A Day In Our Lives

I wrote this on Thursday, June 4th.  Now that we have a pretty good schedule going I wanted to record what a day is like for us.  Carter is 2.5 years old and Elise is 2.5 months old.  The morning and afternoon were pretty ordinary.  Our evening was out of the ordinary because Ty came straight home from work rather than running and we went out after dinner.  Typically we eat dinner and then do baths, books, and bedtime.  There's not much time for anything else. 

12:38 am- Elise wakes me up grunting and moving around in the pack n play. I nurse her on one side, change her diaper, nurse her on the other side and then go to the bathroom. As I come out of the bathroom I hear Carter's door open and he comes into our room crying for me. I scoop him up and take him to bed. He asks me to rub his back so I sit and rub his back for a bit.  I lay back down and he comes out of his room again which he never does. I take him back in and rub his back some more. He again gets up as I lay back down so this time Ty goes in and he doesn't get up again. Unfortunately all the crying has woken Elise up so we have a heck of a time getting her back to sleep.  Carter was sick a few weeks ago and his nighttime sleep has been off ever since.  Before getting sick he slept through the night with no interruptions.  It stinks to have to go through sleep training all over again!

4:00- Elise wakes up to nurse again. While she's eating on the 2nd side she poops so I change diaper again. I always change it in between sides to wake her up enough to eat on the 2nd side. The 2nd diaper change wakes her up enough that she struggles to fall asleep. I can't sleep with her moving around, grunting, and occasionally fussing. She's finally back to sleep around 5:00.

6:45- Carter wakes up. Ty is still getting dressed so he puts him in bed with me. I have Elise on my chest and she rolls off me onto Carter's chest which he loves. Carter, Elise, and I all snuggle until Ty's ready to take Carter in for breakfast.

They say, "too bright!"

7:00-Ty is dressed and grabs Carter.  They head into the kitchen for breakfast while I snuggle in with Elise and go back to sleep for a little bit.  Most mornings she wakes up and wants to nurse during this time so it's really nice to get to go back to sleep for a little bit.  At 7:35 it's time for Ty to leave for work so he brings Carter back into the room and puts him in bed with me.  I move Elise over to her pack n play and grab our backpack full of library books.  One of my favorite times of day is sitting in bed with Carter and reading books in the morning.  It helps me wake up and it give us snuggle time together.  Elise wakes up hungry while we're reading so I nurse her as we continue to read.  After Elise finishes eating I get up to go to the bathroom and change her diaper.  When we come back in to read more books Carter is sitting in bed reading to himself.  I ask him if he wants to read some more and he says "No, play cars".

8:09- Carter heads into the living room to play cars while I get Elise dressed, put on my running clothes, and brush my teeth.  Carter comes in to brush his teeth with me.  Then I talk him into getting dressed.  Carter goes back to playing cars so I head into the kitchen to make myself a bowl of Cheerio's with a banana cut up in it for breakfast.  I take it into the living room so I can watch Carter play while I eat.  When he sees my cereal he wants some too so I pour him some dry cereal in a bowl.

8:40- I'm done eating and ready to go for a run.  I strap Elise in her car seat and Carter carries his cereal out to the car so he can eat it on the run.  He ends up dropping it and spilling his Cheerio's all over the ground.  I get them both strapped into the double stroller while my Garmin is picking up satellites and then we head out for a 2 mile run.  Lately Carter is hit and miss on runs.  Some days he loves them.  Other days he fusses the whole time.  Today he enjoys himself and points things out to me as we go.  I've noticed he tends to enjoy runs more in the morning.  With it heating up we've been transitioning back to morning runs.  We had been going right after naptime and meeting Ty at the trails.

9:10- We're home from running and Carter is delighted to see birds eating the Cheerio's he spilled on the ground.  He plays in the car while I load the stroller back into the car.  When we get inside I head straight to the bathroom to shower.  Elise is asleep in her car seat so I put it in the doorway of the shower and Carter is playing nicely with cars in our bedroom.  Of course, when I get in the shower he switches from playing cars to knocking everything on my dresser over.  I'm dressed with my hair up and make up on by 9:30 and we're ready to leave.  As we start to head out Elise starts crying really hard and isn't consoled by her pacifier or rocking her car seat so I get her out.  After checking her diaper I find she's pooped quite a bit so I change it.  Our playdate was scheduled for 10:00 but my friend is running late and says it will be closer to 11:00 before she arrives so I'm not worried about being behind schedule.

