A Typical Day in Our Life

I've done a few day in our life posts, including the most recent one right after Declan was born. At that point in our lives it was all chaos and takeout food and survival mode. Lately we've settled into a nice routine, we're completely unpacked (as of last week - don't judge!) and we're loving our new home, so I wanted to do an updated day in our life post. But then, as soon as I thought, Hey, I've kinda got things under control. Maybe I can handle this whole parenting two kids thing, this happened:

After a night of musical beds where I was woken up so many times that I literally had no idea where I was or who was crying, we woke up to day two of a hoarse, raspy-voiced toddler who was just so pitiful sounding and in pain, so off to the doctor we went. It took me + a nurse to hold Ez down long enough for the doctor to look down his throat. That's all, just shine that light thingy down his throat. Imagine how awful his next round of shots is gonna be. Then we got the news that not only is Ez getting more molars (seriously the most awful, horrible, hateful things ever!), but he's also got bronchitis. My poor baby. We head straight to the pharmacy (aka - Target) to pick up his meds. As soon as I pull into the parking lot both boys fall asleep, and all I've got is the single stroller. So I'm walking through Target, killing half an hour while they fill the prescription, using one hand to push Ez in the stroller while also carrying Declan in his car seat. No less than four people stop to smile and point out that I have my hands full. Really? Do I? I hadn't even noticed. And can I just point out that seeing all that cute fall stuff at Target but not being able to touch or browse was really sad. Like really. I did pick up a get well gift for Ez though, because mom priorities. Once we got home I wrestled Ez to the ground in order to force feed him his medicine. He actually likes the way it tastes, but that doesn't stop him from putting up a fight each and every time. Then I go to pick up Declan, who is also screaming, only to find poo up to his hair. And all over my hands. Emergency bath time. While I'm trying to spray down a wriggly, slippery, screaming baby Ez bursts into the bathroom with such force that the door bounces off the wall and hits him right in the face. Cue screaming baby #2. So for about the 50th or so time both kids are simultaneously screaming bloody murder. And did I mention this was all before lunch?

Lesson learned. Never ever ever tempt fate by thinking you've got things figured out. She will laugh right in your face and throw you curve ball after curve ball until you admit that you know nothing. Nothing at all.

So I totally acknowledge that I'm just taking parenthood day by day, and sometimes it's literally all chaos and tears, but the other days when all pandemonium hasn't broken loose look something like this:

Our weekdays follow the same basic formula. I get up whenever the earliest riser wakes me up (not counting Joe, who usually leaves before we're awake). On the off chance Declan wakes up before 7am, he hangs out with daddy while I get some more zzzs. Typically Ez and Declan wake up between 7 and 8, then Declan likes to cluster nap till 9 or 10. We appreciate lazy mornings and start off with breakfast, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and of course iced coffee for me. 

Ez is generally pretty good at entertaining himself in the mornings. He likes being reunited with all his cars after a whole night away from them. So if Declan is napping this is my blog and chore time.

Late morning/early afternoon is when we gotta get out of the house before everyone starts going crazy. Some things we like to do are story time at the library, a trip to the park, walks around the neighborhood, errands, meeting my sister for lunch, or just playing in the garden. Declan is always strapped to me in his Bjorn carrier, facing outward because he's very social and likes to people watch.

Sometimes Ez falls asleep in his stroller and naps up to two hours, otherwise we eat lunch. Then Declan naps and Ez and I get some one on one time (unless they're both napping - hallelujah!) We read books, color, do puzzles, play monster bowling, or I sit on the floor while he plays cars. Sometimes he just needs an audience. 

Around 5 I'll start prepping dinner while Ez and Declan either join me in the kitchen or entertain themselves (Declan loves playing in his exersaucer - a total lifesaver!) Joe gets home around 6 and we eat dinner shortly after. 

Post dinner we usually head straight to the park where Joe and Ez play together while I walk laps with Declan strapped to me. We usually spend about half an hour there then head home to clean up, bathe everyone, and relax. 

Ez and Declan both go to sleep at 9. Declan was waking up only once or twice a night, but in the past week it jumped up to 4 times. Probably another instance of fate laughing at me.

On Fridays we pick Joe up from work and go out to dinner as a family then walk around, check out some shops, play at the park, and just unwind for the weekend.

