So everyone in the blogosphere seems to be doing a day in the life post right now (which I'm always really fascinated by), so I figured I'd join in on the fun. It's been almost exactly a year to the day that I did my last (first and only) day in the life post (
HERE), which was really fun to look back on and see how much has changed. Mac is such a big kid now, compared to last year. I'm sure our lives will look very different this time next year with the addition of Mim.
Mac is 23.5 months old
Ryan is 34
Sara is 35
I'm 28 weeks, 1 day pregnant with Mim
7:10 a.m. - I hear Mac in his crib talking to his babies. I roll over (with great effort, as my stomach is giant) to check the clock. I lay there for a few minutes listening to Mac talk and feeling Mim start to stir around in my belly. I just love that feeling. Ryan is still asleep next to me. Mac slept through the night (woo hoo) and I only got up twice to pee and quickly fell back asleep both times, so I consider that a very good night. I feel pretty rested and good, but know that won't last very long. I'm getting exhausted earlier and earlier these days. Mac starts to get louder and I can hear him saying "Wake up, Mama!" I decide that today's the day I'm finally going to do a "Day in the Life" post (it's been a year since my last one), so I grab my phone and start the documentation process.
7:15 a.m. - Ryan hears Mac too and goes in to get him before I can drag myself out of bed. He brings him to our room and Mac gets under the covers with me and snuggles in bed. I love this part of the day. He touches my face and gives me kisses and is so genuinely happy to see me. He says "Wake up, mama!" on repeat, while jumping and thrashing around. Ryan goes in the closet to put his running clothes and shoes on and Mac gets angry that he's not in bed with us. He starts yelling, "Daddy sleep right HERE!" and points to Ryan's side of the bed. Ryan lays back down for a couple minutes and the three of us snuggle. Jigs (the cat) joins us at Mac's insistence ("JIGS COME!"). This kid is bossy these days.
7:20 a.m. - I get up, throw a robe on and brush my teeth. Ryan finishes getting his workout clothes on and Mac runs around chasing the cat. Ryan asks me why I'm taking photos of myself and I explain that I'm documenting our whole day. I think he rolls his eyes.
7:22 a.m. - We all head downstairs. I go let the dogs out, while Ryan changes Mac's diaper.
7:25 a.m. - Ryan heads to the basement to run on the treadmill. Mac sees a bunny outside the window and we sit and stare at it until it finally hops away. Today is GARBAGE TRUCK DAY!!!, which Mac remembered (I told him last night), so he's very hesitant to leave the window since he doesn't want to miss it. Last week he pulled a chair in the entryway and sat in front of the door all morning waiting for it. It didn't show up until after they'd left for the day, so he really doesn't want to miss it today.
7:30 a.m. - I go into the kitchen, feed the dogs and start making Mac's breakfast. He's having 2 scrambled eggs, a bowl of cereal and banana. I also make myself a giant cup of decaf coffee and splurge with a little caramel creamer. The coffee at work is disgusting, so I have to make sure I get a refill at home before heading out. Mac has finally left the window and joined me in the kitchen. I turn on Doc McStuffins for him, which I actually think is a cute show and doesn't make me want to rip my eyeballs out like Super Why or Daniel Tiger does. He pulls out my pastry mat from a cupboard and uses it as a mat to sit on. No idea what that's all about.
7:35 a.m. - Breakfast is ready. Mac insists on climbing into his high chair himself, which freaks me out, but makes him so incredibly proud of himself. I put a bib on him ("circle bib, mama") and blow on his eggs. He goes straight for the cereal, probably because he loves feeding himself with a spoon. All the milk runs off the spoon and into his lap, but I try not to worry about it. He eats all the banana, all the cereal and most of the eggs. Breakfast is always a good meal for him. While he's eating, I straighten up the kitchen and put 75 sippy cups in the dishwasher. I check my work email to make sure no one's been looking for me this morning and then make sure my blog post went up when up as scheduled. Mac doesn't finish his eggs, so I pick them off his plate and eat them. Even pregnant I don't have much appetite in the morning, but I figure she needs a little something.
7:50 a.m. - I know Mac's finished with breakfast when he throws his milk cup on the floor and screams "ALL DONE!!!" at me thirty times as loud as he can. Patience is not his strong suit. I get him cleaned up and out of his high chair and he wants to go downstairs to watch daddy running. We head down and he gets very angry at me for attempting to hold his hand as we descend. The nerve of me. When we get to the bottom of the stairs he asks for his golf clubs. I hand him one, but apparently it's the wrong one and a meltdown ensues.
