a day in the life
These days I'm usually up before the sun, starting my day with morning sickness. After that I blend myself a shake as quickly as possible and lay down on the couch while sipping my current favorite: Creamy Dutch Chocolate + FiberPro.
Pippa wakes up at the same time as me every singe day without fail. She gets half a shake, some dry cereal, and some vitamins. I let her watch 2 shows to start the day off. It gives me a chance to read a devotion, do work if I need to, or just lay on the couch trying not to feel nauseous. Teddy wakes up sometime in the seven o'clock hour, and lately he's been getting milk and dry cereal so he can be just like Pippa! After the shows are done, we move over to the kitchen table for some bananas and toast. We are currently retraining Pablo to lay a few feet away from the table when we're eating, so there's a lot of up and down and giving treats during this time. Teddy feels the need to make this process more difficult for everyone by throwing his food to Pablo, tempting him to leave his post. I knew those two were in cahoots.
When I'm feeling ambitious, or I know it's going to be a hot day, we try to get out for a walk in the eight o'clock hour, before the sun gets too intense. I give both the kids their water bottles and more dry cereal in hopes of listening to a podcast in peace while I bust out 2.5-3.5 miles. For now I'm considering this my workout for the day, but may start adding a weights routine when we get home.
I use the time after our walk to read to the kids, watch Pippa put on a "show", and let them play independently. Generally, it looks like a tornado has gone through our house by ten a.m.
As the morning goes on, I have to start getting ready for work while the kids are occupied with their toys. This usually works for about 5-10 minutes until one of them gets mad at the other, or notices I'm gone, and comes crying into my room with the other following close behind. Then my bathroom becomes the playroom. Fun times!
When I finish getting ready, I make sure the kids' lunches are packed, water bottles are filled, and blankets and lovies are packed for nap time at school. And we can't forget about this pregnant lady! The amount of snacks I pack to get me through the afternoon at school is insane, but I have to be nibbling on something all day or I start to feel sick. For lunch I'll do a smoothie, shake, or protein bar with fruit and string cheese. Trying to cram as many fruits and veggies into my day as possible!
At school I teach Spanish and Writing, and the kids get to nap, eat lunch, snack, play with friends, and get some structured craft time. I love that they get to do crafts at school because I have a deep hatred for crafting, and will never do crafts with them at home. Sorry, I know my limits.
One of my favorite parts of my job is creating lessons that get the kids involved in the learning process, especially for Spanish class! We tell stories, sing songs, do listening activities, watch commercials in Spanish, and play games.
a sampling of some of my snacks at school.
After school, the kids are pretty good about playing with their toys while Justin or I get dinner ready. Most parents know this time as the "witching hour", and it's no different in our house. The kids are tired from school and hungry. Actually, the same goes for the adults. We're all tired and hangry at this time, so it's a big sigh of relief when dinner is finally on the table!
Evenings are a whirlwind of playing, dinner, cleanup, bath time, and bedtime routine. Teddy goes to bed at seven, and Pippa is usually in bed by eight. At that time, the plan is for me to finish any school work or correcting I didn't get done at school, write a blog post, or work on my business. In reality during the first trimester, I've been collapsing into bed before nine.
This is just a typical day right now, and in fact, the details are pretty boring. To me, though, these are the teeny moments that make up our day, and how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives! I know our schedule will be so different a year from now when there is a third child in our family, and it will be fun to look back and see what we were doing during this stage of life.