Week In the Life - Day 2 (Tuesday)

Tuesday

I didn't have as many photos to sort through today as yesterday, but feel we still have a good representation of our day.

We woke up to thunderstorms this morning.  My alarm went off at 4:30 and I spent a half hour in a semi-awake dream state.  I was finally able to peel myself out of bed at 5 for coffee and quiet.

Sylvie came out of her room at 6, just as lightning lit up the sky.  She came around the corner with wide eyes and stated "I see tunder!".

Once she fully woke up she retreated back to her bedroom to get her blanket.  She can be a little whiny slow to wake up, but she is all smiles today.

I turn cartoons on for her as I get ready to shower.  As usual she wants to watch Mickey, but she has to settle for Jake and the NeverLand Pirates for 20 minutes before Mickey starts.

When I come out of the bathroom Cora is up checking off items on her chore chart.

I get ready and do my daily wipe down of the bathroom, and try to clear some counter clutter.  Daycare begins to arrive at 7, and Beau still isn't up.  Knowing his screen time is limited means he has no reason to wake up early.  I put Sylvie's laundry away and make a mental note that she needs a better organizational system for her toys.

By 7:30 Beau's up with his chores done and is playing on the iPad.  At 8 the daycare kids are all here and we get washed up for breakfast.

I try not to dwell on my frustration that when I say "everyone in their seats" my kids are still wandering around the kitchen underfoot.  It's always hard to find a balance between this being their home/mom and getting them to understand that daycare rules apply to them too.  It's an issue that is more prevalent now that Beau is in school and not a part of the daycare day regularly throughout the year.  Today's breakfast includes 5 waffles, 2 pieces of toast, 3 apples, 7 glasses of milk for the kids and the standard peanut butter English muffin and banana for me.

Sylvie brings her empty plate and her full glass of milk to the dishwasher.  It's rare that she drinks more than a couple sips of her milk, and she often leaves much of her food.  We're trying to let it go for now and not go down the same path of power struggles that we had with Beau.

 After breakfast the kids put away their laundry.  Beau comes back up and surprises me by telling me that he set up the pack and plays.  Cora comes back with a bag that she has packed.  Its contents include a stuffed elephant, blanket, regular socks, fuzzy winter socks (in case her feet get cold), lotion, a purse with lip gloss, and a chapter book.

At 9 we head downstairs.  The babies are ready go down for nap, and today I am more insistent that Beau at least get his Lego's out in case he feels like working on them.  The little's ask to watch Curious George.  It's a rainy day, so I'm OK with it.

 

Without the iPad as an option Beau quickly decides that Lego's will do.  Cora sees Beau playing with his and runs in to get hers out too.

 Sylvie's attention span isn't at the point where she can sit and watch more than a few minutes of TV.  She is up and bouncing from tv, to Lego's, to the kitchen set, and then requests to play with the fish blocks.

 Cora isn't thrilled about Sylvie playing with her Lego's.  I suggest she pick out a few that are ok for Sylvie to play with and put them on a tray for her.  She decided that was an ok idea.

As the morning goes on Beau and Cora both get frustrated with their Lego's.  Beau because of a missing piece and Cora because she can't get a piece to stay together.  They both join the littles to watch the end of Curious George.  I take advantage of the momentary quiet and contentedness and get a load of laundry done.

 By 10:30 the movie is over.  Cora joins the littles in pretend play with the kitchen set, and Beau is back at his Lego's.  He is feeling frustrated with daycare (and his sisters).  Cora is playing kitchen talking to herself in a sing song voice and Beau exclaims "Quiet Cora!  I'm trying to concentrate!"  He also tells me "I need her to stop, it's annoying!!" referring to one of the 3 year old's singing a version of Twinkle over and over and over.  The babies are up and thankfully they are doing better about not climbing today.  The morning ends with the kids playing "dinosaur" which is the little's fav right now.  They made it up and it basically includes them growling at and chasing each other, and hiding.

At lunch today it was Cora who took over the camera.  I so love that they are joining me in this project!

Beau asks to stay downstairs until lunch is ready so he can continue working on his legos, notice how they have expanded significantly!  Today's lunch is ravioli with spaghetti sauce, peas, and watermelon.  After serving coleslaw yesterday I don't get any complaints about the peas!

The kids go down for nap at 1.  Beau goes downstairs to do some reading and Cora works in her workbook.

At 1:15 we get another surprise visitor.  Today it's Grandpa Daskam!  Beau shows him this mornings Lego work in progress while I prep chicken for supper and clean up from lunch.  Cora works on a picture for when we meet her teacher on Friday.  Sitting on the counter of course.  That may not be the obvious place for an art project, but it is so Cora.  Grandpa leaves around 2 and the kids go downstairs to read.  I sort through photos and watch part of an episode of Bachelor in Paradise (I have no idea how that got set on the DVR!  ;).  At 2:45 Sylvie joins me in the living room.  I turn on Sophia the First for her while I clean up and get snack ready.

At 3 it's time for the rest of the kids to get up and I have one that heads home early.  We have snack downstairs (something new we're trying).  Beau goes back to his legos.  Cora does as well, but they don't hold her attention for long.  She gets in trouble for jumping around the furniture and roughhousing and retreats to play in her room.  Sylvie joins her a short time later and I can hear them being giggly, laughing and just being crazy girls.

My last kiddo leaves at 5:30. As I clean up Cora is walking around the room being silly with a toy phone.  "well come to the party then, we're having 8 million cupcakes.  Yeah, it's ok with my mom.  Yeah I get that a lot."  That's just a snippet of the one sided conversation I caught.

We head upstairs and I start getting supper ready.  Luke is home at 6 and grills the chicken.  This kids have created a pile of pillows and blankets and are jumping into it.  I fight the urge to tell them to stop, remembering myself doing the same thing when I was little.  Their play ends abruptly when Cora misses the pile and ends up with a carpet burn on her knee.

After supper Beau shares some sour patch kids he got for his birthday with everyone for dessert.  Sylvie even cleaned her plate so she wouldn't have to miss out.

Once supper is cleaned up Beau and Luke mold Beau's football mouth guard.  Football practice starts Thursday!

My half marathon training plan says 7 miles for today.  I'm thankful the rain and lightning has stopped and head out shortly after 7.  I even get to see the sun for a short time while I'm out there.  The kids stay home with Luke.  They watch part of America's Got Talent, and Luke says the girls were very tired.  I get home around 8:15.  The kids are all in bed so I check on them and sneak a goodnight kiss.  The girls are both already sleeping, but Beau is still up reading a Geronimo Stilton book.

As usual after an evening run I feel wired and not at all ready for bed.  I found some episodes of Parenthood on the DVR that I didn't realize were on there.  While I watch I work on going through pictures, organizing my notes from the day, and stalking my stitch fix order to see if it has shipped.  Luke heads to bed just before 10. I shower and get to bed late (for me) at around 10:40.