7:55 a.m. - The only thing that will calm him down is the prospect of going outside. I explain to him that he has to get dressed and put on shoes before we can go outside, which leads to more tears and hysteria. OMG. Being a toddler is HARD.
8:00 a.m. - Our nanny arrives and Mac is pissed that she's there. He screams and yells at her the minute she walks in the door. I tell him he's being mean and he looks slightly sorry for about 30 seconds before telling her to "MOVE" again. That's the biggest insult he knows right now ("Move outta here!"). I know he loves her and they'll have a great day, but transitions in the morning have been really rough lately. I feel bad that sometimes he's so nasty and of course I feel horribly guilty that he really just wants me and I have to go to work. Most days I would turn him over to her, but today he's just not having it and I take him upstairs to get him dressed. I shut the door to his room so he can't get away from me and attempt to wrestle him into some clothes. He cries and fights me the whole time but eventually calms down when I tell him we can read the duck book together before I leave. I get him dressed and we sit down together and read about 8 pages of
Make Way for Ducklings before he loses interest and remember that the garbage truck is coming today.
8:05 a.m. - I take Mac downstairs and he agrees to go outside and ride his four-wheeler with the nanny and wait for the garbage truck. She mentions that he has to wear his helmet on the 4-wheeler and he says "NO!" I run back upstairs before getting in the middle of that battle. I have two meetings today, so I quickly put on a tiny bit of makeup: a little under-eye concealer, Benetint on my cheeks, some powder, blush and mascara. Better than nothing, which is what I usually wear. I took a shower last night and put my hair in a loose bun, so there are some waves in it, but needs a little help. I spend two minutes curling the ends under and call it a day.
8:10 a.m. - I head into my closet to get dressed. My stomach is huge, but I love it. It's strangely flat right where my belly button is and I wonder if it's because of Mim's position or what. Weird. She's been hanging out on my right side these days and it's crazy to see how lopsided my belly can get when she's favoring one side over the other.
8:12 a.m. - I throw on a stretchy dress that I love. It's not maternity, but I got away with wearing it through my entire pregnancy with Mac and it still looked good on me post-partum. It's light and loose-fitting, but hugs your curves in all the right places. It's magic or something. I wish I owned this dress in 30 different colors, I'd wear it every single day. Add gold necklace and my black/gold Tory Burch Revas.
8:15 a.m. - I'm dressed and ready to go. On my way out I stop by Mim's room and peek in at her nursery. I haven't had much time to make progress on it lately, but I still love it. Her closet full of tiny pink clothes makes me absolutely giddy! I'm so excited for her to get here.
8:18 a.m. - I make myself another cup of decaf in a to-go cup and head outside. I tell the nanny that the garage is off limits for Mac today because I'm in the process of putting his playhouse together (his birthday present) and there are wood pieces, screws, hardware and tools all over the garage. At that exact moment he starts banging on the garage and insists that we let him in. I swear he only wants in because I just mentioned that he shouldn't go in there. Cue the next meltdown. I take photos of him crying (which only makes him more mad) while the nanny tells me about their plans for the day (the zoo!). I'm jealous. I want to go to the zoo with him. I hate not being able to do all the fun stuff with him during the week. I miss him so much already and I haven't even left yet.
8:20 a.m. - I tell him no one more time that he cannot go in the garage when all of a sudden the garage door opens and Ryan comes out. Mac thinks he got his way and is happy. He gives daddy hugs, since mommy is so mean and wouldn't let him in the garage. I hold him and insist on getting a photo together (why not) for the post. Ryan asks me again why I'm doing this, but plays along. Again, I think he rolls his eyes. I give Mac and Ryan goodbye kisses and head out to work. Two family photos before 9:00 a.m. - I'm rocking this post!
8:24 a.m. - In the car before 8:30, which means I'm running a little late, but I plan on working through lunch so I'll make up the time. Had one minor incident with some road rage on my way to the office when the lady in front of me was playing on her phone and not paying attention to the lights. I had to honk twice to get her attention and we missed the stoplight, which infuriated me. I may or may not have made some rude hand gestures at her, which she may or may not have seen. When the light turned green, she deliberately blocked me from being able to get around her and then flipped me off for trying to pass her as she sped up and nearly ran me off the road! Ugh. People suck.
