A day in the life of the Daniels: Volume 2

Life has changed a lot since I did a blog post about what our daily life is like and It's about to change a lot yet again! I want to remember what life was like before we add member #5 to our family. So I'm going to walk you through our day like I have done in previous posts. It may be a little boring to some because it's just our day to day life, but I'm mostly writing it for myself to be able to read later and remember what this very short period of our lives was like. I hope you enjoy it though!

Cuddling with Cambria right after waking up

My alarm goes off at 7am. I normally hit snooze a time or two, but the dog is already at the side of my bed whining at me needing to go outside. I slide out of bed and get dressed and let Cambria out in the back yard. With a cold glass of water at my side, I sit down at my desk to work before the kids wake up. Every so often a child might wake me up before 7am, but I have a rule about them having to stay in bed until it's light outside and they are pretty good at following it.

Sitting down to work.

Until recently, Jane would get up between 7:30 and 8 and Atlas between 8 and 8:30. They have switched now that they are sharing a room. Atlas wakes up first and Jane sleeps in. I think it's because she has to wait until Atlas has fallen asleep in their room before she can go to bed. So she's sleepier because of that lately. They are awesome sleepers though! Atlas might wake up sometimes needing help putting his blankets back on or having a nightmare and needing a cuddle. Jane wakes up sometimes needing help going potty or from having a bad dream too. But they (almost) always go right back to sleep!

Sleepy boy!

Everybody is watching a show together

When one of them wakes up I'll put on a show and I'll keep working for another 30 to an hour. They are like me and are pretty drowsy when they wake up, so it's easy to keep them entertained with a show or movie. I try to stop working at 8:30 or so and get the kids dressed and start making breakfast. Sometimes Jane comes out of her room already dressed, so all I need to worry about is Atlas. The other day Jane heard me say something about needing to put the folded clothes away and she decided it do it all on her own. She is becoming so helpful! My little girl is growing up.

Cracking eggs like a pro.

When I ask the kids what they want for breakfast Jane usually responds, "Eggs!" She likes to eat them, but I think she likes making them more! She's getting pretty good at it too. If I get all the ingredients out for her she can pretty much do it herself with a little supervision of course. She LOVES to cook. I hope she always wants to cook with me.

"Let's go that way!"

After breakfast the kids normally run off to the play room together and entertain themselves for a while. I clean off the table, brush my teeth and get anything else together that we might need for that day. Like on park days I'll pack our lunch or for gymnastics days I'll pack a backpack of activities for Atlas. Once we all have our teeth and hair brushed it's time for a walk! It's good for all of us! They are contained and content and Cambria and I get the exercise we need. I also like to use that time to pray and get my mind in the right place for the day. They used to both ride in the stroller then over time Jane decided she wanted to walk next to the stroller. Now that she has her bike she likes to ride her bike while I push Atlas in the stroller. Sometimes I have to jog a little to keep up with her! She's fast!

They love the playset!

So much fun!

Driveway time

When we get back from our walk the kids like to run around the front yard for a while. If she didn't already get it out for our walk, Jane gets her bike out to ride and Atlas likes to run in circles. :) Jane asks me all the time to play "monster tag". Which is basically me chasing them and tickling them and roaring like a monster. ;) It's great exercise for all of us. We've been playing with the remote control monster truck a lot lately too. Cambria is such a good dog and will stay in the front yard with us without running off. We usually make our way to the back yard after a good game of monster tag. They LOVE jumping on the trampoline together. They make me nervous sometimes, but they're becoming pretty good jumpers.

School time!

It takes some convincing to get them back inside. Once we do get back inside we try to get some Preschool in. If for some reason Jane doesn't want to do school I don't make her. At this age I think it's very important for school to be fun. If I force her she won't end up learning anything anyway. Most days she is excited for school. When I took this picture we hadn't started doing school consistently yet and we hadn't tried to start in a long time. Somehow she knew I was planning to start that day without me telling her. She brought her chair over to the table with a piece of paper and said "I'm ready for school time!". We used to start with songs and then we would read a few stories. Lastly we would do an ABC craft or a letter worksheet while Atlas colored. Lately Jane has wanted to skip the songs and stories and go straight to the craft or worksheet. We're working on letter recognition right now. It's been fun, but a little challenging too. Mostly because Jane doesn't want help and gets upset when I try to give her a little extra direction. She wants to do it all herself and perfect the first time she tries. She reminds me so much of myself. Sorry, kid!

Sleepy boy!

