My friend Shana recently posted a "Day in the Life" of her toddler, Marla, who is just a few weeks younger than B&H. I imediately wanted to steal her idea and do the same for Ben and Hannah. I brainstormed Monday and Tuesday this week and thought about doing it about today - Wednesday. But then Wednesday happened and it was not at all a normal day for us. But, that just makes it all the more interesting, right??
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
6:30 a.m. - Momma's alarm goes off. She snoozes twice. Daddy gets up sometime in that timeframe and starts to ready himself for work. This 20 minutes is some of the best sleep Momma gets all night.
6:50 a.m. - Momma gets up and thanks heavens she showered at night last night. Stumbles downstairs and washes face, brushes teeth, all while hearing chirps, giggles, and apparent jumping up and down in the cribs coming from the babies' room.
7:15 a.m. - Daddy gets B&H up and changes diapers. Momma starts scrambling 4 eggs for them to eat. She chooses to have Muesli for breakfast today, rededicating herself - once again - to Weight Watchers.
7:30 a.m. - Babies are up, changed, and wandering the main floor. Hannah is buckling her highchair and Ben is pushing a grocery cart around. The words "eat" and "milk" finally corral them back to their spots in the kitchen and they begin to clamor for food. Daddy leaves for work.
7:40 a.m. - Eggs are gone and Momma tries to feed babies some strawberries, blackberries, bananas and Cheerios. Everything except Ben's portion of the blackberries ends up on the floor.
7:45 a.m. - Sippy cups of milk are thrown on the floor. Momma pours another cup of coffee.
7:50 a.m. - Ben demands a banana once he sees Momma eating one. So she peels another one and gives him half. He inhales it.
7:52 a.m. - Sippy cups of milk are thrown on the floor.
8:00 a.m. - Babies are banished to play in living room. Momma cleans up kitchen while drinking another cup of coffee.
8:15 a.m. - Momma frantically gets to work on her Moms of Multiples newsletter that was supposed to be done the day before but isn't yet. Editing like crazy, she loses track of time.
8:50 a.m. - LATE! We should be in the car on the way to ECFE by now, yet babies are still in jammies. Corral them in their room and shut the door so they don't escape. Pick out clothes and find something "interesting" (in this case: a tube of diaper rash cream) that will distract them enough to do a superfast change of diapers (both poopy) and clothes.
8:55 a.m. - Strap B&H into high chairs, shove a puree food pouch in their hands and turn on PBS. Cat in the Hat is on - the only distraction good enough to allow me to put on shoes. Stuff purse full of snacks for later. Run one, then the other out to the car. Come back in for cell phone and one last chug of coffee.
9:20 a.m. - Arrive at ECFE just a tad late, but get a GREAT parking spot. Thank the cute 2nd grader who's holding the door open for me and chuckle when he replies "I got in trouble and have to do this every day this week."
9:25 a.m. - Finally arrive in ECFE classroom and greet friends and start to play.
9:40 a.m. - Ahhhh. Separating time. B&H play in the classroom with Teacher Lynn, Teacher Collette and Teacher Tammy. Momma heads off to the parent room for discussion (and more coffee and cinnamon rolls) with Teacher Debbie. Whoops. Off the Weight Watchers bandwagon again.
10:40 a.m. - Drat. Time is over. Back to the classroom to get the kids.
10:45 a.m. - Walk kids to their stroller. Hannah immediately begins putting the buckles in "her" seat together. Ben runs off down the hall and around the corner. Momma trusts that Hannah will not leave until her buckles are done and takes off after Ben. He makes a complete loop around the small wing of the school and we end up back at the stroller.
10:55 a.m. - Shove a puree food pouch in their hands and strap them in the stroller. Head for the elevator, then door, then home while chatting with another twin mom. Head home.
11:15 a.m. - Make lunch while B&H scream at the gate demanding to be let in. Open the gate. Hannah - of course - heads strait for the buckles in her highchair. Ben heads for the cat food. Momma sighs and makes some toast.
11:30 a.m. - Lunch commences. The menu today is cottage cheese (inhaled), strawberries & blackberries (but not the same exact ones from breakfast that ended up on the floor), and veggie burgers. Every.Last.Piece. of veggie burger ends up on the floor - never mind that when we had them last week the burgers were inhaled. Go figure. Milk cups end up on the floor no fewer than 5 times during lunch.
11:50 a.m. - Momma's tired of food getting thrown on floor, so she declares lunch is over and banishes B&H to the living room to play while she cleans the kitchen again.
12:10 p.m. - Whiny babies head to bed for nap. Momma sits down to finally finish that newsletter while (guiltily) watching Days of Our Lives. As soon as the newsletter is sent out, she finds 5 more errors. Ugh. Proofreading and editing is never done.