8:45 a.m. - Arrive at work to find my voicemail light on. I HATE that light. I get voicemail as email now, but that light on the phone used to make my stomach turn. Voicemail is from a solicitor (not my boss) and therefore not important. Delete. I turn on my computer, check my email and my calendar. I have one of those day-by-day pregnancy calendars next to my desk and most of the time it's the only way I know how far along I am. Yesterday was 28 weeks exactly! Hello third trimester, baby!
9:00 - 11:00 a.m. - Work, work, work. Answer emails, print contracts, draft minutes and resolutions, plan meetings, schedule filings. It's going to be a busy day. Get more coffee. Pee three times. I get a couple texts and photos of Mac from the nanny about how their morning at the zoo is going. Apparently he's not sure what he's looking at, but knows there's "something" in there and is enthralled by the tractor. Yep, out of all the exotic animals, the tractor is probably the highlight of his day.
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. - Attend meetings, answer more emails, review resumes for summer intern, draft meeting agendas. Boring, boring, boring. Busy, busy, busy.
12:30 p.m. - One of the secretaries offered to run out to Subway and pick up lunch for everyone. I ordered a veggie patty on wheat (healthy!) with lots of mayo (unhealthy!), chips and a big cup of lemonade. By now I'm hungrier than I thought I would be and wish I'd ordered a footlong. I eat at my desk while flipping through resumes. I'm appalled by the awfulness of some of the resumes that I see. Don't these law students have someone to proofread for them? Nope, you're not getting a job. I pick three that don't make me want to cry and email the names to HR to set up interviews for next week.
1:00 - 4:30 p.m. - Mim's kicking like crazy in there, having a post-lunch dance party. I'm full and tired and desperately want a nap. I finish a couple projects and feel like a rockstar crossing them off my to do list. I force myself to drink 2 giant cups of water (must stay hydrated to avoid contractions) and treat myself to a cookie. Mim approves and does a happy dance. So glad I passed that glucose test. I pee at least 5 more times. Ryan sends me a calendar invite for the opening day of frog hunting season. Seriously? However, I do love frog legs, so I approve. I start on another project, take a break and check some of my favorite blogs, quick search on Pinterest for maternity photo ideas (my session is two days away) and get back to work.
4:30 p.m. - Quitting time! I nearly sprint to my car and get out of there as fast as I can (must pee first). Mim kicks away to the music on the radio. I rub my belly when we pass by the hospital where she'll be delivered and can't believe I'm less than 80 days from meeting her. I tell her that I'm very excited to meet her, but insist that she stay put. Traffic has been awful lately, so I'm pleasantly surprised that it doesn't take me longer than 20 minutes to get home.
4:50 p.m. - Mac and the nanny are outside playing and he gets SO excited when he sees me pull up. I roll down the window and grab him and pull him in the car for hugs and kisses. He sits in the passenger seat and we pull into the garage. He says, "Mama home! Mama home!" over and over and I want to melt. We go inside and I discuss Mac's day with the nanny while he attempts to drag me out of the house and into the yard to play. He reluctantly goes out with the nanny for "one minute" while I run upstairs to change out of my work clothes and into something comfy (yoga pants and a tshirt). I head back downstairs to be greeted by these two ladies (wanting attention) and a package (the sheets for Mim's crib!).
4:55 p.m. - Head outside to play with Mac. Get all the final information about his nap and lunch from the nanny and she heads home for the day. Mac is playing golf, but decides he'd rather play baseball, so we head over to the neighbor's house to "borrow" their bat and ball (he likes their stuff better than ours for some reason even though we have the exact same bat and ball at our house).
5:00 - 5:20 p.m. - We play baseball for quite a while today. He tries to throw the ball in the air and hit it like daddy does, but isn't real successful. I throw a few pitches for him and does better but gets frustrated and instead turns to hitting the ball from the ground, like golf.
5:20 p.m. - I ask if he'll come inside with me for a few minutes while I get a glass of lemonade. He does not want to go in, so I tell him we can go upstairs and look for Jigs (the cat) while we're inside. That seems to do the trick. I grab some lemonade and we head upstairs to find the kitty. She's no where to be found (smart cat) so we end up jumping on the bed for a few minutes. Mac likes to get under the covers and fake sleep/snore, which is adorable. He insists that I lay down next to him, so we get a few minutes of snuggle time in. Highlight of my day. And now that I'm laying down, I do not want to get up. I grab the phone and he requests to look at some "paychecks" (pictures) of himself. I turn the camera on and take a couple selfies of us together.
