I've never done a "Day in the Life" blog post so I was excited about this topic. I love reading other bloggers posts about what they do all day, I think it's fascinating. I guess that's the voyeur in me talking. One of my very favorite bloggers, Julia from My Life in Transition does regular "Day in the Life" posts and I LOVE them. She's amazing and has a zillion photos and fabulous details and fascinating stories. I've never done one because...uh, my life is BORING, y'all. Who wants to read about what I had for lunch and what I do at work. Yuck. So, feel free to skip this post if you're just not into that stuff. However, now that I've done this, I'm kinda glad I did. It'll be great to look back on this whole documented day and remember what life was like for us in the Spring of 2013. Just an average day.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
6:45 a.m. – Baby Mac wakes up.
Ryan gets up to get him, since I took the night shift. I was up twice with him last night – once at
11:15 p.m. and again at 2:30 a.m. Both
times he went back to bed pretty easily, but I had a harder time. I roll over and go back to sleep for a few
more minutes. I hear him go to the bathroom, brush his teeth, wash his face...all while Mac cries in his crib to tell us he's up. The dogs start running around because they know it's breakfast time. UGH. SHUT THE DAMN DOOR!
7:00 a.m. – Construction guy shows up to finish up working on the
basement. We had water damage this year,
so we’re replacing some drywall and getting new carpet installed. He shows up at the back door and the dogs are
barking their heads off. WHY?! I JUST
WANT TO GO BACK TO SLEEP FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES! I HATE EVERYONE.
7:25 a.m. – Can’t sleep. Of course. I grab my phone, check email, check my calendar. What day is it again? I don't have a clue. I roll
out of bed, trip over a dog. Make my way to the bathroom to take a quick shower.
7:35 a.m. Go
get dressed. Can't find anything to wear that fits. Must diet. Must diet. Must diet. (so not going to happen) Blow dry hair and put it straight into a ponytail. I also skip the makeup today. My
co-workers must seriously think I’m a total slob. I don't give a flying shit. My poor husband. Also, why don't I work somewhere I could wear scrubs everyday? That would be awesome.
7:40 a.m. – Dressed and ready.
Head downstairs with shoes and phone. Trip over a dog. Grab the baby from Ryan and make a giant cup of coffee. Give him snuggles and kisses. Try not to get food, drool, spit-up, poop or
dog hair on my clothes. Fail. Makes scrambled eggs for Mac's breakfast and cut up a banana and some fruit. I take a couple bites of his eggs, but am not hungry. I'm just not into breakfast. Would much rather have 27 cups of coffee.
8:00 a.m. – Nanny arrives and she takes over breakfast duty and clean up.
I give her a brief update on how Mac slept the night before, talk about
their plans for the day, leave any instructions or errands for her. Today she’s going to pick up some last minute
items for Mac’s birthday party this weekend.
I leave her my credit card and thank her profusely. I love her. Ryan comes down, says hi, kisses the baby. We both rush out the door. Mac cries. I feel like a complete asshole. I hate leaving him.
8:10 a.m. – Drive to work.
Think about Mac. Think about the weekend. Think about blog posts. Compose
them in my head. I have a list of topics
on a notepad in my handbag that I look at while I’m stopped at a light.
8:25 a.m. – Arrive at work.
A little bit late, but I’ll make it up over my lunch break. Work, work, work.
11:15 a.m. – Text nanny to check on Mac. He took an hour long morning nap and they’re
now running errands. She’s the
best. Back to work.
12:00 p.m. – Text from nanny that they’ve been to Target and the
craft store and are out having lunch now at a local deli.
Mac’s being a ham and putting on a show for all the old ladies at the
table next to him. She says he’s fake
coughing every time someone else coughs and it’s cracking her up. She sends me a Mac photo and tells me that he loves and misses me. I melt. I wish I wasn't so busy right now and we could all have lunch together. Must schedule that for next week.
1:00 p.m. – I have a can of a soup, some chips and a banana at my desk. Still starving. Check a few blogs over my “lunch break.” Reply to some emails. Prepare for my afternoon meetings. More coffee.
3:30 p.m. – Text from nanny that Mac only had his afternoon nap in
two parts, due to a nightmare. But he
woke up in a great mood and they went for a walk outside in his wagon. She sends a photo of him to brighten my day. I can't get over how big he is. And the sippy cup in the cup holder just kills me.
