Thursday, February 11, 2021

A Day in the Life #13 (Luke 7½, Sam 2½)

Welcome back to a Day in the Life of ME!  I meant to do one of these last fall...and then didn't get further than 9am in writing down what I was doing.  Then Christmas happened and...here we are.  This looks like my first of these in February!  Which will be remarkably similar to a lot of other "Luke is at school" days that I've tracked.

I never would have started doing these posts if I wasn't blogging.  And now I am SO GLAD I have this semi-constant record of how our days have been spent at different ages and stages of my parenting journey.  How I spend my days with 2 year old Sam is VERY DIFFERENT than how I spent my days when Luke was 2! (Thank you, school and homework for greatly impacting my life, and NOT always in good ways.)  Our lives are a lot more specifically planned out now, they have to be, to get Luke to and from school at the right times!    

I know these are documenting my life but I still find it so interesting to back and read what life used to be like for us, what "typical" days were.  Especially when life is feeling so much the same (pandemic or not), things DO change.  Routines and habits and days evolve.  Kids grow.  I'm so glad I have these.

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Monday, February 8th, 2021
6:00am - I get out of bed, make the bed, change into my workout clothes.  This is "sleeping in" for a weekday since Matt's on lates and goes in very slightly later than usual.  I say goodbye to him, refill my water bottle, turn on some lights.  Late start to my workout so only 2/3 of a typical one.  Get through 3 short podcast episodes and 20 minutes into another.  Usually I'd drink a full 24 ounces of water but we are making some stops after school drop-off and I don't want to have to use the bathroom in the stores.  So I only drink about 20 ounces (this does make a difference!). 
6:35am
- shower, get around.  Have to wash my hair.  I HATE dealing with wet hair once I'm out of the shower but it needs done.  Don't get to listen to podcasts while I get dressed and do make-up because I am running late and that's my punishment.


7:10am - Get the boys up, neither want to get up (I don't blame them).  Sam especially is super fussy. Help/encourage them in changing and I start getting breakfast ready.  Sam throws a fit because I plug the toaster in on the counter instead of on the ground next to the plant stand where he can reach it.  Then he throws a fit when Luke says the Morning Offering (Sam likes to say it on his own).  Then another fit when he notices I've hung a picture Luke drew on top of one of Sam's on the back door.  He is remarkably happier once he's had his milk.   

My car says 9° when we finally make it there and I have wet hair.  Get Luke to school on time (barely) and then I return library items (3 on my cards, 16 picture books, and this movie from family movie night on Friday).  Then we go to Target for some returns and 5 other items.  I hadn't been in store in almost 2 months and my returns were stacking up.  This was the FOURTH time I attempted this trip, every other morning I planned to do it, we got a snow day or delay.  From Target we make a quick Kroger stop for kool-ade packets and my $4 flowers.  My last set actually isn't dead yet but I don't know when I'll be back at Kroger (and that last set is 12 days old so it's getting there).  $5 shopping trip and in the store under 10 minutes.

8:50am - Back home to unpack (the little we bought), open the rest of the blinds, finish putting away dishes from the drainer overnight.  


9:25am - Read to Sam, on days we come home (nearly) right from drop-off, this is what we do once the kitchen is cleaned up!  Sam has gotten much better in the past year at sitting and listening to a stack of books and I love cuddling with him.
9:58am - Reading done, books put away.  I do my normal monthly cleaning - spot cleaning windows/mirrors and cleaning the bathroom (counter, Luke does the tub and toilet over the weekend).  Then Sam & I steam mop most of the non-carpeted/rugged floors downstairs.  He LOVES helping me steam mop and vacuum. 
10:34am - We finally get to what Sam's been asking for for DAYS.  We make kool-ade cookies.  I have a picture of the cookies as a playlist photo on my phone and he's seen it a few times recently and always tells me "I really like those cookies.  We make them?".  I got the cake mixes last week but then realized we needed eggs and the kool-ade mixes (hence, the trip to Kroger.  We picked up eggs at Target.)  Find out we are out of oil.  Use the remaining (unmixed up) coconut oil for making my face scrub (it's just off the shelf stuff from Aldi, the same we use for baking when we have it).  Don't have enough.  I am very frustrated with myself since I WAS AT TWO STORES THIS MORNING THAT SELL OIL.  Use a mixture of coconut oil, melted butter, and then spray canola oil from a can.  We'll make-do. Sam is DELIGHTED to help mix and then transfer the cookies from the powder sugar plate to the cookie sheet, even if he scrunches them all together. 


11:15am - First batch of cookies out, second batch in the oven, I warm-up leftover mac n cheese for Sam and he (reluctantly) eats it.  He really just wants a cookie but I tell him he has to eat that and his pears first.  THEN he gets a cookie.  In between helping him I make two phone calls to ask to be taken off some mailing lists.  I did A LOT of these (60+) a few years ago (2017 maybe?) and we get practically no junk mail now.  When we do, I call and ask to be taken off the list.  Once Sam is done eating, cookies all out of the oven, Sam is wiped up, my tea is brewing, I take Sam up to bed, read him his favorite book right now and then tuck him in (with a tent).  It's a bit later than normal naptime but we had cookies to make!