9:45- We leave for the park.  About 5 minutes into our 20 minute drive Elise starts crying and won't stop.  I turn the music up to drown out her crying a little bit because it's stressing me out and there's no where to stop and feed her since we're on the highway.  Carter doesn't like the volume of the music so he starts crying.  Nothing like 2 crying kids in the back!  When we arrive I quickly get the stroller out, snap Elise in, collect Carter's swim stuff because there's a splash pad, and get Carter out.  I let him go play for a bit before applying sunscreen so I can feed Elise.  She is super hungry and eats for much longer than usual.  When she's done eating I hunt Carter down and put sunscreen on him.  I stay over in the shade with Elise and watch Carter while he plays.  We're at a park we've never been to before and he is loving it.  One area has giant enclosed stairs with multiple different slides of varying heights coming down.  I'd say it's his favorite area as he spends most of his time there.  I watch him climbing up a ladder and then all the sudden his head disappears so I take off running while nursing Elise under the cover up.  When I get to him he's hanging from the ladder by his armpits looking scared.  When he sees me the fear leaves his face and he drops to the ground.  Pretty sure my heart stopped beating for a minute there!

11:00- My friend and her 4 kids arrive along with her niece.  Carter had been talking about one of her sons all morning and was so excited to play with him, but now shows no interest.  He asks to change into his swimsuit so he can play in the water.  He then plays in the splash area for a while before wandering back to the playground.  Then he falls walking back over to the splash area so I run to him and carry him back to the bench.  He sits in my lap for a while and then asks for a snack so I give him his apple.  He sits and eats on the apple for a long time.  Elise has fallen asleep in my arms and I enjoy cuddling her while Carter is snuggled up against my side.  Carter asks me to go play with him on the playground so I put Elise back in her car seat and head over with him.  I wait for him at the bottom of a slide and when he gets to the bottom he tells me it's my turn so I turn to head up the stairs toward the slide and see him waiting at the bottom of the slide for me like I had done.  It was so sweet.

My friend's daughter wanted to hold Elise.

Loved his little foot resting on mine!

12:00 pm- I tell Carter it is time to head home so we can eat lunch.  He agrees and gets in the stroller.  I stop at the restrooms and then we head to the car  As we approach the parking lot Carter changes his mind and wants to play some more.  I tell him no and he gets upset but we make it to the car and I get everyone strapped in.  On the ride home I keep Carter engaged in conversation in hopes that he'll remain awake.  About 3 minutes from the house he stops responding and, sure enough, he's asleep when we get home.

12:40- I quickly heat up leftovers and prepare a sweet potato and grapes for sides.  Elise wakes up hungry again as we are eating so I quickly finish up and feed her on one side.  Then I get Carter cleaned up, change his diaper, read him a book and put him down for a nap.  Once he's in bed I change Elise's diaper and Carter comes walking into the room so I take him back to bed.  This time he stays and I'm able to feed Elise on the other side.  She falls asleep and I lay her on my chest to publish a blog post for the day.

2:00- I head into the bedroom with Elise to read for a bit and then take a short 30 minute nap.  I can't find my book because Carter was playing with it this morning so I have to go in search of it.  I finally find it underneath a pile of his library books on the floor.  I'm re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird so it's fresh in my mind when Go Set a Watchman comes out. I read with Elise on my chest until 2:30 and then put the book down to take a nap.  I slide down careful not to wake Elise and we nap until 3:00 until I wake up on my own.  Carter and Elise are both still asleep so I read for a little bit to help me wake up before I get out of bed.  After a couple of minutes reading I slide Elise off my chest onto the bed and head into the kitchen to clean up.

