Sunday, February 4, 2018

Day in the Life Winter 2018

I skipped the Fall 2017 installment of the ole blog due to crazy busy stuff with a three month-old baby and an unanticipated move.  My last post was the day William was born, which will be a very tough act to follow.  But day in the life has been on my mind for months, as I don't want to get too far behind.  For several weeks, I've been contemplating taking the plunge into a documented day, so today is finally it.  A relatively typical Saturday with the fam.

Key players: Yours truly (38)
                      BW (38)
                      JW (5)
                      WW (6 months)

4:30 am  I am roused from a deep slumber to a smallish human silhouette hovering over my face whispering "Mama, Mama.  My hand itches.  Right here."  Huh?  What?  Ok.  Slowly heave myself out of bed and down the hall.  Get lotion for the itchy hand crisis and re-tuck him into bed.  I believe this was my 4th time out of bed during the night.  Seems like there was a bad dream issue early in the night, then a couple pacifier retrievals in there somewhere.  Ugh.  Thankfully, I do fall back to sleep for those precious early morning hours.

7:30 am  I wake up on my own clock.  Ahhh, that is so nice.  Brian has already gotten up with both mini humans, which is wonderful.  I can handle the middle of the night crap when I'm able to sleep later in the morning.  I stumble downstairs to find them all lounging around.  B and I quickly do a baby hand-off, as he needs to catch up on work this morning.  I get some coffee, J has toast, I put on a Fixer Upper but don't actually see any of it.  J works on Tinker Toys, and W slobbers on Tinker Toys.  It's all fairly peaceful and a nice way to start the weekend.




8:30 am  W is starting to hum and rub his eyes, so I head upstairs with him for our morning happy nappy ritual.  We leave J downstairs to play his beloved ipad.  William is so sweet during his baba time, petting my hands, humming through his drinking, slowly closing his eyes and drifting off into a sweet 6 month-old dreamland.  Night night, sweet angel.



8:45 am  I hustle bustle around the house doing my daily straightening.  Toys, dirty clothes (most of which, are Brian's, cue eye roll), dishes, get laundry started.  Brian strolls into the family room for some underwear yoga, and JDub and I tease him relentlessly about documenting him in his undies for the blog.  He yells and screams at us through his yoga poses, and we crack up at him.  I unload J's backpack and am reminded we are supposed to be working on a project for the 100th day of school.  Ugh.  I don't mind projects, but 100th day of school?  Really?  Is it really that special?  Jeez.  Begrudgingly plan to do that later this afternoon.




9:30 am  We are all upstairs and about to get ready for the day, but today absolutely needs to be a haircut day.  Jonathan is starting to look like the progeny of a California surfer with a Midwestern street urchin.  Brian and I are getting our "salon" prepped when JDub happily marches upstairs screeching at his ipad.  Of course, this wakes the baby prematurely from his happy nappy.  Awesome.  Today will be amazing.  But I don't have the heart to scold a 5 year-old for being happy in his own home on a lovely Saturday morning.  So we press on with the haircuts, baby in his bouncy seat.  This whole time of me going Edward Scissorhands on B and then J is absolutely crazy.  Baby screeching shrieks of joy.  B and J both yelling out chicken noises.  And J intermittently screaming "Puxatony Phil!!!" in a backwoods Southern accent.  Aih yih yeiah.  When it's his turn, he hides and refuses a before photo.  He is especially squirmy during the haircut and needs many reminders to be still.  At one point, I have my scissorhands up in his hair, and he declares "Mama, I can see tiny hairs coming out of your armpit."  Righty-oh, my darling.  Thank you!  Note to self: shave pits today.  Other random commentary includes things like this: "Mama?  Want to know my two wishes?  For donuts to cover the sky and for a flying unicorn.  I mean, a pet pig.  Nevermind the unicorn."  Haha!  Noted.





