A typical day

Mrs. Preppy did a great post about this, so I thought I'd do one too. I'm always curious as to how other people spend their days, so please feel free to do one!

6:00 to 7:00 Generally around 6:20, Miss K starts rattling the bars of her crib and saying "Up." That means it's go time. I retrieve her, change her, and we go outside to get the paper. For some reason, she loves heading outside for the paper first thing. (My husband travels a ton for work, and he was out of town today. When he is in town, we bring her back into bed with us when she wakes up and we all watch Good Morning America and the local morning news together. When it's just me, I just head upstairs and get my coffee started).

7:00 ish - Breakfast. Oatmeal, milk and applesauce in the highchair. Throw in a banana or little bits of prune (I know - she has funny taste). I clean her up and have her play in the dining room and kitchen while I eat breakfast and read the paper. I also always need a very strong cup of coffee, because I really like to wake up at 7:00 - not 6:20. Today, I woke up at 6:07. That is a little early.

8:00 - 9:00 K goes and hangs out in her crib to watch a little Curious George or other PBS kids show, while I run around like a madwoman cleaning up the kitchen, dealing with feeding the cats, and getting myself sort of presentable for our morning activity. By presentable, I mean I put in my contacts, wash my face, brush my teeth, and put on sunscreen or tinted moisturizer depending on the activity. I firmly believe that if you put on workout clothing, you will work out, so my uniform is lululemon pants or shorts, a tank and a hoody. If we aren't going out for exercise in the morning, I will wear jeans and a top or a dress. I can squeeze the quickest of quick showers in if I have to, but my hair is not blown out. Apologies, but she won't stay in the crib for longer than 30 minutes!

9:00 to 12:00 - I love to walk for exercise, so most days we head out for about an hour or so walking. Today, we went for our walk, then came home and cleaned up to head over to the park to play for a while. Since there is no more morning nap, I'm pretty free in the mornings to go out and do some fun stuff or some errands. (There is a morning snack in here at some point - generally when we are out in the stroller for our walk - Miss K does appreciate some tasty baked goods with a sippy cup of milk).

12:00 - 1:00 This is when lunch is served. For K - not me! She is starting to get interested in utensils other than her hands, so I always provide them. So far, not a whole lot of success. She enjoys a grilled cheese sandwich, or some black beans or peanut butter crackers for lunch. More milk too! She plays while I clean up the kitchen. Or, she plays while I scarf some lunch and ignore how messy the kitchen is!

1:00 -2:00 At some point in here, Miss K goes down for her nap. I zip her into her little sleep sack and pop her into the crib. I sit in her room until she falls asleep. I know I need to stop, but I haven't figured out how to break the habit yet. Once she is down for her nap, I take my shower, and work on whatever needs to be done - returning phone calls, laundry, tidying up, bill paying, letters, etc. Today, for example, I sat around and read Twilight Eclipse in my unmade bed, surrounded by unfolded clean laundry. It felt like playing hooky and I loved it :)

3:00 - 4:00 Sometime in here, Miss K wakes up. Time for another small snack and milk. She has started not to eat quite as much as she used to, so this doesn't take long.

3:00 to 6:00 Time to head out again for something - either another walk or errands. Today, we went to the grocery store. She loves riding around in the cart, and is in a really good mood after her nap. This is the one good thing about being down to one nap. It means that I have time in the late afternoon to do one more errand or trip outside. When we were on two naps, she was sleeping from around 3:00 to 5:00, so there wasn't a lot of time to get stuff done after that second nap. We also love going for another walk to the park to allow her to run around.

6:00 Back home and time for dinner. If my husband is not travelling, I've spent part of nap time doing dinner prep - setting the table and preparing the meal. If he isn't, I eat a salad and poached eggs, like tonight, or something else really easy. Sometimes, it's really boring, like a bowl of cereal. Miss K eats dinner - tonight it was pasta with pesto...sadly, she did not like my homemade pesto and bowtie pasta. Another cup of milk.

6:30-7:45 More playtime. If we are on our own, like today, more PBS kids because I'm tired. Although, honestly, she seem to ignore the show and just play.

7:45 - 8:00 Time for a quick bath and bedtime. Miss K is pretty tired at the end of her day, so we do not have a very complex routine. I brush her teeth, zip her in a sleep sack, and let her turn off the light in her room. I miss her, but I know I'll see her again, bright and early.

8:00 - 10:00 Ok. She is safely asleep, so I can clean up the kitchen, run the dishwasher and then sweep around the living room picking up toys. Or, I can sit in the living room looking at all the toys strewn about and decide I won't deal with them until tomorrow. It all depends on the day :). Some days, I use this time to work on recipes or do meal prep. Other days, we sit and watch TV. I watched an episode of "Four Weddings" as I did this post. Then, it's downstairs to bed.

The days are long, but the years seem short. Especially now that she gives hugs and kisses.