Inspired by Krieger

Blitzkrieg inspired me with her daily account. Hers is the account of a professional, fantabulous teacher and woman. Here, you will find the daily account of a professional teacher, turned stay at home mom.

6 am: Starbuck stirs for her morning nip. I drag myself to her room, praying that she'll be quick about things so that I can climb back in bed for another 15 minutes. She is, and I do.

6.30 am: My alarm goes off. I shut it off, knowing that I can grab 10 more minutes of half sleep. In 8 minutes, I jump out of bed and turn on the shower. Brush my teeth while the water heats up, read a little bit of my Entertainment Weekly rag, then hop in the shower. This is my ONLY totally alone time in the morning. I take ten minutes to myself, then get moving for the day.

6:45 Starbuck wakes up for real and starts "talking" in her crib. She likes the tags on all of her crib toys and has full converstaions with them. I hurriedly get dressed and run a comb through my curly hair. Aaron's alarm goes off and he begins to stir.

If Starbuck isn't adamant yet, I let her talk to herself in her crib while I get myself a waffle or some other breakfast food that doesn't require the milk that I so desperately crave. Darn lactose intolerance!

7:00 Starbuck is pretty sure she wants to wake up now, so Aaron gets her out of bed and brings her downstairs. I put her on the floor with her toys while I try to wake up and sort out the day.

Any time after this, TPJ wakes up, and the day starts in earnest.

"Mommy, can I have blueberry oatmeal and milk? Can I eat my breakfast in front of the computer?" He asks as he comes down the stairs.

I get his blueberry oatmeal and milk, putting away the dishes from last night's dishwasher run as I do so. Can't start the day with dishes in the dishwasher. Can't put dirty dishes in the sink all day--- that eventually drives me a bit bonkers. Give TPJ his breakfast and make up some rice cereal for Starbuck. Feed her. Get rice cereal all over me, because Starbuck would really rather feed herself. And if she could keep the cereal on the spoon, I'd let her. Because I really hate starting out my day all crusty.

7:25-- Baby arrives for daycare. Baby is usually asleep, so I get the chance to get stuff arranged for the day-- bottles in the fridge, cloths out for mopping faces full of milk, etc.

7:35 Baby wakes up. Wants food. I heat up the bottle and begin to feed Baby. Of course, Starbuck, who is actually full, is jealous that Baby is eating. So I offer to nurse her, but what she really wants is to have some interaction. I make funny faces at her as I give Baby the bottle.

8:00 Feeding finished, now time for diaper changes. Ick.

8:25 The Eating Machine arrives, needing to be fed. Chat with TEM's mom for a few, then put TEM in the high chair. Starbuck sees this and immediately starts to clamor for food again. So I put her in the other high chair, toast her a waffle, and give it to her. TEM doesn't mind being fed, so that makes life easier.

8:35: TPJ gets on the bus for kindergarten.

9:00 Breakfast is over, and the day really begins. Books and puzzles are pulled off of their shelves, toys taken out of the toybox. Baby is put into the walker to play. If Baby is on the floor, Starbuck will crawl over to him and pull his hair. I think she's jealous of all that hair. Starbuck is surrounded by toys, but she really just wants to crawl everywhere and anywhere. The Eating Machine and I get out a bucket and some blocks. She loves to put things IN, so we spend a while doing this. Then someone spits up, so I get to clean that up. Then someone poops. Oh wait, it is TWO stinky diapers! WHOOHOO! Change the diapers, wash my hands, disinfect the changing table. Take the dirty diaper bag out to the garbage in the garage, keepingTEM from following me. The garage is not a good place for kids. Then I go to get Baby out of the walker. We try for some tummy time, which just makes him mad. Then we read some books, sing some silly songs--- "Net loves you, thinks you're cute, listen to you toot," that kind of thing.

10:00 Snack time! Give TEM her snack. Starbuck and Baby are both tired by this point. Baby is now in the pack and play, looking at fun things. I settle Starbuck down, take her upstairs to her crib, where she'll either talk herself into a frenzy or quietly go to sleep. I go back downstairs, pick Baby up, cuddle him, snuggle him until his eyes are almost closed, then I put him in the cradle. I then dash back upstairs to put the pacifier in Starbuck's mouth, lay her back down, and pat her butt. She settles in for a nap.

10.30 TEM is stumbling around with her fingers in her mouth. I pick her up, read her a book and say, "Let's go night night." She sleepily nods at me and I put her down for a nap.

Blessed silence, right? HA! Phone rings, Vietnam Vets. Nope, nothing this month. Phone rings again, Mindy to chit chat. Computer calls my name, gotta check my message boards, see who is online, run downstairs to fold a load of laundry, start another load in the washer, scoop litter boxes, bag up the morning dirty diapers, get hangers for the laundry, get lunches sorted out, pump some milk for Starbuck's next feeding, drink two glasses of water in quick succession. Yeesh!

