A Day In My Life

I thought I would record my day as it happens and update it through out the day. It is a picture of my life...but just today. Every day is different.

6:15am--Ben wakes up. Ted gets up with him because he has to get ready for work anyway. He gets out a healthy S'mores Pop Tart for Ben to eat.

6:30am--Ted wakes up Sam and Abby to get ready for school. They help themselves to breakfast(Strawberry Pop-Tart for Sam, S'mores Pop-Tart for Abby). It's picture day, so I layed out their clothes last night. Abby is buying today. Sam is bringing. He's pretty picky. He usually brings except on Fridays when it's Domino's Pizza Day.

6:35am--Ted comes in to say he is taking a shower. This is my wake up call. I'm "on" now. I can usually lay in bed til Ben comes looking for me.

6:40am--Ben climbs into bed with me with a "stinky poot". I would like to have done without the aroma, but he seems happy so I'll deal with it.

7:00am--Mary wakes up. Late for her. I get her and then make Sam's lunch. Mary eats a Nutri-grain bar for breakfast. I brush Abby's hair so it looks good for her pictures.

7:10am--Ted tells me I can take a shower if I want...he has no early appointments and it's not our turn to drive carpool. I go shower.

7:25am--Kids are picked up for school. Ted remembers that he left our carseats in the car when he dropped it off at Dobb's last night (alternater problems), so he leaves to pick up the carseats and brings them back before leaving for work. Back-up-My car died on me yesterday when I was leaving to pick up the kids from school. My mom came over so I could use her car to get them.

7:30am-7:40am--Change Ben's diaper and hold him on the couch.

7:40am-8:00am--I finish getting ready for the day while Ben and Mary entertain themselves.

8:00am--I remember that I need some pictures of Mary. She's 11 months old now and I feel like I haven't taken many lately of Mary or Ben. I get out the camera and take some pictures of them sitting on the couch with the morning sun on them.

8:30am--I forgot to eat! Eat a bowl of Oatmeal Squares. My favorite cereal.

8:45am--Take video of Mary walking because I haven't done this yet and she's been walking for a couple of weeks!

9:00am--Rewash a stinky load of laundry that I forgot to put in the dryer..and haven't touched for days. I vow to catch up on laundry today!
--Put up some paint swatches against my fireplace brick (which is the same brick on the outside of my house) to help me decide what to paint our front doors. I want to it to be painted sometime this Fall before it gets cold. Previous owners did a horrible paint job on them. A milky white that doesn't cover the doors well. I'm leaning towards a burgundy color.

9:15am--I take a dash through the house. Really...I started running around. I'm sure I looked like a child playing, but I was testing some pulled muscles from my soccer game last Tuesday. I was sore the whole week!!! I'm an old, out of shape woman! My pulled muscles hurt when I genuflect (spelling?), or get up from the floor after I change a diaper (putting weight on one leg). I decide I will play tonight...but try to take it easy to let these muscles heal. I don't "take it easy" very well. I think I have to be Superwoman. What am I trying to prove?? That I'm still 20? (I'm 36).

9:20--Start this blog. I will publish this and then edit through out the day.

9:35--It's quite. Where's Mary? Eating Chapstick. Yuck. Took it away.

9:40--Move everything from the big, new baby diaper bag to a smaller one I used with the other kids. Much better! Decide to keep still good diaper bag and stash it with all the other "still good" diaper bags that I never use.
--Charge up cell phone, and batteries for camera.
--Start clearing clutter counter (don't finish)
--Change another poop from Ben.
--Clip Ben's nails.
--Work on Laundry.

10:00am--Where are Ben and Mary? Upstairs in Sam's room. They're happy...don't mess with it.

10:04--Mom calls. She decides she's not going to have her annual hayride/chili dinner. She's getting bookcases beside her fireplace and she'll wait to have people over when they're done. I can go ahead and have Mary's bday party at my house instead of combining with this event. I'll have it the same day we were planning. 10/30. I think I'll have white chili as well as the regular chili. Sam's bday dinner is 10/16 so it will be a crazy month. Thanks, Mom for watching the kids yesterday. No problem, they were so cute! (8 minute conversation).

10:15--Check on Ben and Mary...They're ok....but they're making a mess of Ben's room. Oh well.

10:20--Is it hot in here or is it me?? Get plastic shoeboxes for Sam and neighbor for tonight. They have cubscouts. I need to put moist dirt in the shoeboxes so they can make animal prints. You mean MUD? Ok...note to self...dig in the yard for dirt today.
--Made bed.

10:25--Ted calls. He tells me he IS going to the Cards playoff game today. But he told his boss to give him a choice next time because his commission suffers when he does this stuff. The other guys have higher salaries and don't rely on commission as much. There is a pay increase in the works that will happen by the end of the year which should make it easier for Ted. His boss confirms this. Then his pay will be mostly salary with bonuses on top. I feel better about him going to the baseball game (which will take up most of his day) knowing his pay will change soon. Ted's happier that I'm happier because quite the discussion ensued last night because of his bosses "forcing" him to go the baseball game. 5 minute conversation. Bye...have fun. Lucky Ted.

10:38--Why is Mary so crabby?? DUH! She needs a nap! Layed her down.

10:40--Updated Blog.

10:50--Back to the Laundry folding.

