Day in the Life - Winter 2014

Time for another 'Day in the Life' as hosted by Navigating the Mothership.

Saturday, January 18, 2014
Riley is a few weeks short of 4 years old.

1:53 - I wake up and head to the bathroom. I look out the window and it seems really bright for the middle of the night (besides being lit up from my neighbor's garage light). I can't see well since I don't have my glasses on, but it sort of looks like there is fresh snow on the ground. I go back to sleep.

4:33 - Up again. Go to the bathroom again, have same thoughts about snow outside, and go right back to sleep.

6:26 - I hear Jesse get up and go downstairs. I went to bed at about 10:30 the night before so this should be enough sleep, but since Riley isn't up I decide to try and get more. Unfortunately, the cats have a different plan for me and do annoying things so I can't fall back to sleep. What's worse is they stop doing annoying things from time to time so I think I can actually go back to sleep, but then they start doing annoying things again.

6:45 - Even though Jesse is downstairs and is capable of feeding hungry cats, the cats do not identify him as the food supplier. We have an auto feeder, but only set it a night because of there special diets which is supposed to involved different food for each of them. I decide I will run downstairs, feed them and head back up.

Cats fed, but Riley has also woken up. Jesse heads upstairs and I follow shortly after. 

Jesse cuddling with Riley

Jesse brings Riley downstairs and I decide to jump back into bed. I am going to get this extra rest no matter what! Except that I can't because I feel guilty staying in bed when Riley is up and I don't really need to sleep. I decide to read my iPad for 10 minutes and then start the day. Jesse eases into the day and really gets going after a couple hours of being up, but I can't do that. I like to hit the ground running so I can sit down later and chill. If I don't do this I am at risk of not getting anything done. This sometimes causes conflict and a misunderstanding on our plans for the day, but for the most part we make it work. 

7:01 - I make the bed, fold and put away laundry while listening to music.

I head downstairs where I do dishes, and start more laundry while Jesse and Riley watch some cartoons in the basement.

Still need to put all those canning jars on Craigslist...one day.

I look outside again and realize it did snow last night... and a lot. I thought I was just seeing things in the middle of the night. Apparently, I should pay more attention to the weather forecast.

7:30 - Assess plans with Jesse for the morning. Do we try to squeeze in a gym run before Riley's music class? No, we need to shovel. Jesse plays video games and Riley pulls out her Princess cupcake game. 

Cupcakes and silly (non-matching)  pajamas.

I realize that I didn't upload pictures from one of my cameras so I do that now so I can have a clean card for all my day in the life pictures. It's just easier to upload when I do that so off to the computer I go. 

Once that's done I play the cupcake game with Riley, then make and eat breakfast while still playing cupcakes, then put dirty dishes in the kitchen and resume playing cupcakes, play with Monsters for a moment, but then go back to playing cupcakes. Oh, and somewhere in there we play with the cat. I will take cupcakes any day over having to use my imagination to play with cars or monsters.

Oh hey, it snowed.

And I thought I had static issues. I think I need to start oiling her hair down.

9:00 - Still no movement from Jesse and I've played my share of cupcakes. I'm going out to shovel. Riley doesn't want to come so I figure she can stay inside with Jesse. I go to get changed and he comes out as I'm putting my snow pants on. He asks what I'm doing and I inform him that I am about to shovel. Now everyone wants to go outside. We head back upstairs where Jesse gets dressed and leaves me with assisting Riley. No big deal, but she's goofing around and it takes forever to get her dressed and I'm in snow pants which means I'm getting hot. I finally get her bundled up and send her outside with her dad so I can get my boots and coat on. Slightly irritated that I was just about outside earlier and now I am the last one out the door.

Jesse and Riley focus on the back yard while I shovel the front. I'm not a winter fan, but I love the look of a fresh snow. So clean, and white, and sparkly.

Shoveling selfie

Princess snow woman Lelani looks a little more like a monster than a princess after the snowfall

 I finish the front, and assist a bit in the back before Riley announces she is cold. 

9:38 - We head inside and I squeeze in a shower before we have to leave for Riley's music class. We don't have a lot of time and I'm determined to get us all out the door on time. 

Looking a little frazzled, but I'm clean and even washed my hair for you guys. 

10:22 - We head out the door 7 minutes later than I wanted to. It doesn't help that the roads suck and we have to wait for a plow to clear out the end of the alley. 

I hate being late, but I know that's going to happen here. I'm a lot more laid back about it than I used to be, but still feel anxious about it. I know it's all me so I try not to be snippy with Jesse and Riley even when Jesse drives right past our exit. Whatever. Yes, we were late, but we weren't the only ones and still got in almost 30 minutes of the 40 minute class. 