Once we're done with school it's about time for lunch! I try to keep lunch pretty basic and most of the time we end up eating sandwiches or salami, cheese and carrots and hummus. Neither of my kids like peanut butter, but they both love hummus. It seems so backwards to me! Before I moved Atlas to a booster seat sometimes he would fall asleep eating lunch. He still gets pretty drowsy depending on how early he woke up that day, but I think he realizes he might fall out of his seat if he fell asleep at the table now.

I love nap time cuddles!

Yep, it's nap time! I try to start getting them settled down for a nap from 1:30-2pm. We sit together on the couch together and I put on a show that is boring to them. A lot of times after about 20 minutes this is what happens. Both of them are asleep on me. :) I transfer Atlas to his crib and Jane will stay on the couch and nap there. If they aren't asleep in about 30 minutes then Atlas goes in his crib and can fall asleep on his own or just have some crib time. Jane can skip a nap if she's not tired. She will either watch a movie or play on her kindle. If I have any work left for the day I finish up during nap/quiet time. If I have any extra time and Atlas is still napping then I use that time to do something I enjoy. I normally end up blogging like I'm doing right now! I also recently finished his baby book. :)

drowsy kids after nap time.

If Atlas actually falls asleep at 2-ish, then more than likely he'll wake up around 4 or 4:30. Cambria knows it's nap time and takes a nap along with Atlas. If Jane naps it's usually only for an hour or so. As you can tell from the picture above, they both wake up kinda slow and groggy. Atlas normally asks to watch a show. So I'll put on a show that they both like for a little bit while they wake up and try to get something done around the house that needs doing.

Bouncing on their side of the trampoline

Around the time their show is done Jane and Cambria are begging to go outside and play. If the weather is nice we go out to the backyard to grab some more vitamin D before the sun goes down. I play with Cambria while the kids run around the backyard together. They are still working on taking turns with just about anything. I let them jump on the trampoline together as long as they aren't running into each other. If there are problems then I'll go get the timer to help them take turns. Once I finally convince them to come back inside, I start making dinner. If they will play nicely in their rooms that's great, but most of the time that's not the case and they come find me in the kitchen. Atlas will just ask for me to hold him or get into trouble. So I'll let him pick out a movie to watch while I cook. Depending on Jane's mood she'll either cook with me or watch the movie with Atlas.

Baked potato soup! YUM!

It's finally time for Dad to come home!! Cambria is definitely the most excited to see him and can't control herself and is jumping all over him trying to lick his face. Jane and Atlas get excited when Dad gets home too! Just not to the extent the dog does. ;) I'm always super happy to see my best friend walk in the door. He's normally pretty tired after the long day at work and long commute home. Almost 12 hours is a long time to be away from home. If I've timed dinner right it's ready about 15-30 minutes after Sam gets home so he has some time to just sit and decompress from the day before we eat. I love eating dinner together as a family. Jane and I will tell Sam about our day together. Atlas stays pretty focused on his food.

They love their dad!!

When everybody is finished eating, I'll start cleaning up and it's play time with dad for the kids! They love to play with him. They're always on the floor together building forts, throwing balls at each other or using dad as human jungle gym. Cambria doesn't want to be left out! Somehow Sam finds time to throw Cambria's tennis ball for her in the midst of the crazy. I love hearing their laughs down the hall as I clean. I think it's super important to have dad time. I have great memories growing up of my dad playing with me and my brother after dinner too. :)

Reading books together before bed.

Around 8pm it's time for jammies and brushing teeth! Sometimes we get a bath in between cleaning up dinner and bed time, but honestly it's probably like twice a week that it happens that way. If they don't smell bad or look dirty I'm not worried about it. ;) Before I moved Atlas into Jane's room about 2 months ago bed time was usually super easy! Atlas and I went to his room with his cup of milk and we read some books together for about 20-30 minutes. When I put him in his crib he might have whined a little, but stayed lying down and I would rub his back for a minute then tell him goodnight. He was done! From what I could tell he would fall asleep in just a few minutes. After I was done with Atlas, Jane and I would head to her room, read some books and pray together. If she skipped her nap that day she would go right to sleep otherwise she might come out 2 or 3 times telling me she needs to potty, needs water or wants different jammies. Most nights bedtime was done by 9-9:30pm. Bed time is a little more complicated now that they're sharing a room. I still do the same routine with Atlas, but he resists going to sleep pretty hard now. I have to wait until he's asleep to put Jane to bed because he just thinks it's playtime if Jane is in there too and won't stop getting out of bed or talking to her. Hopefully he'll get used to the room situation sometime soon and Jane won't be going to bed at 10pm or sometimes later! :( I watch the video monitor after I put Atlas down while I clean up the living room or just sit and veg out on my iPod with Jane as she watches a show. I usually have to go back into the room and tuck Atlas back in bed a few times before he's down. Once it looks like he's finally falling asleep, Jane and I will read a couple books on the couch. I'll tuck Jane in and pray quietly for her before I tell her goodnight.