11:00 Everyone is still asleep. I put on whatever TV show I'm obsessing about this week--- the early episodes of X Files are doing it for me right now. Grab the latest book that I'm reading and try to get in a chapter. Starbuck starts to fuss. Run upstairs, put the pacifier back in her mouth, and know that I only have about 15 minutes before she's up for good.

11:30 Starbuck surprises me and sleeps for 30 more minutes. I get her up, make us some lunch-- she and I share food. TEM and Baby are still sleeping, thank goodness. I get a chance to cuddle Starbuck and feed her without her looking at everyone else. Then we get down on the floor and I put toys in front of her. She puts them in her mouth, despite my efforts to show her how to play with them. Blocks are for chewing when you're almost 7 months old. :)

12:00 I sit out on the front porch, waiting to hear TPJ's bus come around to our block. When I hear it, I run down to the corner ( which is in sight of my front porch) and get him off of the bus. We go in, I make his lunch and he tells me about school. TEM wakes up and realizes that she's GASP, hungry.

12:30 Lunch is finished and TPJ is begging to go play--- no, not Star Wars Legos--- but Battlefront--- another Star Wars game on the PS2. I let him, because it makes it easier to feed TEM and keep an eye on Starbuck if he isn't talking to me. Call me selfish. TEM cleans her plate, just as Baby wakes up.

Get Baby up, change his diaper, mop up TEM's mess, change her diaper, wash hands, disinfect, yada yada yada. Put all babies on the floor to play some more. TPJ comes upstairs after this, and proceeds to torture Starbuck. Picks her up, wrestles with her, scares the tar out of me. She, meanwhile, giggles and grins at him constantly. Finally, I've had enough and tell TPJ that he's giving me a panic attack! We settle in to do something quiet--- he complains as I read a book to TEM, because it's not a Star Wars book. Yet, we manage. He reads a book to Starbuck and Baby. Then he goes back downstairs, this time to watch some Spongebob and chillax. Kindergarten takes a lot out of him. He doesn't like naps anymore, so now he'll sit and chill in front of the TV or computer. Or occasionally with some books.

The next two hours pass in a blur of spit up, bottles, diapers, silly faces, silly songs, crazy words, and insanity.

3:00 Starbuck goes down for another nap. Each day, I hope this will be a two hour nap, making it so that she doesn't get cranky til 8 pm. Each day, it ends up being just an hour. We have a schedule, and I'm not happy with it! She's not the sleeper TPJ was and still is.

TEM is playing with all of the toys that make noise, of course! TPJ comes upstairs and entertains himself for a while with the baby toys. He and I giggle together at the silly things that TEM and Baby do. I sit on the floor with Baby, encouraging him to roll from tummy to back. TPJ tries to roll him, unfortunately--or perhaps fortunately--- Baby is not as easily rolled as Starbuck. TPJ can't get a good grip on Baby and I refuse to let him try a different way. "He's a person, not a doll," is what I repeat about Baby (and Starbuck) over and over and over and over throughout the afternoon. TEM settles on and off of my lap as she goes from one toy to the next. She just likes to check in with me.

4:00 Baby requires his third (sometimes his fourth) bottle of the day. I cuddle him and give him said bottle while TEM stumbles around with her fingers in her mouth. Tiredness is overtaking them both.

4:15 Baby is done and asleep. Starbuck is starting to make noise. I quickly change TEM's diaper, read her a short story, and then put her down for a short nap. I dash upstairs to check on Starbuck--- she's settled back down!!! I run down to the basement and ask TPJ if he wants to play a game with me after I finish folding laundry. He agrees to spend some time with me.

4:30 We play PS2 for a few minutes, then go and play with Star Wars action figures. Not dolls. Action figures. There is a difference, you see. His imagination blows me away.

4:45 Starbuck is wide awake, so we go upstairs to get her. Since we've lowered her mattress, TPJ can no longer lift her out on his own. Thank goodness. She's happy to see us. I change her diaper, TPJ gives her zerberts. We all head downstairs. I fix her a snack-- sweet potatoes and corn are a favorite this week. I get a good portion of it all over me, as she tries to feed herself---again.

5:15 Baby's mom arrives. We talk for a few, then wake Baby up to go home. TEM is still sleeping. If she were my child, I would have woken her up by now. But mom doesn't seem to mind the late afternoon naps. So I let her sleep. I get my family's supper prepped, figure out what's happening for the evening, and straighten up toys and furniture.

5:45-6:00 TEM's mom arrives. Out the door they go with a blown kiss and a wave.

Supper, whatever is going on for the night (meetings, socializing, etc) then bath and bed. And another day is done!

It tires me out, writing about it! I didn't realize how busy my days were until I sat down and documented them! Thanks Blitzkrieger, for inspiring me! :) Now I'm exhausted! hehehe!