Weekends are for exploring and we always like to get out of the house and do stuff together as a family. Now that we're in a brand new area there's so much stuff we wanna check out and our Bay Area bucket list seems to grow daily.

This season of life with multiple littles is just so much everything. So much fun. So tiring. So many laughs. So many tears. So many cuddles. And most importantly it goes by so fast. I know when I look back at this in a month or two our lives and routine will be completely different and I'll probably be laughing at the whole poo bath/door straight to the face memory. (I may have had to turn away and stifle laughter at the door slamming incident right when it happened. Does anyone else's kids injure themselves daily, or is mine just extra accident prone?) I probably won't ever find the bronchitis or molars funny, but by then hopefully it will be a distant memory.

A Day in Our Life With a Toddler and a Newborn

14 dirty diapers (back to back to back), 1 public toddler tantrum, 3 chain reaction meltdowns, 7 of the longest minutes ever helplessly listening to a newborn scream in the backseat, 2 sets of visiting grandparents, 572 minutes on the couch nursing, and 1 bee sting. When you break it down in numbers, having multiple kids is pure insanity. It really is. Yet countless times throughout any given day Joe and I can't help but stop and marvel at how blessed we are with this chaotic, imperfect family filled with too much love to measure. These are the days I want to remember, so here's a little glimpse into our life right now with a 2 year old and a 2 week old. There really is no such thing as a normal day or routine over here just yet. This particular day was actually an exciting one for us, where we packed up everyone and left the house not just once, but twice. At the opposite end of the spectrum there have been plenty of recent days that could be quickly summed up like this: I sit on the couch and nurse continuously for ten hours while Ez watches a Cars marathon until Joe gets home from work and rescues us.

Thursday night July 9th - Friday night July 10th
9:30 pm - Yay! I just nursed Declan to sleep and I'm so ready for some shuteye. Almost immediately he's woken by Ez who has a complete screaming meltdown the moment Declan closes his eyes. Ez probably should've been asleep an hour ago so he and Joe head off to bed and I stay up with a now-crying Declan.
10:50 pm - I finally get Declan to sleep again, then lay down for what feels like ten minutes.
11:50 pm - Dec is crying. I nurse him for a few minutes then rock him in his cradle with white noise playing and a pacifier in his mouth. He fakes me out and falls asleep for ten minutes, long enough for me to be halfway to dreamland. I jolt awake to him crying again. This time we move to the couch where I nurse for about fifteen minutes.
12:20 am - I'm finally back in bed. Glorious, glorious bed.
3:00 am - We're up again. This time I nurse while lying down on the couch where we both wind up falling asleep.
5:20 am - Joe's up! Hallelujah! He takes over while I go back to bed.
7:20 am - Time to feed Declan again. Joe's been walking him and rocking him for awhile, but he's just not having it. He wants food. We both fall asleep on the couch again.
8:20 am - I wake up, look at the clock, and realize we need to be at the doctor in 40 minutes. I scarf down cereal, which Ez insists on sharing with me even though he has his own breakfast, gulp down coffee, pack up our library books and Declan, throw my hair in a messy ponytail and go. Thankfully Joe works from home on Fridays so I only have to worry about packing up one kid. Joe and Ez go out for some guy time wandering around the APU campus.

9:15 am - I'm only 15 minutes late when we arrive in the tiny, packed waiting room. Declan is sleeping in his carseat, but wakes up after about 20 minutes.
9:50 am - We're finally called into an exam room after I fill out a million forms while simultaneously rocking a newborn to sleep. 

10:15 am - The doctor arrives and gives Declan a quick exam. He's already gained a pound! Little chunker. Everything looks good and I top Declan off with a quick nursing session before we leave.
10:25 am - We leave the doctor's office and head to the library. This is the part where Declan wakes up and screams for 7 excruciating minutes before falling back asleep. Of course we hit every red light during this time frame. At the library I return our slightly overdue books, pay a fine, and quickly pick out a book each for Ez and I, all while carrying a sleeping Declan in his carseat. Part of me would like to browse more, but I rush to get home while Declan is still sleeping instead.
11:25 am - As soon as I walk through the door I grab some popcorn to snack on. Ez wants me to get down on the floor and play cars with him, but we compromise and read his new library book together instead.

