7:45-I pull myself out of bed. McKay is sleeping next to me, having been there for several hours. The kids are all up and watching a kid show. Carter is knocking at my door, whining for food, poopie, and Jeff is getting ready for work. I change Carter's diaper, come downstairs and start making breakfast (oatmeal, cracked wheat or other hot cereal). While it's cooking, I get Carter a banana or a piece of toast to stop the whining. I unload the dishwasher and get breakfast on the table.
8:00-8:30-We eat breakfast while reading the Book of Mormon. Carter refuses to let me feed him, crying nonstop so that I will leave the cereal on his high chair tray so he can feed himself. McKay starts crying upstairs and I go get him out of his swaddle and smile as he stretches his little arms. I bring him back down and we finish reading and the kids finish eating. Jeff is off to work. I finally sit down and eat my own breakfast. Carter is covered in cereal, because one of the kids has taken pity on him and given him his bowl so he can feed himself.
8:30-9:00-Damon gets himself ready for school, makes his lunch, and waits for the neighbor to come pick him up. The girls watch another show while I try to get breakfast (and Carter) cleaned up. I wash the high chair tray for the first time. Then I nurse the baby, and if it's the left side, I give him an ounce of formula after he's finished. All the while, I check Facebook on my phone for updates.
9:00-10:00-I try to squeeze in 30 minutes of exercise (a new development, suddenly more important after learning that a lot of people have struggled getting weight off after they got a Mirena) and then get in the shower. 1-3 kids join me, while McKay watches from his swing. He usually lasts for a few minutes without crying, but spends the majority of our shower time crying in his swing.
10:00-Everyone gets dressed and Carter goes down for his first nap. While holding McKay, I help the girls make their beds and I make my own bed and Jeff's. We are currently separated at night, not due to marital problems, but due to my belief that one of us should get a good night's sleep. That, and I love the bed in McKay's room. So soft.
10:30-11:30-I try to get things picked up around the house. Inevitably, there is a huge mess somewhere and I put McKay in his bouncy chair while I try to clean up. He lasts 5 minutes max before he cries and I feel defeated. I silently curse Jeff and the kids for not helping me more and get McKay out of his seat. I try to clean up while holding him. I nurse him again, catching an episode of 16 and Pregnant on the computer. This always makes me feel better about my own life and I get my second wind.
11:30-12:30-After McKay has fallen into a drunken sleep, I put him down again and tell the girls it's time to start thinking about lunch. I get Carter out of bed and bring him down for lunch. We have lunch, after a lengthy debate about who does or doesn't like ravioli and who wants to have quesadillas instead. I help Allie get dressed for school and go through the horrifying process of combing her hair. Tears are shed by many. McKay is crying again from his seat. Finally, Allie is ready for school and she waits for the neighbor to pick her up. I get McKay out of his seat and make lunch for Jeff. Sometimes I wait until he gets home to eat and sometimes I just eat alone, depending on how starving I am by now. I clean up lunch, wash the high chair tray for the second time, and say good-bye to Jeff as he goes back to work.
12:30-3:30-With the big kids gone, Kyla asks if she can do the "three fun things:" play the computer, watch tv, and play my phone. I let her do one of the three, then try to get her to do something else, like color or read books with me or practice writing her letters. That lasts about 5 minutes before she is asking to do another of the three fun things. Carter goes back down for his second nap around 1:30 or 2:00, depending on when he woke up, and I nurse the baby again, catching up on blog posts. I also try to get something cleaned (toilets, floor, vacuum, etc., saving the vacuuming for when McKay is really fussy. He loves the vacuum).
3:30-5:30-Damon and Allie get home from school and we have snack. Carter wakes up in time to eat again. I wash the high chair tray for the third time and pray that the weather is good enough to send the kids outside. If it is, we play outside or even take a walk to the park. If it's not, we stay inside and watch everything get messy again. Carter gets whiny after a while, and I try to ignore his crying. I start thinking about dinner and try to get that going. I nurse the baby again.
5:30-6:00-Jeff gets home from work and we eat dinner, McKay on my lap. Then we try to get dinner cleaned up, and I load the dishwasher. I wash the high chair tray for the fourth time.
7:00-Carter's crying reaches the tipping point, and we get him ready for bed. The other kids finish homework and beg to play Tickle Monster with Jeff.
7:30-We tell Kyla that it's her bedtime and send her to get her jammies and toothbrush. We say family prayer.
7:45-Kyla finally gets in bed, after begging me to pray with her that she won't have any bad dreams. Especially that one about the baby who was trying to bite her. She's been worried about that one for weeks now.
8:00-We send Allie and Damon to get ready for bed. They instantly want to read to us, but only after it's 8:00. Sometimes we give in, sometimes we tell them they need to read to themselves.
