A day in the life....

CAUTION: Long post below! :-)

Good morning all,

Today I thought I would answer the "question of the week" brought to us by the Multiples and More blog.  It was one that grabbed my attention as I was curious to read the answers of other mommy bloggers!!

Main Question: Describe (in detail) a FULL day in the life of YOU!!

They then break it down into smaller questions...

1.) What is your schedule like? Do you work outside the home or stay home with the kids?
Right now I am staying at home with our girls.  I originally took a 1 year LOA from my job as a high school guidance counselor, but have decided to take another year to be with them.  I am thankful the additional year was granted to me.  It was a very hard decision for me to make as I miss my job, co-workers and students like the dickens!

Our daily schedule?? Well...to be honest I wasn't much of a "schedule" person until these little beauties arrived.  I was more a go with the flow...take it as it comes....type of gal.  But - NOW ... I am ALL schedule ALL the time!

5:30-6am - EARLY morning wake up call.  Girls are up and HUNGRY.  I bring a bottle into their room and they drink it in their cribs.  I surround them with toys so when they finish they can play for a little while, hopefully.  This allows me time to do any number of things.....shower, make the bed, clean....depending on what I have planned for the upcoming day.

7-ish: Girls are ready to start the day.  Diapers changed and babes dressed and we either play on the floor, bounce, munch on some cheerios, watch a little Elmo, etc.  They have recently started to tolerate being in their high chairs while I do something in the kitchen.  This has been helpful to pass along another 30 minutes or so in the morning.

9:15: Time for a pre-nap bottle....at which time I scurry around doing anything I can accomplish in 10 minutes (dishes, laundry...blah, blah, blah)

9:30: Naptime.............ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  One joy of having two babes is I never quite know who is going to do what during naps.  Sometimes they both take a beautiful 2 hour nap....other days NOT SO MUCH.  During naptime I do various things which include: prep lunch, juice bottles, laundry, clean, catch up on email, talk to the hubs or anyone else who will listen, water the plants, play with the pooch, have a bowl of cereal or just whatever I think needs to be done and there always seems to be plenty of it!

11:00-11:30 Naptime ends....wake up time begins.  My girls don't like to be rushed into things when they first wake -- so if they wake up separately I try to do a little one on one snuggle time with each of them.

Noon: LUNCH, messy faces, diaper change....

1:00pm: We head our for our daily walk providing it's not raining.  We walk for at least an hour and sometimes can stretch it if we happen to run into a neighbor to chit-chat.  Fun!  Mama loves this time of day.  I get to breathe fresh air, soak up some sun and just think for a little while.

2:30pm: We come back from our walk...usually swing outside for about half an hour.

3:00pm: Head inside for a pre-nap bottle...

3:15: Afternoon naptime....my darling Ms. R is not into this afternoon nap AT ALL so she struggles to fall asleep most days.  But, I am not ready to give up on her napping twice per day yet!! I prep for dinner, bath and bedtime while they take their quick afternoon nap. 

4:15pm: Girls up and ready to play, play, play!!  We either play inside or outside depending on the weather.  We enjoy being outside so if at all possible we sit outside on a blanket and take in some more fresh air.  Because fresh air = tired babes!

5:00pm: Dinner is served!! We start with an hors d'oeuvres of puffs, move onto a main dish with veggies, and end with dessert - strawberry yogurt!  Yummy!

5:30: More playtime and prep for bathtime. 

6:00pm: Bathtime....we've recently moved to giving them a bath every other night.  We used to do it every night, but it's getting more challenging for me to do it alone.  If it's our night off from baths we typically go back outside to swing for about 30 minutes.

6:30pm: LAST bottle of the day.....

7:00pm: Nigh, night time.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....calgon...take me AWAY!! :)

2.) Do you follow it very closely? The answer to that is YES!!!!!!!!!!!!  I really try to follow it very closely.  The only variation is if it's raining and we can't get outside.  If that is the case we typically run errands during our walk time.  We go to Target, Cub, Kohl's....just usually shopping in general.  :)

3.) How much (or how little?) "help" do you have? I have wonderful family who love to help when they can.  They provide tremendous support when they are able and it has helped me through some tough days.  But - on a day to day basis it's usually just me and the girls.  Daddy works long hours and on a good day he might be home to help right before bedtime.  It's hit or miss, though, so I usually am in the mindset that I am on my own.

4.) What chores do you do on a daily basis?  I try to do any and all chores on a daily basis.  We have a wood floor that is super hard to keep clean so I am washing that almost every other day.  My hubs says I have OCD with cleaning the floor, but I feel like my entire house is dirty when the floor is dirty. I would never - can I say NEVER - put a dark hardwood floor in my kitchen/entry way if we build another home.  NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER.  Am I clear??  I also do laundry, vacuum, swish through the bathrooms, .... just whatever I can accomplish.  I have a hard time functioning if I feel like the house is dirty.

5.) Do you get any "me" time on an average day? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm...I guess during naptime and after they go to bed at night.  I am a "sleeper" by nature so once they go to bed I want to go to bed, too.  I wish I could let go of doing some of the daily chores while they nap, but as I just mentioned I have a hard time with that. 
6.) What is your favorite part of each day?  When the girls are happy, smiling, giggling and we are having fun together.

7.) What is your least favorite part of each day?  When the girls are tired, clingy and I can't seem to please them no matter what I do. 

8.) Are you able to make time for all the things that you want/need to fit in? Not sure how to answer this one...each day I feel like I do what needs to be done first.  I try to prioritize and go from there.  The girl's care is number one and everything comes after that.  I think one thing I struggle finding time for is sustaining friendships and other relationships.  It seems like there is little time for that.  I don't have enough time to make phone calls and catch up with people.

So - there yo have it.  A day in the life of us! I am sure this schedule will be revolving as they age, but that is our schedule as of - right now.  I am anticipating in the next several months we will go down to 1 nap per day and then our schedule will change again.  I am hoping, though, it might allow for more playdates, trips to the gym and other ways that we can get out of the house and socialize!!

Thanks for taking time to read about our day!

With love,
Cuz I'm the mama!