April 3, 2013. I am 23.5 weeks pregnant and the kids are 6.5 and almost 4.
12:30 am - Get up and pee. Get back in bed and spend five minutes arrange voluminous belly around extra pillows. Attempt to block out old dog's lusty snoring and farting long enough to get back to sleep.
3:30 am - Repeat
5:55 am - A sleepy little girl crawls under the covers with me. 5:55 feels so much earlier than 6:00 for some reason. At least she has finally learned to lay quietly for a bit lest she get evicted unceremoniously.
6:45 am - Our artificial sunrise is complete and we are joined by Pacey, who has woken up in a glorious mood as usual. "Good MORNING, Mama!" he chirps. We all spend a few minutes just hanging out before the morning rush starts.
7:15 am - I don't think Brighton has taken a single breath since she started talking this morning. I head to the shower before my eardrums start bleeding.
7:45 am - Chris has left for work. I am greeted in the kitchen by chaos everywhere I look. We're replacing cabinet doors, painting, and putting in a granite countertop. Where we tore down the tile backsplash the walls had to be re-drywalled so there is a fine layer of plaster dust covering everything. Ugh. Oh, and we're doing it all for the sake of a potential buyer, as the house will go back on the market in less than two weeks.
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| A frustrating obstacle course as I keep forgetting I need a wider passage these days |
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| A little paint with your Cheerios? Don't worry, it's Low-Odor/No-VOC. |
8:00 am - Brighton specifically requests Cheerios for breakfast and Pacey insists he wants a waffle. He NEVER eats a waffle and I know this and yet my defenses are low this morning; I make him a waffle. Brighton then decides she hates Cheerios and sulks, while Pacey eats approximately one molecule of the waffle. Brighton also falls off her chair which happens at least once during every single meal.
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| I can't believe you gave me what I asked for for breakfast. So mean. |
8:30 am - On our way to school. B is toting along her treasured scrap-heap as usual. It's a balmy 27 degrees outside and we are still carting full snow gear for outdoor play. SIGGGGHHHHH Minnesota.
8:45 am - Brighton is successfully installed in her classroom and we have a few minutes to kill before Pacey is due at school so I stop at Caribou to grab a coffee (we're having some coffeemaker issues and my mug this morning was decidedly sub-par). It's a gorgeous, if chilly, morning.
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| Excited for school as usual |
9:20 am - I pull up in the drop-off lane at school, help Pacey on with his backpack, give him a hug and kiss and (per our brand new routine), wave him off into school himself. Yesterday was the first day we did this and I fully admit I went back 15 minutes later and asked the very nice school secretary to call down to his class and make sure he made it (he did) (I wasn't genuinely worried he wouldn't). Such a BIG BOY now.
9:30 - I head to my monthly MOMS Club Business Meeting. Since I'm the president I prepared the agenda and we have plenty to cover, including the elections process for next year's Board as I am retiring from the position! We finish up making some fleece blankets for Project Linus and have a great discussion with a Parent Educator from our local Early Childhood and Family Education program. Discussions like these are always so reassuring as they drive home the reality that we all face challenges in our parenting.
11:30 - I swing by the library to drop off books and movies due today and arrive at Brighton's school 15 minutes early...a luxury to sit and do nothing but listen to the radio for a few.
11:45 - I've retrieved Brighton and heard all about the preschool playground drama of the day ("Shelby DIDN'T play with me outside today!!") and we head to pick up Pacey. His teacher confirms that he is doing just fine getting himself to class and going through his morning routine. I chat briefly to another mom who moved here recently from Colorado and she shares that she is a cancer survivor (in the context of a conversation about our daughters' hair). I always find myself making an extra effort with fellow transplants; Minnesotans are super friendly but it's difficult to truly break into social circles here. I chat with another mom about our abysmal spring weather and local real estate. I never feel more like a *mom* than I do at kindergarten pick up!
