Days on Repeat?
Since I last blogged it seems that our days have been on repeat. Not that that is a bad thing, just that it seems that every day we've been doing the same thing, going through the same routines and motions, and it's kinda becoming monotonous for me. Again, not complaining, just notating that we seem to be churning out the same ol' thing every day and I'm kinda wanting something different...more on that in a bit.
I am incredibly grateful that I get to spend the next few months at home with both of my babies...but I have learned this past week or so (when I've been feeling myself again) that I definitely am not cut out for a stay at home mom 24/7. Kudos and props to those mamas out there that do that, cause I'm not sure I could do this every day! Ha!
So what exactly have we done that has prompted my "days on repeat" post?! Well, let me walk you through a typical day at casa de Mooney the past week (which, I should note, Mike has been off the past few days, and is on evenings for another week and a half, so he doesn't leave for work until 2:30pm...so this is kinda the norm for us these days--until he goes back to daytimes and I'm flying solo in the mornings and afternoons and he'll be home in the evenings...I'm sure you'll get another post on that sometime in the near future. Get excited).
2am: Rosie wakes up, I change her, and then eats for 20 minutes, I lay her back down in the Pack and Play (cause girlfriend doesn't like the Rock and Play like her brother did) and I go pump cause even though she just ate, my boobs still feel like they're going to explode.
5:30am: Rosie wakes up, I change her again, and eats for 15-20 minutes, then we both go back to sleep.
9:00am: Rosie is up for the day, Mike and I start to stir, and we hear Patrick singing to himself in his room. I get up, go potty, brush my teeth and get some clothes on, and grab Rosie to change her and go feed her. Patrick is clearly awake but I don't dare get him up until Rosie is happy and fed and I can set her down and tend to him.
9:30am: I yell for Mike to get up so he can get Patrick up and take Scooter outside to pee. I finish up feeding Rosie, and set her down so I can have some breakfast myself.
9:45am: Patrick is up and eating breakfast and we're yelling at him for trying to feed his morning meal to Scooter. Mike and I chat about what he did last night at work and what we are going to do for the couple hours we have together today before he's gotta work and Patrick has to take a siesta.
10:00am: Patrick is cleaned up from breakfast, changed (cause he always waits until he gets into his high chair to go #2--so thoughtful), and running around the family room lining up his cars and shoes and anything else he can organize.
10:02am: Mike has perched himself on the couch and grabbed Rosie for some snuggle time/a morning nap. Seriously. They both are snoring and I'm chasing Patrick around the family room making sure he's not destroying too much and/or tormenting Scooter.
10:30am: I wake Mike up and we start talking about what we're gonna do again today, and we decide on going to the park (again). We start the process of getting ready to leave the house, which involves getting Patrick dressed, taking Scooter outside to wizzle, me feeding Rosie again (I call it topping her off so she snoozes at the park), me getting dressed out of PJs, Rosie getting dressed, and getting everyone in the car--including Scooter if he decides to join us.
11:15am: We head to the park, where we usually spend an hour or so watching Patrick run around the playground--well, I watch him, Mike chases him to make sure he doesn't catapult himself off of the big kid structure.
12:00pm: Rosie wakes up and is not having her carseat and is being a wittle fussy, so I decide to nurse her on the park bench while watching Patrick run around.
12:30pm: We decide it's time to head home and trick Patrick into leaving by asking him if he wants to push Ro Ro back to the car so he doesn't have a meltdown that we're leaving the park. So far, this tactic has worked wonders.
12:35pm: We hit up a drive-thru on the way home for lunch--cause we're lazy and don't want to have to mess with making lunch when we get home. I always pick a place that has a delicious frozen beverage (milkshake) that I usually suck down before we even get home.
12:45pm: We get home, throw lunch down our gullets, and clean up the mess of ketchup that usually covers Patrick and his shirt and high chair from lunch.
1:00pm: NAP TIME. Patrick says goodbye to Ro Ro and Scooter and trots off to his room to take his afternoon siesta while I clean up from lunch.
1:15pm: I feed Rosie again for about 15 minutes while Mike starts to get ready to leave for work. Once Rosie is fed she usually follows suit and takes an afternoon siesta, so I use this time to do laundry, dishes, vacuum, catch up on grading projects and replying to student emails, and, if all of that 'housework' stuff is done, I usually flip on the Apple TV to watch some old ER episodes.
2:30pm: Mike leaves for work, and I take advantage of the kiddos sleeping AT THE SAME TIME to continue to get the above stuff done in addition to taking an uninterrupted shower.