3:15- I barely get started before Elise wakes up so I head in to feed her and then play with her because she's wide awake.  I play peek-a-boo with her and then we play with rattles and her activity gym before reading some books.  She starts to get sleepy so I lay her down in her crib while I pack away all of her newborn clothes and put her 3 month clothes into her dresser from the closet.  I am amazed by the amount of 3 month clothes she has and I'm shocked Carter is still sleeping.  Elise doesn't fall back to sleep but I don't want to overstimulate her by playing with her too much because then she really struggles to sleep, so I just keep cranking her mobile for her to watch and listen to the music.

4:30- Carter finally wakes up!  He must've been tired from our morning at the park because he rarely sleeps for longer than 2 hours!  I do diaper changes with both kids.  Then we head into the kitchen for snacks.  While Carter eats his snack I empty the dishwasher and then fill it with the dirty dishes from the sink.  Carter asks to go outside and I tell him I need to clean up a little bit first so he walks around his playroom picking up toys, putting them away, and telling me, "Look mommy, Carter help clean up!"

5:00- We go outside to play.  Carter decides he doesn't want to wear shoes and I just go with it.  I carry Elise's swing outside for her to sit in while we play.  Then I realize I forgot (again) to call insurance to remove the Mazda and add our van.  I call to do that and of course it's the only time outside when Carter absolutely, most desperately needs my attention!  I constantly feel Elise to check her body temperature because I worry about her overheating since it's 90 degrees.  After about 30 minutes she seems to feel pretty warm so I talk Carter into going inside to play.  He plays while I start to get things out for dinner.

5:40- Ty gets home.  Normally he doesn't get home until about 6:15 because he stops to run at the trails on his way home, but he decided to take the day off from running.  He brings tacos with him because on Thursday we eat Taco Bueno tacos since they are only 49 cents!  We get the tacos and then prepare sides at home.  Tonight we are having salads, strawberries, and rice.  Normally we have homemade guacemole, but we are out of avocados.  Thursday nights in the summer there are free concerts in the parking lot of a really nice shopping area in downtown.  We plan to go since Carter took such a long nap and he loves music.  It doesn't start until 7:00 and Carter normally goes to bed at 8:00.  To ensure he gets to bed quicker when we get home I decide to bathe him and put him in fresh clothes he can wear the following day.  That way when we get home all we have to do is change his diaper and put him in his jammies.  Ty takes the trash out and goes to get gas in the car with I bathe the kids.  I give Elise a bath in her little infant bathtub on the bathroom floor while Carter plays in the big bath tub.  Then I rinse her in the big bath tub, dry her, lotion her, and put her clothes on in the hallway right outside the bathroom so I can see Carter.  I place her in her bouncer in the doorway while I soap Carter up.  I am getting Carter dressed as Jeremy arrives so he can go to the concert with us.  I set out jammies for both kids and then start the first cycle of our cloth diapers.

6:30- Ty gets home and we head out to the shopping area for the concert.  Thomas planned to meet us there as it is closer to his house than ours.  As we're driving around looking for a parking spot we see him walking on the sidewalk.  He follows us as we park and then we all walk together.  I have a blanket for us and a lawn chair for Carter.  Carter sees it and knows it's his so he wants to carry it.  He does so by putting the strap around his neck.  Thomas helps him fix it.  We find a spot and all sit down with Elise sleeping in her car seat.  As the music starts Carter begins running circles around our blanket, dancing, and running to jump on his uncies.  He definitely enjoys it but is a little bit wild.  Around 7:30 he asks to go home and then as we start to pack up decides he wants to stay.  We stay a little bit longer but then he takes off walking through the crowd so I snatch him up, get the others, and we head home.  Of course on the way home Elise wakes up and is hungry so she cries most of the way home.

7:55- We get home and I start the next cycle for the diapers.  I sit down and nurse Elise while Ty gets Carter changed into his jammies.  When Elise is finished eating I read a book with Carter, rock him for a little bit and then put him in bed.  Carter is in bed by 8:15.  I feel gross from sweating all morning and being covered in sunscreen so I take a shower and then make an ice cream cone while Ty rocks with Elise.  Then I take Elise from Ty and he makes a bowl of ice cream.  We sit together watching The Tonight Show on Hulu (thanks to Thomas for sharing his account with us).  Elise is fussy so I hold her and bounce her while Ty sets the diapers to the rinse cycle.

