Yesterday marked the first day of this year's Week In the Life project. This will be my 5th year participating and I find that for me taking pictures and documenting during the week is the easy part. The hard part is what comes next week, organizing all my material and putting it together into an album. Once I get finished with the week I am usually burned out and the feeling of overwhelm quickly creeps in, causing the project to be shelved indefinitely . I spent last week finishing up putting together 2014's album. Last year was the first year I used Ali Edward's Week in the Life kit and it helped immensely in getting everything into an album. This year I'm attempting to go step further by organizing my photos and words into a blog post each day, hopefully leaving me less overwhelmed with material at the end of the week. So, with that said, much like the Disney posts, this content will be going directly into our family albums. Meaning...they will probably include more detail than you ever cared to know about our lives! You'll see lots of blurry photos, lots of messes, and faces that aren't always happy. But this project isn't about making our lives look perfect, or even highlighting the good stuff. This project is about getting a real look at what our life is like and who we are right now. You've been warned.
MONDAY
My day started at 4:30AM with Luke asking if I was going to run. He goes to shower and I make coffee and get ready for some quiet time before the kids get up.
Shortly after Luke left I heard Sylvie's door knob turn and she joined in the living room. I was thankful for the cloudy, rainy morning which caused it to be fairly dark at 5:45AM. I was able to convince her that it was still night and she needed to go back to bed. She wanted to come sleep in Mommy's bed, but in the end was convinced to stay in her bed (with a refilled Ariel water bottle) with minimal whining. The fact that she has mastered door knobs has given us much less control over her wake up schedule.
At 6:10AM I can tell by the squeaking of the bed that Beau is up downstairs. We start school next week, so we are using this week to get back into the habit of being more productive upon waking.
That includes me since I need to be sure I start getting ready about a half hour earlier in order to be available to keep the kids on task. My morning routine is minimal and consists of a (very hot) shower and makeup. My makeup routine is unadventurous to say the least (for instance, the blush I wore today is the same color and brand I wore in 7th grade). I put on make up daily even though I never leave the house or see anyone. I just don't feel (or look) fully awake until I have it on. My hair goes up (wet) or remains untouched and gets put up later in the day. The whole shebang takes about 15-20 minutes depending on how much cleaning of the bathroom gets multi tasked in there.
The kids knew that they had to have all their chores done before they can have any screens this week, so by the time I'm out of the shower they are upstairs with all their chores done.
I created and printed dry/erase chore charts for Cora and Beau to use in the mornings, giving them a visual to check when I ask "did you do your chores". I go over Cora's with her helping her to sound out the words so that by next week she is able to read it on her own.
Once Breakfast if finished we all head downstairs to play. Today's choices are the trio blocks, cars, and kitchen set. I work on going through the preschool curriculum I will be starting with Sylvie and the daycare kids on September 1st. It arrived over the weekend and we've all been excited to see it. I'm thankful for the rainy day so I can have a chance to dive in. I have lots of little eyes continually checking on what I'm doing and my progress. I love that they are excited about it, and I'm excited to get back to a routine. The 2 kids gone this week are Cora and Beau's same age and best friends. Them being gone has forced Beau and Cora to have to play together. Not something that usually happens. They're getting better and I'm happy to see them interacting in a way that doesn't involve picking and screaming at each other (although we still have plenty of that too).
By 10:00AM Beau and Cora are bored with their block building. Cora comes over to help me and Beau asks if he can take pictures. Let me tell you, he gets into it, he loves to take pictures. He starts by taking pictures of me and then moves to taking pictures of the little kids playing. Apparently he's trying to get candid's because he is continually saying things like "oh just keep playing, I'm not taking any pictures right now".
He moves on to posing them, and taking more pictures. He informs me that he thinks he wants to be a photographer when he grows up (a continuation of the what do you want to be when you grow up we had last night at the supper table). "Maybe a photographer at Disney World! Well maybe not, I want to be able to move around, not just take all the pictures in the same spot."
At this point it's time to get the babies up and I'm questioning our room configuration (this is one of the few days we've spent any time inside all summer). They are constantly climbing on the fireplace and trying to knock the gate which divides our room over. The other kids have all the toys mixed up and spread all over the room. I have them clean up to bring back some form of order so they can start again with toys in more focused play areas. This is why I use a preschool curriculum involving more focused play throughout the school year, I don't handle the disarray of infants and toddlers "just playing" all day very well. Outside is one thing, but when we're inside I last, well, apparently about half a day. I'm feeling stressed, which means I'm finding myself frequently reaching into the cupboard for licorice. For me any sort of stress = sugar binge.