11:00--Ben wants his "over the door Nerf Basketball Net" on the entertainment center shelf. He keeps complaining when he loses his ball on the shelf. Whine...whine...Ben, use your nice voice!

11:12--Neighbor calls. Is my car ready? She'll take me to get it when she drops her son off for Kindergarten if I want. Thanks...haven't heard from them yet. Talk to her for 17 minutes. All the while, Ben is complaining about wanting something to eat. I make him mac-n-cheese. He's whining most of the time I'm on the phone. He was good most of the morning! Honest!

11:30--Made myself lunch. A ham sandwich on whole wheat bread, Dorito's and Diet Pepsi. Oh yah...Famous Amos Cookies. Relax for 20 minutes while I eat. Ben let's me.

11:50--Back to the Laundry...I told you I was committed.

12:07pm--Mary wakes up. Gave her mac-n-cheese and chopped ham.
--Changed Ben again! Another poop!

12:15--Changed Mary's diaper.

12:18pm--Neighbor calls again. Do I have a shop-vac? Her upstairs toilet has flooded. It's dripping all the way into the basement! Two levels! We help eachother out. Her 4 kids are between the ages of my first 3. It's great to have her to lean on. We both know what it's like to be stay at home moms. We offer the help most people wouldn't think of. I went downstairs and got the shop vac.

12:40--Layed Ben down for a nap. I pick up at 2:30 so the earlier he goes down the better. He likes a 2 1/2 hour nap. They are always cut short when I pick up. I pick up Mon, Tues and Wed.

12:45--Surveyed the damage at my neighbors...It AIN'T good. She thinks her 2 year old did something to the toilet to make it run forever. She didn't hear the water running until her son pointed to the water dripping from the ceiling in the family room. She's got beach towels and buckets catching the drips. We lament together. If it's not one thing...it's another. But it could have been worse. She could have left the house and the water would have run forever!!

1:15--Sit down with Mary and watch a taped Oprah.

2:00--My neighbor Mary calls again. Do I have the phone number of the taper who did my bathroom? No, it was done through a contractor. Mary is letting me borrow her van so I can pick up the kids from school. She walks her kids home from school so she doesn't need her car. I come over to the keys and ask her if she has any dirt for Sam's cubscout project. She has a ton of top soil because her husband just dug up the entire yard, tilled in compost and reseeded the whole front. She said he wouldn't miss 2 half full containers of dirt. So I got my dirt from her. I didn't have to dig!

2:35--Woke up Ben from his nap, filled the sippy cups and grabbed some cereal for the kids to snack on.

2:40--Took the neighbor's car to pick up Sam, Abby and Devon (our other neighbor) from school.

3:25--Back from carpool. Ben wants to swing outside. Layed Mary down for a second nap and swung Ben on the swingset.

3:45--Bring Ben inside. Ted comes home from the baseball game. Cards won! Normally, Ted doesn't come home until 6:00pm. This is early! Lucky me!

4:00--Ben goes through a crabby rant. 15 minutes. Whew. All done. Got Sam's dirt wet. Now it's definitely mud. Maybe I did too much. It shrunk. I think I need more dirt now!

4:10--Mary wakes up. Has a poop...and is really cranky. Did the poop wake her up? That wasn't a very long nap at all! Ben gets cranky again. Ted takes him out to swing again.

4:15--My sister, Becky, calls. She wants to know if she can come over now. She plays soccer with me. Why not? Sure! She works for the school as a Paraprofessional. So her day ends early. She's on her way over now. She'll eat with us and hang out til it's time to go to our game.

4:30--Get ready for soccer game. Ben is crabby and clingy..."hold you, hold you, hold you!"

5:00pm--Leave with Becky to buy the family Taco Bell. I take Ben to give Ted a break. He whines the whole way there.

5:40pm--Eat. Ted and I eat 2 Gorditas each because they are the lightest choice on the menu without going "Fresco"...which we don't like. They left out our breadsticks (for the kids)! This is the second time! I ate with Ben on my lap because he was upset I didn't get him a drink. I didn't get any of us drinks! Ted ate with Mary on his lap. Whew.

6:15pm--Becky takes Ted to get the car. It's ready. It was just a battery cable problem. $150. Not bad....could have been worse.
--Take Sam and neighbor, Alex, to cubscouts. They tie their own neckerchiefs in the back seat and they look BAD. I apologized to the leader. He jokingly told me they weren't going to have uniform inspections today.

7:00--Head to soccer game. Get on the field and realize there is NO way I am playing on these legs. My thighs couldn't handle it. Pain shot through immediately. My home jogs were not good indicators after all. I sat out the whole game. My coach said it would just make it worse. I knew I didn't have a choice. I held my teammate's 6 week old. He was so chubby and cute. Our team has about 41 kids between us all.

8:45pm--Get home. Ted's reading "Chronicles of Narnia" to the Sam and Abby. Ben and Mary are already in bed. It's our new tradition. Every night we read one chapter. We're almost done with the first book. We want to read the second, "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" before the movie comes out. I pull out a wine cooler left over from a family get together. I really wanted cold water but there were no bottles in the fridge. I should drink these up anyway. :-)

9:00--Sam and Abby go to bed. I finished this blog and then hung out with Ted in the family room. We talked about our day and then turned on the TV to watch the news.

10:45pm--Goodnight!