A Day in the Life - 4th Installment

This is my 4th time of doing recording a day in my life.  I like to do this every 6ish months to see how life changes.  It changes so fast and I have really enjoyed going back and seeing what life used to look like.  It sure has changed a lot :)  

Installment #1 from January 2011 - Here  (Did my day really used to not start until 9:45?!?)

Installment #2 from July 2011 - Here  (wow, a lot can change in a year)

Installment #3 from January 2012 - Here (my how my babies have grown!)

Okay, are you ready for this?  Let's see if you can keep up with me :)

6:30 AM - Sabrina wakes up to eat.  She is in the midst of a growth spurt right now, so lots of eating and lots of sleeping.  She also woke to eat at 4AM so this is round 2 of the day!

After she eats and is back asleep, I figure I might as well get moving for the day and maybe get a little bit of "me time".
7AM - Short lived silence.  The boys are up!

7:15AM - My poor boys started coming down with hand, foot, mouth disease yesterday.  Eli was burning up when I got him out of his crib.  Fever of 101.6 so tylenol for sick little man.

Then breakfast.  Milk, Banana's, and what continues to be a fan favorite - Waffles with peanut butter and Jelly.  Eli tries to put on the brave face, but only eats a little bit of banana.

Malachi is being a trooper through it all.  He's the one with the rash right now but if he's in pain, he doesn't show it!

7:40 AM - Eli is miserable.  I get his diaper changed and try to get him dressed.  I promise, he usually wears a shirt but he's too warm right now for one.

8:00 AM - Potty time for Malachi!  He's doing AWESOME and with the exception of a few accidents, he is almost fully potty trained!  Potty time success!!!

8:05 - Poor Eli is so sad.  Doesn't want out of mommies arms.  This could be a long day, especially when Sabrina gets up to join the fun!  I just hold him and snuggle the poor guy.  

8:45 - Mal says he needs to go potty.  This is another huge milestone that he is letting me know when he needs to go, instead of me having to just take him every 30 minutes or so!  This is a monumental occasion as he goes #2 on the potty for the very first time - WHOOHOO Malachi!!! (He's totally giving me the "mom, a little bit of privacy please" Look!)

 We have a whole big potty time routine!  Once he goes potty, we sing the potty song, flush the toilet and tell the peepee bye bye. Then he gets an ABC sticker to put on his chart!

Then we wash hands:

And he gets another ABC sticker for his hand:

And then he gets a couple M's to eat!  It's quite the ordeal, but hey he's 26 months and almost fully potty trained so its worked well!!!

Eli is cheering up a little bit!  Yay!  This allows me to get a few chores done.  Unload the dishwasher, get a load of laundry in and pull some chicken out to defrost!  Get Malachi dressed!  

9:30 AM - Mal has to go potty again.  This feels like the all day consuming thing, but he's out of diapers so I won't complain.

Tylenol must be working well for Eli, because he's having a good time now!  Mommy is relieved! 

About this time Grandma also shows up with snacks and meds, since we were officially out of Tylenol!
10:30 AM - Snack time!  They both eat which makes me happy!

More playing together and being silly!  (Really, they do usually wear complete outfits!) 

11:00 - "Mama, I need to go potty" (again)

Sabrina also decides she would like to join the madness!  I love happy baby smiles first thing when they wake up!

                                  Get her stinky pants changed and get her dressed for the day!

                                                        Eli wants mommy to hold him

 11:45 - Mama, I need to go potty!!!  Another poopy in the potty - this boy is on a roll!!!!

                                                    Then a tantrum from the 2 year old!

                 11:30 - He's mad that making lunch takes more than 5 seconds.  I think he is getting tired!

                                               Sick boys get chicken noodle soup for lunch!

                               Still sick and getting tired! The blisters are starting to show up on him :(

                                                         More playtime for Malachi!

And one final trip to the potty!  

12:00 - Get Eli's diaper changed and then off to bed the boys go!

Since Sabrina is still in our bedroom, we nap them separately.  Breaks my heart to put him down when I wish I could rock him, but Sabrina needs to eat.