Beau continues with his picture taking, asking me to snap a few of him, and Cora brings out her Lego's to work on. Beau may like to follow the directions of the Lego kits, but Cora prefers to just have a big bin of Lego's and build whatever comes to her mind. Mixed up pieces don't bother her in the least.
We get cleaned up for lunch just before noon, a little later than normal due to my preschool mess to clean up. Today's lunch is a ham and cheese sandwich, coleslaw and grapes for the kids. Shakeology and leftover pasta salad for me. I excuse Beau, Cora and Sylvie while we wait for the pokier ones to finish. Notice now we are in a green tutu and are sporting a purple purse.
Sylvie is tired and whiny as I clean up lunch. She had a spot of water on her shirt and really wanted to change. She went to cuddle with her blankie and took a short cat nap on the couch waiting for nap time.
At 1 all the little ones go down for naps, Sylvie informs me "don't need dat" about her bed rail, right before she demands it be removed. I oblige and try not to think about my baby growing up.
Beau spends some time reading and I help Cora with her workbooks. Beau is especially wiggly and jumping around from one piece of furniture to the next....most likely to keep himself from falling asleep.
We get a surprise visitor when Grandma Daskam arrives with cupcakes! Beau shows her all the pictures he took today and they look through last year's Week in the Life album. I prepare the crock pot with pineapple ham (requested by Beau) for supper. Sylvie gets up about 2:45, just in time to see Grandma before she leaves.
When the rest of the kids get up they are surprised with cupcakes for snack. It's still raining, so we're spending the afternoon inside. Curious George 2 is on so I let the kids watch that while they eat their snack (and while I clean up from snack!). Beau and Cora stay upstairs to finish it while I take the rest of the kids downstairs for the remainder of the daycare day.
After daycare leaves I clean up downstairs and the girls play in Sylvie's room with sleeping bags pretending to camp. Beau is back on the ipad, and I turn on the news while I get supper ready. We're all in a bit of a sluggish funk, being cooped up in the house all day is taking its toll on us. We're all used to a LOT more outdoor time.
Luke is gone golfing tonight, so it's just the kids and I for supper. Whenever Luke is gone in the evenings it's harder forus me to transition into evening. There isn't any separation from daycare time to family time, and it's made worse when we aren't coming in from outside. After supper the kids played together on the ipad and the girls played doing each others hair, while I work on some lesson planning.
At 7:30 I send Beau down to take a shower and attempt to have the girls help me clean up the living room. They have such a knack for making a mess faster than we can get the last one cleaned up. After a valiant attempt I give up and get the girls in the bath.
Luke gets home by 8, in time to get the kids tucked into bed. He brings in the mail, which includes the girls' flower girl dresses. We put off bedtime for a bit so they can try them on.
They're in bed by 8:30, Beau reads for about 10 minutes or so, and we discuss some more strict limitations on ipad time for tomorrow.
Luke and I start in on folding the 3 loads of laundry I did, but didn't deal with throughout the day. I also may have started watching Bachelor in Paradise (it's the first episode I've seen I swear!) and then I had to stay up until 10 to finish it, which is a fairly late bedtime for me during the week!! It was lights out right away for me instead of my normal few minutes of reading before falling asleep.
MONDAY
My day started at 4:30AM with Luke asking if I was going to run. He goes to shower and I make coffee and get ready for some quiet time before the kids get up.
Shortly after Luke left I heard Sylvie's door knob turn and she joined in the living room. I was thankful for the cloudy, rainy morning which caused it to be fairly dark at 5:45AM. I was able to convince her that it was still night and she needed to go back to bed. She wanted to come sleep in Mommy's bed, but in the end was convinced to stay in her bed (with a refilled Ariel water bottle) with minimal whining. The fact that she has mastered door knobs has given us much less control over her wake up schedule.
At 6:10AM I can tell by the squeaking of the bed that Beau is up downstairs. We start school next week, so we are using this week to get back into the habit of being more productive upon waking.