Music class is a little crazy this week. This is the third time we've done a music class with this company and the feel is different every time - mostly because of the kids... and parents in the group. Lots of energetic kids in this one. Mostly boys. Kind of funny to think back to the first year where Riley wouldn't sit still and all the other kids sat complacently on their parent's laps. Now all the other kids are running around and Riley is the one totally engaged in the teacher. Even Jesse makes a comment on the craziness of the music class and he's not one to judge.

11:30 - Music class is done and we are hungry. For the second week in a row we decide to go to Big Bowl. Riley loves rice so we know there is at least one thing on the menu that she will eat.

Riley insists that I sit in the back seat with her on the way to the restaurant - along with one of the imaginary Disney princesses. I make a note to myself to clean off the back of the passenger seat. I'm actually surprised Jesse hasn't already cleaned it. Decide to wait until spring since it will just keep getting dirty.

Arrive at restaurant and find parking is a mess. We get a little snow on the ground and apparently no one can figure out where the lines are, even when the lot has been plowed. Jesse parks in an actual spot as he is determined to set the rest of the lot straight and is sure that other's will follow his lead.

Our car is on the far left. You could park another car between us and the red car.

Summer rolls look and taste more appealing than the bad lighting in this picture suggests. 

After lunch we head home and Riley and Jesse tell knock knock jokes the entire 20 minute ride home. I'm just grateful that I don't have to come up with any jokes... and really they aren't telling jokes either. Here's a taste of the knock knock jokes I heard:

knock, knock
who's there?
toilet
toilet who
daddy's got to go the the toilet when we get home

knock, knock
who's there?
Arial
Ariel who
Ariel princesses

Yeah, you can tell who told what joke. I had to take over when Jesse dropped of a Redbox movie we rented for Friday movie night (Despicable Me 2 - highly recommend) for about a minute and a half and it was the longest minute and a half of my life. Ok, so maybe that's a little dramatic, but I must learn some actual knock knock jokes.

So after we dropped the movie off Jesse took over again on telling jokes (Riley and he would go every other). His responses were starting to sound a little poetic with dramatic pauses and punctuations.

knock, knock
who's there?
snow plow
snow plow who
Orange (pause) snow plow
bright (pause) bright (pause)
lights (long pause)
plowing snow

Or something like that. After that one Jesse and I started cracking up and were crying from laughing so hard. You had to be there. I don't know why it was so funny, but he was trying so hard and his answers were starting to get so ridiculous. He should seriously get an award for playing the knock knock game for so long.

Ok, enough with the knock knock joke story. Moving on.

12:55 - Home! Gave Riley a little more food and let her play with cupcakes. Again. Jesse goes out to shovel the snow that the snow plows threw into our yard and then he cleans off the roof. I fold clothes, clean the cat litter, and create a few cupcakes. I pull out a few of my old cameras I collect and show Riley how they work. She says that they are 'cool' and genuinely seems interested in them for a while and then goes back to her cupcakes. Oh, and then dances for a bit with imaginary Cinderella.

Darn snow plows (but also grateful for snow plows!)

Makes me want to get film for this camera.

That would be Cinderella on the right that she's dancing with.

1:45 - Riley goes upstairs for a nap. We read one story and then cuddle in bed. Or more accurately, I cuddle with Riley who cuddles with imaginary Cinderella. Riley even wraps her arms as if there was a person next to her. As I leave, Riley turns over and informs me that Cinderella is now cuddling with her. Ok.

2:00 - My time! So much I need to do: get tax stuff together, put canning jars and A & W glasses on Craigslist, watch Dr, Who (it was highly recommended and I've finally started it - just finished season 1 - of the newer version, that is. I think it's kind of a goofy show, but I am totally sucked into it)... I decide to sit down and start typing out this post while it's still fresh in my mind.

3:15 - Riley stirs. She doesn't always take a nap, but she seemed tired today and hadn't made a peep after I left her. Usually when she does nap she still gets in a couple hours of sleep and we sometimes need to wake her. I wait to see if she's actually up, but things go silent again.

3:45 - I upload some pictures and start editing, but don't get far. Debate about whether to start a Dr. Who episode, but think it might not be a good idea since Riley should be getting up soon. Realize I haven't done my photo a day yet. I need to take a picture that captures 'my happy place'. Since I am not sitting on a beach, nor do I have access to one, I will have to think of something else. 

4:00 - Jesse bundles up and heads outside to clean off our second story deck and the flat part of our roof. That's my cue to go wake up Riley.

Watching dad shovel the deck while still in a sleep daze.