5:30 p.m. - The drawer on my nightstand is open and he spies the fetal monitor and insists on listening to "baby seester's heartbeat." We used to listen to Mim's heartbeat quite a bit in the early days before I could feel her move and he doesn't forget a thing. We listen to Mim's heartbeat, then he tries to listen to his own heartbeat (which he thinks is in his belly), then attempts to use the Doppler as a phone. He is so freaking adorable.
5:40 p.m. - Back downstairs and outside again. He now wants to dig for worms, of course. We spend the next 20 minutes digging for worms in the flower beds in the front yard and talking. Our house has become "worm central" for all the kids in the neighborhood. They've all brought over their shovels and buckets to dig up our worms. The poor worms in our yard are all nearly down to little nubbins after being cut and pulled apart so many times. It's pretty hard to have sympathy for a worm and yet I do (this pregnancy has me so hormonal these days). I insist that Mac be nice to the worms and not hurt them. He thinks this means to give them kisses, which I quickly put a stop to. Nevermind.
6:00 p.m. - I ask Mac to please come inside with me while I start dinner. This usually ends in a meltdown, as he's never ready to go in. Today I told him he could bring in his 4-wheeler, which got him inside. He rode it for approximately 45 seconds before going straight to the back door and insisting to go back outside.
I put his shoes back on and open the storm door so he can come in and out as he wants. He goes straight out to his other worm digging spot and begins another dig.
6:05 - 6:20 p.m. - Tonight for dinner we're having mashed potatoes, green beans and turkey burgers. I alternate between dinner preparation and checking on Mac. He's doing pretty well outside by himself, but I go out occasionally to talk to him, help him dig or see a worm he found.
6:20 p.m - He's getting upset that I'm not playing outside with him, so I suggest that he hang out in the kitchen with me and "help." I bring his kitchen stand to the sink and let him wash dishes. Basically this just means he fills up cups with water and dumps them all over the place. Fine. Whatever. His butt is so dirty from sitting in the flower beds. It's cute, but I really hope it comes out of that outfit. This kid is a dirt magnet.
6:30 p.m. - He insists on helping me "mix" the mashed potatoes, which I reluctantly let him do, while having vivid hallucinations of him sticking his fingers in the beaters and getting them cut off, spewing blood everywhere and me having to rush him to the emergency room with fingers on ice. I carefully let him "help," but tell him repeatedly not to touch the beaters. However, I know that it would only take a second and he's so fast. That lasts about 30 seconds and then I get too nervous and insist that mommy finish the job. I let him lick the mashed potatoes off a rubber spatula and that makes him happy. He immediately wants more and probably redips his spoon in the potatoes 15 times, thus filling up on potatoes and ruining his appetite. Oh well. Better potatoes than candy, I guess.
6:40 p.m. - Ryan's finally home (later than normal) and Mac is so happy to see him. They go upstairs together so Ryan can change clothes while I get our plates ready. We sit down to eat together as a family in the kitchen. Ryan and I are on stools at the island and Mac is in his high chair, so we're not all sitting at the same table, but it's good enough. We've been doing much better at eating together these days and it makes me insanely happy. I never really had that growing up and it's important to me that we get mealtimes together. Mac watches Daniel Tiger on the kitchen TV while Ryan and I get a chance to talk about our days and how Mac's day was. Mac eats more mashed potatoes and a bit of turkey burger smothered in ketchup before throwing his milk on the floor and yelling "ALL DONE" forty times. He gets a "black" (chocolate) cookie for dessert. Mac tells Ryan about going to the zoo and all the animals he saw. Suddenly he is more animated than I've seen him in a long time. Talk about energy! Holy moly, was there speed in that cookie?
7:10 p.m. - Ryan takes Mac outside for a while so I can do the dishes and clean up the kitchen. They have a little father/son bonding time playing baseball and then I join them. Mac is insane! He's running around like a wild banshee. I text the nanny and ask her if he's on crack, which she laughs about and said she told me that he was crazy today. No kidding.
7:20 p.m. - We go inside and Mac insists on going downstairs to show us his trains before bathtime. As soon as we're down there he forgets all about the trains and instead decides to push his tractor down the slide. Then he starts chasing Sage around the room at 100 mph and then runs in circles. He spins, jumps and throws himself on the floor laughing hysterically. He's crazy! Both Ryan and I are cracking up. We end up getting tackled and tickled and tortured for the next 10 minutes while he burns off some energy.
