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| Their personalities in a picture. Jane=excited and silly, Atlas=focused and serious. |
I thought it would be fun to go through what a normal day is like at this point with our family. I did this when Jane was around a year old and since we've added a kid and Jane is a 2 year old now, things have changed a bit. So I'd say it's time for an update.
Everyone that has a child and especially more than one child can probably agree that kids don't follow a routine perfectly day in and day out. So obviously this post will not reflect how every day of our week goes. But if things go relatively smoothly that day and we don't have plans to go anywhere then this is how our day progresses.
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| Jane gave us all headbands to wear. :D |
On a normal weekday I start to wake up around 6:30am. I hit the snooze button a couple of times while I nurse Atlas before I get out of bed. (He always ends up in my bed sometime in the night before 6am, but he starts out in his rock & play) I try to get up and out of bed around 6:40-7am. I grab a breakfast snack and head straight to my desk to work. Sam also gets up sometime between 6:30 and 7am and heads to work. We give each other a head nod or a grunt goodbye. We're not morning people...
I work as much as I can before Jane wakes up. Jane will wake up on a normal day anywhere from 6:30-7:30am. Once Jane is awake I change her diaper and get her dressed. She usually asks for some milk and to watch a show or a movie. Right now, The Lego Movie is Jane's favorite movie! I get her settled and go back to work until I get somewhere between 1 to 1 1/2 hours of work in for the morning or until Atlas wakes up, whichever comes first. Atlas will sometimes wake up before 8am, but usually he sleeps until 8:30-9am. He is definitely a night owl. I'll get to that later. Anyway, I either change his diaper and get him dressed or nurse him first depending on how hungry he seems.
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| Jane just loves to bring Atlas toys! |
Now that both of the kids are awake and dressed and relatively happy, I finally get myself dressed and looking presentable! Mom's know that we put ourselves last on the list. ;) I fix myself and the kids breakfast. Atlas has started solids so he gets to have whatever puree I made the day before. Jane and I have a variety of things. She never eats much for breakfast though. Normally yogurt, cereal, fruit, or toast. Oatmeal with fruit, scrambled eggs or a green smoothie are my go-to's with the occasional pop tart or cereal.
With breakfast behind us we head out on our morning walk. The kids
LOVE going for a walk. Both of them could be in a weird mood, but once we get started on our walk they are both serene and start taking in the world around them. It's great exercise for me! I just lost the last of my baby weight from Atlas! Woohoo! It's only about a 20 minute walk, but it's so relaxing for me and I get a few minutes of peace and quiet to pray and think calmly. I'm thinking of stretching it longer since we all love it so much.
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| They are awesome shoppers too!! First time at our new HEB! |
By the time we get back from our walk it's around 11am or so and Atlas is ready for his first nap. I'll nurse him a bit and he'll go right to sleep. If Jane wakes up before 7am she'll take a nap then too, but if she woke up after 7am she isn't sleepy enough yet and waits to nap until Atlas's second nap around 3-4pm. (Update, Jane is transitioning out of naps and if she doesn't nap early, she doesn't nap at all most days)
Whenever Jane and Atlas are napping at the same time I go back to work. Depending on the length of their nap and how much work I have to do I'll work 30 minutes to an hour. If I'm lucky I'll get more than an hour. That gives me somewhere between 2-3 hours of work for the day.
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| I'm sure this it the first of many bowls of popcorn together! |
We have lunch sometime between 12-2pm, whenever the kids are content and not napping. Atlas loves jumping in his doorway jumper while he watches me fix myself a sandwich. Jane loves to help cook or she tries to entertain Atlas which normally ends up with him getting upset, but at least her heart was in the right place. ;)
Between all the meals, naps and work, we play in the backyard once or twice a day. Atlas loves to sit on a beach towel with his toys and watch Jane and I jump on the trampoline, play tag, race or swing on the tire swing. It's the best. I can't wait until Atlas can join in and run around the yard with us. We also spend a good amount of time in Atlas and Jane's rooms playing with toys or reading books together.
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| We love our backyard!! |
It's not all sunshine and rainbows. There is lots of crying and whining. Atlas is teething and needing more cuddles but then Jane feels left out and says, "hold me, hold me, hold me!!" Balancing the attention is always a challenge. But I'm so blessed to have two amazing kids to give me that challenge. I'm a better person because of them.