4:40 p.m. – Shut off my computer and leave the office as fast as I
can. Deal with traffic. Call Ryan to ask what we should do for
dinner. He doesn’t answer. Listen to some awful (yet catchy) song about
being twenty-twoooooooo and thank God that I’m no longer 22.
Then get sad when I realize I’m closer to 42 than to 22. And 42 is basically 50. Fuck, I'm old.
5:05 p.m. – Get home and let the nanny go. She says Mac’s been awesome and in a great
mood. Get tons of hugs and kisses from Mac. He seems so happy to see me. Man, I love this kid. Mac and I go upstairs so I can
change clothes. Mac wants to climb the stairs on his own, which still terrifies me because he constantly stops and turns around and wants to stand up.
He chases the cat and
pretends to make phone calls with the cordless phone while I put on yoga pants
and a t-shirt. He wants to be held and tackles me on the closet floor. We roll around and hug and then he proceeds to throw every shoe in my closet on the floor as fast as he can (his father taught him this trick and thinks it's hilarious).
5:10 p.m. – Outside to play.
We check on the nest of baby birds living in a nest in the ceiling fan on our porch. One fell out yesterday. I wonder if it made it back in the nest? We walk up and down the street. Say hi to all the neighborhood kids. We play in the mulch, roll around in the
grass, chew on a stick. We try out the swing, but he ain't having it. Mainly he just
wants to be held. I talk to him about my
day, he pretends to care. We get the mail, he tries to eat it. We check on the basement. We see if there’s anything for dinner in the
freezer (there’s not). We try to play
with some toys, but he's not interested. We go back upstairs to see the cat, water the plants and jump on the bed.
5:40 p.m. – Mac’s starting to get whiny and wants to be held
nonstop. I can’t put him down, but do
love all the hugs. I know he misses me
all day and just doesn’t want to let go yet. Not sure if he's just tired or fussy from teething. He's also probably sore for all the falling he's been doing lately trying to run. I hold him and talk to him. I can't sit down. I can't stop moving. He doesn't want to be in the house. He doesn't want to do anything. He's also trying to talk to me. He wants to be able to tell me what he wants, but he can't get his point across and just points and grunts. He gets so frustrated when I don’t understand. I try to show him signs for things and he just shakes his head.
5:45 p.m. - We feed the dogs. He gets VERY angry that he can’t eat the dog
food or play in the water bowl. On the
verge of meltdown – I’m the worst mommy EVER. Where the hell is my husband?
5:50 p.m. - I start getting his dinner ready, one-handed, while holding him. It's hard. He's heavy. Oh so heavy. Why aren't my arms buff? I let him open and close the microwave and the cabinets, which makes him slightly happier. I let him give Sage and ice cube. She licks it and he puts it in his mouth. Whatever.
5:55 p.m. – Mac has dinner in his highchair. Tonight he’s having some leftover pasta, half
a Trader Joes’ chicken burger, watermelon, Greek yogurt,
pineapple and some ice cream for dessert.
He eats some of it, but he’s teething and I think his gums are bothering
him. He doesn’t eat as much as I’d like
him too, but I don’t force it. I pick at
his food and wish I was having pasta and chicken burgers for dinner. I give him the spoon and he entertains himself for a few minutes banging it, trying to put food on it and then just throwing it across the room. Mommy plays fetch.
6:10 p.m. - He gives me the sign for all done after
swiping most of his food off his tray and onto the floor. I let the “clean-up crew” (dogs) in to take
care of the mess. I let him wash his
hands in the sink (which ends with us both being drenched) and then put him
down to clean up the mess and put the dishes in the sink. He’s still not ready to be put down and screams bloody murder. He's got me pegged. I pick him up and take him back outside and leave the clean-up for later.
6:10 p.m. – Ryan gets home and Mac is miraculously all better and
in a great mood. Daddy makes everything better. He's our hero. I hand Mac off to Ryan and fix us a cocktail. Ryan and I get vodka, Mac gets tequila. Just kidding. Mac gets vodka too.
6:15 p.m. – Ryan changes clothes and we head back outside to hang
out. Ryan throws the bumper for Sage,
Mally barks her face off. We chat about our day and about Mac's day. We talk about our upcoming vacation and the birthday party. We say hi to
the neighbors. We check on the baby
birds again. We walk up and down the
street again. We play with the wagon again. We go inside to look at
the basement again. We see if there’s
anything in the freezer for dinner again (there’s not…still).
