6:30 - Everyone's up and going. It's Jonah's "sunshine day" so he gets to let the chickens out but wants Lucy to go with him. I get going in the kitchen putting away broth that's been simmering all night and then start oatmeal for breakfast. Jonah helps me when he gets back (he cracks some eggs, stirs the oatmeal and sets the table). Norah gets started with some strawberries and Lucy gets dressed. They don't have to be dressed until after breakfast but they think they are beating the system or something when they are already dressed by chore time.
7:15 - Chore time! I was nice to myself and unloaded the dishwasher before going to bed last night so my job is pretty easy and I set the timer so Jonah's not dawdling like normal. Jonah's table chore is wiping the table, Lucy's is sweeping and then they have to get dressed, make their beds and brush their teeth before I shoe them outside. While we work, we listen to our composer Hildegard von Bingen. I tell them that I have a friend who studies music who's dog is nicknamed Hildie and see if they can guess the dog's real name. They think that is amazing. Then they start talking about when we get a dog. I move the conversation along. I love dogs but I also have enough poop to deal with right now as it is.
7:45 - Kids are out playing and I can finally get dressed myself and nurse Norah away from distractingly fun siblings. It's a good thing we don't live in New Albany, Ohio I guess but they know to stay together and I can hear them so I' not worried.
8:00 - We join the bigs outside. I bring my bible study but get distracted (I guess Norah gets it from me) by watering the garden. Four trips with a 5 gallon bucket full of water and the veggie garden is done. I don't mind doing it by hand since its good movement/exercise but by the last trip, Norah is tired of being left behind. Carrying a full bucket of water and a 17+ lb baby is not as much fun but I manage. I'm just thankful kids are involved in a pretend game and don't want to "help" me like normal. I always let them if they ask but sometimes its nice when they don't :-) Then Norah and I water the front (with a hose!).
I ask Lucy and Jonah if they want to join in but they are busy playing so they don't - until I'm done and then they are upset they were too late. I distract Jonah from melting down by asking if they will pick blackberries while I start the laundry and I hear them start to bicker on the way out but stop and try to find a compromise. I forgot to restart the diapers last night so unfortunately nothing is ready to hang and then Norah dumps out a trash can. Normally it would not be a big deal because it would only have dryer lint but Craig and I picked up basement and swept so trash is full of dirt and dead bugs. Yuck. I grab Norah before she shoves any in her mouth, ponder my choices for a second, then restart the laundry and leave dirt for another time before I go check on kids. I cross my fingers but when I go outside - happy pickers! They worked together to decide Jonah would carry the container out, Lucy would carry it in and everyone was happy. Yay!
9:00 - Norah and I are pooped. Kids want to come in but I remind them it will get hot today so they agree to play outside a little while longer. Its supposed to get to 95 today so I know once they come in, they won't go out again and its so much easier to put Norah down while no one is playing on the other side of the wall. White noise can only do so much. And we are switching her from a 3 nap to 2 nap schedule so I say a prayer my plan works with her needs.
9:05 - Success! She's sleeping in her crib! I decide to let kids play for a while longer while I start dinner preparations. I'm pretty sure I get meat browned before they come in.
9:10 - Kids come in whining about heat. Meat is half way browned but we start table time anyway. If they start playing inside, it will be much harder to do school. They like table time but nobody likes to be interrupted in the middle of a game. Hymns are sung, poems and recited and bible verses are talked about. We decide to add "Jesus died on the cross to our "want versus will" chart which I think was a great idea of the kids.
9:15 - Jonah does some Rod and Staff preschool books while Lucy writes a thank you note for her copywork. I'm hoping to finish her birthday thank you notes before June is over (since her birthday was in May :-) but she's writing them all herself so its a slow and steady process and the results are a bit abrupt. (Dear X, Thank you for the presents. Love Lucy) I'm thinking the family will understand though. We move on to reading a section of the Blue Fairy book, half of lesson 85 in MEP Year 1, and an aesop fable. It's a bit shorter than normal but we've got swimming lessons this afternoon so I won't let us go over an hour and won't be adding in extras like art lessons or tea time this week.
10:15 - Kids go off to play. Lately they have been cutting up cardboard into doll accessories. It makes a big mess but they are having fun inventing things (that all tend to look the same).
I write up this first section of the day and finishing assembling my crockpot meal. Norah is still sleeping. I breathe a sigh of relief. She's been so overtired lately and with a busy afternoon, I was really needing her to get a good nap. I manage to finish dinner, make lunches, clean up the dirt from earlier, and hang the laundry before I spot my bible study still in the grass outside. Oops. Get it and actually sit down and complete the day's lesson.
