Day In The Life: Wednesday, April 4th 2018
“So, I close my eyes to old ends and open my heart to new beginnings. ”
We are in the process of moving. We are just days away from the official move so you can imagine the chaos in our house is at an all-time high. We are embarking on a new journey as a family. As moving day becomes more and more of a reality, the amount of work we have left to do becomes a dark shadow looming over me, just waiting to swallow me whole. Of course, life with kids doesn't slow down for moving day, and with my husband working long hours in a demanding job, a lot of the logistics of moving are left to me. Read on to see what a weekday with my kids and the inevitable move has to offer!
6:30am: Linden is up and ready for his bottle (when I say bottle I mean straw cup that doesn't spill). We have successfully weaned him and he is now drinking whole milk. Please tell me that one day we will sleep in again. Exhaustion in our house is at an all-time high. The pressures of moving and the amount of work we are doing weighs on us and I can feel the fatigue creep into every facet of our life. No amount of coffee seems to lift the fog or remove the ever-present dark circles from under my eyes.
7:20am: Maelle comes bounding in with an unnecessary amount of energy. I mean, come on, didn't she get the memo that we are all supposed to be tired. Just as quickly as these thoughts cross my mind so does Linden's demands to get out of his crib.
7:30am: Dano stumbles out of bed with such little energy that you would think he didn't spend the last 7 hours snoring. He gets Maelle her morning milk, puts on some cartoons for her, grabs Linden, gets him changed, straps him in his high chair and throws cheerios down for him to snack on before breakfast.
7:50am: Dano gets ready and then comes into the bedroom, tells me he has to go to work and I want to pretend I didn't hear him. I am tired. My eyes are burning but a little voice in my head whispers that I have to be at our new house by 9 am to let the company installing our blinds into the house. So what I was hoping would be a nice easy start to the day becomes a hectic mess and the "tired" me is pushed aside by the "we've got shit to do" me.
8:00am: I get ready, comb my hair, brush my teeth, throw on some makeup to try to look alive.
8:05am: I call from the bathroom for Maelle to get changed; she ignores me as if this was a natural thing to do.
8:10am: I call to Maelle again. "GET CHANGED!" She ignores me again. The girl is good.
8:15am: I emerge ready for the day. The look is not great but it will have to do. I stop Maelle's show and tell her to get dressed. She looks up at me so innocently and says "Yes, I heard you I was just waiting." What? You were waiting for what? Oh, I know, waiting for me to yell at the top of my lungs, have my stress levels skyrocket, and question every reason I ever had for having children. Perfect.
8:20am: Maelle gets dressed and ready for the day in the outfit we chose the night before. Her wardrobe is down to about 5 outfits as we have moved the majority of our house to the new place. I brush her hair and throw it in a half ponytail, top it with a headband and she is set and ready for the day.
8:30am: Breakfast is served. Maelle has pancakes, grapes, and turkey for breakfast. Linden has oatmeal and cheese (his favourite). The kids eat quickly because they have no choice but to.
8:45am: Coats and shoes are on. It is still a whopping minus 10 degrees here in Calgary so we are still forced to bundle up. The spring weather can't come fast enough. We head out of the door and make our way to the new house which is no more than 5 minutes from our current place.
8:55am: We arrive at the new place and the installer is already there waiting for us. I get the kids out of the car and we go into the house. I give the man a tour and tell him which rooms are which so he can accurately install the blinds.
9:05am: Maelle rushes so quickly into her new room to find her dress up clothes. She puts on her princess crown, heals, and wand and I can hear her singing and dancing around with so much glee it warms my heart. Until of course, I hear her ask the man if he would like to see a show. I yell up to Maelle that there is no time for shows and that we have to leave very soon. Meanwhile, I am trying to organize a few things downstairs but am stopped every minute as I chase Linden down the halls to make sure he doesn't climb the stairs. It is nearly impossible and not worth tackling. Needless to say, I get next to nothing done before I decide we have to go back home to get Linden down for his nap.
9:15am: We head back to our old house.
9:20am: I offer Linden more milk that he doesn't want. Instead, he decides to wave the bottle around and bang the straw on the ground to pour out as much milk as possible. That's my cue that he isn't hungry and instead he is ready for a nap.
9:30am: I put Linden down for his nap and he is asleep almost immediately. Like father, like son.
9:45am: Maelle and I play together while Linden naps. There isn't much to do in a house that is empty with the exception of major furniture pieces. So we play pretend house. She is the mommy and I am the sister. It is hilarious to see her version of what a mommy is like. She utters my common phrases with such attitude that I'm not entirely sure if I should cringe at the fact that that's how she sees me or laugh at how perfect her impersonation is.
10:50am: Linden is still soundly asleep but we are scheduled for a playdate with Maelle's school friend so I am forced to wake him, get him dressed, feed him a snack, and get on our way.
11:00am: We make a Tim Hortons pit stop and I grab coffee for the moms and Tim Bits for the kiddos.
11:15am: We arrive for our playdate and Maelle and her friend are quickly off into their own little world. Linden wanders around happy to explore the new toys, checking in with me only to grab some snacks. Us moms catch up and enjoy our coffee.... bliss.