11:45 am - I start lunch: Costco stuffed salmon & TJs quinoa pilaf. Quick, easy, and yummy!
12:45 pm - I finish up lunch just as Ez comes up to me carrying his toy school bus and demanding I sing wheels on the bus. He interrupts me to sing his own made up verse about my brother, Uncle Brett, who apparently said "Ow!" at some point while they were playing together, and it made an impression:

 "the Brett on the bus goes 'ow ow ow!'"

1:00 pm - Declan wakes up. I nurse him and turn on Cars for Ez.
1:30 pm - Declan goes back down for a nap so I start some chores while Ez is happily occupied (trash, laundry, dishes, and baking muffins).

2:20 pm - Just as I'm changing my shoes and getting ready to walk on treadmill Declan wakes up. Of course. I nurse Dec while Ez decides it would be fun to climb all over us.

This is an old picture, but this is pretty much how I spend my days.

3:15 pm - Joe takes over rocking Declan in his cradle with his foot while simultaneously working on his laptop. I spend ten minutes helping Ez search for one specific car out of the thousands he owns while he follows me around sporadically crying in despair. Examples of places Ez likes to hide cars: crammed in the couch cushions, underneath the couch (there's usually at least a dozen cars under there), in a half empty case of water bottles, under the pillows on our bed, in the bathtub... We finally find this one on a shelf that I didn't even realize Ez was tall enough to reach.
3:25 pm - Ez commands me to "get down!" so down on the floor I go to play cars with Ez, which actually means I watch while he plays, because all he really wants is an audience.

4:15 pm - We start straightening up and getting ready to meet Joe's mom at the farmer's market. A few minutes before we're supposed to leave Ez falls asleep on the couch. Of course. Joe and I procrastinate getting ready by giving Declan lots of cuddles and kisses.

5:05 pm - We leave to meet Joe's mom, only 15 minutes behind schedule. I step on a bee almost as soon as we get there. Joe has to pull the stinger out and go find me some ice, then we're finally ready to wander around the farmer's market. We stock up on fruits, veggies, and some agua frescas for Ez and I. 

6:45 pm - We decide to stop by a new sandwich shop and pick up dinner. We wind up waiting half an hour for a couple of sandwiches and salads, while Ez gets increasingly antsy and starts running around the store and into tables.
7:15 pm - We're starving and we've finally got our food so we make plans to meet Joe's mom and husband back at our house to eat. Ez decides this is the perfect time for a meltdown and starts crying and hitting at us and doing that limp, boneless toddler thing right outside the shop on the packed sidewalk. Joe winds up carrying Declan in his carrier while pushing an empty stroller and I carry a screaming flailing toddler back to the car. As soon as we get everyone buckled into the car Ez calms down but Declan wakes up and screams the whole way home. They've already got this whole tag team thing down. 
7:20 pm - I nurse Declan as soon as we walk through the door. 
7:45 pm - Joe and I take turns eating while feeding Ez and holding Declan. Team work. 

8:45 pm - Joe's mom and Brett head home. I nurse Declan again. 
9:00 pm - Another set of grandparents show up! My mom was just in town a few days earlier with my brother, drove all the way back home to drop off my brother and pick up my stepdad, and then turned around and came right back to visit us. She drove about 1,000 miles, and we appreciate it so much. Ez was super excited to get so much grandparent attention all in one day. As soon as they walked through the door Ez immediately demands that papa "get down!" and play cars on the floor. Declan falls asleep. Joe, my mom and I watch Food Network and chat.

10:40 pm - My parents head to their hotel and I finally shower.
11:00 pm - Joe and Ez go to bed. We may be doing this parenting thing wrong when our toddler asks us if he can go to bed. Sorry Ez! We'll figure out a better routine soon, I promise. I decide to wait up for Declan's next feeding, which winds up being 20 minutes later. 

So that's 24 hours in our life. Then we start the whole process over again!

Linking up with a really cool Day in the Life series Julia is hosting. Be sure to check out all the other blogger's DitL posts!

A Day in our Life: Toddlerville

The last time I did a Day in our Life post, Ez was 1 month old! Obviously a lot has changed in the last 19 months, and a lot will change this summer when we add a newborn to the mix, so I wanted to capture what an ordinary day with an energetic, hilarious, opinionated, and slightly moody 20 month old looks like.

