I always wonder what I actually do all day. The days feel crazy and I'm always doing something...so I decided to document one to remember just how crazy it actually is. *WARNING: LONG*
6:08. Wake up, too tired to get out of bed after a late twins club meeting last night. Jane is awake, but happy, so I read the news and check my email until I get her at 6:30.
6:30-6:45 nurse the baby.
Change diaper, get her dressed.
Caleb and Lily are awake at this point and want toys out of Clutter Jail. So they do the required chore and Lily picks her glass slippers, Caleb picks a recorder.
Start a load of laundry.
7:00 Cricket whines so I let her out to go potty. William wants to earn $, so it is his job to feed her. I remind him to do so, but he forgets the part about the dog needing to be involved. :)
Grab a banana so I can have some food today.
7:10. Remember about Teacher appreciation week. Throw something together with what we have around the house.
7:20. Get ready to exercise, but by the time I'm dressed, kids want to eat. So we get the kids fed. 3 bowls of cereal (each!) and many bananas later, I have a minute to eat a granola bar. Caleb is pretending to be a lion.
7:45 put chicken in the crockpot for dinner. It's cinco de Mayo so we're having mole enchiladas.
7:50. Switch the laundry to the dryer.
Still haven't had a chance to exercise, though I did decide on my workout.
8:00. Remind the kids to finish getting ready so we can get to school on time.
Clean up breakfast. Remind kids AGAIN to get their shoes on. Put a jacket on the baby, dog in the kennel.
810. Get 4 kids plus neighbor boy into the bike
8:15. Bike the kids to school.
8:30 After putting away the bike, start mole sauce for dinner baby in jumperoo.
8:35. Check on Dandelion. Clean cage, let him out in the yard to play. Water the garden.
Finish sauce. Baby is getting a bit fussy so I am playing peekaboo while I stir.
8:45 Referee a fight about Lily wanting Caleb to get out of his room and not wearing her princess dresses. Caleb is crying and then spits on Lily. Finish drinking water bottle #1 of the day
Check sauce again.
Lily needs rescuing from off Williams bed.
More fighting and door slamming with the twins.
Get Caleb a banana. Finish sauce. Clean up my mess.
9:00 Play with Baby. We are working on crawling.
Caleb wants to watch a show so he has to clean up his room and the living room first. Mostly he just plays. I get roped into singing Aladdin songs. Because the twins are obsessed right now. Take a few minutes to check Facebook for news, deals, friends, and because it's one of my duties with the twins club to keep the page updated, answer questions, etc.
915. Caleb and Lily are arguing over which princess to play with. Lily wants to be Elsa, but Caleb says no because Elsa has no prince.
Change Jane and put clean sheets on her bed put her down for her morning nap.
9:30 Kids finally clean up their mess so I allow them to watch a quick show while I work on a project. I'm making a board book for Jane's birthday. This involves me taking some photos and ordering the prints from Costco. Water bottle #2.
10-11:30. 45-minute strength training workout at the park. I keep getting interrupted by neighbors and my children. I can see Jane on the baby monitor and she sleeps this whole time.
11-110 Caleb cried uncontrollably because he either got a splinter or stepped on a bee. When he calms down, I call Steve to grab a few things from Costco.
11:25. William gets home from school. Informs me he is going to friend Wally's house. Luckily, Wally's mom is cool with this. Caleb and Lily pick me a bouquet of dandelions. Finish water bottle #3.
11:30. Wake up Jane so she will overlap afternoon naps with Caleb and Lily. Grab bikes for the kids and head back to the park.
11:35. Nurse baby at the park.
11:44-1220. Help Caleb practice riding his bike while Jane and Lily play on the grass.
We find 2 spiders and an ant on the way home. This is a big deal.
Put the bikes away, catch Dandelion , and let Cricket it to go potty.
12:25. Kids are in desperate need of food and luckily leftovers will satisfy them today. I get chicken noodle soup since I am trying to lose the last bit of baby weight.
12:45. Call Steve and my dad to sort out weekend plans.
12:50. Kids are bribed with 1/3 cookie each to help me with lunch dishes. I finished wiping the table and counters and Jane while Caleb and Lily go potty and get ready for naps.
12:55. Read 2 stories (Llama llama time to share and Olaf). Tuck the kiddos into bed.
Jane loves to play peekaboo with Caleb and dolls with Lily.
1:15. I hop in the bath and give Jane a few toys while I soak my tired muscles. Jane finds a rock on the bathroom floor and a ifs hit out of her mouth. Yuck! She is entertained my hitting things the on the sink.
1:30 I get out and get dressed. Throw my hair in a bun and put on a bit of makeup. Jane needs a diaper change so I change her indie while I'm at it since she is covered in lunch.
Jane and I attempt to put away her laundry. Jane mostly just gets into things. I decide she doesn't need so many clothes so I toss some into my DI/Garage sale pile, and the worst ones in the trash.