10:30 am  Haircuts are officially complete.  I get myself in the shower while B cleans up all the mess.  J runs wild, and baby continues to bounce.  At the end of my shower, I call J in.  He has just recently shown an interest in showers, as opposed to baths.  Brian has been the one to teach him all the showering process, but it looks like I will give it the ole mom try this morning.  We get him all soapy and rinse the itchy little hairs off.  He poses for an after pic, Blue Steel.  Brian has taken the baby into the loft for another baba.  I start painting the barn, switch the laundry over, and stumble into this sweetness that melts my heart.  I adore seeing the two of them have fun together and always try to instill in them that brothers are best friends for life.  I pry myself away from the brother bonding to finish getting myself ready for the day.





11:30 am  I am dressed and ready.  And absolutely starving.  I normally eat breakfast, but I don't even know where the time has gone today.  Brian insists we go out for lunch to a Greek place he recently discovered.  We change the baby, get organized, and jump in the car.  B finds his way to the place (1.5 miles from our house) without GPS, and we laugh about how far he's come in life.  Also during those 4 minutes, William falls asleep.  Of course.  Argh.  A second nap that will be much too short.  We order our lunch and sit outside.  An amazing 87 degrees on February 3rd.  The food is truly delicious.  B was right about this place.  Mmmmm!  Through the whole thing, baby sits quietly in his car seat, allowing us to eat.  Thank you so much, angel baby face!  Brian and Jonathan discuss animal dismemberment, weapons, tools, and other manly things I truly do not understand in any way shape or form.  We ooo and ahh at Jonathan's big teeth coming in.  Baby gets a teensy bit antsy toward the end, so B rigs up a baby contraption.  This is brilliant, yet it also puts him into yet another cat nap situation that is much too short.  Delightful.  I am seriously dreading the afternoon, having an under-rested baby.  But he's so easy-going about basically everything.  Such a sweetheart.  So I tell myself 'who cares'?  Let him cat nap.












12:30 pm  We head home.  Here's a bit of the non-stop JDub backseat commentary during this short drive: "Pigs are dirtier than humans when they dump.  Can moms go dump too?  Or just dads?"  And he is dead serious about all this.  No joking around.  B and I are quietly dying in the front seat and snickering under our breath while trying to take the boy's comments and questions seriously.  He feels terribly rejected and embarrassed when anyone laughs at him, but he's just so damn funny!  But we somehow make it home in tact.

12:45 pm  Unload everyone and everything from the car.  And we decide it's a great time to work on our fireplace renovation project.  I had previously picked up a wood beam that we've planned to use for a mantle.  B hauls it out of the trunk and into the driveway.  We bust out the hammers, chisels, and blow torch.  Time for distress!  Jonathan is in heaven, getting to beat the crap out of the beam.  But B and I cannot stop cringing.  He is not being the best listener about safety instructions.  I send him over to whack at a pile of crates, and he happily obliges.  At some point in there, he hijacks my beach chair and finds that hilarious.  Through all of this, there is non-stop talking and commentary (as always).  I have mentioned this issue in previous blog posts, and it continues to be the case -- when he is at home, and it's just our family around, this child does not shut up.  Does not.  His stream of consciousness is constantly coming out his mouth.  When he's in public or around other people, he's definitely quieter, but it's a completely different story at home.  Although it's sometimes a challenge to keep up with it, I truly adore this characteristic about him.  I want to know what's on his mind, and I want him to always know he can tell us anything.  Plus, he's freaking hilarious.  One nugget I remembered to document went like this: "I know about last names.  I know about Pedigo and Crutchfield.  And I know what Crutchfield means.  It means it's a field full of ... corn."  HAHA!  I also finally snap some baby pics and post a 30-week collage update of cutie pie William.  He eventually gets a bit fussy, so I take him inside for some floor time.  He's a roly poly and oh so cute.  We also play some piano, which reminds me I've been wanting to look for one of my old baby photos of me playing the piano.  We go upstairs and actually find the photo quickly. Play some more piano, and he's so cute just banging away.













2:00 pm  William and I head back outside to check on the mantle project, and we find the two guys are blow torching it.  It looks great.  But I also see a small pile of wood shavings, which they have lit on fire in the middle of the driveway.  What the?  This irritates me to no end.  We have a fire pit.  Why are they setting a fire on the driveway?  JDub quickly reaches for a woodscrap and comes millimeters away from burning his hand.  Ahh!  I declare "I can't be out here" and go back inside.  I secretly and passive-aggressively think to myself "dear husband, you can be the one who takes him to the hospital and answers to CPS."  I think B senses my irritation as I go back inside, as I hear him telling J they need to put out the fire.  Yep.  Yep you do.


