A Day in the Life

Since life just feels like it's getting ready to change, I thought I'd blog about a typical day in our house. Here's what usually happens:
Jackson wakes around 6:30 or 7:00, and I hit the ground running. I take him downstairs and nurse him (although I think today was the last time!) while checking the weather and the Today Show, and then feed him blueberry yogurt (his favorite). He hates getting his diaper changed, so I wait until he's done eating to do that. I try to postpone the screaming for as long as I can. Sometimes we get to go downstairs and he plays while I do about 20 minutes on the elliptical machine, although I must admit I haven't done that in two weeks because we had some basement flooding and I've been waiting for the carpet to dry out.
Around 7:45 I shower while Jackson plays with toys in the (empty) bathtub adjacent to the shower. Jackson goes down for his first nap at 8:15, just as I can hear Katie calling me to come get her. She wakes sometime around 7:30, but knows she can't get out of bed until the clock says 8:00. And I'm so mean - I've actually changed her clock so it's 15 minutes slow. Tsk, tsk!
I go into Katie's room and lay with her and have pillow talk and cuddle time. We get her dressed, do her hair, and head downstairs for breakfast. She usually eats yogurt (Moo Cups from Aldi) and either a banana or cereal. I usually eat Cheerios and one piece of peanut butter toast.
After breakfast, Katie has craft time and colors to her heart's content. She might also play with her LeapPad. I pack lunches for the day and check email.
Around 9:30, Jackson wakes. I send Katie up to talk to him in his room while I put our lunchbox and diaper bag in the car. Most days we have an activity scheduled at 10am, such as a playgroup or a storytime or a visit to the park. We eat lunch at 11:15 or 11:30, then head back home around 12:30.
Around 1:00, Jackson goes down for his second nap. Katie meets me in her room and we cuddle and read some books together, then she has quiet time in her room until Jackson wakes up around 2:30 or 3:00.
This is when the day gets hard and starts to drag! We have snacktime, then I'm always at a loss for what to do to entertain the kids. Now that the weather is nicer, I like to take them for a walk and then meet our neighbors outside to play. (There are 10 kids on our cul-de-sac who are age six or younger, not to mention the other 14 who are age ten or older!) We play outside for at least an hour or more, until Daddy comes home. (Hallelujah!)
We have dinner around 6:00, and then Daddy gives baths around 7:00. Katie gets to watch one 30 minute show (she usually picks Clifford, Curious George, Little Einsteins or Word World). We used to also play a family game like Uno before Katie's bedtime, but now that Jackson is mobile, it's hard to spread the game pieces out on the floor and keep him away from them. So Katie watches her show and Jackson plays with Daddy or me, or his collection of balls. After the show, Jackson goes to bed between 7:50 and 8:00, and Katie goes to bed at 8:00.
After the kids are in bed, Dan and I collapse from exhaustion and drop into a deep sleep. Ha! Just kidding... I wish. Usually we'll spend the next two hours finishing laundry or ironing (Dan does it, not me! I refuse.) or surfing the Internet or watching TV (Lost or Survivor or The Office, to name a few faves) or sometimes we might go up to bed early and read. Or whatever.
So there's my thrilling life, in a nutshell! Is it awful to admit I live for naptimes and bedtime? I do truly love my kids, but they are just so over the top sometimes that I can't even think straight. So when they sleep, I can breathe and get stuff done. I like to craft and get into the creative zone, and I look forward to my "alone time" so I can do that.
I mentioned feeling like life is getting ready to change. I know it will change dramatically in some ways, and slightly in other ways. Slightly in ways like today, when Jackson is pretty much done nursing. Dramatically in ways like a few months from now, when Katie will start Kindergarten. No more of this "can't get up until 8:00" stuff. The bus comes at 7:30, so our whole morning will shift. And I'm sure by then Jackson will have dropped his morning nap, and who knows when I'll be able to take a shower!
Such is life with two little ones in the house. Kate Gosselin from "Jon and Kate Plus 8" put it best when she said, "Every day is painfully the same but vastly different." Amen, sister!