7:20 - Ez and I wake up. His newest thing is that he insists we hold hands as we walk down the hall. He used to go bounding off before me, running and giggling into the living room, so this is kinda strange but also very cute at the same time. I make Ez some toaster waffles and sit down to blog and drink my lemon water while he eats.

8:00 - I make myself breakfast and Ez whines as soon as I sit down to eat because he wants me to do puzzles with him. Needing my attention as soon as I try to eat is quickly becoming a daily tradition with this one.

8:30 - I get us both ready for the day (although my version of getting Ez ready is to change his diaper and leave him in his pjs).

9:00 - We're out the door. 1st stop is to pick up a package that my mom inexplicably had delivered to my old work. You're welcome, Mom ;)

9:30 - Ez screams bloody murder when it's time to get back in his car seat because he thought we were going to Gymboree. I tell him that's our next stop, but he doesn't seem impressed.

9:40 - Only 10 minutes late for Gymboree, woohoo! The class is crowded and Ez doesn't even bother trying to follow the "Stop & Go" instructions for the day. He's more interested in climbing things, and playing basketball. As long as he's worn out by naptime, I'm happy.

10:20 - We walk to Trader Joe's where Ez wolfs down a banana and larabar while I shop.

11:00 - Home just in time to watch the garbage truck pick up our trash! Highlight of Ez's day, by far.

11:15 - I put away the groceries and pack up some snacks for a walk.

11:30 - Ez and I walk the long way to the park so I can get some steps in and he can see the "big trucks".

12:15 - I manage to read about 3 pages of Game of Thrones at the park while Ez plays and snacks on blueberries. We make a pit stop at the skate park where Ez watches the skaters before we head home.

1:00 - We're back home and Ez gets a glass of milk before going down for a nap.

1:25 - I fix myself lunch and eat while answering emails and reading blogs.

2:25 - tabloids and treadmill time! Call it a guilty pleasure/incentive/reward or what you will, but I love my Us Weekly, and I only let myself read it on the treadmill, so Thursdays are my fave day to workout. I'm exactly 40 minutes in when I hear Ez. Perfect timing.

3:05 - Ez has been super clingy lately and requires a solid 5 minutes of cuddles before he'll even think about food or water. No complaints here. I fix Ez some food and simultaneously read while pushing a car back and forth with Ez. Mama multi-tasking at its finest.

4:20 - green smoothie time! Ez cries hysterically the entire time I'm putting ingredients in the blender because he knows it's about to get loud, but he's all smiles when I hand him his smoothie. Then it's serious business as he gulps that thing down like he's being timed. This.boy.

4:30 - I start prepping dinner cause Joe just texted that he'll be home early. I also empty the dishwasher and do a few other kitchen chores.

5:20 - Joe gets home and I start cooking dinner. 

6:00 - We eat while Ez mainly stacks and plays with his food. I think Ez ate one piece of tofu and a few tomatoes. I'm just happy when he actually samples what we're eating, even if he does make a completely disgusted face the entire time he's chewing.

6:45 - Bath time! As soon as I mention bath Ez hops off my lap yelling "BAaaa!"

7:00 - Lotion, pjs, and cute photo ops, of course ;)

7:15 - my favorite time of day: cuddles on the couch watching game shows or basketball and playing whatever the toy of the hour happens to be (usually cars, but this day it was a hammer whack-a-mole type toy my sisters got Ez for Christmas). This is also when I get some reading done. Normally Joe would just be getting home,  and we'd be eating dinner (Ez eats earlier most nights), but since he had a late afternoon doctor appointment we get extra family time tonight. Ez loves when both of us are home and usually goes back and forth between playing with us, climbing on the couch to snuggle and watch TV (he loves Family Feud), and running off to play by himself. He's usually at his silliest at this time of day, coming up with new ways to makes us laugh - like pretending a bowl is a telephone or creating a new dance.

8:30 - We all start getting ready for bed, Ez gets another glass of milk, and we're all in bed by 9:15. 

And that's our day to day life! Things I probably could've/should've done: straighten up the house before bed (I try to make it a daily habit - it happens about half the time), finally fold the clothes that have been sitting in the dryer for two days, shower. I am so close to finishing Game of Thrones, it is consuming my life. Down to the last 20 pages, and then things like showering will take priority again ;)