1:00 p.m. - Head to the basement to start a new load of laundry, fold the existing load of laundry, organize toys and vacuum. Find babies' friend Samantha's missing sock under the couch!
2:00 p.m. - Head back upstairs and put on workout clothes. Intend to go on a long walk with the babies in the nice weather this afternoon. Get sucked into Bejeweled Blitz and play no fewer than 20 rounds while eating more Teddy Grahams than is healthy. Whoops.
3:00 p.m. - Babies begin to stir. Momma goes to get them up, change diapers (both poopy) and put clothes back on.
3:30 p.m. - (not lying. Afternoon diapers take that long!) - Babies get a snack of Pirate's Booty and Fruit snacks, the junk food of toddlers. Momma wolfs down a bowl of Cinnamon Cheerios. Get invites to friend's house to play with their water table. That sounds way more fun than a workout walk so agree and head over there (in stroller, they live nearby).
3:35 p.m. - Get 2 houses away and see a neighbor we never have met before. She comes up and says, "Oh are these the twins?" and gets sucked into a discussion about how old they are, do they walk and talk, how full my hands are, how they sleep and eat, were they born early and did I nurse them (MYOB, lady!). Finally start walking again.
3:45 p.m. - Arrive at friends' house and let B&H run around with Z&K. The two Mommas sit down and gossip. The other Momma notices Ben's eye is red. This Momma chalks it up to getting bomped in the eye with a water toy. All 4 toddlers continue to play.
5:20 p.m. - Bid farewell and head home for supper. Babies melt down and the other Momma gives them puree food pouches to eat on the way home. Whew!
5:35 p.m. - Arrive home and sit in living room reading books.
5:55 p.m. - Reheat Chicken Lo Mein leftovers for supper. Get babies set up for supper and give some cheese to tide them over while Momma dishes up. Ben cries and cries and cries and Momma notices his eye is getting red and poofy.
6:00 p.m. - Lo Mein thrown across the floor. Sippy cups dropped.
6:05 p.m. - Ben continues to melt down and reaches for Momma. She takes him out of highchair and tries to console him while eating Lo Mein. This is a major failure and Ben & Momma both get frustrated.
6:10 p.m. - Daddy comes home. Looks at Ben and says "He's sick!" Momma and Daddy decide Ben needs to go to Urgent Care. Daddy will stay with Hannah and Momma will take Ben. Momma rushes to change his diaper and make a peanut butter sandwich for herself (remember, Lo Mein all fell on the floor). Momma remembers the beds are stripped and throws new sheets on the mattresses quick and lays out jammies for Hannah. Grabs him and heads for the door. Hannah immediately melts down.
6:50 p.m. - Arrive at Urgent Care and check in. We are informed that the wait is up to 2 hours to see a doctor. Sit down with some picture books and call Gaga. She says to go home and take Ben to his regular doctor in the morning.
7:20 p.m. - Go to the check-in place and say we are going to leave. The receptionist looks at Ben and says "Whoa, is his whole face swollen?" I said maybe, he's been crying and she pages the RN that it's an emergency. They get us right in.
7:50 p.m. - Finally see the doctor and in 2 minutes he determines Ben has double ear infections and pink eye and sends us on the way with prescriptions. No chit-chatting here (which the people still in the waiting room waiting for 2 hours probably appreciate).
8:10 p.m. - Arrive at Target for prescriptions. Wander around for 20 minutes while they get the medicine ready. Random things jump in the cart like strawberries, Mr. Bubble, night time diapers, cat food, and monster cookies.
8:25 p.m. - Check out and head home. SO very surprised that Ben isn't konked out asleep by now, an hour after his bedtime.
8:40 p.m. - Arrive home. Change diaper & put Ben in sleep sack (in the dark - praying Hannah doesn't wake up). Administer first dose of antibiotics (easy, he loves medicine) and eye drop (not easy, Daddy has to hold him down). Put Ben to bed.
9:15 p.m. - Ben is still chit-chatting to himself in his crib, but thankfully Hannah is sleeping. Momma heads to the basement to watch TV and eats a piece of cold pizza and a monster cookie. Whoops. Really, really off Weight Watchers plan today. Better rededicate to the plan tomorrow!
10:00 p.m. - Bedtime. Ben finally fell asleep. Whew!
So, a different day for us. Our evenings don't usually have that much action! We usually eat, go for a walk, take a bath, and head to bed. Poor Ben had to trek all across St Paul to get the bad news of pink eye and ear infections.
These mark his 6th or 7th in 12 months and his 4th since January. I am certain tubes are in his future. I feel sad that he'll have to have surgery for that, but I am also relieved that maybe he won't be so sick all the time if we do it!!
I'm tired. Today wore me out. Night Night all!
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