a day

A day in our lives....
A favorite blog of mine - Hi Julia! - does this on the regular and I swore I would get it done.
I finally did - although a little late for her link-up.

Date: Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Almost a full month ago - yes, I know.

3:05am

There is a little lady fussing at me over the baby monitor.  I wake up feeling like I am in the wrong bed, but I am not, I am just on the wrong side of the bed.  Michael is staying overnight in Columbus to take his boards.  For some reason, I always sleep on his side of the bed when he's gone.  By the time I get out of bed, take a restroom break and get to Helena's bed - she back asleep.  Hooray!

6:11am

Theo's up and in bed with me cuddling. 

(Or really kicking me in the ribs and jumping up and down in the bed.)

6:25am

I give up on sleeping anymore and admit defeat.  We head to the kitchen for coffee and waffles.  He is such a morning person.  All wide-eyed and excited about it being "morning time!"

7:10am

Eva's up and disappointed that my bed is made and she doesn't get to cuddle in it.

7:45am

I am showered and we are all dressed for the day.  Well all except Helena... she is still snoozing.


8:30am
I hadk to wake up Helena and get her ready while she was angry with me about being woken up.  Meaning she screamed and yelled the entire way to the car.  We get to Eva's kindergarten bus pick-up and drop her off.


8:35am
We are at Theo's preschool.  He plays with his friends while we wait on his teachers to open the classroom.


8:45am
The classroom is open and Theo hangs his coat under his "big name" and heads to class.

9:10am

I am home. I cleaned out the car and made a smoothie.  I am alternating between the smoothie and coffee as I put all the junk away from my car.  It is insane how fast stuff piles up in there.  I also rotate the kids toys in their room.  It has been a while.

10:10am

We head over to our community's weekly playgroup.  To make sure I went - I signed up to be in charge of it.  Sometimes this introvert needs responsibility and accountability to get me out there socializing.  (There are tons of toys - but these two prefer the coffee table.)

11:15am

It is pick-up time for Theo.  He is glad to see us.

11:35am

I am making lunch, unloading the dishwasher and rescuing dinosaurs from the sink.

12:05pm

Lunch time!  The littles are telling stories and making burp sounds as entertainment.  I really should sell tickets for this comedy hour.

12:35pm
Theo realizes that there are different toys on his shelves.  He is so excited!  "My big megos are back!!!" He and Helena are playing away so I decided to get a little reading a writing done.

12:50pm

My dulpo building skills are being requested so I head into the kids' room to play.  We build planes and a garage.  After a bit, Helena starts fussing and eye rubbing.

1:10pm

I am feeding and snuggling little Helena.  We sing, we snuggle and she falls asleep until I lay her down and they she screams until I snuggle her again.

1:40pm

I give up, decided maybe her teeth are bothering her and head out to give her some meds and check on Theo.  She is obviously exhausted, but not having a nap.

2:05pm

Head into the extremely quiet living room to find that Theo has decided a nap is a grand idea.  

2:15pm
I start cleaning out a cabinet.  Find a few things I haven't used a good long time and add them to our donation pile.  Not pictured is the lower cabinet that Helena was cleaning out for me.

2:30pm

Helena is tired of cabinets. We check the mail and she helps me sort the ads from yesterday's paper.  Helena is a good sorter.

2:55pm

We head up to pick-up Eva from the bus and it is raining and spitting ice.  Theos grumpy because I had to wake him up to go.  We get everyone back in the car and head home.  I hate driving and in APril it should not be threatening snow - but here it is anyway.  I pull in and find my nap-hater is napping.  The irony.

<

3:25pm

We have had snacks and Helena is still sleeping.  The kiddos are playing Wii.  Eva's favorite thing is to make Wii people and Theo liked to help.

3:55pm

Helena is up and I am prepping dinner and getting Eva dressed for ballet.  This is a touchy time of day but we manage to get it done without tears.  Miracle!!

4:30pm

Today ballet has an open house so I get to sit in the room and watch - instead of sneaking peeks through the door.  Helena and Theo both are great about watching Eva dance.  I can't help but get all mushy inside when he yells out, "Great job Eva!" in the middle of some jumping.

5:15pm

Michael gets home.  He is pretty wore out from taking the test all day and worrying about/trying not to worry about the test for weeks.  We have dinner - Michael picked up take-out on his way home so I never had to cook and tomorrow's dinner was prepped ahead.  Nice!

After dinner, Eva shows her daddy her Mario Brothers skills.

6:45pm

We head out on a walk.  It's freezing but we bundle up and head out to get some fresh air.  We head back home for some chocolate milk and snuggles before bed.

7:40pm

I am getting Helena to bed and Michael gets the big kids.  I love snuggling sleeping babies.

8:40pm

Kids are all asleep and I am cleaning up.  Michael is working on some things for work.  Dish washer is running and I fold up some laundry.  I have been listening to the Modern Love podcast.  This episode was a funny one.

