Jason is long gone by the time I get up in the morning. He still drives out to Battle Creek to work at Fort Custer. I have been getting up about 5/5:30 just within the last week to workout for about 30 minutes before getting ready for work. Don't know how long this will last but I'm giving it a try thanks to a co-worker who convinced me to at least make time for half an hour. Literally, this is the only time I have to workout. Working out in the evenings would mean working out at like 10/10:30pm which would contribute to my already troubled sleeping habits.
I wake the kiddos about 6:30/7 depending on the day and when I have to get to work. They eat breakfast at school so they only require some watered down apple juice and a gummy vitamin in the morning, along with some cartoons. I usually whisk Ava away to get dressed first and then usually have to bribe her with some non-breakfast food to sit in her high chair to work on her crazy hair. Yes, she is still in a high chair at almost 2 1/2 years old, but she's as messy an eater as cookie monster. This morning in particular she asked for "pea butter on poon". I am sure you can read toddler, but for those of you who can't, it's peanut butter on a spoon. She happened to grab Austin's spiderman spoon which led to a debate that only a Supreme Court Judge could solve. Austin didn't know this until Ava started flaunting it in the bathroom. All three of us cram into the bathroom so Austin can go potty and get dressed while Ava licks the toothpaste off her toothbrush. Somehow, I got them out of the house by 7:30 today.
I drop them off at school and thankfully they are both on the bottom floor now, which saves me from trucking them through all sorts of doorways and stairs only for them to putz around and get distracted by everything along the way.
I am at work by 8 today. I happen to have lost the surgeon I was working with to a no-brainer job opportunity and so I am kinda running the show until the next one comes on hopefully sometime this fall. Any other normal day where I would be working with a surgeon, this whole debacle would probably get pushed back an hour earlier at least. I still work with cancer patients and that's the part where anyone could get broken down and depressed but most of the time I feel that God put me there for a reason so I can handle what comes my way. Not always the case.
I get out of work and grab the kiddos from daycare which is more of a struggle than dropping them off. Which goes something like 'put on your coat, get your shoes on, grab the daily artwork, don't dilly dally, stop hitting each other, you don't need any more foam soap on your hands, please walk anywhere remotely close to the exit, I do SEE what you are doing in my peripheral vision, don't eat that off the floor, put the books and toys away, ITS TIME TO GO'!
We get home and on nice days have been either getting out the bikes to ride around in the driveway or get out bubbles that are basically water for the ground since they can't keep them in their designated container. Or just recently we have been heading down to the beach to play which is my most favorite! I love to sit in a chair and just relax while watching them play with the sand and throw rocks in the water, but they are stinkers, so it's not always as relaxing as one would hope.
Sometimes Jason and I are lucky enough to have something at home that resembles dinner. We are getting better at, at least planning 2-3 meals a week and the other unplanned meals involve pizza, cereal, leftovers or whatever else you might call dinner. The kids are picky these days. You never know what they will eat one day and won't the next, but I think that defines a Toddler. Thankfully they don't look malnourished so I think we are good. Tonight because they ate good, they got to eat oreos on the floor. It's special to eat them on the floor because one year I let them eat Oreos and drink milk with special straws out of old glasses for a Christmas photo shoot.
That was 6 months ago and that's how they think to this day you have to eat the oreos. On the floor. All I remember is Austin saying to me while only eating the middle of the oreo (of course, cause who actually eats the cookie part!?) 'um maybe I need a spaceship'. My response: Sure you do buddy. Who doesn't!?
Tonight in particular we tried to go to Target. I should have taken them to Walmart because at least while my kids were screaming, we would have been considered the norm. And in fact, I would have been more than the norm because I was not wearing sweat pants. Target was a little bare of people which was nice while they were throwing fits, playing toys in the middle of the aisle and screaming just to hear the echo. I vow not to take them to a store after work for at least a month. This night scared me off from that for a while.
Jason and I have been alternating putting Ava and Austin to bed each night. Tonight I got to put peanut to bed. She grabs a glass of chocolate milk and fruit snacks Every.Single.Night. We read books and then sing songs. She loves to sing Old MacDonald where apparently the only animals that are allowed on a farm are a pig, horse and doggie. She also likes Wheels on the Bus but you can ONLY sing the verse where the people go up and down. Nothing else is acceptable. She is still in a crib but has never attempted to get out. The chunks missing from the crib rails are from her biting days. Not sure if she actually ate the crib but she sure put a beaver to shame. She snuggles a doll and is in bed about 7:45.
Austin watches a few minutes of cartoons. Jason and Austin like to watch some crazy cartoon called Avatar. I don't get it. Maybe it's a boy thing. Austin is in a kick of eating chocolate ice cream before bed. He even opens the freezer, grabs the ice cream, and gets a spoon and heads to the couch. No bowl required. He goes upstairs about 8pm with a glass of chocolate milk. He gets to read a book or two in the chair in his bedroom before going potty one last time and brushing his teeth. Note: We never get through the routine lately without counting to three at least once to help him move along in his routine. He gets to read another book in bed. He plugs in his Mike and Sully (Monsters Inc) nightlight and makes sure to point it above his head. He told me the other night "sometimes when you go downstairs, I play with Mike and Sully" Oh Lord! Otherwise (knock on wood) Austin has never gotten out of bed to this day. He just sings Mommy, Mommy where are you, in the mornings on the weekends when he wakes up.
I spend my weeknights editing photos, if I don't have a shoot to do which is usually about once during the week and once on the weekends, if I want to keep my sanity I don't book more than that. If I'm lucky or give myself a break, I watch an hour of brainless DVR. At best I do that once a week. I'm also lucky to fall asleep by 11pm.
And push repeat on this with the exception of a few change of details and number of meltdowns. That's it, nothing special, just a quick snapshot to look back on.