4:00pm: Inevitably both Rosie and Patrick start stirring around the same time, and I follow suit with my same game plan as in the mornings: let Patrick play in his crib while I get Rosie changed and fed before I get him up.
4:30pm: I'm feeling rested from my productive nap time, and both kiddos are chipper, so I take advantage and snap some adorable Patrick and Rosie pics when we're getting Patrick up. Shockingly Patrick has been super cooperative with pictures lately and staying put when I pose him somewhere.
4:45pm: Patrick gets a snack (or 10 applesauce pouches) and I snuggle with Rosie on the couch, mostly telling Patrick to not play in the trashcan.
5:00pm: I start thinking about what we're going to do for dinner. I *think* about taking the kiddos both out somewhere to eat or to meet up with someone for dinner, but I chicken out and haven't been brave enough to tackle that solo yet.
5:05pm: A visitor usually stops by--usually a family member who is a welcomed sight. They get some snuggles with Rosie and playtime with Patrick while I get a moment to breathe.
5:30pm: More scolding from me to Patrick for playing in the trashcan or tossing all of the clean blankets and pillows on the floor.
5:45pm: Dinner time. I get Patrick in his high chair and whip up some leftovers (or whatever I can find in the fridge) for his dinner. He eats anything so he's content with it. I settle for a bowl of cereal--easy peasy.
6:00pm: Rosie is hungry again so I feed her after I get Patrick cleaned up from dinner and proceed to try and divert his attention again from the trash can or going through the fridge while I have a baby on my boob. Not an easy task.
6:20pm: We go outside to play for just a bit. We stay in the driveway and I pop Rosie in my Tula so I can chase Patrick around or push him in the swing. Sometimes we'll go for a walk in the double stroller where both kids are confined. My requirement for solo parenting outside with both kids is that I've gotta have both arms and hands free.
6:45pm: I'm pooped so we head back inside. I change Rosie and plop Patrick on the couch with his iPad to watch 15 minutes (as much as his attention span will let him) of Finding Nemo or Cars.
7:00pm: Bath time. If Rosie needs a bath I give her one real quick before I toss Patrick in and give him one. He will play in the bathtub for a good half hour, which gives me time to peruse Facebook and Instagram and/or feed Rosie again.
7:35pm: I get Patrick out of the bath, get him changed and into his PJs and nightitme dipe, and let him loose for a few minutes.
7:45pm: Patrick has a sippy cup of milk and runs around the house like crazy, saying "No" when I ask him if he wants to go to bed.
7:55pm: I give Patrick a 5 minute warning that he's gonna have to go to bed while Rosie ends up falling asleep doing tummy time on my boppy.
8:00pm: I put Patrick to bed after he says "nigh-night" to Scooter and Ro Ro. He trots off to bed without complaint, and will spend the next 30-60 minutes chatting away to his animals and reading his books in bed.
8:15pm: I call Mike to check in and see how his shift is going (spoiler: usually always busy) and tell him how our night was. Rosie usually is hungry again so I feed her while watching whatever is on TV or that I recently DVRed.
8:45pm: I so want to go to bed, but I resist because I'm trying to maximize my sleep and keep my boobs on a schedule. So I catch up on some blog posts (uh-hm, here ya go) and TV shows.
9:15pm: I take another quick shower to rinse off the last part of the day and set the bottle warmer to heat up a bottle for Rosie.
9:45pm: I feed Rosie her bedtime bottle (this worked well for Patrick and thus far with Rosie too--we load her up with 4+ ounces of milk and she'll usually give us a good 4ish hour stretch right off the bat) and put her down to sleep and I pump.
10:15pm: I finish pumping, turn all the lights off, take Scooter out one more time, and head to bed, just pooped.
11:30pm: Mike *usually* gets off work at 11pm and is home by 11:30 if he doesn't have to work late. He comes in to say he's home and I'm usually comatose and don't remember him coming in at all. He'll head to bed right around the time I'm waking up for Rosie's first feeding, so sometimes he'll just give her a bottle and I can pump again.
CUE repeat. This has been our tune for the past week or so. And it's totally fine--but I'm kinda wanting something different. Maybe I'll be crazy and take both kiddos to Target or the grocery store solo--probably would be crazy and chaotic, but would be a nice change to our routine that we've seemingly created since bringing Rosie home. And I'm sure this routine will change up a bit when Mike goes back to daytimes and he's home in the evenings then...but until then, I think I'll just have to muscle up and be brave and take both of these kiddos out solo somewhere solo by myself to add some spice to the predictable routine we've created...stay tuned!