12:30pm: Well our plans have happily changed. Maelle's friend did not want to go to her Mom's appointment and so I offer to have her come play at our place while her mom runs a few errands. This is win-win because it is always nice for Maelle to be entertained with a friend and the mom doesn't have to bring a child to an appointment that she doesn't want to be at in the first place.
12:45pm: The girls eat grilled cheese sandwiches with ketchup for lunch and Linden eats some turkey soup. I love listening in on the conversations of toddlers. They speak such truth and have no fears of embarrassment. I wonder when it is that we become so self aware that we no longer do and say exactly what we want?
1:15pm: With no toys in our house the girls play together imaginatively until it is Linden's nap time.
1:45pm: I set the girls up with some paint and paper. They chatter away, happily painting. I take Linden to his room and put him down for his second nap.
2:00pm: What was civilized paint with paintbrushes has turned into full on messy hand painting. There is paint all over the girls' hands, up their arms, and on their clothing. It never ceases to amaze me how an activity can go from calm to chaos in a matter of minutes. At least they had fun!
2:10pm: The girls get washed up and sit down and watch a show for a few minutes until Maelle's friend gets picked up.
2:20pm: Maelle's friend leaves and quiet time begins. I thought it would never arrive!
2:30pm: I eat lunch, relax, and start this blog. I like to write as much as possible on the actual day for my "Day in the Life" posts so that I don't forget what happened.
3:20pm: Maelle has finished reading books, writing letters, and playing games. She comes out of her room to get a snack, then gets her swimming gear on and packs her bag to go.
3:30pm: Surprise surprise. I have to wake Linden up to go watch his sister's swimming lesson. He gets some milk in the car and is happy to be dragged along for the ride. First, we have to stop at our new house to lock up after the window installers completed their work.
4:00pm: Swimming lessons begin. It is amazing how absolutely fearless Maelle is. She loves the water and is improving by leaps and bounds. I hope she learns water safety and can swim for survival. Anything beyond that is a bonus. Swimming is one of those "life skills" that I understand parents pushing their kids to do. Luckily, Maelle loves it so there is no forcing necessary.
4:15pm: I have kept Linden rather happy with puffs and tickles but he gets restless quickly. So swimming lessons have quickly become a game of how far will I let Linden go before I grab him from the water's edge. I have taken to hanging onto his clothing as he tries to make an escape. What could be such a relaxing half an hour turns into me chasing down Linden, trying to watch Maelle, checking the clock to see that it is actually moving because time can't possibly go as slow as it seems, and the reality of life with 2 makes me question why people ever have more.
4:30pm: Lessons are over and I get Maelle dressed (which is a feat in itself). Struggling to get her damp little body into clothes, all while holding Linden so he doesn't run away, finally knocking over the can of puffs; the perfect ending to the mayhem that is swimming lessons!
4:45pm: We get home and head straight for the bath.
5:00pm: Maelle and Linden bathe together and what used to be a calm moment in my evening has become just another time for Linden to cause problems. He is thrashing about with as much grace as a beached whale. He is enjoying the sensation of tipping over into the lap of his sister. This is cute on dry land but in the water, it is just plain dangerous. He is quickly whisked out of the bath so that Maelle can wash up and play in peace for a little bit.
5:20pm: Linden is clean, moisturized, and put into new pajamas. I get Maelle out of the bath and get her ready for bed too.
6:00pm: Dinner is served. Chicken and Caesar salad for Maelle and alfredo pasta for Linden. We eat with some Disney music blaring and relax into the calm of the nighttime routine.
6:30pm: Maelle watches a bit of a show and snacks on some apples slices. Linden has a bottle of milk and walks around the living room happily.
6:45pm: Dano arrives home and tackles bedtime. He reads books to Maelle, brushes her teeth, and gives her a final kiss goodnight. I follow with a goodnight kiss, put her white noise on, give her a last sip of water and tell her I will see her in the morning. One down, one to go.
7:00pm: I kiss Linden goodnight and Dano reads him a book or 2, gives him one last diaper change, puts on his white noise, and closes the door to his room and to another eventful day that isn't quite over. As much as I long for bedtime, the minute the quiet fills our house is the minute I start to miss them. It is the minute that we start talking about them, recounting our days, and catching up on the moments we missed out with them.
7:15pm: Both kids are out cold and we eat Vietnamese take out because we have no dishes, cutlery, or food left at the old house. Let alone any energy to cook.
8:00pm: Our neighbours kindly watch our monitor as we take on the task of moving more of our stuff over to our new house.
9:00pm: We continue to shuttle our belongings, making sure to take things out of the boxes and put them away immediately. We want to have as much done as possible before moving day so we aren't overwhelmed. We have had possession of the house for almost 2 weeks and have done this every night. We were lucky enough to have the help of my family to watch the kids, help move, and organize up until the start of this week so we are feeling ahead of the game, albeit exhausted and stressed.
10:00pm: We head back to our old house and relax for an hour before heading off to sleep in anticipation of another busy day. I wouldn't have it any other way.
