dominoes.
We have a group bath, just because I don't have anywhere else to put them while I bathe.  No pictures of that.  {You're welcome.}  And then, a little pre-clothes bed jumping.
Little Guy is learning to dress himself, and is so very, very proud.
As soon as we're dressed, I call out "Vitamin time!" and they scurry to the kitchen bar.  They looooove their gummy vitamins and fiber!
After gummies, we brush teeth.  Buddy Boy is much amused by his toothbrush antics.
I take a minute to get myself dressed, feeling every bit of 26 weeks.
Little Guy works on a matching game.
Buddy Boy draws for a few minutes, before throwing his supplies to the floor and launching into a meltdown.
Which signals that it is time for second breakfast.  What?  You don't have second breakfast in your house?  We do.  Every morning around nine.  They eat an entire 'nother breakfast.  Like, two or three bowls of Cheerios.  Does not matter what I served for the first one...eggs and bacon, waffles, oatmeal, french toast and fruit.  Doesn't matter.  They're still ravenously hungry again at 9.
It's finally time to head out for the day.  Today, our route around the Capitol is blocked off, so we have to take a detour.  Gives us a chance to pull over and admire the "Cap'tol."
We circle for a parking spot, parallel park and pay, unbuckle car seats, zip up coats, and make our way to our play spot for the day, where we meet up with some of our best buds.
It's a new place for us, and the boys have a BLAST.  For four solid hours, breaking only for lunch and potty.
As we leave, we duck in for a doughnut for the boys and a latte for Mama.  More mood elevation.  And  a dose of caffeine to get me through the afternoon.  We're on day 3 of the Mister being gone, and they're getting kind of weepy.  Buddy Boy rejects his doughnut, in favor of the pineapple left over from our picnic lunch.  Crazy child!
Everrrrrrybody naps.  I have to limit Little Guy's nap to an hour these days, so that we have a hope of him sleeping until 6 AM, but it sure is hard to wake him up some days.  He just falls right back to sleep, wherever I put him down.
We reach the bottom of the Cheerio barrel.  Never, ever a good thing.
5:36 PM.  Is there a hairier time in a mother's life than 5:36 PM.  Especially 5:36 on a Friday night, with her husband out of town?  There are many wailing fits.  There are many whiny pleas.  There are many little hands pulling at the hem of my shirt.  I stick a frozen pizza in to cook and peel up a few oranges.
While we wait on the pizza, we make signs.  We try to call the Mister, but his phone is off.  There are more tears.  

We finish off dinner with some Golden Oreos, dunked in milk.  {I promise we usually eat better than this.  We had yogurt and turkey and cheese and carrots and hummus and pineapple for lunch, but of course I forgot to photograph that meal.  :)  And y'all are thinking sure, sure.}
And then we have a little pre-bed ottoman jumping.  It's a theme around here, that jumping.
Milk, night diapers, pajamas, toothbrushing, a few books before bed, and we are all tucked in before 8, anxious for the Mister's return.

13 comments:

ElissaMLF said...

Great pictures and sounds like a pretty good day to me! Also, you look great and I LOVE your glasses. I need some new ones...

BettieBoyd said...

What a wonderful day! You are so strong to stay in-command and get through it. All my love, Mama

Anika said...

Those dinosaur pajamas just kill me. Total cuteness!

Golden Gate Fam said...

Love this post! Always so interesting to see what a day in the life is like. Gives me a peek into my future.

Virginia said...

Precious! You look great! Miss you!

BettieBoyd said...

PS---You have rearranged and it looks nice! Also glad the train mat is being enjoyed.

Wanting What I Have said...

My hat is off to you! What an early start and what a sweet mama you are! :)

Aunt Betty said...

I knew that planking was all the rage but I was not aware that JF was part of the trend. Also so proud of A for dressing himself, such a big boy!
Your breakfast looks so good is that oats like oatmeal oats straight from the tub? Do you cook it at all? I really want to try it.
Love you all

Julie said...

Could y'all move wake-up time from 5:10 to 7:10 before May when I arrive to help! Ha!

kbb said...

You look wonderful! Love your hair. The boys are precious!

Eleanor said...

Hey! Can you teach me how you are lining your photos up 2 or 3 side by side? I cannot figure out how to do this! Are you using a seperate program from blogger? Thanks!

I don't know how you make it through these days while carrying baby #3! Sounds exhausting just reading about your day! Hats off to you!

Family Snodgrass said...

Hey Eleanor--For the side-by-side photos, I currently use picnik.com. It's a free editing program, and you can make a collage on there, save it to your drive, and then upload it just like any other picture onto Blogger. However, Picnik is closing in a couple months, so I'm going to have to find a new option!

Katherine said...

Oh gosh. Reaching the bottom of the cheerios container in the evening when the Mister is out of town DOES sound like a dire situation to be in.