7:00 p.m. – I go upstairs and start a bath for Mac. He comes upstairs and immediately heads down the hall to the bedroom to find the cat. That poor poor cat. I pretend chase him and he squeals. We jump on the bed and he cracks up. I strip him down for his bath.
7:05 p.m. – Ryan gives Mac his bath. I clean up the high chair and dinner mess. I check email, check Facebook, check
Instagram. Sip my cocktail. Try to decompress for 5 minutes. I can hear Mac and Ryan upstairs playing “Duck
Hunt” with Mac’s rubber ducky and blowing bubbles. When I give Mac baths, we kiss the duck and love on him. When daddy gives baths, it's a duck massacre and Mac claps and laughs! He's going to be so conflicted when he gets older. I get his bottle ready, lay out his bedtime
clothes and get the white noise on in his bedroom.
7:20 p.m. – Ryan yells for “MAMA” and I run upstairs with a
towel. We take our little drowned rat
downstairs to get a clean diaper and put his PJs and sleep sack on. I grab the bottle. We give night night kisses to daddy and the
puppies and head back upstairs. Ryan orders take out, does dishes, starts laundry, turns on the Cardinals game.
7:30 p.m. – Mac and I sit in the glider in his room and read “Moo
Baa La La La” and “Good Night Moon.” He’s
not interested in the books at all tonight.
Sometimes he’ll take a little bit of his bottle, but tonight he just
wants to go to bed. We snuggle for a few
minutes. I hold his hand and sing him a song. Every night I sing "I Will" by the Beatles and "Sweet Baby James" (changed to Sweet Baby Mac) by James Taylor. He sings too and watches me. He's exhausted and almost asleep. I kiss him on the forehead, tell him good night and put him in his
crib. He’s out within seconds.
7:45 p.m. – Ryan runs
out and picks up sushi to go. I work on
birthday party projects and make us both another cocktail. Tonight I'm making jellyfish from paper plates and ribbon. Another
genius idea from Pinterest. There’s hot
glue and ribbon EVERYWHERE. Ryan does not understand why we need MORE party decorations. I don't know how to stop.
8:15 p.m. – We eat dinner in the living room in front of the
TV. We have a new Deadliest Catch to
watch, which makes me glad we ordered a lot of rolls with crab in them. Mmmm…crab. I eat so much I think I might explode. Dessert?
9:15 p.m. – I go back in the other room to finish my project and
clean up all the hot glue gun mess. I just need to get it done so I can check it off the list. I NEED TO CHECK SOMETHING OFF THE LIST!
9:50 p.m. – Ryan tells me he’s going to bed and hands me the video monitor. He gives me a kiss and tells me not to stay
up too late. He lets the dogs out. Sage goes up with him and Mally stays
downstairs with me. I go into the office
and write tomorrow’s blog post and upload some photos. I look at my "To Do" list and want to throw
up. So much to do. Feel like I’m drowning sometimes. I don’t know why I feel the need to take on
more and more stuff. I could stay up all
night and not be anywhere close to finishing.
So overwhelmed, I just go to bed.
10:55 p.m. – I get in bed.
Check email one more time, maybe Instagram. Wish I would have taken some photos today with the big camera. Run through my "To Do" list for tomorrow in my head. Close my eyes. Within 2 minutes, the baby’s crying. I listen for a few minutes to make sure he’s
not going to put himself back to sleep (he’s not). Get up, make a bottle, go get him. Snuggle, rock, bottle, snuggle, kiss, back
down. Tonight he took an entire bottle (8 ounces) - he hasn't done that in a long time. Probably because he didn't have much for dinner. Hope he can sleep through the night now that his tummy's full.
11:25 p.m. – I go to get back in bed and Sage is in my spot. She looks so comfortable and I swear she
smiles at me. I feel bad moving her, but
shove her over to Ryan’s side. She took all the covers with her. I lay down and pass out.
1:50 a.m. – Wake up to Mac crying.
More like whimpering, not a full on cry.
After a few minutes of fussing, he’s back down. I go back to sleep.
3:00 a.m. – Kick Sage out of bed because she’s hogging my whole
side and snoring. Go back to sleep.
And do it all over again.