And I'll leave you with this lovely family pic we snapped last night--when Mike and I escaped for a few hours to a police function--HEY! That's a change to our routine, isn't it?!! It was fun. I missed the babies, but it was nice for some adult time. Will need to repeat THAT again SOON.
I am incredibly grateful that I get to spend the next few months at home with both of my babies...but I have learned this past week or so (when I've been feeling myself again) that I definitely am not cut out for a stay at home mom 24/7. Kudos and props to those mamas out there that do that, cause I'm not sure I could do this every day! Ha!
So what exactly have we done that has prompted my "days on repeat" post?! Well, let me walk you through a typical day at casa de Mooney the past week (which, I should note, Mike has been off the past few days, and is on evenings for another week and a half, so he doesn't leave for work until 2:30pm...so this is kinda the norm for us these days--until he goes back to daytimes and I'm flying solo in the mornings and afternoons and he'll be home in the evenings...I'm sure you'll get another post on that sometime in the near future. Get excited).
2am: Rosie wakes up, I change her, and then eats for 20 minutes, I lay her back down in the Pack and Play (cause girlfriend doesn't like the Rock and Play like her brother did) and I go pump cause even though she just ate, my boobs still feel like they're going to explode.
5:30am: Rosie wakes up, I change her again, and eats for 15-20 minutes, then we both go back to sleep.
9:00am: Rosie is up for the day, Mike and I start to stir, and we hear Patrick singing to himself in his room. I get up, go potty, brush my teeth and get some clothes on, and grab Rosie to change her and go feed her. Patrick is clearly awake but I don't dare get him up until Rosie is happy and fed and I can set her down and tend to him.
9:30am: I yell for Mike to get up so he can get Patrick up and take Scooter outside to pee. I finish up feeding Rosie, and set her down so I can have some breakfast myself.
9:45am: Patrick is up and eating breakfast and we're yelling at him for trying to feed his morning meal to Scooter. Mike and I chat about what he did last night at work and what we are going to do for the couple hours we have together today before he's gotta work and Patrick has to take a siesta.
10:00am: Patrick is cleaned up from breakfast, changed (cause he always waits until he gets into his high chair to go #2--so thoughtful), and running around the family room lining up his cars and shoes and anything else he can organize.
10:02am: Mike has perched himself on the couch and grabbed Rosie for some snuggle time/a morning nap. Seriously. They both are snoring and I'm chasing Patrick around the family room making sure he's not destroying too much and/or tormenting Scooter.
10:30am: I wake Mike up and we start talking about what we're gonna do again today, and we decide on going to the park (again). We start the process of getting ready to leave the house, which involves getting Patrick dressed, taking Scooter outside to wizzle, me feeding Rosie again (I call it topping her off so she snoozes at the park), me getting dressed out of PJs, Rosie getting dressed, and getting everyone in the car--including Scooter if he decides to join us.
11:15am: We head to the park, where we usually spend an hour or so watching Patrick run around the playground--well, I watch him, Mike chases him to make sure he doesn't catapult himself off of the big kid structure.
12:00pm: Rosie wakes up and is not having her carseat and is being a wittle fussy, so I decide to nurse her on the park bench while watching Patrick run around.
12:30pm: We decide it's time to head home and trick Patrick into leaving by asking him if he wants to push Ro Ro back to the car so he doesn't have a meltdown that we're leaving the park. So far, this tactic has worked wonders.
12:35pm: We hit up a drive-thru on the way home for lunch--cause we're lazy and don't want to have to mess with making lunch when we get home. I always pick a place that has a delicious frozen beverage (milkshake) that I usually suck down before we even get home.
12:45pm: We get home, throw lunch down our gullets, and clean up the mess of ketchup that usually covers Patrick and his shirt and high chair from lunch.
1:00pm: NAP TIME. Patrick says goodbye to Ro Ro and Scooter and trots off to his room to take his afternoon siesta while I clean up from lunch.
1:15pm: I feed Rosie again for about 15 minutes while Mike starts to get ready to leave for work. Once Rosie is fed she usually follows suit and takes an afternoon siesta, so I use this time to do laundry, dishes, vacuum, catch up on grading projects and replying to student emails, and, if all of that 'housework' stuff is done, I usually flip on the Apple TV to watch some old ER episodes.
2:30pm: Mike leaves for work, and I take advantage of the kiddos sleeping AT THE SAME TIME to continue to get the above stuff done in addition to taking an uninterrupted shower.