2:00. William will be home soon, so I figure I'll finish the laundry later and head upstairs so I can avoid Cricket barking when he walks in. Decide to shred the chicken. Eat way more than I should. Finish water bottle #4.
2:15. William gets home. He is very excited to tell me all about his plays are with Wally. We start William's homework. William sings me a song he learned at school.
A package arrives. Cricket barks and I sush her to keep the twins asleep. I sort the contents and put them away.
2:30. Jane is ready for a nap at this point, so I put her down.
Attempt to keep William on task with his homework. While he is working, I sort the mail and do a 15-minute decluttering.
3:00. Caleb wakes up. He is motivated to clean up so he can watch a show and I can get a few things done. By the time they finish, Lily is also awake. They watch Miles from Tomorrowland.
I check my cleaning app to see what still needs to get done.
I've actually done pretty well today. Since the kids are awake and the weekly zone is the bedrooms, I start with the boys' room.
4:00. I sort a drawer I haven't dealt with in months, finding kindergarten paperwork about making sure kids are ready. Feeling guilty about the last hour of tv, we turn of the show so I Candace them do an activity...but Jane wakes up.
I run to the van to grab William's violin book. Getting distracted by the mess from our trip last weekend, I throw away all the trash while I'm there.
4:30. Feed the baby. During this time I also check Facebook and make an appointment to get the RAV4 serviced.
Change Jane's diaper.
4:45. Start on William's first violin lesson. Decide he needs his nails trimmed. While I'm trimming his nails, Lily needs help in the bathroom.
Finish violin lesson. William has learned a few things and also still thinks this is fun. Success!
The other kids are luckily still happily playing in the toy room. I feel guilty for ignoring them and play with Jane. William goes upstairs to play with play dough. Lily wants new batteries in her princess carriage but we don't have the right kind. Lily throws a fit. Caleb and Lily fight about something.
5:30. I run upstairs to get dinner put together. Kids stay happy.
Put the enchiladas in the oven, slice up some pineapple.
5:45. Jane wants a banana, so I put her in her high chair with some food.
5:56. Steve calls to say he is coming home early for Cinco de Mayo. I tell The kids to clean up and I will make Brazillian Lemonade.
William is the only one that cleans up. Caleb and Lily alternate playing and crying.
I make a terrible mess in the kitchen.
Steve arrives home with flowers for me for Mother's Day and a load of supplies from Costco.
6:30 eat dinner. I get up 3x to help the kids. Caleb and Lily finally decide to go downstairs and clean up their mess so they can have lemonade.
7:00 Steve gets a bath for Jane while I do dishes. Caleb and Lily still aren't cleaning up.
Jane doesn't like the bath today so I get her and she just wants her mama. But I give her to Steve so I can tackle some of the kitchen disaster.
7:15 We give up on Caleb and Lily cleaning up and I put the lemonade in the fridge. I resolve to take away all the toys and put them in clutter jail.
7:30 Steve bathes the big kids while I nurse Jane and get her ready for bed. She's done for the day and so am I.
I put all the toys on the floor downstairs in clutter jail, including Caleb's special elephant blanket. I tell him this and he cries. However, I remind him that if he will help me clean up in the kitchen, he can earn it back.
I finish up the dishes, but the dishwasher is full so I just leave the rest in the sink. I'm too tired today. Usually I don't leave dishes but the last hour has been too draining. Steve reads scriptures and stories. Caleb and Lily aren't listening and get sent to bed.
7:40 I go talk to Caleb and Lily about their behavior today. I am really mad but am proud that I was able to stay calm. They resolve to do better tomorrow. I tuck them in.
Lily throws a fit about something and keeps turning her light on. I pull the chain so she sang turn it on. Lily kicks the door for ten minutes and yells at me to lock it.
I give William a goodnight kiss.
William forgot to feed Cricket so I do it. Lily is still kicking the door.
Steve and I decide to ignore her and sit outside to read. After 15 minutes or so, the kids come outside crying, thinking we left them. We remind them we wouldn't leave them alone and send them back to bed.
Lily is playing in the bathroom sink. It is full to the brim and water is all over the floor. I make her wipe up the mess and drain the sink, putting Lily back in bed. Lily slams her door.
8:45. Steve comes back inside and we watch a documentary about the Beatles in the 1960s. I eat a chocolate pudding cup...my "dessert". I finish water bottle #5. I'm surprised I manage to stay awake. I think it's all the adrenaline from Lily's antics.
9:30. I'm still not tired so Steve puts on an episode of Kimmy Schmidt. I make it through the rest of the episode I fell asleep in last time, and then I'm totally asleep on the couch. I wake up at 11:30, let Cricket out to go potty, and go downstairs to bed. It's the end of a VERY long day and I'm exhausted.