Doing my nails!

Once the bedtime battle is done for the night I have a short amount of time to relax before I go to bed myself. I like to sit on the couch and turn on Hulu and watch whichever of my shows was on the previous day. This Is Us, America's Got Talent, The Goldbergs, The Middle, Superstore, The Good Place, The Voice and Dancing with the Stars are some of my favorites. Because my time is limited I also like to multitask. While I'm watching I'll transfer my photos from my iPod to my Mac, do my nails, or blog most of the time. Some nights I'll play a video game instead. Before I head to bed I'll make Sam's lunch for the next day, take the dog out, check all the locks and alarms and fill up the Berkey and our water dispenser in the fridge. Every other night I fit in a shower too. Most nights I'm going to bed by 11:45 or 12. I would like to push it earlier, but I really value having a moment to myself to relax after the kids go to bed. It keeps me sane.

My little cuties!

At 7am my alarm goes off and we start all over again! So I normally get about 7 hours of sleep a night. That's not too shabby with 2 toddlers! I know it's all about to change with a newborn coming within the next month, so I'm going to enjoy it while I can! I love our daily life together. I'm looking forward to what life will be like with 3 kids. With every child comes new joys and challenges! I pray to keep a positive attitude, rely on God and roll with the changes as best I can.

I also want to record our weekly activities real quick. These are the things we do every week as long as we're not sick or something else unusual is going on.

Playing restaurant together

As long as the weather doesn't stop us we go to Home School Park Day! We used to fit in story time at the library before we headed to the park, but we haven't been able to go since our library flooded 6 months ago. Hopefully we'll be able to fit it back in when the library opens again one day!

Gymnast pose!

Atlas wanted to line up next to the ballerinas

On the big balance beam

Gymnastics is our next weekly activity. Jane always gets so excited when I tell her it's gymnastics day! I try to make a quick breakfast that day because I always feel like I run out of time or feel rushed to get to gymnastics on time if I don't. I pack a backpack full of cars, books, toys and snacks to keep Atlas entertained for the hour. It normally works out great! My dad gets to come watch too most of the time. Jane and Atlas love getting to see Pappaw anytime they can. :) It's a good fit for everybody. We're so grateful to Marmee and Pappaw for making it possible for us to go. Thank you!!

Jane being Marmee and Marmee is baby

Fun with Pappaw

It's super amazing to be only a 5 minute drive from my parents. They are awesome babysitters. In fact, as I write this, the kids are over there right now spending the night for the last time before another baby comes along. :D We go over to Marmee and Pappaw's for dinner twice a week. It's wonderful! Sam get's some time to himself to relax, I don't have to worry about cooking dinner and I get a moment to sit while the grandparents enjoy playing with their grandkids. :)

Sitting in Panda bear's lap

Marmee is such a good sport

Panda bear 25 years ago!

We always have a good time. A few weeks ago Pappaw found some stuffed animals in the attic that my mom had saved from our childhood. Amazingly our big panda bear looks and feels just like it did 25 years ago when we got it! I remember sitting in it's lap just like Jane and Marmee are in these pictures. My old room at my parents house is now a super fun playroom filled with all my old toys that my mom saved. It's awesome!

Sweet little friends!

We try for a playdate or extra activity once a week. This picture was from when we went to visit our longtime friends in Willis. They were one of our very first baby playdates when Jane was just a few months old. :) If schedules don't work out that week to visit with friends then we try to take an extra trip to the park or go to chick-fil-a, maybe even the occasional trip to Pump It Up or Urban Air.

One of the good trips!

I try to make sure I only have to go grocery shopping once a week. Because shopping with two littles is always interesting. Sometimes they are amazing little shoppers and do great. Other times they won't leave each other alone and it drives me a little crazy! I just never know how it's going to go. I try to stay calm and get through the trip if they are acting crazy and remember it's not always like this! ;)

Washing dad's car!

Caught a midair jump from Jane!

Our weekends don't really follow a schedule or routine. Sometimes we have a birthday party or other event to go to. Other times we spend the whole weekend at home. If we don't have anything planned we try to do something fun that we might not have time for in the middle of the week. A few weekends ago we washed dad's car for him. Jane LOVES washing the car! Cambria loves the hose. Atlas has fun with the bubbles until Jane starts splashing him. ;) It can be a little hectic at times, but we all have fun!

Enjoying our backyard picnic.

That concludes a day in the life of the Daniels: Volume 2! It's been really fun to go through our daily and weekly activities. It helped me remember that what might seem mundane is really quite special and not to take any day for granted.

James 4:13-17

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.