That includes me since I need to be sure I start getting ready about a half hour earlier in order to be available to keep the kids on task. My morning routine is minimal and consists of a (very hot) shower and makeup. My makeup routine is unadventurous to say the least (for instance, the blush I wore today is the same color and brand I wore in 7th grade). I put on make up daily even though I never leave the house or see anyone. I just don't feel (or look) fully awake until I have it on. My hair goes up (wet) or remains untouched and gets put up later in the day. The whole shebang takes about 15-20 minutes depending on how much cleaning of the bathroom gets multi tasked in there.
The kids knew that they had to have all their chores done before they can have any screens this week, so by the time I'm out of the shower they are upstairs with all their chores done.
At 6:45 I'm cleaning the bathroom and Sylvie's door opens. She's up for the day.
She is very particular about what she wears on any given day. I don't think she actually cares so much about what she wears, just as long as she gets to be the one who decides.
We're in a tutu phase right now, so that immediately goes on over her clothes. Pink is the current choice, but we are also in a phase where we like to change our clothes 15 times a day so I know this won't be the final change.
After she's dressed we take a minute to do the girls' hair. Generally we don't do hair first thing in the morning. In fact, unless we are going somewhere their hair is pretty much left alone. Cora's will often go in a pony tail, but usually not until she gets hot playing outside and wants it put up. This week we're trying to establish good habits for the beginning of school next week. Adding hair to the morning routine will be the biggest challenge for us. Both girls get a pony and Sylvie wants a headband to match Cora. Notice the drawer. Yep, that's the norm. I don't know how many times I've stacked the rags and sorted headbands, elastics, and clips into their own containers. It takes approximately half a day for it to return to this state. *sigh*.
Once chores are done the kids are camped out in front of screens. Beau playing Clash of Clans on the ipad and the girls watching Curious George 3 (a show that PBS has been advertising frequently, and we've been waiting to see). The daycare kids are all arriving about a half hour late this morning so I take advantage and get my own chores done. I divide them into daily tasks Monday is toilets, windows, and mirrors. I tend to do really well through , oh, Tuesday and then things start to get missed. As I'm cleaning the outside of the patio door the girls are on the inside with their hands already all over it. I've come to terms with the fact that cleaning in a house where kids never leave is more of a process of removing a layer of grime and will never be close to anything
resembling "clean".
When I head downstairs to start the laundry I see that every light is on, I make a mental note to add that to their chore chart. I have to call Beau downstairs to deal with dirty clothes all over his floor.....it's a process.
By 7:30 Sylvie's morning whining routine has started. Today she is "told" (cold) and wants a sweatshirt. It's always as I'm trying to get breakfast going that I begin hearing the constant "mommy up". Today she has added "want to sit on tounter (counter)". Whining at my feet has always resulted in being plopped on the counter for all three of my kids. Today, however, the counter is at max capacity. No room for a two year old toddler and her massive fleece blankie. As usual during these morning whining jags she takes her blankie in to cuddle in the living room.
The daycare kids don't start to arrive until 7:45, along with some fresh veggies from the Stuart garden :). This is a full 45 minutes later than usual, how's that for a Monday! The girls color while I finish getting breakfast ready. Beau tells me about what is happening in his current favorite book series "Diary of a Wimpy Kid". Everyone is able to sit at the table today since 2 of my kiddos are gone until Thursday.
We keep water bottles for all the kids on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. I just got the little's new larger water bottles (thank you Target dollar spot!) so they were in and out of there more frequently than usual this morning. It's a constant struggle for me to remind them that 1. the fridge needs to be closed while you take your drink and 2. water bottles stay in the kitchen. Notice Sylvie is now without her sweatshirt. It got wet while she was washing her hands and she is not a fan of any sort of wetness on her clothing. We're talking two drops and she wants to change.
Favorite toys around here are blankets and pillows. Today the blankets are a swimming pool and Cora is showing everyone how to swim. As they "swim" I put down the 2 babies for a morning nap. They sleep downstairs in Beau and Cora's rooms so I tell Beau to get out anything that he might want to keep busy since it is a rainy day. I suggest Lego's and am frustrated in his lack of interest (especially since he has so many partially completed sets all over his room). He states that "the pieces are all mixed up". Basically he's overwhelmed. I know that if I tell him he has to work on Lego's he will get into them, have fun, and probably do nothing else for 3 days. I also know that when I don't allow him enough room to make his own decisions, power struggles ensue and we have issues. I decide to leave it as just a suggestion today.
