A Day in Our Life

Colin and Emily are now 7 months old and Nathan turned 3 at the end of January. I often have to remind myself how much things have changed around here since the babies arrived. When I'm having a bad day or the babies have a bad night I try to think back to those early days and remind myself how drastically things have improved in such a short period of time. I thought I would use my blog as a spot to basically journal random days here and there for myself to look back on when days are more difficult. Things will continue to get easier overall and this will be a way for me to get some perspective. People often ask us how we do it and what my days are like. Enjoy reading about our crazy life!

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011
5:15 AM Emily woke up and needed to eat. They both had a dream feed at 10:30 last night and thankfully have both been asleep until now. I bring her back to bed with me to nurse her and try to get a few more minutes of sleep. She nurses well and we both fall back to sleep.
6:00 Clint's alarm goes off. He leaves no later than 7 every morning. Emily is still in bed with me at this point and stays asleep during his alarm. I'm able to go back to sleep too.
6:45 Emily wakes up and needs a burp. She won't go back to sleep after this and is quite fussy. I change her diaper but this doesn't seem to help much.
7:15 I give Emily 2 oz of formula and that seems to relieve her fussiness.
7:30 Colin and Nathan wake up. I go into Nathan's room first and get him to pick out his clothes for the day. He takes off his PJs and puts his overnight diaper in the diaper pail himself and goes to pee on the potty. He has peed through his diaper for the second night in a row so I will have to change his sheets again today. I wonder to myself when he will be able to stay dry at night.
7:35 I give Colin his morning bottle and then change his diaper. Nathan entertains Emily who is in her crib.
7:55 We all go downstairs for breakfast. I carry both babies at the same time and Nathan takes their bottles for me. Nathan helps to set the table with his bowl, spoon, cup, milk and bib. I get his cereal and milk ready for him while he sits at the table. Sometimes he helps me feed the cats but not today. I give them each their food and separate them since one has an allergy to the other's food.
8:00 I attempt to make my morning latte and get the babies' breakfast ready. I had to grind beans today so it take a few extra minutes.
8:10 I sit down with my coffee and start to feed the babies. Today it is cereal, pureed fruit and cottage cheese.
8:12 Nathan pees his pants. We strip his lower half, he goes to the bathroom to finish and we go upstairs to clean him up and pick out new pants.
8:15 We return to the table and I continue feeding the babies.
8:30 All 3 kids are done breakfast and I clean all their hands, faces, bibs, and the babies' trays. I put away all food and I fill and run the dishwasher.
8:38 We all go into the living room to play before the babies need their first nap. I lay the babies on a blanket on the floor with a few toys but mostly Nathan and I just play with them. Nathan is obsessed with making Colin laugh so once he discovers how to do this he repeats the action over and over until Colin is hysterically laughing. I love moments like this and appreciate how blessed we are.
8:45 Nathan picks a book to "read" to the babies. He looks at the pictures and summarizes what he thinks is happening.
8:50 I read to all 3 the book "You Are All My Favorites". It's a book about 3 baby bears, 2 boys and a girl, who ask their parents who their favorite is.
9:00 I finally finish my coffee. Emily starts to fuss for her nap.
9:09 I take both babies upstairs and put them down for their nap. Colin is not as ready and takes a few more minutes to get to sleep.
9:30 Nathan and I go to the basement and he plays and watches "The Cat in the Hat" tv show while I finish taking care of our budget and bills for February. I send Clint an email about our budget since I'm not sure we'll get a chance to discuss it until after all the kids are in bed for the night and I may forget by then. We often communicate this way so that we don't forget to tell each other something important. And by text message too, sometimes when we are both at home.
9:50 Once I'm satisfied that the babies are asleep, Nathan picks a toy and plays in the bathroom so I can have a shower and still keep an eye on him.
10:05 I get dressed and send Nathan to the potty. I hear Colin making noises in their room (including laughing) and pray that he will go back to sleep and won't wake up Emily. If he doesn't go back to sleep and/or she wakes up, our whole morning will be "off" since I have to take Nathan to preschool.
