Day in the Life - Summer 2014

This go around with Day in the Life I didn't bother to take any notes throughout the day, figuring I could remember. Then I waited over 48 hours to type it out and well, I should have known my scatterbrain would struggle with the recall. The days all seem to mesh together sometimes :) Sprinkle in several additional brother fights, potty breaks, Levi getting into everything/not listening to anyone and it's pretty accurate.

Wednesday, July 30
Charlie | almost 4.5
Levi | almost 2.5
Also,  I am 29+ weeks pregnant with Baby #3

I wake up sometime in the 5:00 hour relieved that for the first time in a week we have all slept through the night. We love our sleep around here but Charlie has not been feeling well and I usually have lots of pregnancy insomnia between the 2-4am hours. So, HALLELUIAH! we all slept all night.  I do remember waking up several times fretting about how Levi has poor spatial awareness or doesn't realize the dangers of falling, etc when he stands so close to the edge of things.  Quick bathroom break and I resume the shut eye position. Charlie comes down at some point after 6 and without opening my eyes I tell him to see if cartoons are on (and cross my fingers that PBS is coming in today since our antenna has been iffy for a few weeks now--PBS is our only option for cartoons). I honestly never even glanced at the time but I think Super Why was on, so that means it was after 6:30. 

Erik gets up shortly after that and at 7:10 comes and tells me that it is time for me to get up. I then hear the first battle of the day as Levi throws a fit about changing his dirty diaper and putting on undies. I don't remember the details but I think it had something to do with WHO picked out the underwear in question.  Eventually he comes down and agrees to change out of his diaper into the underwear of his choosing.  Erik has already gotten Charlie breakfast (cereal & greek yogurt) and C is back to watching Thomas. Levi also wants cereal, but only eats a handful of it dry and then also has some greek yogurt. Usually they are big breakfast eaters but have been on a cereal kick lately. Cereal is definitely not enough for them - they are driving me crazy for more food most days by 9am so I'm happy they eat something today to provide a little more energy. While Levi eats I unload the dishwasher and sweep the floor since there is still cereal there that got spilled yesterday at breakfast. 

I do remember that around 7:45 they had their first brawl of the day. Probably 85% of sibling fights around here are over the yellow skid loader.  Even though we also have a green skid loader the exact same size, it is just not as desirable as the yellow one. Emotions (& voices) are already running high and I don't want Erik to be bothered (his office is upstairs & they're close to a deadline so lots and lots of phone time is happening) so we head outside. 

The skidloader that has resulted in many, many tears.

For the past couple of weeks we have been on a mission to catch a fecal sample from the dog.  Being that we live in the country, Daisy does her thing in field or trees & we don't have to clean up after her.  So needless to say, she's being difficult. We try to go on a walk first thing in the morning when we let her out but haven't been successful yet. It's another beautiful morning (BEST SUMMER EVER!!! Seriously, a pregnant gals dream and really the dream of every Minnesotan that had to suffer through that awful winter/spring/early June). Pushing 70 lbs of children in the double stroller down a gravel road is no joke. We lazily take our time with the dog & cat trailing alongside us. Charlie gets out and walks for awhile, whew so much easier to push then.  I have been trying to explain corn tassels to Charlie and he has a hard time seeing from the car when we're driving so when he pointed out the field we were walking along I told him he could go down and inspect it. A little early morning lesson in plant growth for my budding agronomist. I did my best to explain some plant reproduction with the whole tassel (male part) & silks  (female part)forming the ears (baby). 

We finally get back from our walk, which was maybe a mile and head back to the garden.  Our first planting flooded out with the 1 zillion inches of rain we had in June and we replanted in early-July and hadn't done anything back there since then. They day before, I spent 2 hours trying to weed 2 rows of onions.  Today we are going to do the beans. There are 3 rows but several plants didn't come up and there aren't nearly as many weeds as the onions had.  We take the lawn mower and wagon back (Charlie thinks it's necessary to put our weeds in the wagon) along with some goldfish to keep Levi entertained. Charlie is pretty good help when it comes to weeding. Levi manages to stay busy. They also go over and check on the neighbors chickens (no eggs today) and play on her metal swing set. I weed for an hour and get through 2 of the rows. But on to our next adventure.

Before & after transformation shot of the onions from Tuesday

C carting us around via lawnmower. Beans are weedy too, but it goes much faster.

Charlie has a follow up appointment with our family doctor after a visit to urgent care earlier this week. He had a virus that gave him a fever for a couple of days followed by what appeared to be some nasty acid reflux. He didn't eat for 4 days and every time he tried a bit of food he would cry & complain about his chest hurting. So, we have been just doing some chewable stuff for a couple of days and he has been going without ibuprofen/Tylenol since Monday. I contemplated cancelling the follow up, but he was still complaining about pain that morning whenever he would eat.  Anyways, we were filthy from our outdoor time so we all quickly got showered, pack up some little tractors and books & headed into town for his 10:30 appt.

Usually we get right in but today it is a little slow.  We wait in the lobby for awhile & then wait in the room. The boys are very good and play pretty nicely while we wait.  I swipe some cotton balls for them to use as round bales and they are good to go.  The doctor says it likely was just a virus & we all just hope that nobody else catches it.  I think it's almost 11:30 before we get out of there. Levi gets ticked at me in the car because I forgot that I promised we would drive by the school to see the new playground equipment that is being installed this week.  About half way home I realize he's nodding off in the back and I ask him 1,000 questions to keep him awake.