10:15- I lay Elise down in her Pack N Play while I get ready for bed.  While I nurse her Ty hangs the diapers up to dry and puts the inserts in the dryer.  Ty falls alseep while I feed Elise and then I go to bed when she's finished eating.

Summer Fun at the Zoo and Splash Park

Wednesday Carter and I had a busy day.  We went to the zoo for a meetup with two other moms and 3 kids in the morning.  It was so go, go, go with 4 kids since we were doing our best to stay together, which was like herding cats at times.  I didn't get very many pictures due to continuously trying to get Carter to slow down and wait, catch up, or walk the correct way.  By the time we left the zoo it was already well into the 90's and we were both hot and tired.  Towards the end of our trip Carter did something he has never done before.  He pitched a fit and did not want to be in his stroller at all.  The only problem was that he wouldn't walk either.  Between the heat and carrying him my whole side was soaked in sweat.  So I had to do something horrible that I couldn't stand to do.  I had to force him into the stroller and hold him down with one hand while I strapped him in with the other.  Once I got him in he cried for a couple minutes and was fine.  It was the strangest thing.  I think he just wanted the comfort of his momma since he was tired and hungry.  I had packed his lunch so I fed him food a little bit at a time as we walked back to the entrance.

Once home I ate lunch while Carter finished his lunch, I put him down for his nap, and then I headed out for a dentist appointment while Jeremy stayed with Carter.  Shortly after I returned Carter woke up and spent some time playing with his Uncie Jeremy.  After dinner Carter and I went to meet some friends at a splash park.  I tutor for the sweetest boy and his little sister just turned 2.  His mom invited us to meet them at the splash park and I was so excited for Carter to meet them.  He absolutely loved the little girl and would walk right over and squeeze hug her.  When they were sitting down Carter would sit down so close to her that they were touching.  He also loved the boy and would just stare at and watch him.  After playing on the playground for a while he was decently muddy so I took him back over to the splash area to rinse off.  He got all cleaned off and then ran toward the grass, sinking down into a big hole of muddy water.  So much for getting cleaned off!  Later he was walking like a penguin and I couldn't figure out what he was doing.  It turned out he had pooped in his swim diaper which he's never done before and it must've felt strange to him.  Carter was worn out from his busy day when we left and after a quick bath went straight to bed.  I love busy days filled with fun and friends!  I'm also loving Carter making new friends! 

 

 

Our Second Summer

Today is the first day of school for the school district I worked in the past 4 years.  When I woke up this morning I felt the first day of school excitement thinking about everything that was going on with my old co-workers and previous students.  I also felt excitement because the first day of school marked the start of Carter and my second summer.  Rather than waking up early, packing Carter off to daycare, and crying all the way to work (like last year) I slept in until 7:00 am and headed out for a run with Carter and Harper.  The first day of school last year was especially emotional for me because Carter broke out the Sunday before school started and it turned out he had Fifth Disease.  Since it was the first day of school I was forced to send him off to daycare not feeling up to par.  I am so thankful that is something I will never again have to do!

He's been practicing climbing into his car seat, getting there!

After our morning run we came home so I could shower and we could eat a morning snack.  Then we headed out to the splash pad for some good ol summer time fun!  Carter made friends with a couple of girls who were continuously filling a water bottle and pouring it into a bowl in the playground equipment.  He didn't say much to them and they didn't say a whole lot to him, he just stood and watched.  He loves to observe.  Little mister had a blast playing in the water and I laughed so hard watching him and felt so full and happy getting the chance to spend more time with him! 

Watching the girls refill their water bottle.  They were pouring the water into the bowl shown above.

 

Watching for water to come out.

Getting sprayed in the face!

