A Day In The Life of This Mother: Thursday

I thought in honor of Mother's Day I would write about one of my very typical days. Mostly for me. I thought I might enjoy looking back one day and remembering how just normal days were with me at home with my young kids. Today is Thursday. A very typical Thursday. One thing that I have learned about myself as a mother is that I really like a schedule. I always thought this was true, but being a mother is the first thing that I am totally and completely in charge of how it goes. I like having a plan and knowing mostly what is in store for us each day.

On Mondays we stay home and do all the laundry, vacuuming, and dusting. On Tuesdays, Brielle goes to preschool while I run errands with ONLY two kids. Wednesdays we have ballet class. Thursday is preschool and kindermusik. Fridays we either go do something fun, have friends over to play or go to playgroup. I also run 4 miles on the treadmill Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. We are out and about every day, but by lunch time we are always home. We eat and then it is nap time. I totally protect the afternoons. It is quiet time for everyone and we all need it. By 3pm everyone is awake and I am trying to start dinner while I juggle everyone wanting/needing something from me. Scott walks through the door at 5pm. Hallelujah! And so it goes.

So, Thursday. Here is how today went.

I should start with the fact that Zachary has a cold and an ear infection in both ears. He can't sleep, so neither did I last night. I put him down at 8pm and he was up at 10:30pm, then 12:30pm. Brielle came into our room at 2am because she was scared and I helped her back to her bed. Zach was up again at 3:30am. I was up with him until 4:45am. Meanwhile Ava got up and went into our room and Scott helped her back to sleep in her bed. Scott got up and left to run with Greg at 5am. The rest of us all slept until a blessed 7am. Quite the night.

I tried to feed Zachary some peaches in the morning, but because he is sick he would not have it. Not at all. I got cereal for Brielle to eat for breakfast and a waffle for Ava. I had frosted mini wheats. I counted out 30 of them into my bowl. I am doing weight watchers, so I count everything. 4.5 points for my frosted mini wheats.

I changed Zachary's diaper and am noticing he is looking quite orange from all the baby food. I got him dressed for the day and put him down for a morning nap at 8am. I helped the girls get dressed. Ava was excited to do it "all by myself" and Brie was excited that she got to wear a cowgirl skirt, shirt and boots for western day at preschool. We went into the bathroom and I let the girls choose what clip or bow they wanted for their hair. We brushed and did hair with no problem. Amazing.

Brielle played with her princesses and ponies on the floor while I went to quickly shower. Ava sticks with me still. She waits outside the shower for me and then when the water turns off she was there to open the shower door and hand me a towel. So funny. Ava then sat on the bathroom counter while I got ready. She watches me do make up and hair and pleads for just a "little tiny baby bit" of each thing for herself. She applied deodorant all over her arms and belly, put gel in her very straight hair and rubbed lotion all over her face.

We left about 10 minutes early to preschool, which is very close by. I drove to Ms. Chris' house (feeling bad that we might be early) and took Brielle up to her door in her cowgirl get up, said good bye and went back home for a few minutes. I had a few minutes to call as many temples as I could looking for ties for our Father's Day primary activity. Then Ava, Zach and I left for Kindermusik. Ava was thrilled, as always, to get there. We ran in and had a fun class. We danced, we played drums, shook shakers, sang lots of songs, read a story, etc. Ava wore her Boston baseball cap and looked very cute. Zach started getting really grumpy at the end of class so we got into the van and I nursed him before leaving while Ava climbed from seat to seat.

We drove back to pick up Brielle from preschool and stopped at the post office along the way to mail my mother's day card to my mom. Once we had Brielle we went home for lunch. As soon as we walked through the door the pre-lunch chaos began. Zach was crying because he wanted to eat. Ava started throwing a tantrum and I don't remember why. She hit me and threw that cute baseball cap at me, so she was put in time out. She continued screaming and crying. I changed Zach's diaper, put him in the high chair to get his food, got the left over mac'n cheese out of the fridge and put it in the microwave. Everyone was crying for something. I got the girls to the table eating their mac'n cheese and apple slices and I sat down to feed Zachary some pears. Everyone ate and was feeling a lot better. Except me, I was still hungry.

Zachary went up to bed for an afternoon nap and I prayed he could sleep now that he is on the amoxicillian and his ears might feel better. I made myself a caprese salad. Delicious slices of tomato, mozzarella cheese, basil and balsamic vinegar. I also had one of those really good chicken sausages. 7 points total. While I ate the girls pretended to be doggies. They crawled around panting and barking and begging at my knee for bites of sausage. I played along and patted their heads, called them doggies and gave them bites while I ate.

After I ate it was time to clean up the kitchen . . . again. I cleaned up and while I did I stopped to pet Brie the dog or give Ava the dog a doggie treat (her apples). My dad called and I talked to him for a minute while Ava whined at me. She always does when I have a phone to my ear. It was time for her nap. I got off of the phone, took Ava by the hand and she happily came with me to get in bed. She is SO EASY to put down for a nap. She lays down, I cover her up, give her a kiss (today I had to say "good night doggie") and close the door. We see her 1 1/2 hours later. Brielle watched Cinderella and I went to my bed too for a nap (remember my night last night). It was wonderful. It is now 3pm. Ava is awake and cuddled up next to me on the couch, I hear Zachy starting to wake up and Brielle is teasing Ava and jumping around the room with a strand of beads that is her new "lasso".

I got Zach out of bed, changed his diaper and nursed him. We all then sat on the floor reading all of the new library books we got at the library the other day. We got some good ones. I needed to stand and hold Zach because he was not liking just sitting on the floor anymore, so I got the girls in sweatshirts and shoes and sent them to play in the backyard on the swing set. They were out there for less than 5 minutes and then back in to look at books. Zachary really did need me to just hold him and rock him though. He was so whiney because he just doesn't feel good. So I set the girls up with a Dora coloring book, crayons and markers. That entertained them for another 20 minutes until Scott walked through the door. Hooray! I love that moment each day when Scott gets home and I know I'm lucky that it is usually right around 5pm.

Zachary went down for another nap, so I took Brie and Ava to the store with me to return a couple of things and get some baby food. We got home around 6pm. I needed to get dinner on the table quick. I put together all of the good stuff in our fridge that will go bad if we don't get eating it and we had a version of cobb salad - lettuce, tomatoes, avacado, red onion, hard boiled eggs, turkey (from dinner on Wed.), croutons, cheese and dressing. So good.

Scott cleaned up the kitchen (which thankfully really is typical), while I took Zachary up for a bath. Ava decided to join him. She thinks it is hilarious when he pees in the tub. He did and she laughed. Brielle had to help Scott with kitchen clean up in order to earn band aids. That is a whole story in and of itself, but she has been biting her nails to the point where they really hurt so is now going through a lot of band aids.

Zach got out of the bath and in pajamas. Ava got out of the bath and in pajamas. I took Zachy to his rocking chair in his room to nurse him and put him down to sleep. I nursed him, sang "Baby's Got Blue Eyes" to him and then laid him in his crib with his blanky. One down, two to go. At 8pm Scott brushed Brielle's teeth and got her ready. We all said our family prayer by her bed and got her in bed to go to sleep. I told her all about our fun day that we have planned for tomorrow. We are riding TRAX with playgroup to Temple Square. Ava stayed up with us for another hour. She got to go on a walk with Scott and read books with me. Scott took her up to brush her teeth, go potty and put her in her bed.

The kids are all in bed asleep. The house is cleaned up, dishwasher is running and Scott and I got to sit down and watch a couple of our shows together.

And that is how it goes . . . . pretty much every day. . . . . and I am so incredibly grateful for it.