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| Our Trampoline is the best! |
Around 5pm we are done with naps and work and we have some time to fill before Sam gets home and starting on dinner. A lot of the time we end up watching some Netflix. Jane's current favorite show is the Storybots! There are two different series, Storybots Super Songs and Ask the Storybots. Only eleven 20 minute episodes between the two series makes for a lot of repeat watching, but I really enjoy the storybots too, so that's a plus. I'm waiting intently for more seasons!! The Storybots were actually an App first so she can take them with her and it really helps at a sit down restaurant. If the weather is nice and the mosquitoes aren't insane then we'll go outside again for a little while.
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| Inside is fun too! :D |
Sam gets home from work around 6-6:30pm. If I have a more labor/time intensive meal I'll get started before he gets home, if not I'll wait until he gets home to start. I shoot for about a 7pm dinner time. That way we can be done eating and cleaning up by 8pm. While I'm cooking, Atlas will hang out in the jumper and Jane will play with Sam. It works out really well most nights. If Atlas is extra fussy I'll wear him while I cook or clean up. Some times Jane will wash dishes with me, other times she'll choose to go play with Sam again after dinner. Sam is such a great dad and Jane really looks forward to playing with him every day. If Sam has to work late and we have to eat dinner without him Jane will ask, "My dad??" I'll tell her he had to work extra hard for us today. She'll be disappointed for a minute, but usually perks right back up and goes about the rest of her day as her joyful self.
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| I know it's hard to see, but Sam is reading to Jane |
Finally, around 8pm, we begin our bedtime routine. I help the kids get their jammies and night time diaper on. I would like to say bath time is part of our routine, but it is not a daily occurrence. And most of the time it doesn't happen around bedtime either. I never seem to be able to fit bath time for two kids right before bed with out it getting super past their bedtime. Maybe one day... A girl can dream. ;) After they're all snuggly in their jammies, I nurse Atlas and Jane gets to play a few educational games on my iPod. Atlas is not super great at his bedtime routine and that's probably my fault... But anyway, sometimes he falls asleep around 8:30pm, other times he waits until after I put Jane to bed.
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| Happy boy! |
At 8:30-9pm Jane and I brush her teeth, tell Atlas and Dad goodnight and head off to read a few books together. Jane will not let anyone else put her to bed other than me if I am home. In fact, if she is being reluctant to go to bed our threat ends up being, "Does Dad need to put you to bed??" She'll say, "No! Mommy do!" and rushes off with me. Jane loves her Usborne books!! Her current favorites are "My Owie book" (AKA All Better) and You Choose. I adore reading books to Jane at bedtime! It's our special mom and Jane time. I also think that's why she won't let anyone else put her to bed. It's just tough when I'm sick. Normally, we tell Jane mom is sick and you have to help. So she does exactly I say right away and I power through it. After a couple of books, I say it's time for bed. We turn off the light, I hold her while we say a prayer. I put her in bed and say goodnight. Only recently she has started to come out of her room at night. She gets right back in bed and I tell her I love her, but she still needs to go to sleep. It only takes a time or two and she goes to sleep. Some nights she won't come out at all. Only on rare occasions will she wake up in the middle of the night.
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| I know I'm biased, but man, my kids are cute!! ;) |
Atlas still wakes up a couple of times a night, but he goes straight back to sleep every time. Plus I co-sleep with him part of the night so I don't become a zombie. So I barely notice that he wakes up. Just this last month Atlas dropped his third nap and has started to go to bed at a decent hour. Before it was 11pm-Midnight!! But now by 9:30pm most nights he's asleep. I'd still like to push it earlier and we're working on it.
Ahhh... It's 10pm and the kids are asleep. What do I do? Well, I need to fit in a shower some nights. Weeknights, I need to make Sam's lunch for the next day. I also have to get myself ready for bed at some point. In between all of that I try to give myself at least 30 min to sit down and do whatever I want. A lot of the time I watch TV and scroll through Facebook. Other times I blog about the kids, back up and look through the pictures of the kids or I work on one of kids baby books. So even when they're asleep I'm usually doing something that pertains to them. And you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way. :)
Romans 15:13
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