4:00pm: Inevitably both Rosie and Patrick start stirring around the same time, and I follow suit with my same game plan as in the mornings: let Patrick play in his crib while I get Rosie changed and fed before I get him up.
4:30pm: I'm feeling rested from my productive nap time, and both kiddos are chipper, so I take advantage and snap some adorable Patrick and Rosie pics when we're getting Patrick up. Shockingly Patrick has been super cooperative with pictures lately and staying put when I pose him somewhere.
4:45pm: Patrick gets a snack (or 10 applesauce pouches) and I snuggle with Rosie on the couch, mostly telling Patrick to not play in the trashcan.
5:00pm: I start thinking about what we're going to do for dinner. I *think* about taking the kiddos both out somewhere to eat or to meet up with someone for dinner, but I chicken out and haven't been brave enough to tackle that solo yet.
5:05pm: A visitor usually stops by--usually a family member who is a welcomed sight. They get some snuggles with Rosie and playtime with Patrick while I get a moment to breathe.
5:30pm: More scolding from me to Patrick for playing in the trashcan or tossing all of the clean blankets and pillows on the floor.
5:45pm: Dinner time. I get Patrick in his high chair and whip up some leftovers (or whatever I can find in the fridge) for his dinner. He eats anything so he's content with it. I settle for a bowl of cereal--easy peasy.
6:00pm: Rosie is hungry again so I feed her after I get Patrick cleaned up from dinner and proceed to try and divert his attention again from the trash can or going through the fridge while I have a baby on my boob. Not an easy task.
6:20pm: We go outside to play for just a bit. We stay in the driveway and I pop Rosie in my Tula so I can chase Patrick around or push him in the swing. Sometimes we'll go for a walk in the double stroller where both kids are confined. My requirement for solo parenting outside with both kids is that I've gotta have both arms and hands free.
6:45pm: I'm pooped so we head back inside. I change Rosie and plop Patrick on the couch with his iPad to watch 15 minutes (as much as his attention span will let him) of Finding Nemo or Cars.
7:00pm: Bath time. If Rosie needs a bath I give her one real quick before I toss Patrick in and give him one. He will play in the bathtub for a good half hour, which gives me time to peruse Facebook and Instagram and/or feed Rosie again.
7:35pm: I get Patrick out of the bath, get him changed and into his PJs and nightitme dipe, and let him loose for a few minutes.
7:45pm: Patrick has a sippy cup of milk and runs around the house like crazy, saying "No" when I ask him if he wants to go to bed.
7:55pm: I give Patrick a 5 minute warning that he's gonna have to go to bed while Rosie ends up falling asleep doing tummy time on my boppy.
8:15pm: I call Mike to check in and see how his shift is going (spoiler: usually always busy) and tell him how our night was. Rosie usually is hungry again so I feed her while watching whatever is on TV or that I recently DVRed.
8:45pm: I so want to go to bed, but I resist because I'm trying to maximize my sleep and keep my boobs on a schedule. So I catch up on some blog posts (uh-hm, here ya go) and TV shows.
9:15pm: I take another quick shower to rinse off the last part of the day and set the bottle warmer to heat up a bottle for Rosie.
9:45pm: I feed Rosie her bedtime bottle (this worked well for Patrick and thus far with Rosie too--we load her up with 4+ ounces of milk and she'll usually give us a good 4ish hour stretch right off the bat) and put her down to sleep and I pump.
10:15pm: I finish pumping, turn all the lights off, take Scooter out one more time, and head to bed, just pooped.
11:30pm: Mike *usually* gets off work at 11pm and is home by 11:30 if he doesn't have to work late. He comes in to say he's home and I'm usually comatose and don't remember him coming in at all. He'll head to bed right around the time I'm waking up for Rosie's first feeding, so sometimes he'll just give her a bottle and I can pump again.
CUE repeat. This has been our tune for the past week or so. And it's totally fine--but I'm kinda wanting something different. Maybe I'll be crazy and take both kiddos to Target or the grocery store solo--probably would be crazy and chaotic, but would be a nice change to our routine that we've seemingly created since bringing Rosie home. And I'm sure this routine will change up a bit when Mike goes back to daytimes and he's home in the evenings then...but until then, I think I'll just have to muscle up and be brave and take both of these kiddos out solo somewhere solo by myself to add some spice to the predictable routine we've created...stay tuned!
And I'll leave you with this lovely family pic we snapped last night--when Mike and I escaped for a few hours to a police function--HEY! That's a change to our routine, isn't it?!! It was fun. I missed the babies, but it was nice for some adult time. Will need to repeat THAT again SOON.