2:30 pm  The guys come inside and are finished with the mantle destruction.  I am feeling a bit tired, even though I got to sleep in this morning.  The baby is acting a little fussy, and I jump the gun.  I think about how a nice peaceful nap/quiet time sounds glorious right about now.  So I swoop the baby upstairs for a baba and a hopeful happy nappy, leaving J downstairs to catch up on his one true love: ipad.  Brian ducks back into his office to continue catching up on emails.  The baby is especially wiggly through the bottle and doesn't show one ounce of fatigue.  He coos and smiles through his baba and reaches for my face.  I pretend to eat his fingers, and he giggles with glee, spewing milk everywhere.  He is so cute, but I really want him to have a decent nap today.  We have plans to go to the Pastores' for dinner, and I don't want to miss out on fun conversation if I'm needing to pace the hallways with an overtired baby.  Happy nappy needs to commence.  Despite no signs of legitimate fatigue, I transfer William to his crib and hope for the best.  Night night, sweetheart.

2:45 pm  I head downstairs and join JDub at the counter.  I would love to get this blog write-up started.  I open the blog link and already hear the baby crying.  Dang it.  Although he's got to be tired from no decent morning nap, I highly doubt he will actually sleep at this moment.  I give up hope for a nap right now.  Retrieve the bouncy baby, who is clearly wide awake.  Bring him downstairs for some bouncy time.  Put on an Ina.  Bring my computer to the floor, in a desperate attempt to just sit quietly.





3:15 pm  I have gotten a few paragraphs written, and baby is starting to rub his eye.  Thank you baby Jesus in a manger!  Please, oh pretty please, let this happy nappy be for real?!  As I am taking him upstairs, Brian and Jonathan get a load of clean laundry and fold it up.  They also make our bed with clean sheets, which is awesome.  William does indeed go down for an afternoon happy nappy, praise be.  We all head back downstairs for more computer time.  I continue writing up this blog post, J whoops and hollers at his ipad, and B begrudgingly pushes through more emails.

4:00 pm  I am all caught up for now, and it's about time to start getting prepared for a fun evening with some of our best friends.  As always, we're all looking forward to hanging out with them.  There are a few texts exchanged about the upcoming dinner.  Wow.  The wine.  Mmm.  And I suspect the boys' adrenaline is starting to get amped from the anticipation of tonight. Baby wakes up on his own timing somewhere in there, thank goodness.  We all change clothes.  Pack the diaper bag.  Last-minute organizations.  Somehow nearly an hour passes, and we jump in the car.

4:45 pm  We start making our way to the Pastore house, and I text them an apology we will be 30 min late.  How are we constantly late now that we have 2 kids?  We used to be early everywhere we went.  Hmmm.  But they are gracious about it, and we make the drive.  I snap a photo of my newest Yvonne acquisition, which I will be wearing everyday until February 15th.  Jonathan is especially talkative and inquisitive.  Lots of questions.  What kind of sign is on your building, Daddy?  Is it a map of California?  Or just California?  Is it all the states?  Or just California?  What's a cemetery?  Is it boring there?  He mixes in lots of minion/caveman grunts and noises along the way.  William happily bats and swats his carseat toys.  JDub gets going with a Simon game at some point.



5:30 pm  We arrive at their house.  The sunset is amazing.  We all greet each other, and it's such a happy time of friendship.  The boys immediately run off and start all their boy time wildness.  The adults (plus William) wander into the kitchen, which smells like heaven.  I attempt to hand William over to Jessica, and he promptly starts his pouty lip face followed by bawling.  His tear-filled eyes pierce my heart with his non-verbal "why are you torturing me like this?"  wails.  I assure him that Jessica loves him, take him back, and he promptly starts flirting with him.  We pour some glasses and start catching up.  It always feels so comfy, and we pick up right where we left off.  All four of us get along so well, and we just adore their whole family.  I suppose there's good reason they're some of our best friends in the world and our boys' godparents.  We sit on their beautiful patio, which feels like an absolute spa.  Their fountain running in the background feels like instant relaxation.  Jessica and I catch up about various and sundry things.  The guys do some show & tell (I think).






