A typical day

It's time again for another typical day blog post.  Actually I was due to do this in May, but Brandon was gone and so there weren't any typical day's in May.  So this is for Tuesday June 4, 2013.

7:30 Lydia comes into my room.  Usually I can get her to snuggle in bed with me for a minute or two, but today she announces, "I leaking."  So I get up and change her diaper.  Derrick and Charlotte wake up too so I get Derrick up.  Derrick is really wet so he gets a diaper change and Charlotte is really poopy so she gets changed too.  

7:40 Time for breakfast.  Everyone wants cherrios so that is what we have.  Usually Derrick just gets a handful of dry cherrios, but he doesn't seem to want that today.  I put the cheerios into a bowl and pour a minuscule amount of milk in there too.  He likes to poke the cherrio box with his finger so I let him do that and then he immediately starts eating.  

Charlotte and Lydia follow my example and stand up while eating.

They each have their own "little counter."

7:45 We slept with all the windows open last night, but I can already feel that today is going to be a warm day.  Charlotte helps me shut all the windows and turn on the air conditioning.

7:50 Brandon unexpectedly walks in the door.  He wasn't told that he needed a certain piece of equipment today so he had to drive all the way home to get it.  He and I gripe for a minute about why they can't just have lockers on post to keep all their crap inside.

7:55 Lydia slips on the floor and starts crying.  I've learned it's best to just hold her for a half hour rather than deal with her following me around and crying for the whole morning so I sit down on the couch with her.  She wants to watch Shrek so I turn that on first.

Thank goodness Brandon is home because he cleans the dishes, starts a load of laundry, and changes Derrick (who always poops during breakfast.)  If Brandon wasn't home I would have had to leave Lydia sobbing on the couch while I did all those things (or not do them at all).

Charlotte and Derrick join us on the couch.

8:40 I finally escape Lydia when she "pick my owie" and starts to bleed.  She does this just so she can get a "banaid" so I get up and give her one.  Derrick starts crying for a bottle so I make one for him and wash all the dirty ones.

9:00 The kids want to "pay ow-side" so I open the patio door and they go out back.  I turn off Shrek and turn on the I heart radio app on my computer so I can listen to Utah's 101.9 the end.  I always listen on Tuesdays and Friday's so I can hear the movie and DVD reviews from Kenny D, my trusted movie critic.

Brandon has changed out of his PT clothes and leaves for work.

9:05 For some strange reason the girls want to wear jackets and shoes even though its getting pretty muggy outside.  I help them into those and they go back out to play.  I finish cleaning up the kitchen while listening to the radio.

9:30 The girls want peanut butter spoons.

9:40 The girls are ready to come back inside and want to watch Shrek again. So I turn that on for them and keep cleaning.  The Kenny D segment goes on longer than usual and since I want to keep listening to it I find myself cleaning things I normally avoid like the George Foreman Grill.

10:00 I'm done with the radio and need a break from cleaning.  So I sit down with the kids.

10:05 Shreks over and now it's time for "Baby Shreks" the last 5 minutes of the 3rd movie.  Dreamworks DVD's are programmed so you I can't just go the the menu and it drives me nuts.  It takes FOREVER to finally get the DVD cued up to the place with the babies.  But the pay off is worth it.  Charlotte and Lydia love watching Shrek's three babies, and it always reminds me of my life with my own three crazy babies.

10:15 Charlotte is poopy so I get up and change her.

10:20 We're done with "Baby Shreks" (we usually watch that little part about 3 times to justify how long it takes to cue up) and so I turn off the TV.  I go in my room and start putting clean laundry away.

10:25 Derrick starts screaming which is his way of saying he is ready for a nap.  so I put him down and he falls asleep right away.  (I should mention that he screamed ALL weekend. I was ready to call the Doctor on Monday morning and get him checked out.  But then he woke up on Monday and was perfectly happy and has been ever since -unless it's naptime.)

10:30 Charlotte and Lydia say that they want to take a nap too.  I know this is a ploy to get the three goldfish crackers that I give out as a "bedtime treat" (to replace the bottles they gave up two months ago), but I play along anyway.  I put them down for "naps" and go back to putting away laundry.  The girls get up and play quietly in the toy room while I work.

