A Real Day in the Life 4/11/12

Last Wednesday I decided to record a 'day in the life' and post it on the blog for a little insight into what being a SAHM looks like for me. Little did I know that was the day G was coming down with a nasty virus! I think it's pretty ironic that the day I try to show what a normal life we lead, she ends up getting really irritable and comes down with a fever before bed. I wanted to share anyways, because with a 14 month old, life is never really 'normal,' is it...

5:55 AM G cries out for the 4th time this night... I've only gone to her twice, nursing her back to sleep like a bad tired momma. My husband is up and getting ready for work, but I really just want a few more hours of sleep because the previous night wore me out so much enough to put me right behind the eight ball for a crappy day.

6:10 AM My husband leave for work; G whines on and off for the next 30 minutes before going back to sleep.

6:50 AM I finally fall back asleep for a little catnap (hey, being a SAHM has to have its perks somewhere).

7:30 AM G wakes up for good. I go into a smiling little girl, standing at her front crib rail, Mrs. Bear in her hand. She hands me everything in her crib, as is our normal morning ritual. I guess she's not quite ready to leave them, and they come with us to the changing table. I change a blow out smelly diaper and give her fresh PJs.

7:35 AM We retreat to my bed and I nurse her, secretly hoping she'll fall back asleep.

7:45 AM Clearly it was wishful thinking on the falling back asleep thing...so I happily settle for a snuggle and half an episode of Calliou. I never thought I'd enjoy that show--before G enjoyed it, I always thought it seemed annoying--but it's funny what becomes likable when your daughter dances, waves, and smiles along.

8:05 AM We head to the living room, where I fold to baskets of clothes and G plays with her toys. 20 minutes later we put the clothes up.

8:45 AM I try to make the bed but G gets fussy and I determine it must be breakfast time. We trod to the kitchen and I start G's breakfast while she waits in anticipation in her high chair. It's a good thing a frozen waffle only takes about a minute to prepare.

8:50 AM I give her breakfast of a frozen waffle and banana. Then, I start to unload the dishwasher & tidy up the kitchen. This is one of my most efficient times of the day because she's occupied with eating. Of course, I never take one eye off her.

Breakfast sillies

8:57 AM I make my breakfast, deciding on oatmeal...yum.

9:00 AM I turn on Live with Kelly! (my favorite) and try to watch without letting G see my eyes in the direction of the TV. She's turned away from it, but will occasionally try to break her neck to see what I'm watching if I don't 'fake it' well enough. Sigh...trying to be a 'good' mom, while actually being a 'bad' mom is tricky. I start to eat my breakfast.

9:07 AM G wants down because she's finished eating, despite several pieces of food left in her bowl. I don't force her to finish her food because I really want her to have a positive relationship with food and eating. After she gets cleaned up and wonders off the toys, I decide to keep track of the day. I begin to type the morning into my phone. My breakfast takes a back seat.

9:10 AM G wants another bite of food, I hand her some leftover of her breakfast. I guess that may be a bad habit to get into, but she needs all the calories she can get now. I move to the couch, with my now-room-temperature oatmeal, to half-watch Kelly and half-watch G.

9:45 AM I switch to Dinosaur Train during a commercial to appease the baby...bad mom move #2 of the day.

9:50 I turn back to Kelly just in time to see her segment from the New York Auto Show, aka, some sweet new cars I'll never have. Five minutes later, we flip the tube off.

10:00 AM I decide we better go for a run in the morning, since the weather looks like rain in the afternoon.

10:05 AM I distract the baby with my hairbrush while I put my contacts in, but I instantly decide that was a bad move. A minute later, I chase her down and trade a freshly empty toilet paper roll for my brush. After I'm done getting ready, I change/dress G. Then we get her snacks, drink, and toys prepared.

10:20 AM I think we are ready to go, but it turns out a week away from the Chariot means I need to air up two of the tires...ugh! We just replaced all of the tubes...I guess there's a slow leak somewhere.

10:30 AM We finally leave for the run.

10:50 AM I pat myself on the back for putting the rain shield down, because it's started sprinkling.

11:10 AM We return from the run--clocking 4 miles in 40 minutes, while pushing the baby. I'll take it. She dozed a bit while we're out, and I hope that hasn't messed with nap time.

11:45 AM We eat lunch. I offer many things that she pokes at. She gets down after eating some banana, some cheese, some bread, and some lunch meat. I had a sandwich. Afterwards, I take advantage of her great solo-play to do some dishes, sweep the floor, and attempt to clean her high chair.

left from lunch... she normally doesn't leave this much

12:30 PM It's definitely nap time. I fish out a diaper from the basket that's been sitting there unfolded for nearly 48 hours and stuff it. I put G back into pjs and nurse her.