11:15 - Baby still sleeping. Now I'm thinking I need to wake her up if I want her to take another nap before we leave. I hate waking babies. I'll give her 15 more minutes and maybe I'll just walk a bit lounder until then.
11:20 - Norah's up! And happy. Call kids up to eat lunch but Norah's just nursed so she's not hungry yet. Hmm, have to figure that out. I already feel like I'm feeding people all day long. But she's happy with cheerios while I eat and read our poems from Now We are Six. Kids go downstairs to play more but I hear some bickering. Instead of making them come up, I put on Brave songs and they run up to dance around to them. I feel like the pied piper but less creepy.
11:45 - Lucy's pinched her finger pretty badly. I move up nap reads while she's recovering in bed - Make Way for Ducklings and two chapters of On the Banks of Silver Lake. Playing resumes. Jonah and I hang the second batch of laundry outside and bring in the first batch.
12:30 - Lucy reads two pages of The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. She's worried about her finger when it is piano practice time but we realize that her current song doesn't use that finger so all is well.
1:00 - Norah is hungry now. She eats while Lucy and Jonah put on a musical theater act for her. I'm not sure if this helps her eat more because she stays sitting for longer or distracts her from eating.
1:30 - Naps. Norah falls asleep easily and I rest (aka - read) for a while too but have to rush out because I hear Jonah call "Mommy. I need you. I almost made it to the potty to poop"...not exactly what I like to hear. But it wasn't too bad. I mean, it was bad, but it could have been worse. And moving on.
2:15 Norah's up. I get us ready for swim lessons then we play "So big" and "Pat-a-cake" while we wait for the kid's quiet time cd to stop. I cross my fingers that neither of them is actually asleep.
2:30 - Everyone's up and we're scrambling to get in the car for swim lessons. We leave and listen to On the Banks of Plum Creek in the car. I was reading on my phone during nap and forgot to plug it in before we left and I've never been there before so I need GPS. I'm praying my battery lasts long enough to get us there. It does, but no more pictures.
3:30 - Lucy does great at her lesson. Jonah, Norah and I sweat it out next to the pool in the quarter size spot of shade we can find. I have to hold Norah the whole time because she really wants in the pool which gets old way before our hour and fifteen minutes is up but Jonah entertains himself by coloring and making origami boats.
5:00 - Lessons ran a bit over and we're late. I meet Craig at the library and I pass off the big kids so I can head to a restaurant for a volunteer dinner with Norah as my little tag-along. Despite being in the car or held for the last 2 hours, she does well at the dinner. When she gets tired of Cheerios and pieces of chicken, she entertains herself (and everyone else?) playing peek-a-boo. The meal/meeting is the big switch over from last year's committee to this so before I leave, I'm given the key to the church and am declared the chair of our church's women's steering committee. I'm a bit worried about what I've gotten myself into but no looking back now!
7:00 - We head home and find Craig finishing up bedtime (and Lucy's stuff is hanging out to dry on the line for tomorrow and the kitchen is clean already! Go super husband!). Norah should be asleep by now if I'm following the new schedule but she slept in the car after swim lessons. That car trip is going to do me in these two weeks. Oh well, at least she got enough sleep so I'm not gonna complain. (I'm big on routines but not on schedules, we just do the best we can around here). I change Norah into jammies and let her play a bit while Craig finishes reading Prince Caspian. 3 rounds of hugs and kisses from Jonah to me and Norah and I finally get out of the bedroom.
8:00 - Norah's still not sleepy :-( I bring the last load of laundry in from the line, fold it and put it away then leave her with Craig and grab a quick shower. I try again to put her to bed. Nope.
8:30 - Norah is out too thanks to a little walking and singing by daddy the baby whisperer. I read a bit (Pioneer Girl), picking out bathroom faucets for upcoming project (still no decision. Too many choices! Ack!), go back to reading and by ten everyone is in bed and falling asleep....
10:10 - Just kidding. Jonah has a night terror. He's crying and kicking the walls but isn't really awake. I try to comfort him (stop him from hurting himself or putting a hole in the wall) but nothing ever seems to help these but waiting it out. This time, I try singing our table time hymn and he calms down. Hmm, is that the solution? Tuck him back into bed and go to sleep.
10:30 - Now everyone's asleep.
No comments :
Post a Comment