 12:15 PM - Sabrina is fed and is now a happy girl!

12:15 - Playtime for lil miss!

                                                           Get my chicken marinating!

So at this point, it is usually the time of day that I get "me time" or "Bina time" with my baby girl. This is often the time that I get the housework done, workout, nap, do devotions, read books in the sun, do surveys. Obviously I don't do all that everyday, but I can usually knock a few things off of my list.  Today was NOT one of those days.  The kids are miserable with this virus!

12:30 PM - Eli is stil fussing so I go up there to rock the poor little guy!

1:00 - Elias is down and Sabrina is napping in the swing.  Maybe I will get a few minutes to myself!

1:15 PM - Poor boy is awake again and burning up!  Bring him downstairs to give him tylenol.  He does not like the new flavor!

This is where things got really tricky.  Eli was a crying mess, Sabrina was awake and a crying mess.  The biggest challenge of 3 kids is balancing all their needs and today was so hard trying to balance a baby who felt awful with everything else!

I had to let Eli cry for a few minutes while I got Sabrina changed and in a new outfit.  She spit up on the other one.  She loves to sit in the corner of the couch and watch all the activity around her! 

                                                           Eli is still a poor little mess :(

                                                             A diaper change for him.

                                                     Then lots of rocking (with Bina on the couch)

2:30 PM - Eli is finally happy.  Peter also decides to leave work early to come help me out!

                                               2:45 PM - Feed Sabrina!  Now she's happy too!

                                                     3:00 PM - Put her in her chair for awhile!

                               3:30 PM - Mal is up!  Still seems to be doing well, even with the blisters!

                                             Straight to the potty he goes!  Such a funny boy!

And then he gets a snack! 

3:45 PM - The chair is not making Sabrina happy.  She wants some mommy time too.  So she gets rocked!

                                         And Malachi entertains me!  He's certainly not camera shy!

                                                   And I'm glad that Eli is perking up!

4:00 - Sabrina is asleep. So I nestle her in to the swing!

4:15 PM - More potty time (I think he's getting tired of me photographing this!) and look who's home!!!

4:45 PM - ANOTHER trip to the potty so lots more stickers for little man!

I work on dinner while Peter takes home of little miss who just woke up!

5:15 PM - Dinnertime - chicken and pineapple skewers with rice!  Yum!  Besides a few bites of snacks as I pass through the kitchen, this is the first chance I've had to eat today!

                                              5:45 PM - The boys are back on the move!

After dinner we usually go running or go outside for awhile so the boys can play.  Tonight we decide it is better to just try to get them to bed early since they aren't feeling well.

                                                         5:45 PM - Sabrina is hungry!

         A few more trips to the potty for Malachi, but I figured he probably had enough of my picture taking!

                                                         6:30 PM - Sabrina gets a bath!

                                               
                                                    Bina gets out and the big boys get in!

                                     She gets lotioned and dressed while Daddy bathes the boys!

7 PM - She gets put on our bed for a quick little nap while we get the boys down for the night.

The boys play for just a bit longer in their room:

                                                           Then it is teeth brushing time!

                                                                   
                                                                     And hair time!

                                                 Then I read Malachi's favorite book to him!

                                         
                                             And not to be left out, Elias gets his hair done too!

Then we give them both one last dose of meds for the night and hope and pray they are doing better come morning!

                                                           Then Daddy and Malachi pray!

                                                          And we get lots of loves!

                                    Malachi always tells us "see you soon" when we tuck him in! 

Tonight we decide it would be better for them to both sleep in separate rooms so that they get as much rest as they need! This works out well since Sabrina still sleeps in our room!

                                                     7:45 PM - Sabrina is ready to eat!

8PM - Night Night Sabrina!  

And with any luck the kids will stay asleep until morning!  Peter is such a great man and in the evenings he will clean the kitchen, move laundry around, and pick up the house for me!  I get a shower and we get a few hours of unwinding time before we get to bed, exhausted from another crazy day.  Most days aren't quite this busy, but I definitely am on the move quite a bit, trying to balance everything on the home front!  It's a tough job, but I love (almost) every moment of it!