11:50am - Back downstairs, check e-mail and twitter.  Work on puzzle for a bit (I swear time never moves faster than when I am working on a puzzle).  Warm up my biscuit and then sit on the couch to read, staring with my devotional, then my fiction, then non-fiction.  Read 40 minutes, check Instagram for 13 minutes and then finally get up to make my lunch.  Watch half of a Hart of Dixie Valentine's episode while I eat (it's off Netflix now so I had picked up the DVD at the library on Friday).


1:42pm - Finally on my computer with a lot to do.  Update my bullet journal and my reading log going back to Thursday (I always update it on Mondays and Thursdays and sometimes in between).  Clean-up e-mails from the weekend (entering Goodreads giveaways, printing PDFs of online shopping receipts, entering my time from Toggl into my spreadsheet, entering our library totals from Friday into a spreadsheet, checking shipping notifications and deleting things I don't need).  Sort and tag pictures from over the weekend.  

2:21pm - Finish up Tuesday's post and then start writing up this one.
2:40pm - On my computer WAY TOO LATE and then rush to get Sam.  Still cold, at least my hair is dry now!  Read 3 quick picture books to Sam (all ones we've read before) while waiting.  Get Luke and he's in a great mood, we are far from the last car in the line too (I mean, closer to the end than the beginning but not the last). 
3:10pm - Home, Luke changes, the boys have a snack (an apple), I change, go through the mail Sam has brought in (he takes great pride in that being one of his "jobs").  Since Luke had a snow day on Friday, we have his Friday folder with papers from the previous week to go through.  The boys jump around, I throw in a load of laundry.
3:46pm - Luke starts on his math worksheet (they are working on counting and adding money) while I do the cookie dishes, put away the cookies, get Luke's bank for him to use real money with his worksheet.  Sam is "coloring" across the table from Luke.
4:12pm - I quiz Luke on his new spelling words, then we do math flash cards (addition and subtraction), and he reads me two decodables. 
4:39pm - HOMEWORK DONE.  Luke does his chore (watering the house plants), I clean up various messes and work on my puzzle a tiny bit.  Check phone for texts I've missed while working with Luke.
5:06pm - I read the boys a stack of picture books (just 6 actually but there are some longer ones in there).  Then log the books I've just read to them.  


5:54pm - I finish my puzzle and then open the 3 packages that have arrived today (one being my psoriasis/RA shot, one our new dish drainer, and the other contains gifts for 4 different kids!).  Matt gets home in the middle of this and Luke goes out to play in the snow.  Talk with Matt and deal with a fussy Sammy.
6:20pm
- We eat supper, chicken taco leftovers.  Luke eats well, Sam throws his on the ground but does eat his fruit and peanut butter crackers.  It's something.  We all have a kool-ade cookie for dessert.

6:50pm - Luke takes his shower while Matt cleans up the kitchen and I work on a menu plan for the next two weeks.  We discuss Valentine's plans and some scheduling things, Sam is all over the place.
7:20pm - I switch some laundry, pull out my work bag for the next day, get Luke's uniform clothes out, get clothes for Sam, then supervise Sam's shower while I brush my teeth and wash my face.
7:55pm - Everyone is ready for bed.  We say family prayers and then watch the new Dude Perfect episodes since we had a good night on homework and just a good evening in general (this is more based on Luke's behavior and attitude than Sam's clearly).  Matt takes the boys up to bed.
8:20pm - Catch up on IG from the day and over the weekend.  Type up the rest of this post!
9:16pm - Air-drop pictures from Matt's phone to mine to get what he's been taking.  Sort and tag those pictures and then start updating photobooks.  Add a page each to Luke's and Sam's for the recent snow (and their playing in it) so theirs are completely caught up.  Check our 2021 book and still haven't done January recap pages so upload pictures for both the boys' January page and just general January.  While the photos are uploading (it can take a few minutes for each upload and I do 4 uploads in 3 different books), I catch up on some blog reading.  Still have 6 left unread in my blog reader at the end of the night.
10:08pm - Catch up this post, turn off computer and head to bed.  Lay out clothes for the morning before doing my own prayers and reading!

Day in the Life 1 - November 2013 (Luke 7½ months)
Day in the Life 2 - June 2014 (Luke 14 months)
Day in the Life 3 - November 2014 (Luke 20 months)
Day in the Life 4 - January 2016 (Luke 2 ¾)
Day in the Life 5 - July 2016 (Luke 3 ¼)
Day in the Life 6 - January 2017 (Luke 3¾)
Day in the Life 7 - October 2017 (Luke 4½)
Day in the Life 8 - April 2018 (Luke 5, Sam 2 months)
Day in the Life 9 - November 2018 (Luke 5½, Sam 8 months)
Day in the Life 10 - May 2019 (Luke 6, Sam 14 months)
Day in the Life 11 - November 2019 (Luke 6½, Sam 1½)
Day in the Life 12 - May 2020 (Luke 7, Sam 2)

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