10:10 I do some laundry. Get the dry stuff organized to be put in the appropriate room and throw another load in the dryer. I get a load ready so I can throw Nathan's wet sheets in when I get around to getting them from upstairs.
10:20 Colin is still awake but I leave him in the hopes that he cooperates. I dry my hair since it is -30 today and don't want it to freeze when we go out. Nathan watches more tv and I feel like a bad mother because of it.
10:35 Colin is now crying.
10:37 Colin is quiet. I don't think he woke up Emily *phew*
10:39 Colin cries out again, yawns, babbles and is again quiet.
10:45 I get Nathan's snack ready for school, put a pull-up on him and get the car seats ready for the babies.
10:50 I go into the nursery and it stinks. Colin pooped his pants so I need to change him and we will now be late since I have this routine down to an exact science. Both babies were asleep so I wake and change Colin, get Emily up then get them bundled up in their car seats. Nathan helps put his coat and boots on. Then he takes them off to put his backpack on. He needs my help to get it all on.
11:00 We walk out the door and I load up all 3 kids in the truck. I am now sweating and it hurts to lift them all into the truck from my workout at the gym last night.
11:15 I unload all 3 kids and take Nathan into his preschool to drop him off. We are late but I don't feel so bad since there are other people who are late too and they don't have twins.
11:25 I reload the babies and head home. I realize that I haven't eaten anything yet today and I am starving. I know I shouldn't but I swing through the KFC drive through and get a cheap lunch. I feel guilty about this and wonder if I'll ever be able to get control over my eating and lose the weight that I need to lose to feel healthy and good about myself again. I do, however, enjoy these few minutes of "solitude" in the truck. Both of the babies are with me but are usually quiet so I have a few minutes for reflection and can relax. It is cold today but the sun is shining and it feels good to get out even though it is a lot of work.
11:45 I unload the babies and scarf down my lunch.
11:55 I nurse Emily while Colin gets a bottle. He is pretty much weaned as of this past weekend as he would pretty much do anything else other that nurse. Books say to never prop a bottle but I guarantee that those authors never had multiples. Em nurses really well and I think she's happy she doesn't have to share anymore.
12:25 I give the babies lunch. It is vegetables and turkey and apple sauce.
12:45 Colin starts to cry since he is tired. I clean him up and take him to bed. He had some spit up on him that I assumed happened in the truck but I realized that he did it during his first nap since his sheet is all nasty. I change his sheet, change his diaper and clothes and put him down for a nap.
12:55 Emily is now crying her face off downstairs because I left her there to deal with Colin. I finish giving her lunch, clean her up, change her diaper and put her to bed.
1:01 It's now up to them to go to sleep. I haven't helped them to go to sleep in probably 3 months or more. I change the diaper pail and take the laundry downstairs. Once there I finish cleaning up the bare minimum in the kitchen so I can take a break before Clint gets home with Nathan from school.
1:10 I get on my computer to blog, check my email and facebook.
1:13 The babies are asleep and I am thankful to get a few quiet moments to myself. I don't at all feel guilty about this.
1:42 Clint and Nathan arrive home from preschool. Nathan comes downstairs to show me his craft and I take him to wash his hands before lunch. I have had 30 minutes to myself and I'm thankful for every second of it.
1:55 Nathan and Clint have lunch together and I resume my break to read the TTMAC newsletter. I am so thankful that Clint has a job where he can be home so early to help take some of the pressure of the day off of me.
2:30 Nathan comes downstairs and we play for a few minutes until it is time for quiet time
2:50 Clint takes Nathan for quiet time.
3:02 The babies wake up from their nap. I bring them downstairs for some play time.
3:30 Clint comes downstairs to grab a frozen lasagna to put in the oven and then he goes for a shower.
3:45 I give Colin a bottle and attempt to nurse Emily. She's not interested but continues to fuss for who knows what reason.
