Blog Hop: A Typical Day

I did one of these "day in the life" posts a few months ago when I was pregnant with Hank and, obviously, our routine has changed quite a bit since Hank was born. I tried to take a few pictures here and there to illustrate and then got sick of it... therefore there are only pictures of the first half of our day. Oh well.

6:30am: Hank wakes up, so I get up and we play for a few minutes before I hit the shower. Hank chills out on the floor of the bathroom while I get clean.

7:00am: Hank and I go downstairs to get some coffee and breakfast. I usually listen to my morning show (DSC, if you don't listen, you should) while eating and playing with Hank in his infant seat.

My favorite coffee cup. I used to feel guilty about drinking caffeine and breastfeeding, but this cup made a convincing argument for coffee. I now have a caffeinated drink almost every day.

 7:15am: Unload the dishwasher. I swear, with only three people eating real food around here, we go through a ridiculous amount of dishes. There are dishes to put away nearly every. single. day. But at least I can put them away while Johnny is still in bed, otherwise it'd be putting away dishes while trying to keep Johnny from smashing said dishes on the floor.

7:30am(ish): Johnny is ready to get up and makes it known by yelling as loud as possible.

7:35am: Johnny picks out his shirt for the day... this is a trial because he always wants his "Mater" shirt, which is usually dirty because he has worn it to bed a few times and also during the day a few times. There just comes a point where a T-shirt has to be washed. So he usually goes a little crazy when I tell him his Mater shirt is dirty and then finally picks a different shirt. Then I'm allowed to pick out his shorts. He couldn't care less about the bottom half of his wardrobe.

7:45am: Hank is ready for a nap, so he gets swaddled and stuffed in the ring sling.

7:47am: Johnny pulls me by the hand into the play room, where he drinks some milk and plays with trucks.

9am: This is when we usually do our leave-the-house activities like running errands, going to playdates, going for a walk, etc. This day, however, was a cleaning day. So I dusted and vacuumed the upstairs rooms while Johnny chased me around asking if I was "done" and Hank slept in the ring sling.

10:30am: Hank is awake, so I feed him, change his diaper, and put him down for some naked tummy time to give his little bottom a chance to air out.

11am: I finally get Johnny to eat something. He's never been one to sit down after waking up and have breakfast. Some days it happens, but this day it did not. So, Johnny sits down to eat an egg and blueberries while I sit down and eat some lunch.

11:20am: Brush those teeth! The brushing of the teeth is a variable in our day. It does happen every morning, but the when changes. Sometimes Johnny eats a real breakfast when he wakes up, so we brush teeth after that; other times he won't eat until some time closer to lunch, so we brush teeth then. I'm just proud that I'm able to brush AND floss his teeth every day. I'm an oral surgeon's daughter. Dental hygiene is important.

Normally I brush and floss Johnny's teeth while he's lying down on the changing table. That way I can hold his head with one hand and brush with the other... but it's hard to get a picture like that. So we posed in the bathroom.

 11:30am: We have some more play time. Usually involving the car, like this day. Sometime while we're playing, Hank is ready to sleep again, so I stuff him back in the ring sling.

12:30pm: This is about when Johnny takes his nap and our routine varies a little bit here. If Hank is really passed out, then I leave him in the ring sling while I get Johnny down for his nap. If he's kind of wakeful, then I take him out and put him in his crib where he usually cries for the duration of Johnny's nap time routine. Oh well, it sucks being the second child.

12:45pm: While Johnny naps, I usually do a combination of things. Play with Hank when he's awake, leave him in the ring sling when he's sleeping, blog, upload pictures/videos, clean up after our morning, make phone calls, or just lounge and read my book. However, I hardly ever sit down. Sitting down means Hank will most likely wake up... so I all of the above things while standing or walking around for two hours.

2:30pm: Johnny wakes up, usually crabby.

2:35pm: More playing in the play room, while I chase him around with a banana or some other form of food. Hank generally hangs out and watches Johnny and I play.

3:15pm: This is when I start to just kill time until John comes home. Johnny is usually tired of being inside, so we'll go out and run more errands or play out in the front yard. On this particular day we took a walk to the grocery store because Johnny kept saying "shop" and then led me to Vons. I thought we were headed to the local park, but Johnny knew where he wanted to go. Weird.

4pm: I start making dinner while Johnny plays by himself or tries vainly to get my attention by pulling out cooking utensils and pans and opening the refrigerator. Hank sleeps in the ring sling.

5:15pm: John comes home and I get dinner on the table... kind of. This is always a production because I'm trying to finish cooking, John is trying to get the table set and Johnny is trying to bodily and verbally force John outside so they can play in John's car. The five o' clock hour is a noisy and busy one in the Durso household.

5:30pm: Dinner is served! Hank watches us eat from his infant seat or is nursing. Johnny is trying to grab at our eating utensils and demanding more of this or that. John is trying to keep Johnny happy while attempted to eat himself and I am either nursing Hank, fetching different food for Johnny to eat, or eating myself. After dinner, I clean up while Hank chills and John and Johnny go play by the pool; Johnny is usually naked by this point.

6:15pm: I start getting Hank ready for bed by bathing him, giving him some time to air out, swaddling and then nursing him. John is attempting to get Johnny inside in an non-violent fashion with a few tears as possible.

7pm: Hank is down. John is reading stories to Johnny while Johnny runs around his room, pulls shirts of hangers, opens drawers and plays with the fan.

7:30pm: John exits Johnny's room whether he's asleep or not. If Johnny isn't asleep, he cries for a little and then settles down to play with Scout or to go to sleep. John and I then get to relax, which consists of cleaning up the kitchen, picking up Johnny's toys, then maybe watching a movie or surfing the Internet.

9:30pm: I dreamfeed Hank and then go to bed. Of course, my night consists of getting up to feed Hank every now and then, but for the most part, my day is done.

Obviously, there are an awful lot of breastfeeding sessions and diaper changes that go on during the day, but I felt it was overkill to include all of those. Not to mention even more boring than the things I chose to include.