Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Day in the Life Winter 2016

Today at 9:15am, I casually begin making my to-do list.  I savor a sip of coffee while opening my calendar and dreadfully see I had marked today for DITL.  Ahhh!  CRAP!  I deliberate for a few minutes;  what to do, what to do.  I finally decide to just go ahead and do the DITL today, backtracking a few hours.

Date:                   January 26, 2016 (Tuesday)

Party Animals:   Moi (36 years young)
                           The Hubbs (36 years young with a baby face, not fair)
                           JDub (3.5 years old)
                           Dumb and Dumber (getting pretty geriatric)
                           All 4 ninja turtles, Splinter, Shredder, and April O'Neil

6:20  I roll over to see B has already gotten up.  Probably with the mini-human.  I stroll downstairs to meet the guys, who are enjoying some screen time.  I "fix" coffee in the Keurig for us, and I join them on the couch.  Within seconds, we hear the garbage truck roaring down our street.  We just look at each other with a non-verbal "did you put the trash out last night?" look.  We both give a minor shrug and then chuckle.  Guess we're not emptying the trash cans this week.  We have cereal, and I watch part of a Biggest Loser episode.  Brian heads upstairs to get ready for the day.

7:30  Brian leaves for his daily court appearances.  We all say goodbye and exchange hugs and kisses.  I straighten the kitchen while JDub happily plays ninja turtles.  I join in the fun, and we have "epic battles," "cowabunga fights," "turtle power" and tons of ninja turtle commentary that could surely get us 1 million youtube views if I bothered to video it.  We also play his "sewer game," which involves not following any board game rules whatsoever.  We both giggle through all of it.  Eventually, I decide it's time to kiss his little face a million times.  So I squeeze him and tickle him and kiss his squishy little rosy cheeks off.  He squirms and laughs, and he secretly loves it.  I find myself thinking that these moments are precious because one day soon, he'll be repulsed by his mom kissing his face.  And one day after that, his face will be all prickly.  Oh, time, please slow down!  As I'm relinquishing the squishy cheeked boy, he holds my face and says, "Mama?  You're kind of like April BeNeil."  Oh, be still, my heart!!  I'll be his April any day!!


9:15  I head to the kitchen to begin my to-do list, and I realize the whole DITL calendar issue.  It's a go, people!  After the deliberation and final decision, I ask J to water my potted plant outside.  He happily obliges.  I head upstairs to fold a load of laundry.  J wants to help.  I dish out many insincere compliments about how great he did folding and putting clothes away. We both get dressed in ninja turtle apparel.

9:50  We hit the pavement for our daily strollie ride.  I normally don't take pictures during the walk, but I do today for this blog post.  J is moderately talkative during the walk, thanks to working on a granola bar.  During the conversation lulls, I find myself feeling very sentimental about our walks, realizing they will likely come to an end soon.  He will probably not humor me much longer with this ritual.  But it's been such a meaningful chapter of my life.  So many miles walked.  Multiple pairs of tennies worn threadbare.  Stroller wheels worn down to the plastic rims.  Sunscreen, oh the sunscreen.  Prayers lifted.  Tears shed.  Memories of stopping on specific benches to feed J when he was too young to make it through the walk without a bottle.  Countless chats with my boy.  Dreams about the future, his life, our life.  I will be very sad to see this chapter end.  But maybe we will revisit this chapter after a few decades?  He can push me around in a wheelchair?  I'm sure he'll love that!  Anyway, we make it to the top of the hill.  It's an arctic 72 degrees today, and this child starts complaining "I'm cold Mama, I'm so cold!"  So he gets out to run, complete with nunchuck ninja moves and very loud "hi-yah!" sounds echoing through the neighborhood.  We stop at most of the exercise posts along the trail.  And we pause at some of the trees.  Our neighborhood trees are lined with blue hearts and ribbons in memory of a young girl who passed away at school 2 weeks ago.  My heart is heavy for her family, and I can't even imagine how they are managing this trauma.  Life is so short and often unfair.