11:00 I'm done putting away my laundry which is kind of a big deal because I usually take until Thursday to get the laundry put away.  Since Derrick is asleep and the girls are not, we go into the "office room" to work on a project.

I work on cutting out the last two (HURRAY!) T-shirts for the T-shirt quilt.  I feel like I have been cutting up shirts forever.  I've been able to cut an average of three shirts each chance I get.  I have a total of 64 squares - four of those are extras because Brandon found 2 shirts that he would rather have in the quilt than 2 that didn't have as much sentimental value that I'd already cut.

The girls "play with mon-nee" while I work on the shirts.

They also climb up into their favorite shelves.

11:45  Lydia announces that she is "HON-GREE" so it's time for lunch.  I make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the girls, but they are more interested in eating turkey because that's what I put on my sandwich.  I'm getting tired and I'm not in the mood to make this a real "meal" so I let them eat under the kitchen sink.

12:00 Lunch is mostly over.  I sit down in the living room and read one of the Fort Hood newspapers.  It's about 4 days old, but that's okay.

12:10 Charlotte and Lydia need diaper changes.  We try to be quiet, but we wake Derrick up while we do that.

12:15 It's good he woke up because one of the garbage trucks goes by and so we all go out and watch it.  It's the truck that comes around and picks up all the large bulky items that people set out by their trash cans.  It's fun to watch it smash up big things.  Once I saw it smash an old couch.

12:20 It's too hot to stay outside very long so we go back in and I feed Derrick peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch.  He LOVES those.

12:30 I make it back to the couch and finish reading the paper.

12:50 Charlotte is poopy again.  She's starting to have really bad diarrhea.

1:09 Charlotte needs another diaper change.  I change her then put on Lady and the Tramp and then sit on the couch and doze.

1:35 Derrick is poopy too - luckily it's solid.

1:40 The girls want a snack and I agree with them.  We all have Graham crackers and milk.

1:50 I go in my room and fold up some blankets that are on the floor.

2:00 Charlotte is poopy AGAIN.  I hold her while sitting on the couch.

2:05 Derrick starts screaming out of no where so it's time for him to go back to bed and finish his nap.

2:10 Lydia finds a pair of underwear and asks to wear it.  I'm not in the mood to keep track of her in underwear today so I tell her no, but she pitches a fit.  Finally I agree and tell her to sit on the potty first.  She does, but instead of peeing she has a little bit of diarrhea.  There is no way I'm putting her in underwear now.  She cries and finally I talk her into wearing underwear over her diaper.

2:20 I put Charlotte and Lydia on the couch and give them some pedialite that I bought months ago in case of this very situation.  I'm so glad I don't have to wait for Brandon to buy some after work.    

2:30 The girls ask to watch "Stoy Sory - Daycare one" so I put in Toy Story 3 for them.  I really can't stand to watch that movie again, but I'm getting too tired to do anything so I grab a book and read that while the kids watch the movie.

2:33 Derrick isn't asleep yet and he can hear the movie so he starts crying to get up and watch it.  So I go get him.

2:55 Diaper changes for Charlotte and Lydia again.  Both diapers are really runny, but Lydia's especially.  I'm so glad she was wearing a diaper.

2:25 The other garbage truck comes down the street and we all run outside to watch it dump the garbage cans.

3:30 Lydia and Charlotte seem to be getting sleepy so I put them down for their naps.  Charlotte wants to sleep in her bed, and Lydia wants to sleep in her "home" in the office. Derrick seems sleepy for real this time so he goes down too.  I go back to reading.  I'm ready an unauthorized biography of Nancy Reagan by Kitty Kelley.  I don't know why, but no matter who the subject matter is, I love Kitty Kelley's books.

I check on the kids and find Charlotte asleep in the hall.

And Lydia asleep in her "home."

4:20 Brandon comes home, but he doesn't seem to be in a very talkative mood.  Work is driving him crazy with how boring it can be so he goes outside to take out his frustration on the fire ant nests.  (They've replaced box elder bugs his personal nemesis.)  I enjoy the silent house and keep reading.

4:50 I'm done reading and decide to make dinner.  I make sloppy joes because Brandon has been asking if we have the ingredients for them forever - and we finally do have manwich.  I also check my e-mail and facebook accounts.

