Day in the Life: July

Recently, I’ve had a few friends ask me how I “do it all.” My response? I don’t. There is so much that doesn’t get done, it’s either laugh or cry. I have written a few “Day in the Life” posts on Amy Loves It, and I thought it would be entertaining – if to no one else but myself 😉 – to share a few of my days over here.

I pretty much woke up on Tuesday morning and thought, “Oh! It would be fun to document today as my Day in the Life.” My morning began when Shane woke me up at 7:20. Don’t worry… I hadn’t been asleep long. I worked until 1:30 am, and fed Cam two or three times during those 6 hours. Shane hands Cam off and brings my laptop and a cup of coffee to me so I can do a little work.

At 8, Shane has left for work and the girls are beginning to trickle into the living room. After a few minutes of lounging around, Abby Grace and Reese head off to play, and take Cam with them. I spend a little more time working, and then change Cam’s diaper. It’s a doozy, so Abby Grace entertains him while I take care of that and then begin a load of laundry. (I also sneak passed them to get dressed… before 8:30! Score!) Cam is ready to nurse again, so back to the recliner we go.

Meleah pops up at about 9, and the girls begin asking for breakfast. Whoops. Fifteen minutes later, everyone is eating granola bars. I slept too late to get a hot breakfast made before Cam woke up. It happens. Oh. Did I mention I love the new little easy-feeding baby food pouches? They make my life so much easier. You know, since my babe won’t eat anything that isn’t really thin?!

After breakfast, the girls pull out their Bibles and I read today’s Scriptures aloud while Abby finds a quiet place to read silently. Then, Reese and Meleah take their Bibles and spend a few minutes in quiet time. I pop Cam into the playpen and begin folding the blankets from last night’s sleepover in the living room. Usually, he is good in the playpen as long as he can see me. Not today. I finish folding while Cam protests. He has at least three teeth coming in on top, so he’s a bit cranky. Plus, it’s nap time, so I scoop him up and the little bugger immediately stops crying. I check Meleah’s stitches and am pleased to see the swelling in her face is almost gone.

It’s 10 am, and the girls get started on their school work while I put Cam down for his nap.

Twenty-five minutes later, Cam is staring at me from his crib. I give him a few minutes to fuss (sometimes he just wants to rub his face against the sheets) and check on the girls. His fussing doesn’t last long before the crying (aka screaming… he skips crying and goes straight to screaming) begins, so we settle in to nurse, and he goes to sleep.

The girls have almost completed their independent work, so it’s time to read with Reese. I start Meleah on a phonics game on the iPad and Reese and I begin Reading. Abby Grace accidentally did four lessons in Math instead of three, so she is still working. After that, she heads to the bedroom for her Reading.

Cam wakes up at ten after twelve, and we have finished everything except Latin, which we will do after lunch. Cam plays while I finish copying next week’s Handwriting pages. After that is complete, I see that Cam is still playing happily, so I input grades on the computer… from LAST week. Oops!

Shane arrives home, and we eat lunch, which is uneventful. Before he leaves, Shane sets up our Latin DVD for the girls to watch while I put Cam down for his afternoon nap.

Forty minutes, a little wrestling, two attempts to lay him down, and he’s still not asleep. Sigh. I lay him down in his crib awake to go check on the girls. They have finished their DVD and are waiting to do their Latin workbook. I find that Abby Grace has taken notes while watching the video. Be still my heart. Meanwhile, my little man is not too happy, so after we finish the workbook, I rock him while the girls play.

3:15 and Cam is finally asleep in his crib. Hallelujah! The girls want to watch the Latin video again, so we grab a snack and settle in front of the tv for the video. Afterward, I pull out supper and do a little work.

Cam only slept thirty minutes, so by the time I’m ready to begin supper, he’s up and raring to go. He must have known I was in the kitchen, because he loves to play in my cabinets!

A little after 4, I call in reinforcements because Cam is getting antsy and I need to get supper in the oven so we can eat on time. The girls play with him and then we have a visitor. After I get supper started, I snag the hungry little man, who would rather watch his sisters than eat.

Shane rolls in about 4:45 and takes over Cam duty. While supper cooks, I unload the dishwasher and manage to break a coffee cup. I definitely prefer glass over plastic, but boy you don’t want to drop it!

And, I spoke too soon. Cam is playing in my cabinet and broke a plastic cup not five minutes after I broke the glass one. Fortunately, it didn’t shatter, but a few pieces came off. Needless to say, my kitchen floor is pretty clean right now! Ha!

After we eat, the girls head to the bedroom to play (and argue!), while Shane rocks Cam to sleep. I clean up the kitchen while we chat. I whip up a batch of blueberry muffins and then it’s time to put the kiddos to bed. They’ve fixed up another sleepover in the living room, and are pretty rambunctious. I lose my patience (to put it mildly), and end up apologizing for my behavior. Ugh. Not a very “good Mommy” moment. I am lacking in the patience area, and I know I need to work on it. Maybe it’s bedtime for me, as well.

I kiss the girls goodnight and apologize once more before heading to the bedroom with Cam. He nurses, but has not been falling asleep the last few nights. Instead, he thinks it’s playtime and starts smiling and cooing (which is totally sweet). {Oh, and if you are wondering when this kid actually sleeps? He doesn’t. At least not much.} I still have a bit of work to do, so Shane gets Cam and takes him to the recliner where they will probably spend the entire night (it’s not that big of a deal tonight, since he was sleeping in there with the girls anyway, but Shane helps me out like this on a regular basis).

I finally close the computer at midnight. I had to finish writing this post and one for tomorrow morning. Sleep. I’m ready for it. (If you think this was just a crazy day, it wasn’t… this is a normal day. Well, minus the broken cups! And, I don’t always lose my patience so severely.)

top photo credit: mireia. via photopin cc