Our Days, Part One

The days around here have fallen (or been forced) into something of a schedule. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. And most everyone is probably not at all interested in this level of detail about our days, but I'm discovering how defective my memory is and I want to remember ...

6:30am - I try to be up and at 'em, getting things done. Like showering. Or checking e-mail. This is generally when the day starts going off track because I never really want to get out of bed at this point. I also try to figure out our schedule for the day: Monday, get all laundry done; Tuesday, try to clean or run errands that didn't get done on the weekend; Wednesday, wash sheets and towels plus storytime at the library; Thursday, play with the children all day long; Friday, try to meet Dave for lunch and get the menu and grocery list ready. Doesn't sound like much, does it? Things slow down when you have all the help that I do:


8:00am - and not a minute before, but sometimes later, I go in and get the kids. In general, Dax wakes up around 7:30am, looks around, and screams to wake up Julia. Then the two of them throw every bit of unharnessed stuff out of their cribs and Julia starts screaming, "Maaaaamaaaaa!! Maaaaamaaaaaa!!!" Sometimes she tries to get everything out of the crib ...

Here she is sad because she's tossed Froggie out (along with everything else).
She does this every day.
And every day it makes her sad.

She tried to get her PJs off to join the pile, but the zipper got stuck.

8:15am - Diapers have been changed and clothes picked out. If we're not going anywhere, I let Julia pick them out. You'll be able to see the results of that in future pictures. And if we're not going anywhere, Dax stays in his pajamas all day. He loves it. Really. If we are going somewhere, I still don't change him until after ...

8:30am - Breakfast! Dax loves breakfast because he gets to eat his favorite thing of all time ... bananas. He's a really fast crawler ... you put a banana in his sight and he becomes the Superman of crawlers!

He's a big boy now and doesn't need that banana chopped up into bitty pieces anymore!

His other current breakfast favorite: yogurt!



9:00am - Breakfast is over and the kids are cleaned. I can now send them off to play and entertain themselves for about 45 minutes before I have to deal with a situation. (Unless I want to do something interesting like go to the bathroom or take a shower or sit down and eat my breakfast or make Dax's bottles ... ) Julia usually wants to draw or read to herself at this point (Well, what she really wants to do is watch TV, but that request gets a "No!" from Mommy ... every. single. day.) Dax wanders off to stack cups or put beads in a tub and then take them out or he pesters his sister. Some days all three! In general I try to make sure all juice cups, milk cups and bottles are ready to go for the day and that the kitchen is cleaned up from breakfast. Then I try to sit and eat and read. (This is the point where I start having to remind the kids "No, this is Mommy's breakfast. You need to Go PLAY!")

This was one of the days she chose her own clothes. Nice.

10:00am - Some days we're out the door. Some days we retire to the kids' room to try to contain the explosion of play things. Some days I have an activity planned. Most days I don't. It's a bit random. The next two hours really just depend on the day. Some days the kids can play on their own for minutes at a time. Some days they want to hang on Mommy and not let go. Some days Mommy puts everyone in a crib and lays down on the floor with her book and declares "Quiet Time!" (This usually happens around the time Julia asks for the twentieth or thirtieth time to play "Atheth, atheth, Mommy!" [Ring Around The Rosy for those not fluent in Toddler Speak] and I say "No" causing Julia to burst into tears.)





10:45am - Dax gets his bottle and Julia gets a snack. We've been "milking down" his bottles (1/4 whole milk, 3/4 formula) to get him used to the milk. We'll up the milk part slowly over the next month. We've also been weaning him off the afternoon bottle. As in, one day I just stopped giving it to him and made him eat goldfish and drink juice instead. He's not very happy about that turn of events. We're dealing. This bottle is the next to go.


And now I'm out of time ... come back tomorrow to discover what we're eating for lunch!