5:30 Dinner has been done for a while, but none of the kids are awake.  I tried to wake up Charlotte and Lydia, but they are still gone.  I don't even touch Derrick's door. Brandon comes in from cleaning the patio and declares victory on the fire ants - he flooded their nests with the garden hose - and we eat together.

6:00 We're done eating and catching up on our days.  I try to wake up the girls again, but no luck.  I know that once they do wake up we are going to be in for a long night.  We sit down on the couch and each turn on our separate computers.

6:18 Derrick wakes up and is very upset.  I change his diaper and give him some medicine.  Then I give him some dinner.  He gets happy again.

6:50 Lydia wakes up, but she says she doesn't want dinner.  She reminds me that I told her she could have ice cream when Daddy came home so I get her a bowl.  But I make her eat it at the table and she cries and cries and cries because she wanted to eat it on her little counter.  She doesn't even touch her icecream because she is so upset.  Obviously she isn't feeling too well. I end up taking her to the couch where she keeps crying in my lap.

6:55 Charlotte wakes up and cries when I change her diaper - she's poopy again.

7:20 Lydia is over her tantrum and wants ice cream again.  I give it back to her and she eats it.  Derrick's poopy - this is getting really old.

7:40 Brandon entertains the girls with some games on his computer so I slip off to our room where I lay down on the bed to take a break.  I don't plan on it, but I fall asleep.

9:10  I wake up and I'm surprised by how dark it is.  When I come into the living room the first thing I find is Derrick standing on a chair.  So now I know he can climb onto chairs.  (The next day he learned how to use the chair to get up onto the table.)

Brandon and the girls are still having fun with the computer.

Derrick seems hungry so I feed him some yogurt.  Lydia wants strawberries so I give those to her.  Charlotte isn't very hungry, but I'm certain that's because she doesn't feel well.

9:35 Derrick has yogurt in his hair so it is bath time. When Brandon was gone I discovered what a great time killer bathtime can be.  So now I like to put the kids in the tub every night.  Taking a bath every night has finally helped Charlotte get over her fear of the bath tub (unless it's Saturday night and I have to wash her hair).  Some nights I almost have to drag her out.  Not this night though.  We spot a little bit of poo in the tub and everyone is out of the tub in an instant.

10:10 It's time for scriptures and prayers.  Up until about 2 1/2 months ago we always read scriptures in the kids' room while they fell asleep.  That worked for a long time, but once the girls could get out of their beds and wanted play around it became annoying.  Eventually we figured out we should just do the routine in the living room while they played and then put them to bed at the end.

So we sing a hymn, read a chapter from the Book of Mormon, read a page from the conference edition of the Ensign, and write in the girls' and Derrick's journals in the living room.  The kids play around while we do this.  Lydia likes to hold the scriptures, she calls them her "scibbers."  Charlotte and Derrick both like the hymn book, but so far we've avoided any major fights over it.

10:35 We take the kids into their room and put them in their beds.  We say a family prayer.  Then the girls each get a bedtime treat of three goldfish crackers and Derrick gets a bottle with water in it.  Then we give kisses and sing one last song.

We leave the hall light on to give the kids some light, but we turn off all the other lights.  I learned while Brandon was gone that the girls would leave me alone at night if I went in my room and shut the door.  So that's what we do.

10:45 Brandon gets some stuff together for work in the morning.  Then we go to bed.  Except I can't sleep (because of the unexpected late nap) so I stay up and work on my blog about normal things around Fort Hood.  I hear someone out in the hall, but the noise soon stops.

Later when I check on the kids everyone is sleeping soundly in their beds.

Lydia still likes to have the side up on her crib.

I can't believe how big Derrick is getting inside his bed.

12:05 I'm done with my blog post and so I go to sleep.

Sometime in the night I hear someone creep into my room and fall asleep by my bed.

I have no idea what time Brandon gets up and gets ready for work, but he does that and kisses me goodbye.

7:00 I wake up and discover that it is Charlotte who is sleeping on my floor.

7:30 Charlotte wakes up and hops in bed with me.
8:00 Lydia and Derrick wake up and the day starts all over again.

That night Brandon and I celebrated out anniversary by going to a movie.  Here I am all dressed up and at 25 weeks pregnant.