9:30pm

We are getting ready for bed and I try to do a little reading, but I don't last long.  I think I am asleep before 10:00.

a day: January 24th

12:36
Theodore wakes up and wakes Eva.  A few kisses and Eva is fine.
A few sways in the room and some back pats and Theo is back down.

3:12
Theo wakes up screaming and somehow Eva sleeps on.
We rock and rock and I get him back down at around 4:00

5:10
I have to go to the bathroom - I don't think I ever really fell asleep.

5:30
He is up for good.  Giggles and "Hi, momma!"
We head downstairs for a diaper change.
I do a dangerous-item sweep of the living room getting the water glasses and pens from last night
.

Water on for coffee and getting him a cup of milk.

Impatiently waiting.

Coffee parts: beans and the aeropress

6:25
Eva's up for the day and she brought her friends, Owlie and Elephant.

Here's your  brain.... well, my breakfast.

7:00
We eat.
Cereal and yogurt for the kiddos.
I eat bites between fetching dropped spoons and filling empty cups.

7:50
Breakfast cleanup.
Kids are playing and kind of sharing so I head to the basement to get laundry going.
It is diaper wash morning because I didn't do it last night.

9:15
Daddy's home!!
Eva begs to play Mario Kart on the Wii.  She loves to watch daddy race.
Theo tries to add difficulty by catching the race cars and I fold laundry.


9:45
Theodore's hiding in the tunnel while squealing.


10:30
Eva is refusing to be changed from her princess nightgown - or dress as she is calling it.
It is going to be snowing all day and freezing.
Her birthday party was today, but we moved it to tomorrow because if the weather.
I decide she wins - PJ's all day.


10:40
Step on this little guy and chase him all over the kitchen floor.
I dropped it so so many times trying to trying to get it to the trash...
Thought it deserved a photo.
Hi, little tiny bean.


11:00
Michael goes to nap and catch up on some sleep after being up at the hospital half of the night.
Theodore helps me start lunch.


11:30
Lunching.
When he's done, Theo usually turns his plate upside down.
I snack on some nuts while the kids eat.

12:00
Change Theo and put him down for his nap.


12:15
Switch the laundry.


12:30
Put Cinderella on for Eva.
Workout and get a shower.


1:30
Eva's reading and watching princesses...
while wearing a princess gown and pretending to be a princess.
Her kind of perfect morning.


1:45
My lunch.
Leftovers turned into a big salad.


2:03
Eva is watching it snow.
And snow and snow and snow.


2:45
I hear giggle and talking.
Theodore is awake.


3:30
Kids are sharing and playing together.
I tell Eva good job sharing. She says, ''Theodore doesn't want the trains I want, so its easy."


4:15
Michael's up from his nap, so I head out to run errands.


4:22
Donuts for tomorrow from the Goodie Shop.
They are still warm... so I taste test.


4:25
Bookstore for the birthday books.
The kids get books for every birthday, holiday, big moment.
It's tradition.


4:50
Grocerym run and back home.


5:06
Mad dash to dinner.
The kids are hungry and being patient is not an option.
There were times where I was stirring with one hand and holding Theo with the other.
Also times where I put him out of the kitchen to open the oven - he screamed and screamed.
Dinner time is nuts and today is a particularly bad day.

5:55
We are eating and the little people are calmer.
Michael and I try to have a conversation.
Between hearing Eva's new jokes and Theo just yelling to get her to laugh...
we start about 30 topics and finish none.

6:45
Dinner's done and we take turns cleaning up kids and clearing table.
The floor gets swept and kinda-mopped.
I am guessing Theodore has a 40/60 rate with food - 40% in mouth and 60% everywhere else.

7:00
I start cleaning the kitchen and start the dishwasher.
Michael puts on a show for the kids.
Tonight it's Bo on the Go.  It makes Theo dance.


7:30
Change kids into PJ's - or in Eva's case - into clean PJ's.
She is happy to be in another princess night gown.

7:45
Brush teeth and read story.
Theodore doesn't make it to the story - he's in bed and out in minutes.
Michael reads to Eva and she is soon in bed.

8:30
Eva wants one more song and her back scratched.
She's falling asleep while I sing so I think this will be the last call we get tonight.


9:00
Michael samples his first round of his home brew.
It's an Octoberfest and probably one of my best Christmas present ideas ever.

9:15
We clean up the living room and I head to bed.
By the time I finish my before bed routine, Michael is up getting ready for bed.

9:45
Both in bed.
Commenting on how early we have been going to bed lately.
Hope the kids sleep through the night.
Forget all the half-finished conversations we meant to finish from dinner and fall asleep.

*******
That's it.  A typical day - a Saturday in the Bixler house.
It is a weekend day, but Michaels schedule makes the weekends like regular days a lot of the time.

Glad I finally did this - and I have been meaning to for a long time.
Julia's been inspiring me for quite a while - and I finally followed through!