8:15-8:30-the kids are all in bed with minimal crying. Jeff and I sit down to watch a show and I nurse the baby again. I look around to see the house is a mess AGAIN and I'm too tired to do anything about it.
9:00-11:30-Jeff and I enjoy the time without the rest of the kids while McKay fusses off and on. We watch our shows and NBA playoffs and I fall asleep on the couch. Dazed, at some point I wake up and go get ready for bed. I take McKay and get him ready for bed as well. I nurse him again and put him in his own bed. I get in bed and we sleep for 3-4 hours.
3:00-I nurse McKay again. Sometimes he doesn't fall back asleep easily so he gets in bed with me and I pat his back until I fall asleep and he squirms again. The cycle continues for an hour or so until we both pass out.
5:30-I nurse him again, this time in bed because he's there with me. We go back to sleep.
7:00-I hear the kids downstairs and try to catch a few more minutes of sleep.
7:45-I drag myself out of bed and start the routine again.
There are some variations, such as laundry day on Monday, or park day with Noel (for Kyla) on Wednesday, but by and large, that is what we do. Pretty dang exciting.
14 comments:
So much of that sounds like my own life Krystal (minus the newborn). All the naps, making food, trying to clean, and I should be trying to exercise. I am jealous of how late your day gets to start though! Dave is gone by 5:45am at the latest to teach early morning seminary and Lauren's school day starts at 8am so it is a mad rush in the morning to get breakfast, get ready and out the door by 7:50am. And then our evenings are me trying to clean up the house while Dave is working on his Seminary Lesson until at least 10 every night.
I did start a new chore chart with stickers and it has helped get the kids to help straighten up before they go to bed. Then I don't have as much straightening to do later.
You are a trooper to do so much each day! And you make Jeff lunch each day too - WOW! When Dave works from home, lunch is my least favorite thing to make him. I already have the kids to feed, I don't want to worry about feeding him too. I know, that sounds horrible but it is just another thing to do.
what a day. glad you documented it for posterity.
You're doing to love that you've written this all down...at least you make me want to do this for my own self. of course, I will just let you do it and wish I had.
Wow sis. Thats a lot of work! Jeff is very lucky you make him lunch too. I hope he knows that! The iphone is such a blessing, (I had an I touch. Just stopped working. I am lost without it and miss it terribly.) Life is going to get easier soon when McKay starts taking long/regular naps like Carter.
Ella loves the vacuum too!!!
You should try what Dixie implemented in her house. Before the kids go to bed she sends all three of them around the house picking up stuff... even if they didn't put it there! (Shocking to the kids, I know!) :) But if they choose not to do that, they can just pay her some money like they would have to pay a maid to do it for them. She said she doesn't mind doing the clean up if she gets a dollar from each of them. But she said that they catch on really quickly when they're out of money that they'd rather not lose out on that. I was thinking that I'd add something. My kids could pay each other to clean up if they didn't want to and the other one wanted to make some extra cash... :) Tatum would totally make loads of money off of Dane that way.
Anyway, that blog post definitely made me tired and really want to think long and hard before deciding it's time to have #4. Hilarious about all the high chair tray cleaning. Isn't that the worst job of all? Cleaning up the food mess from a toddler's oatmeal or rice??
You captured the life of a stay at home mom so well. It made me tired to read though. You are a good mom and it shows.
I wanted to do a typical day for me before I had Simon so that I can remember what life was like this past year. Now it's all changed with a baby around! But I loved reading yours. I can't believe Damon starts school so late in the morning.
PHEW!!
was the bad dream kyla was having about jayda biting? lol or maybe its kenya ALMOST putting soap in her eye! haha
Its 2:21am, and I couldn't stop reading this post. Love it! Love how honest and real it is. I love how Damon makes his own lunch. I love scriptures and breakfast and that jeff eats lunch with you. Hang in there sweet mom!! Happy Mother's day!
This is all too familiar! I was asked to speak to the YW in our ward about what it's like to be a mom and I made a similar list. I think I scared them all!!! And hopefully gave them some free birth control..ha! Especially when I told them I don't get a shower until Grant's nap (1pm sometimes) :) I should put it in the blog too, just so I can look back in 10 years and reminisce! Will we miss this???
Just reading that entry wore me out....... My life has finally become something I can manage and it will only be better in August (3 kids in school all day). I think as mothers with little children that are all close in age we have to realize that our homes will always be dirty, WE will always be dirty, we will always be exhausted, and we will always smell and look like crap. That is life and we just need to accept it. Life is good.....at least that is what I keep telling myself ;)
It makes me tired reading that, although I feel like my schedule is similar but with less kids. You are a great mom! It's so hard but worth it.
And tell Jeff to make his own bed! There, that's 5 more minutes for you. :)
You continue to be my hero.
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