12:30 - Pacey requested "chicken and french fries" for lunch and I have a really hard time refusing fast food lunch once a week. Plus, torn up kitchen. Plus, I have a soft spot for McDonald's french fries. After their pitiful breakfast the kids devour their saturated fat and sodium.
2:00 - Pacey has his bi-annual pulmonology check-up today. I'll be honest and say, I'm not 100% sure why we still see this particular doctor as often as we do. Up until two years ago, Pacey had repeated respiratory infections and was on four doses of inhaled medications via nebulizer every day. As his lungs have grown and his immune system strengthened, he doesn't need those medications every day anymore. We are still very careful about his illnesses and he was hospitalized for RSV two years ago, but overall he's gotten so much healthier. Every time we go to the pulmo I have to fill out various questionnaires about his "asthma" which I'm never exactly sure he has. The diagnosis alone muddies the waters at school, as they want action plans but he has never needed an inhaler when it wasn't related to an illness. ANYWAY, until he's old enough to reliably do a pulmonary function test, in we go every six months. At least the doc is always fast.
2:40 - HAHA, except not fast today. We've seen the nurse and Pacey's oxygen saturation is 97%. That's about the highest it's ever been when he's not on a direct stream of pure oxygen. He's also grown a bunch since last fall. We attempt to continue amusing ourselves:
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| Examining lung structure and function |
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| Testing out the exam table for comfort |
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| Having a catnap |
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| Poking our fingers inside bronchii |
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| Attempting to hack into the computer system |
3:30 - Finally done. No plan for the summer except to have medications on hand if needed. Not entirely sure this was worth 90 minutes of our time. Still, we're lucky to have the option I guess.
3:45 - Although our closest neighborhood market has no methods for containing two children while you shop, it's my easiest bet for dinner. I extract promises from the kids that they will be good if I let them push the child-sized cart. Always a dicey prospect but no better options. We pick up a rotisserie chicken and Pacey tries to convince me he wants sushi.
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| Yeah right, kid |
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| They won't actually eat this either |
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| Supermarket sweep. We managed not to clip anyone's heels. Barely. |
5:30 - Chris is home and Brighton coaxes him out on the deck with her. The three of them had a dance party out there this past weekend (to celebrate the thermometer hitting 50 degrees) and the kids have requested a repeat performance every day since.
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| Boundless energy is wasted on the young |
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| Grass! I see grass!! |
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| Future career as a street sweeper? |
6:45 - Bath time. I posted the picture of me because I think it's very apparent how I was feeling at this point. So. Unbelievably. Exhausted. And there's the belly, at almost 24 weeks.
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| They have outgrown this bath tub. I am in the process of breaking them into the idea of showers instead. Yikes. |
7:45 - The kids each pick a book to read and Pacey's selection is this 150-page book from my childhood. I tell him there's no way we're reading that book tonight and he parrots my own words back to me, "Just try it, mom." We compromise on reading/discussing five pages. I get a real kick out of seeing how many random items he can identify and hearing his voice, which is still somewhat novel.
10:00 - Dead to the world. Maybe one day I'll be able to stay awake later than the average 13-year-old. But maybe not.
(If you actually read this far, give yourself a pat on the back and go get a glass of wine. You've earned it.)
3 comments:
I love this. Especially the part about Brighton falling off her chair every meal. I mean, that basically sums up life with kids. You look adorable, by the way, even exhausted :)
Love the catnap picture :) 23.5 wks already! You're just over half-way there- whoo hoo!
Just found your blog through Tricia's. I had my third baby (and fourth--hadn't planned on twins but life has a way of throwing curves, doesn't it?) when my kids were right around your age, and my oldest son also has DS.
He's also a fan of picking out the longest bedtime begs in the history of the world. I have a hard time saying no to Richard Scarry too--one of my faves.
Hang in there. Pregnancy is so hard when you have other little ones to chase after, but it sounds like you're doing great!
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