6:30 pm  We sit down to an amazing dinner of roasted prime rib, perfectly baked potatoes, and salad.  The boys eat hot dogs with Pringles, so we all rave about how tasty the food is.  William bounces in his chair and lets us eat.  There is never a lull in the conversation, just constant chatting and enjoying each other's company.





7:30 pm  The boys have been begging to start making s'mores, as they finished their dinners within 30 seconds.  We all make our way back to the patio.  The boys have a blast jamming their mallow-stacked skewers into the fire and setting them ablaze.  They run around, diving in and out of the house.  Canoli seems to have found his favorite -- Brian -- and snuggles up for some pets.  Brian holds the baby and the doggie while we all continue chatting.  William dozes off, and we all comment about how peaceful and cute babies are while they sleep ... and then they wake up.






9:00 pm  The time has flown, and I am shocked to look at my phone and see the time.  Holy crap, we need to go!  We start packing our stuff up.  Lots of hugs goodbye and thank yous.  We pile in the car and head home.  Both boys are immediately asleep.  I drive since B indulge in more vino than I did.  He sorts through the photos of the evening and texts Frank and Jessica some of the gems.

10:00 pm  We arrive home.  B carries J up to his room, which is thankfully uninterrupted and uneventful.  I leave W in his carseat while I run upstairs to wash my face and do my little nighttime routine.  In the middle of my regimen, he wakes up screaming.  B retrieves him and staves him off while I finish getting myself ready.  I eventually finish up and snuggle up with a smiley babykins for one last baba.

11:00 pm  Baby is sound asleep.  I transfer the angel to his crib with several extra kisses goodnight.  Sleep tight, sweetheart.  Check on Jonathan, who is sprawled out, legs hanging off the bed, snoring like a college boy.  Ahhh, evidence of a wonderful day.  Mama loves you, sweet baby.  I carefully open our bedroom door, so as to creep in without disturbing B's sleep but quickly realize I won't wake this snoring bear.  I settle in, and the pillow feels like heaven on my cheek.  My body quickly slows down and sinks into the bed, and I drift off into delightful rest.

11:15 pm  Whhhhhaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!  Omg what the?  Where am I?  What was that?  I feel like I've slept a full night, as I'm woken by a screaming, horrified baby.  Holy crap.  I go in for a pacifier retrieval, but he will have nothing to do with it.  He's especially out of sorts, and I suspect going to be late will result in an exceptionally awful night.  Awesome.  He cries and screams and will not even recognize that I'm there, trying to help him.  I pick him up and try shushing him with a pacifier.  No luck.  He is uncharacteristically upset.  I fairly quickly realize I should just let him cry for a bit.  Tuck him back in with some attempted words of comfort that he can't hear through his wails.  Jonathan and Brian sleep through this whole circus.  I head back to bed, wide awake now.  Listen to the cries, which become slower and more pitiful within about 30 seconds.  After about 2 minutes, he seems back to sleep.  I cautiously allow myself to start drifting off again, but I'm wary that I'll be woken again.  Miraculously, I'm not.  We all sleep through until the morning, which is never something to take for granted.

As always, reflecting back on the mundane details of a typical day in the life gets me right in the feels.  It makes me so sentimental and reminds me of how much we have to be thankful for.  I love Brian and the boys more than my heart can even handle.  How did I ever get so lucky?  Seriously?  We have friends who feel like family.  What a fun, fairly typical, relaxing Saturday.  In spite of some minor frustrations and paranoia about nap times, it was truly a great day.  There are piles of folded laundry on our bedroom floor and a load of clean clothes getting wrinkled in the dryer.  There's also a dumb school project that will get pushed to another day.  But oh well.  We have each other.  And fun.  Ahhh.  Life is good, and I am thankful.

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