7:40 - 7:55 p.m. - Bathtime. Ryan takes Mac in for his bath and I feed the dog, feed the fish, check my email, get Mac's room ready for bedtime, lay out his pajamas, let the dogs out, start his movie and get towels. I have about 4 minutes to post to Instagram and "like" a couple photos. I try to begin editing the photos from this morning, but it's already time for Mac to get out of the bath.
8:00 - 8:15 p.m. - We get Mac ready for bed. Pajamas on (NOT THE BEAR PAJAMAS!!), new diaper, Buttpaste, sippy cup of ice water and Jungle Book. The three of us (plus Jigs) snuggle on the couch together for the next 10-15 minutes while we watch Baloo sing "Bear Necessities" and the monkeys sing "I Want to be Like You." Mac takes turns sitting in our laps and giving us kisses. Mim kicks away, while Ryan tries to feel her. We all sing along and snuggle and relax. It's a nice little tradition that we have going on and I hope we continue it forever.
8:15 - 8:45 p.m. - I take Mac upstairs for bedtime. We read three books (tonight it's "Goodnight Gorilla," "Big Brother's are the Best" and "If you Give a Mouse A Cookie"). It takes him forever to pick out the books he wants to read. He sits in my lap (which is getting smaller every day) and we rock while we read. We then turn off the light and snuggle. We talk about our day and go through everything we did that day. We end up talking about Lana's birthday party (which we attended last weekend, but he still loves to talk about). He says things like, "Julia, Lana, bounce, basketball, cupcakes, Scrappy, swing, birthday!" We talk about his upcoming birthday party. We sing Happy Birthday and I try to get him to make a 2 with his fingers. He gets really excited when I mention we'll have cupcakes. He wants to tickle me. He gives me lots of spitty kisses. We sing a silly song about worms and then I sing him "Sweet Baby James" (which he calls Cowboy). I finally put him down in his crib with his babies, cover him up and he snuggles in. I grab the monitor and leave the room. I can hear him singing to his babies as I leave. Man, I love that kid.
8:45 - 10:30 p.m. - I hand the monitor to Ryan, who is on the couch and getting ready to watch the latest Game of Thrones (probably for the third time). He is obsessed with that show. I pour myself a big glass of water and head out to the garage to work on assembling Mac's birthday present. I bought him this ridiculous playhouse at Costco that has an instruction book that's 75 pages long. What the fuck was I thinking? This is my third night of working on it and I'm only on Step 5 (of nearly 30). Most of the steps have at least 4-6 parts. There are 27 different types of screws! I will be working on this until he's 8 years old. I turn on the radio and get to work. Luckily I love doing this kind of thing. I must get that from my dad. However, it's pretty difficult maneuvering my giant pregnant belly around as I bend and stretch to get everything together. Plus, I'm working on the ground and the constantly getting up and down is wearing me out. Also, the floor of the garage is filthy. I finish two steps (one of them being assembling the dormer) and consider it a success.
10:30 - 10:45 p.m. - Quick shower to rinse off all the grime from the garage floor. I take my prenatal vitamins and crawl into bed next to Ryan. I plug in my phone, check my email again. Check Instagram. Make a couple notes on my day and drift off to sleep.
And that's a day in my life...
I like to think I'm one of those moms that welcomes advice from others. Being a blogger, I sometimes put our "issues" out there for the world to comment on and I encourage others to give advice and feedback. I am by no means an expert at this whole mommy gig and always feel like I have a lot to learn from others. I'm a big believer of the philosophy that "there's more than one way to parent," and I don't feel like the way I've chosen to do things is the only way. I do things based on my experience, research, upbringing and ideals. I know my kid better than anyone else in the world (along with his dad and nanny) and I make decisions that I believe are best for him and our family. I know that every kid is different and what works for one won't necessarily work for another, but I do like hearing how other moms "mother" and getting multiple perspectives. I love this little mommy community here and I encourage other moms to share their stories and advice in the hopes that it might help out. 
In this situation, I know it's best to be "nice" and not be a jerk right back, but I also wonder whether it's ever appropriate to make a snarky comeback or tell the commenter to mind her own damn business? I've seen some awesome responses to these types of comments on blogs, but of course would never have the guts to say any of them. However, if you're looking for a good one, here are a couple of my favorites:
People are going to give their opinions, whether you want them to or not. I think that's just the nature of things and it's impossible to ward off all unsolicited advice. How you choose to handle it, however, is your completely your choice. I'd love to hear how you deal with unsolicited parental advice when you receive it. Are you sweet and say thank you? Do you have pre-planned snarky comebacks that you'd love to use? 