We get home and I quickly throw a hodge podge of food on the table from the fridge.  Charlie has a turkey roll up (actually I think he has 2, making up for lost time on the eating front). Levi has a hot dog & leftover noodles, Erik has leftover spaghetti & I make an egg sandwich. We have a chicken (featured in the spring Day in the Life when they were just teeny tiny) out for supper & Erik says he will cut it up and grill it after work.  Levi gets a diaper for nap and I read to him while Erik reads to Charlie. Levi finds his favorite book "The New Puppy" which has been missing for a few weeks. Where was it? Right on the shelf I have dug through multiple times. He's very happy to have found it. He also makes sure we write down his books. The school & area library do a 1,000 books before Kindergarten program. Reading 1,000 books in this house is no big deal, but it is really annoying writing them down. Levi only has 50'ish to go and he will be done. We'll probably keep reading to him anyways ;)

He's not tired, as usual.

When both kids are taken care of, I immediately pass out. When I wake up I can't remember if I have felt the baby move or not today. Pregnancy paranoia is much higher this time around for some unknown reason so I get up and drink a huge glass of water and then go back to bed. Within minutes there is a major dance party going on so I feel much better. Soon Levi is downstairs playing tractors.  A few minutes after that Charlie is crying in his room complaining that his elbow hurts. No idea what he did but eventually I convince him to come downstairs.  I decide to take 10 minutes to clean up the entry way. There are shoes everywhere and just so much dirt and random junk all over.

Bottom pic is our "outdoor wear" sandals/shoes/boots for everyone

I decide that I really want some sweet corn for supper, even though I'm generally not a huge sweet corn person. I know that Wednesdays are farmers market days in town and we needed milk anyways (another thing I thought of AFTER getting home from our trip this morning) so we head into town.  I have never actually been to this farmers market (we have friends who have a huge farm stand that we usually get whatever we don't grow from) but I'm pretty sure I know where it is.  Yeah, I can't find it. So I stop, google the address and see I'm 1 mile away. Drive. Miss it somehow. Turn around again & finally see it (apparently they have moved locations slightly so I WAS in the old correct spot first). My friend Tracy who has a stand there is leaving with her nephew as we get out of the car. She said only 1 person had sweet corn today and they were already sold out :(. Booooooo. We visit with her for awhile and then walk through just to see what everyone has available.  As we leave, Charlie lectures me about how he told me we should just go to the store to buy sweet corn and I lecture him back about how I will not buy sweet corn from the store. haha.  We stop at Kwik Trip for milk (somehow cookies also jump in our bag) and then head for home. (Sidenote: If a store offered drive thru service if you needed like less than 5 items, I would drive way out of my way to patronize that place. It is such a hassle hauling 2 kids in to buy 1 or 2 things. Also the reason why I think pay at the pump gas is one of the greatest inventions ever).

29 weeks 3 days

We get home & Erik is just getting ready to put the chicken on the grill.  We had thrown a few extra bean seeds in the neighbor's garden & Erik had told me there were beans ready so the boys and I headed back (via lawnmower & trailer of course) to pick some for supper.  Charlie has fun picking with me and I am impressed with how many we get.  We head back to our house & snap a few to throw on the grill & Charlie helps me finish snapping the rest. Levi over waters the flowers out front.   I tell Erik that in 5 years when the kids are 4,6, &8 that I will be able to sit in a chair & sip frosty beverages while they work in the garden.  They also spend a few minutes riding bikes in the garage but Charlie quickly gets frustrated. 

L's turn to drive!

We eat supper around 6pm, which is a little late for us, but it was worth the wait. Erik also grilled some potatoes and everything was just fantastic.   Levi even ate decent (although not without plenty of reminders).  After supper Erik cleans up and back outside we go. The boys play with Erik on the swing set and eventually Charlie and I go back to finish the bean weeding and also get through the potatoes. Erik & Levi disappear in the car we are trying to sell and drive it around a bit. I thank Erik very sarcastically for letting Levi sit in the front seat even though they're just going around the yard. I look forward to fighting with him over the car seat in the days ahead.

He takes Levi in the house & gives him a bath. By the time Charlie and I come in it's bed time. It's pretty warm in the house so we shut up the windows & turn the air on.  Both boys clean up (meaning Charlie actually picks up and Levi wanders around looking busy) & get ready for bed and then the #2 cause for bickering in the household comes over whose turn it is to have mom read to them. Poor dad.  It's my turn to read to Charlie so he marks the day off his calendar, picks out some books and we read. He very randomly picked out "one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish." WHAT IS THIS BOOK???? Not a fun read for me.  Levi is becoming a master staller and asks several times to get covered up.

How about 1 final meltdown. I think dad carried his blanket upstairs & he wanted to do it himself.

After Erik is done with Levi he goes back outside to work on the bunk beds we are building.  I sit down on the couch in absolute silence for 45 minutes and do nothing. Occasionally,  I hear Charlie complain about this or that but eventually he falls asleep too.  Erik comes in and we watch a little TV before calling it a day.  Erik watches some Deadwood on the Kindle & I look for a new book to read.  No idea what time I fell asleep, but it didn't take long.

I can't get over the fact that by the next installment of Day in the Life, we will more than likely be +1 in this house. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy. Previous days documented here.