4:15 Clint comes downstairs to help me with the babies.
4:30 We decide that the babies may need to have another quick nap so we take them upstairs to put them down. They are not happy about this at all and Colin has a complete meltdown before falling asleep. Once he finished crying Emily cries in his place.
4:45 Clint gets Nathan up from his nap and he is not crazy about this either.
5:00 We sit down for dinner. Nathan is not hungry since he ate lunch around 2 so we don't force the issue. Colin is asleep now but Emily is still crying. Clint and I eat and hope she'll go to sleep too.
5:10 We give up on Em having a nap and get her up. I try to nurse her again but she's still not interested. Clint is done eating so he feeds her. It is more vegetables and turkey and yogurt. Afterwards we try and get Nathan to eat but he's still not into it.
5:45 I wake Colin up.
5:55 Colin has dinner.
6:30 We are all done with dinner and cleaned-up. I call Roger and Cathy to find out where they will be placed next year. It's exciting news!!!
7:00 We all go downstairs to play for a bit before bed. Clint plays with the kids - it's the only time so far today he's had all 3 together - and I surf the internet about the place Roger and Cathy will be moving to this summer.
7:24 We take the kids upstairs for bed. Colin and Emily get tucked in and Clint gives Nathan a bath and gets him into bed.
7:35 My parenting is done for the day (except for a dream feed later) and I spend some time writing this blog entry.
8:00 My sister calls and we chat.
8:45 Clint comes downstairs and I get off the phone with my sister to go make popcorn. He has been watching all the seasons of Battlestar Galactica on his laptop while I watch shows he has zero interest in. Tonight it was the Biggest Loser. This is how we spend time together recently. How romantic. I think to myself that I wish we could go out on a date but it's so difficult right now while the kids are so small. Also, the irony of me eating popcorn while watching a show about weight loss is not lost on me. I again feel guilty about my lack of self-control.
10:45 We both go to give the babies their dream feed.
11:05 Lights out. We are both exhausted and I am mad at myself for not going to bed sooner. The babies both get a bottle for their dream feed so there is no reason why I shouldn't go to bed early. I guess I just feel like that is the only time of day I truly get to myself to just do whatever I want and hang out with Clint. As much as I need the sleep it is a trade-off I'm willing to accept right now for my own sanity. As I try to fall asleep I suddenly realize that I never changed Nathan's sheets that had a pee spot from the night before. I'm sure it has been completely dry for hours and wasn't that big to begin with but I instantly feel like a bad mother (again). I promise myself to take the sheets off the moment I get him up in the morning. I guess if this is the biggest parenting mistake I've made all day then I should count myself lucky.

Most days are similar to this one. Colin and Emily have 2 (sometimes 3) naps. Nathan usually goes for a nap in the middle of the afternoon (around 3) and meal times are generally around 8, 12 and 5. The babies often have a nursing/bottle feeding session midmorning and/or mid-afternoon as well. I try to do laundry each day but sometimes it gets out of hand and I need to spend an entire day getting caught up. There is never a shortage of things to do in a day and I never feel like I am 100% caught up as there is always something else to take care of (grocery shopping, snow shoveling, housework, meal preparation, doctors appointments, etc). The priority in our home right now is still meal and nap times and some down time for Clint and I so we don't go insane. The housework gets done (eventually) and some days are better than others for getting tasks accomplished. Clint has rehearsals one or two evenings a week and the occasional performance so on those nights I am on my own. My fitness goal right now is to get to the gym 3 times a week so Clint is on his own when I do that. I hope to look back at this entry in 3 months and see just how much easier each day has become. I hope that Nathan is officially daytime potty trained. I also hope that Colin and Emily are no longer needing a dream feed and are having only 2 very predictable and regular naps every day. They seem to be doing well with sleeping through the night in the last week or so (knock on wood!) and I hope that continues. Emily will also very likely be weaned by that point and I hope that I have been able to start dropping the last of the baby weight with regular trips to the gym. Time will tell!!