 

Lunchtime came and I was really hungry although Carter wasn't showing much interest in leaving.  I talked him into walking to the car with me and changed him back into his dry clothes.  We headed straight for Tropical Smoothie for their $5 flatbread and smoothie Tuesday deal.  I treated Carter to a special lunch date with a birthday gift card I'd received from his Papa and Gigi.  Normally we share a flatbread and a smoothie, but I was really hungry so I got Carter his own.  He ended up only eating half of his flatbread so I ate the other half.  I went out on a limb and ordered him a Totally Green smoothie with cucumber, spinach, kale, kiwi, and green apple.  I tasted it and it was drinkable but I definitely couldn't drink an entire one by myself.  Carter sucked it down like he thought it was delicious.  While eating we saw Jake's mom and talked to her.  Jake was supposed to come to our house today, but came down with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease over the weekend.  She said his fever finally broke last night so we may see him on Friday.  During our lunch date Carter was really hamming it up, making faces at me and even squinting his eyes to make me laugh.  There was no where I'd rather have been than with my boy.

Enjoying his chicken pesto flatbread.

Going to town on his mostly vegetable smoothie.

We got home in time for me to read Carter a couple books and rock him for a bit before putting him down for a nap.  Once he was asleep I flipped through facebook for a couple of minutes to make sure he was asleep so I wouldn't wake him leaving the room.  My newsfeed was filled with first day of school pictures of past students and teacher statuses excited for the first day.  Seeing my sweet previous students all dressed up and smiling for their first day of school made me a bit emotional, but even then I didn't wish to be back at it.  I just wished I could peek into their new classrooms to see them for a bit.  One of the hardest things as a teacher is letting go.  You put your heart and soul into teaching a group of students.  Not just teaching them skills and objectives, but how to be kind and contributing members of society.  You teach them how to resolve conflicts, to accept the differences of others, and to care about others and the world around them.  You begin to love each child as you see them grow and become amazing people.  Then at the end of the year you send them on to someone else.  You are somehow supposed to cut your heart strings and watch them walk away.  I was always so excited for the first day of school, but typically spent the first portion of the school year missing my previous students.  I swear every year I came home and told Ty, this class just isn't special like my group last year.  I miss my old students and want them back.  I'm never going to love these kids like last year.  Then Ty was laughing at the end of the year when I was crying about my group of students moving on.  It was a vicious cycle and I felt like it never got easier, I just learned to accept it the longer I taught.  Today would have been my 7th first day of school as a teacher and my 24th first day of school since kindergarten, but instead of packing my bag and lunch and pulling into a school parking lot I was doing something much better.  I was playing with my son, enjoying lunch with him, snuggling him, and watching him sleep.  Our second summer is just beginning and I couldn't be happier!

Splashin on Saturday

Last night I really wanted to take Carter to a nearby park with a splash pad but I was afraid they wouldn't have the water turned on yet.  This morning on my run I saw the water was on and got extremely excited to take Carter!  We went last summer when Carter was about 7 months old.  I knew he would have so much more fun this year than he had before.  Little man is such a fan of water.  Carter woke up at 5:30 and didn't fall back to sleep causing him to be extremely tired all morning.  He went down for a nap at 10:30 rather than his normal 12:00.  When he woke up he ate lunch and we played in the back yard for a while.  He enjoyed playing with the dogs, his water table, and football with his grampy.

Jeremy, Thomas, mom, dad, and I all decided to go to the splash park.  By the time we went Carter was starting to tire out a bit due to his early nap.  At first he wasn't interested in playing in the water unless he was being held, but warmed up after a while and had a blast.  He loved to walk over to where the water sprayed out and watch for it to come.  Occasionally the water would spray him in the face and he would rush over to me to be picked up for a little bit.  He loves water but isn't too fond of it spraying him in the face.  One of his favorite things about the park is the little hills with turf.  He would get sprayed with the water and then walk up to the top of the hill.  Then he'd come back down to the water to get sprayed all over again.

Grammy giving Carter some courage.

Putting his finger in the hole the water sprayed out of.

Running to me after getting sprayed in the face.

Worn out and about ready to head home.

Climbing the hill with some tongue action.

When we got home Carter picked my phone up.  He carried it around pretending to talk on the phone.  His grampy thought it was hilarious so he called him.  Carter actually started talking back into the phone.  It was the cutest!

I got a phone call!

What's this guy talkin about?