27 July 2006

A day in the life of...

... a crazy, busy mom of four:

8:00 am - scenario A) wake up panicked to hear your 2 little boys downstairs in the pantry, probably having a food fight; your 7 yr. old daughter (aka " big helper") is obliviously watching something totally worthless on Nickelodeon. scenario B) boys are still asleep and I can warm up to the day before diving in

8:15 am diapers changed - check, breakfast served - check, turn attention to baby

8:45 am - baby fed, me? not so much, place baby in swing, pray she falls asleep again, and rush upstairs to throw on some clothes

9:00 am - clean up remains of breakfast and kitchen; dress everyone, make beds together

9:30 am - decide how to spend my morning with the elder siblings. Options: play in backyard (swingset), play in front yard (bikes, scooters), blow bubbles, set up sprinkler, fill pool, go for a walk, bake cookies

10:45 am - 11 am - wind down aforementioned activity, wrangle kids in for a snack, pop in an Einstein video for Drew, change diapers and feed baby again

11:30 am - cuddle with baby for a bit before lunch craze

11:45 am - put baby in bouncy seat or sling, lunchtime!

12:15 pm - lunch over, clean up time! (This may extend into other areas of the house... whatever you can get done in about 45 minutes, or as long as your toddler will continue to nibble/play in high chair)

1:00 pm - if baby isn't settled down for another snooze, place back in swing; or, let kids take turns holding her before naptime (for Drew, almost 2)

1:30 pm - ah, naptime: change diapers again (obviously this happens frequently between the 2 "babies"... in fact, sometimes Sasha goes through 2 or more in one sitting!), read story or sing song first, go in bedroom multiple times over the next 30 minutes to put Drew back in bed, make mental note that he is too young probably to be in a big boy bed as he gets out frequently and destroys bedroom; hop on computer for a bit to check email, blog and message boards at warp speed

2:00ish pm - change and feed baby :) preferrably in front of TLC upstairs in bedroom, pending older two children's temperament to be left alone downstairs for 30 minutes. PBS sometimes works.

2:30 pm - serious naptime for baby in cradle in bedroom. This gives me a couple hours to fold or do a load of laundry, remind kids to be quiet, tidy up the house, work on a project, remind kids to be quiet, rest, pull out viola/violin, remind kids to be quiet, pop on computer again in effort to ignor loud disobedient children and calm dry, frazzled nerves, and of course fetch umpteen million snacks for 2 suddenly ferocious apetites! They usually need another activity in here somewhere too: painting, computer game, reading, coloring, playdough, water tray, popcorn/movie time...

4:30 pm - wake toddler or release him from his holding cage, change diaper, survey damage in bedroom, play the "clean up game", feed him a snack, think about dinner

5:00/5:30 pm - bewitching hour: wake baby and change and feed her, then start making dinner (usually with baby in sling as she has an internal sensor that tells her "Everyone is going to want Mommy for something over the next couple of hours and I am going to make sure I am first on the list.")

6:15-6:30 pm - eat dinner and pray that Daddy will walk in the door very soon :)

7:00 pm - wind down with fussy baby in a comfy chair while Daddy cleans up dinner (read: collapse).


7:30 pm - Bathe 3 (sometimes 4) little piggies. Tickle, read stories, get drinks of water, say goodnight - a thousand times.

8-8:30 pm - Official bedtime. Feed and change baby. Daddy snuggles her while I take my shower. I lay her down to sleep and spend 30 mintes or so talking with my hubby over ice cream or some other delectable treat. Then I hit the sack.

1ish am - baby wakes. Change and feed her.

4:30-5:00ish am - baby wakes. Change and feed her. Pray she'll be down for the count; if not pass her off to Daddy to settle down before he gets ready for work.

Somewhere in there at no specific times I tend to bickering, disasters, and hurt feelings or bodies, pray a lot, fulfill requests for hugs and kisses, answer the phone/door, pee and eat something. If I'm lucky, I'll even crack open my scriptures a half dozen times or so while breastfeeding to try and refill my spiritual cup and my patience reserves.


Does this all sound vaguely familiar to anyone? ;) I think if there were a boss involved, I'd get employee of the year for sure.

22 comments:

Kristen said...

Yeah. Sounds like a crazy life. No rest for the weary! Do you get a nap in there at all? Probably not, huh?

MusicalMom said...

Wow--you do a much better job that me! I've been taking the summer off. At least, as much as a mom can. Now I feel guilty!

sheri said...

Dang...I need a Dr Pepper just after reading that!
Once again, you amaze me.

Char @ Crap I've Made said...

I'm exhausted just reading it. Wait 'til school starts back up and you get to add that craziness. So glad my baby's nearly 6 months now that we're tackling that.

Gabriela said...

Your post is truely frightening to me.

Keep up the good work. Hope you're feeling ok! :)

Gabriela said...

whoops. Make that "truly"!

sweet mama entropy said...

That is an impressive list of accomplishments (especially given Sasha's age)!! I'm still trying to figure out how to keep my three year old and eighteen month old from mauling each other or seriously destroying the house while I feed the one week old. But maybe there's hope for me yet! After all, you've got four :)

Carrie said...

All I can say is, oh boy! Sounds like you are a busy girl.:) You are amazing. We have a two-year-old who likes to get up and destroy his room, too. It is amazing what they can do in such a short time.

Nettie said...

You go girl! I am so amazed you still squeeze in your music! I bet that bowl of ice cream with hubby is such a highlight and well deserved reward!

Andrea said...

Reading that made me tired. Mental note to self...don't have 4 kids. ;)

Anonymous said...

Hey what's happening? Your family is beautiful. Heidi and I (Mark) are living in the DFW area. Meta just sent us this link to your blog. Sounds like you got yer hands full. We like your blog. Troy really missed out. :) I won't tell your hubby

Anonymous said...

I'm completely amazed that you have a schedule already.

Chrissy said...

Yes....hugs, hugs, hugs!

emlouisa said...

Ah, the life of a mommy. Sounds like you are doing well though. When I was this post partum I was crying at least 10 times a day. Crazy hormones anyway.

Elizabeth said...

Holy cow! I think I need a nap after reading this! Note to self: concur with Andrea about rethinking 4 kids! LOL You never cease to amaze me!!!!!!!!!!

Lei said...

Oh come on - I know you ll lead just as busy lives! It's not amazing, it's necessary. Lol!

Mark and heidi - hmmm, do I KNOW a Mark and Heidi? ;) Oh, you mean PACO (of Paco and Poncho) and Heidi? Hahaha!

Email me already!!!

Blackeyedsue said...

I just spent three minutes in your life and I am feeling like I spent a week.

You would sweep the competition for "mom of the year".

Anonymous said...

Wow, you are so amazing. Making dinner with baby in the sling sounds about as fun as mowing the lawn with a child in the backpack. Hang in there!

Anonymous said...

Wow, you are so amazing. Making dinner with baby in the sling sounds about as fun as mowing the lawn with a child in the backpack. Hang in there!

Deannna - Younique Presenter said...

that made me tired just reading it!

Nicole said...

You know there are bosses involved, they are the short, loveable, sometimes slightly whiney little folks that live in our houses and eat all our food. It takes them years though, before they start doing any employee appreciation. Just hang in there, someday they'll really appreciate all us parents. The most we can hope though is that that day comes BEFORE they have to pick out our nursing home.

~V~ said...

And dhs say they'd trade us for a day...they wouldn't last until noon.