11:00  We arrive home.  Within seconds of walking through the door, he grabs his swords and demands, "fight me Mama!"  Oi.  We begin a sword fight, in which he does full-on baseball bat sword swings at mine.  I need a lot more testosterone for all this.  I start fixing lunch, and I chuckle at how it's perfectly normal in our house to have randomly horrifying animals mixed in with our daily life (see photo below).  Brian arrives home during this time.  Daddy!  We all crowd around the counter for lunch, and the turtles join us, obvs. 






11:40  We head upstairs.  Time for books.  I betcha can't imagine what kind of books we read!



12:00  B heads out to his office to catch up on mountains of work.  His practice has been thriving, and it's awesome.  I sit down to catch up on work emails and finish the grading I didn't do yesterday.  A few texts with friends.  One friend notifies me that an episode of Mall Cops is currently happening in the office (code language for micromanagement).  I'm glad I'm at home today.  Get a double date scheduled with our besties.  Start scheduling a GNO with the girls.  Lots to look forward to.  Quick kitchen clean-up, and I head upstairs to finally get myself ready for the day and a doctor's appointment this afternoon.  B comes into the bathroom to chat while I get ready and shares good news about his practice.  Yeeess!!

2:00  Kaitlyn arrives.  I finish getting ready and discover that a mole on my back has completely vanished.  Back story: I had a mole on my back that was starting to concern me.  So a couple months earlier, I scheduled a doctor's appointment to get it checked out.  In the meantime, I started putting an essential oil on it, figuring it was probably snake oil but at least smelled good.  I had forgotten to do the oil thing for the past couple weeks, but today's upcoming appointment reminded me to check.  Sure as shoot, that thing was gone.  Done diddly done.  I head back down stairs, giddy with this medical news, and share it with Kaitlyn.  I quickly tell B in his office, and then I head to my appointment.

2:30  I arrive for my 2:40 appointment, so responsibly prompt. I sit.  I wait.  I get called back.  I sit.  I wait.  Nutshell: I finally leave the building at 4:00, after speaking with the nurse for 3 minutes and the doctor for 45 seconds.  Awesome.  There's no concern about any moles or spots (I'm becoming a leopard in my old age, yay).  I'm thankful for my health, but I'm irritated with the lack of professionalism from these people.  Golden rule, people.  It's not that hard.

4:00  I head back toward home at a whopping average 10mph down the 15.  I stop at Von's on the way back and enjoy a peaceful grocery trip alone.  I'm also starving, which results in extra food purchases.

5:00  I arrive home, exactly as Kaitlyn and JDub are arriving back.  He bounces around like a maniac while K and I chat. I unload the groceries and get dinner started.  J helps and gets to use a can opener for the first time.  He's excited to do something "very dangerous."


5:30  B is finished with work for the day and comes inside.  Daddy's here!!  We sit down for dinner: broccoli peanut stirfry over quinoa.  We all chat and laugh.  Plenty of turtle power stuff in there.  And the stirfry is outrageously spicy.  Holy mother.  The dogs beg through all of it.

6:00  The guys play the "sewer game" while I clean up the kitchen.  B gets in touch with a friend, and we end up booking a double date with them.  Zip line!!  First time!  B finds the South Park episode about ziplines, and J grunts "zip line ... zip line ... zip line" in a Cartman voice all through the house.  We all crack up.  I exchange texts with the girls and learn another friend just delivered a premie baby.

7:15  We head upstairs for books.  Betcha can't guess what type!  Teeth brushing.  Tickling.  Bedtime craziness.  Snuggles.

8:00  Brian has his 30 minute "nightly chat" with JDub. "Five more talks Daddy!" Night night, sweet boy.  We love you more than any words could ever capture.  We sit down with some Breyers chocolate, Naked & Afraid, and this blog write-up.  J comes out of his room several times to share his latest "dreams."  During one of the room-breaks, he notices my empty ice cream dish and says "who did that?"  We laugh and attempt to divert attention.  Back to bed for good.


10:00  I'm finished with this write-up, and B and I read through it together.  As always, I am so happy that I did this.  Although I've recently been learning that life doesn't always go the way I want, I truly love my life.  I love my guys with all my heart, and what's even more ... I like them too.  These quarterly posts are always a great time to reflect on the simple pleasures of life, and they are great.

2 comments:

  1. Love it, and so many Ninja Turtles!! Great reflection at the end--nice work.

    ReplyDelete