After watching Jesse shovel the deck for a moment or two, Riley and I head downstairs. She plays cupcakes again (I think this is a record for her in one day). I assist in making and dismantling and making and dismantling... and making cupcakes while also folding more laundry and doing other random things around the house. I decide to take a picture of us for my 'happy place' photo a day. I am pretty happy at home with my family. It's no beach side with a book/cocktail in my hand, but it will do.

4:40 - Jesse's done with risking his life on our roof. So glad he is willing to get up there. He's really diligent about getting it cleaned off after we had a middle of the night leak in our bedroom a couple years ago. He takes a shower and suggests we go mattress shopping. We both have bad backs (for different reasons) and it's been recommended that we think about a new mattress. It doesn't seem like I bought mine all that long ago, but once I count backwards I realize it's probably been 17 years. Yeah, I guess I could justify buying something new.

5:00 - Off we go to check out mattresses. We show up at the first store (where I bought my bed 17 years ago) and they are closed. Wha? Apparently, mattress stores have limited hours on the weekend. There is a new mattress store that opened up a few doors down so we head over there to see if there are still open. We start to pass the Little Gym and decide to go in and check it out.They were hosting a birthday party, but we were able to see where the kids do gymnastics. We've been thinking about getting Riley into this and she agrees after seeing all the kids run around inside. We gather information about class times and cost.

5:10 -  The other mattress store is open until 6 pm. We head in and talk with the owner, Dale. He knows his stuff, but he is a sales guys for sure. We test out a lot of the beds and the one we like is way over our price range. Dale says he is willing to give us a deal, but doesn't tell us what that is. We don't plan on buying right this moment and we are all hungry so we tell him we'll come back another time. Update: we bought a new mattress the next day at another store. Yay!

6:00 - I had plans to make dinner tonight, but the meat is still frozen and we are all hungry now. We talk about our options nearby and realize we are surrounded by fast food or Applebees. We go to Applebees which isn't something we normally do and neither is eating out twice in one day. We are clearly seated in the 'kids' section. I look around and see crying babies and one elderly couple. I look into the next area and there are younger, childless people. I look a little further and it's all older people. 

We each really enjoy our food (more than expected) and I like the kid's meal's options they provide (variety in what to pick and choose with the main entree item). I wouldn't run out to eat at Applebee's anytime soon, but I'm sure we will be back.

7:00 - We head home and get Riley ready for bed. Since we are upstairs we lay down on our bed to see how it compares to all the new beds we tested out. Huh, our bed is a little firmer than the ones I liked at the store and it's clear that our springs are well, really springy. Certainly not as supportive as the beds we tested out. This helps me feel better about spending money on a new bed (update: we went to another mattress place the next day and bought a new bed!)

We get Riley into her jammies, brush her teeth, update her calendar and I read her a couple books. I made the calendar chart awhile ago, but it wasn't until shortly after she started preschool that she embraced doing ours every day. They do something like it at school so I think she feels more confident about ours.

After books we snuggle a bit and talk about our day. A couple months ago I was trying to get Riley to accurately talk about the day we had by saying things like "we went to the pet store" or "we went to the farm" when we didn't - I hoped that she would correct me and tell me what we actually did. She thought it was funny and now, instead of talking about what we really did, she wants to talk about what we did in "silly words". After that she tells me how many hugs she wants - I think it was 6 tonight - and then I follow up with 6 kisses. But once again, instead of just giving her kisses one day I pretended to give her nose kisses, eyelash kisses, wet willy, nibble her fingers... Now, I have to do that every night with her. I don't mind because I get some of the best, deep down hearty laughs from her. Love it.

7:50 - Bedtime takes a little longer than usual, but that's probably because we started a bit late. Once all the hugs, and snuggles, and kisses are completed I go downstairs to the basement to watch a movie with Jesse. We watch 2 Guns with Markie and Denzel. Not bad - I'd recommend it.

9:10 - The monitor was silent for some time, but now we hear Riley singing. Why is she still up? Shortly after she calls out for us. Jesse goes up and talks to her about needing to go to sleep. He comes back down, but I still hear her from time to time.

9:45 - Movie is done, but I still hear my kid. Sigh. Jesse decides to play some video games in the basement while I check out the internet and then edit some photos after I brush my teeth and wash my face. 

10:15 - I realize it's been quiet upstairs for a bit, but I decide to not go upstairs quite yet. I don't want our creaky stairs and floors to wake Riley up. I imagine she's beat and nothing will wake her up, but I don't want to take that risk.

10:45 - Way past my bedtime. I go downstairs to say goodnight to Jesse and then hobble upstairs to bed. I go into Riley's room and turn off a light she still insists on falling asleep with. I don't entirely mind because I get to see her sleeping peacefully.

10:53 - I slide into bed and turn off my light. Good night.