By 10:00AM Beau and Cora are bored with their block building. Cora comes over to help me and Beau asks if he can take pictures. Let me tell you, he gets into it, he loves to take pictures. He starts by taking pictures of me and then moves to taking pictures of the little kids playing. Apparently he's trying to get candid's because he is continually saying things like "oh just keep playing, I'm not taking any pictures right now".
He moves on to posing them, and taking more pictures. He informs me that he thinks he wants to be a photographer when he grows up (a continuation of the what do you want to be when you grow up we had last night at the supper table). "Maybe a photographer at Disney World! Well maybe not, I want to be able to move around, not just take all the pictures in the same spot."
At this point it's time to get the babies up and I'm questioning our room configuration (this is one of the few days we've spent any time inside all summer). They are constantly climbing on the fireplace and trying to knock the gate which divides our room over. The other kids have all the toys mixed up and spread all over the room. I have them clean up to bring back some form of order so they can start again with toys in more focused play areas. This is why I use a preschool curriculum involving more focused play throughout the school year, I don't handle the disarray of infants and toddlers "just playing" all day very well. Outside is one thing, but when we're inside I last, well, apparently about half a day. I'm feeling stressed, which means I'm finding myself frequently reaching into the cupboard for licorice. For me any sort of stress = sugar binge.
Beau continues with his picture taking, asking me to snap a few of him, and Cora brings out her Lego's to work on. Beau may like to follow the directions of the Lego kits, but Cora prefers to just have a big bin of Lego's and build whatever comes to her mind. Mixed up pieces don't bother her in the least.
We get cleaned up for lunch just before noon, a little later than normal due to my preschool mess to clean up. Today's lunch is a ham and cheese sandwich, coleslaw and grapes for the kids. Shakeology and leftover pasta salad for me. I excuse Beau, Cora and Sylvie while we wait for the pokier ones to finish. Notice now we are in a green tutu and are sporting a purple purse.
Sylvie is tired and whiny as I clean up lunch. She had a spot of water on her shirt and really wanted to change. She went to cuddle with her blankie and took a short cat nap on the couch waiting for nap time.
At 1 all the little ones go down for naps, Sylvie informs me "don't need dat" about her bed rail, right before she demands it be removed. I oblige and try not to think about my baby growing up.
Beau spends some time reading and I help Cora with her workbooks. Beau is especially wiggly and jumping around from one piece of furniture to the next....most likely to keep himself from falling asleep.
We get a surprise visitor when Grandma Daskam arrives with cupcakes! Beau shows her all the pictures he took today and they look through last year's Week in the Life album. I prepare the crock pot with pineapple ham (requested by Beau) for supper. Sylvie gets up about 2:45, just in time to see Grandma before she leaves.
When the rest of the kids get up they are surprised with cupcakes for snack. It's still raining, so we're spending the afternoon inside. Curious George 2 is on so I let the kids watch that while they eat their snack (and while I clean up from snack!). Beau and Cora stay upstairs to finish it while I take the rest of the kids downstairs for the remainder of the daycare day.
After daycare leaves I clean up downstairs and the girls play in Sylvie's room with sleeping bags pretending to camp. Beau is back on the ipad, and I turn on the news while I get supper ready. We're all in a bit of a sluggish funk, being cooped up in the house all day is taking its toll on us. We're all used to a LOT more outdoor time.
Luke is gone golfing tonight, so it's just the kids and I for supper. Whenever Luke is gone in the evenings it's harder for
At 7:30 I send Beau down to take a shower and attempt to have the girls help me clean up the living room. They have such a knack for making a mess faster than we can get the last one cleaned up. After a valiant attempt I give up and get the girls in the bath.
Luke gets home by 8, in time to get the kids tucked into bed. He brings in the mail, which includes the girls' flower girl dresses. We put off bedtime for a bit so they can try them on.
They're in bed by 8:30, Beau reads for about 10 minutes or so, and we discuss some more strict limitations on ipad time for tomorrow.
Luke and I start in on folding the 3 loads of laundry I did, but didn't deal with throughout the day. I also may have started watching Bachelor in Paradise (it's the first episode I've seen I swear!) and then I had to stay up until 10 to finish it, which is a fairly late bedtime for me during the week!! It was lights out right away for me instead of my normal few minutes of reading before falling asleep.
Comments
Post a Comment