Day in the Life, Before Gracie

We have a new family member, Grace Louise was born October 21st. I'm still trying to write about it and her, and of course there are a lot of emotions there. I wrote this Day in the Life post back in September and never posted it. I thought it would be interesting to see how my day changes once the baby is here, and good God, this day seems downright leisurely to me now.

6:45 - Mia wakes up screaming for Daddy. She must have had a bad dream. Jeff gets her, changes her diaper and brings her to our bed to snuggle.

7:00 - Jeff gets up to take a shower. I get up to empty the dishwasher and make coffee. Mia goes to the living room to look at her books. 

7:20 - Jeff is making eggs and toast for everyone. I am discussing with Mia how we don't talk about butts and poop in public. 

7:30 - We all eat. Mia eats an egg, 2 pieces of cinnamon raisin toast and a banana. Breakfast is generally the only meal we don't have to bribe/coax her into eating.

7:50 - Jeff leaves for work after many hugs and kisses from Mia. I clean up the kitchen and sweep under the dining room table while Mia sweeps behind me with her little broom. 

8:00 - Mia watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on our bed with a cup of milk while I take a shower, put on makeup and dry my hair.

8:30 - I turn off the TV to protests of "but something else is coming on!" I take the sheets of my bed and throw them with all the towels in the wash. Mia goes into the nursery and reads all the books on the bookshelf.

8:45 - I get Mia dressed then fix my hair and get myself dressed.

9:05 - Brush my teeth and get our shoes on and we're out the door to Mia's toddler gym class. On the way we discuss how Mia will share the purple rug during circle time with a little boy named Jack who also loves purple.

9:15 - We're at gym class where Mia mostly wants to rock on a seesaw-type-thing while all the other mothers comment that I'm "still pregnant!" There's circle time and then the kids play with a parachute.

10:15 - We stop at a grocery store near our house to pick up a few things I couldn't find at the "fancier" grocery store yesterday. We see another mom and boy from gym class. 

10:45 - We're back home. I call to make Mia an appointment to get her haircut this afternoon. Then I go downstairs to put laundry in the dryer and another load in the wash. Mia sits on the couch with a stack of books. 

11:00 - I sit down to play on my phone for a minute and Mia sees that as an opportunity to climb on me.

11:10 - I make lunch - dinosaur chicken nuggets for both of us because I can't think of anything else for myself.  We eat early, mostly because I'm starving by 11am. It used to be because Mia woke up so early in the mornings, but now I've just gotten used to the schedule.

11:15 - I coax Mia into eating 1 nugget and a few chunks of pineapple. 

11:30 - I clean up the kitchen and wipe down all the appliances. 

11:45 - Mia is bouncing around inventing games involving balloons and a princess book and pushing Minnie Mouse around in a doll stroller. Finally she settles on coloring at the dining room table. I ask her to color a face, and for the first time ever she draws something that resembles a face! 

12:05 - Mia gets an alphabet puzzle out but starts throwing a fit over it after a few minutes. I think it's time to read books and wind down before nap time but Mia disagrees. Loudly. I tell her maybe she'll go straight to bed without stories. There is much crying. I realize most of this tantrum is due to the fact that she didn't eat much lunch, so I convince her to eat 2 more nuggets and then tell her we will read 1 book (instead of the usual 2) before naptime.

12:25 - After a book and a diaper change Mia is in bed for a nap. She doesn't normally go to sleep this early, but she was being such a pain, I figure it can't hurt. She seems to go right to sleep. I watch TV on the couch. It's the first day in a while I don't desperately need a nap while she naps.

1:15 - I go downstairs to pay some bills on the computer.

1:45 - I take care of half a dozen other little tasks - activating a new credit card, taking sheets out of the dryer, portioning a big package of ground beef I bought yesterday, etc.

2:00 - I decide to sit down and read my book for a few minutes, something I rarely do.

2:20 - I hear Mia grunting and waking up.

2:25 - I go in to get Mia. She's still in a cranky mood so I leave her in her room to put clothes in the dryer. When I come back upstairs she requests that I make her a paper airplane and get her a cup of milk. Then we sit and look at books for a few minutes.

2:45 - I put the clean sheets on my bed and put the clean towels away. Mia likes to help me make the bed. Then she rolls around on the bed wrestling with the pillows.

3:10 - I get Mia some crackers and we're out the door to get her haircut.

3:25 - Haircut time. Mia gets a braid, spray that smells like cotton candy and sparkles in her hair.

3:45 - Back in the car en route to the playground near our house. Mia makes friends with a 17 month old boy and exclaims over a 2 week old baby in a stroller. 

4:45 - Back home I start the grill and start making dinner - cheeseburgers.

5:00 - Mia is watching The Cat in the Hat while I prepare dinner

5:25 - Mia and I eat. I coax her into eating almost half a cheeseburger, some pickle slices and a clementine.

5:50 - We go outside to play and immediately our 5 year old neighbor rides over on her big wheels to see if Mia can play. We go over to play on her swing set.

6:05 - Jeff comes home and goes in to eat quickly while Mia and the neighbor kick some balls around in the yard and I chat with the neighbor's dad.

6:20 - Jeff comes over and I go home to fold laundry.

6:45 - Jeff and Mia come inside. I start Mia's bath while Jeff cleans up the kitchen. Jeff comes in when he's done to wash her off because it's hard for me to bend over for very long. 

7:15 - Mia runs naked in to the living room, clean and teeth brushed. She stops short and gives me a look that I take to mean she is about to pee on my rug so I rush her into the bathroom where she pees in the potty. We make a big deal and give her M&Ms. 

7:20 - We get Mia's night diaper and pajamas on and brush her hair

7:30 - Mia and Jeff are playing a game called "Bear," where one of them goes under the dining room table pretending to be a bear in a cave, the other pretends to be going on a walk near the bear cave at which point the bear jumps out and chases the other person around the house.

7:40 - Time to read stories. Mia picks out 3, one for her to "read," and one each for Jeff and me. It's the same 3 Clifford books we've been reading for the past 3 nights.

7:55 - Jeff tucks Mia in. 

8:00 - Mia yelling that Jeff forgot to turn on her fan (he didn't).

8:02 - Mia yelling that she has to go pee. I tell her that's what her diaper is for. Probably not the best way to get a potty trained kid, but eh, I'm tired.

8:05 - Jeff goes downstairs to work out and ride on his bike trainer. I plant my butt in the couch to watch TV and play on my phone.

That's all I wrote, but I assume the day ended with me getting in bed at about 9:30 and reading until about 10... and sleeping for 8 hours. Sigh, that sounds lovely right about now.