12:45 PM G's asleep so I relish a gloriously hot 15 minute non-interrupted shower.

my sleeping beauty

1:05 PM I snack on, what I feel are well deserved, chocolate chips and water while surfing the web. Forty minutes later, I finally get around to doing chores.

2:10 PM G coughs and I think she's waking up (her nap has been unpeaceful, filled with sniffles and coughs and illness moans), but turns out I was wrong.

2:50 PM She seemed to be really waking, but it actually was just another fake-out.

3:15 PM Okay, now she's really awake. Turns out to be a great nap--2 hours and 30 minutes! I took a shower, got 2 blogs posted, updated our budget, and started to upload Easter weekend photos to the FB...oh--and the ham in the oven for dinner!

3:35 PM G starts whining for me...bad mom move #3, I let her just play/talk in her crib while I typed in captions for those FB photos. I save her from the confines of her crib, wondering when she'll attempt to climb out (never, I hope). I change her diaper for the fifth time so far today and none of them are ever easy. I always try to distract her with singing silly songs, reciting a book, or asking her where various things are...but those measures only work about half the time, the other half she wails or screams the entire time. I consider myself really luck if she doesn't try to flip over.

3:55 PM I start diaper laundry; cold rinse cycle. A few minutes later, I add detergent and start the hot extra heavy cycle. We play in the living room and I ask G to show me certain people in her picture book.

4:07 PM I call my aunt to tell her about something cute G did (pointing to her picture when I asked where AJ was). She was busy, but enjoyed the sweet story. Since she couldn't talk to us very long, we call Grammy (aka, my mom) to chat. G roams around playing and sometimes trying to "talk" to me or my mom. We get off the phone about 20 minutes because G's starting whining out of boredom, so we head to the kitchen.

grumpy

4:35 PM I decide to start making the strawberry jam, rather than waiting for my husband to get home. I bought the supplies the day before, but since he usually makes it, I had been waiting for him to have enough time to do it. I wanted to surprise him, but it ended up being a slight disaster. I didn't read the directions all the way through and ended up adding sugar to the strawberries instead of into a saucepan. I scraped as much sugar from the top of the strawberries as possible and went about preparing the pectin. G played on the floor with a mixing bowl and spoon for most of the adventure, although I had to hold her while I processed the strawberries into small pieces. I guess the loud noise and determined look on my face made her clingy. She got a treat out of the deal...fresh strawberry snack.

5:40 PM My husband is still not home, but G and I go about our tasks. I peel the sweet potatoes for dinner, and wash the asparagus. Around 6, my husband finally gets home...just in time to witness me have a near-meltdown when I realize that I need another container of strawberries. Luckily, I had them in the fridge, but had planned to have them for snacking, rather than jam making. I hurriedly wash/process them before the pectin/berry mixture I have waiting gets messed up. After the jam is ready, my husband helps me pour it into containers. He says he's proud of me for making it without him, but I feel like it was a crazy disaster (we've since eaten it and it is awesome!!).

I ran out of jars and had to improvise

6:35 PM The sweet potatoes are on the stove, the asparagus is ready to cook, but things don't seem like they will be ready in time. My husband feeds G her dinner, since I've concluded we will have to eat our dinner after she goes to bed. She doesn't eat very much.

6:50 PM I take the ham out of the oven and it smells delicious! The two of them retreat to the couch to watch some TV while I finish up our dinner.

snuggles on the couch

7 PM My husband notices G feels a little warm and seems out of sorts. We take her temperature and it reaches 102!! He gives her a bath and it comes down to normal so we don't give her any medicine. We get her ready for bed and do our bed time routine. It consists of putting on PJs, cleaning up toys (complete with song), walking to her bedroom, saying prayers, kissing good night, and nursing.

7:45 PM G goes to sleep without whining too much, although she didn't nurse very well at all. I thought that seemed really weird and in my heart knew something was wrong.

8:00 PM We finally eat our dinner and it is delicious! Baked ham, mashed sweet potatoes, and asparagus, & leftover cheese bread from the night before...yummo!

8:20 PM We watch some TV but then G cries out. I go to nurse her, due to the fact that she didn't nurse much before bed.

9:15 PM G cries again...enough to warrant our attention! My husband goes into see what's wrong, and discovers a poopy diaper. We change her and since she is so wound up and sick, I nurse her again. I know, I know, bad.mom.move.like.#3432545 of the day...sue me, I think I'm a great mom. :-)

9:45 PM My husband and I decide we better hit the hay because it seems like it's going to be a rough night.