Day in the Life - Winter 2013

With prompting from Navigating the Mothership I present A Day in the Life for winter 2013.
Saturday, January 19th, 2013
Riley - 2 years, 11+ months

I totally planned on documenting my Day in the Life on Thursday, but didn't remember until 8:30 at night. It's a shame since I had this super weird dream that morning in which I uttered "thanks for the crotch hug". People are right when they say context means everything. Instead you will have to hear about my Saturday morning dream. When I woke at 4:04 I recalled a dream that I thought I would remember for sure since I couldn't get it out of my head as I tried to go back to sleep, but no matter how hard I try to remember it's gone.

However, I did fall back to sleep and had a dream that I should have taken a picture of Jesse for my day in the life when I was just awake. Apparently, I totally thought I was still awake or something. In my dream Jesse and Riley were in bed with me, but when I looked over at him he had a nuk in his mouth and was holding a baby doll. I totally had to take a picture of that! But by the time I grabbed my camera he was sitting up playing with Riley and the baby and nuk were gone. I was so bummed that I didn't capture that moment and that's all I remember of the dream. (I'm sure he'll be delighted to know I shared that dream with the internets.) I then woke up after what felt like 5 minutes of sleep to find out it was 5:43 - way to early to wake up, but almost two hours later.

I tried to fall back to sleep, and I'm pretty sure my body would have if my brain let it. So I 'rested' until I heard Riley making noises across the hall. I went in to get her and decided that she could watch some cartoons in my bed with the hope that I could get some more rest. Jesse fell asleep downstairs so it was just us girls hanging out in bed (including Lucy the cat).

I didn't actually rest as I had anticipated because Mr. Roger's Neighborhood was on and I got to see how fortune cookies are made and I got to see Eric Carle create some of his characteristic art for his children's books. It was actually really interesting stuff. (Update: Saturday night I had a dream that I was at an event where they served fortune cookies. They must have been defective because mine looked like it had been flattened on one side before it totally hardened up and one looked burnt, but I was able to grab a good one that I planned to bring home to Riley.)

Riley and I headed downstairs to eat some breakfast and to harass Jesse. That second part wasn't intended, but it was a little challenging keeping Riley from making noise and waking him up. I don't think he was too pleased, but, you know, he's a dad and he understands what comes with that role.

Riley helped feed Lucy while I got our breakfasts together. Lucy is a tad fat so some time ago we decided she would work for her food. We'd throw one nugget of food and she'd run for it. We've been lazy about doing it (and it shows on her). I had Riley do it one day to keep her preoccupied and now she wants to do it all the time.

Besides making and eating breakfast I cleaned up around the house and did laundry. We started music classes again so I wanted to get the house in better order before we left for that. Plus, we had a pretty full day scheduled.

I've been having some huge dry eye issues for 4 or 5 months now. I'm working with my doctor on different treatments which have all included eye drops. In a couple weeks he's going to put in these plugs that are supposed to help keep my tears on the eye. I hope it works, but I also read that omega 3's are good for this as well. I emailed Jesse about it on Thursday and he ordered me some supplements right away. Let's see if they work.

By 8:00 am we were rushing to get ready and leave by 8:30. It seems like it would be more than enough time, but it's amazing how long everything takes to do. But we did make it out the door on time to music class.

The only way I could get her to stand still for the picture was to tell her to stand by the frog... then she kept wanting to stand by the frog. And all through the day she repeatedly told people that she had on a "cute shirt". Not sure if that was something I said to her and she was just copying it or if she really thought that herself.

We took a music class with the same company last year and while Riley enjoyed it she was always the wild one in the room. All the other kids sat complacently in their parents laps while Riley ran around the room (often not listening to directions). This time Jesse was a little more excited for her to take this class than I was (partly because I don't want to be seen as the parent who can't control their kid). But this year she has totally embraced the class and is so engaged. Sure, she doesn't always listen, but I am ok with that. That's normal. Plus, we think the teacher this time likes Riley's spiritedness (is that a word?). I neglected to take any pictures in the class, but  scarves, sticks, a parachute, crafts, music, dancing... all occurred within 40 minutes. Loads of fun. Riley even got some "jingle bells" as she calls them to take home with her. She was pretty darn excited.

The day before I had suggested we head right to the gym after music class even though I had to be at a baby shower at 1:00 pm... which was an hour and a half away. So glad Jesse talked me out of that because I barely had enough time when we got home to wrap the gifts, feed Riley and myself, do some more laundry, and take a shower. I only left about 20 minutes late, but figured I would be fashionably late.

This is me attempting to wear mascara. It's one of the few times I've done so in months due to my dry eyes. I'm putting in about 6 eye drops a day so makeup just seems like a pain. Putting the mascara on was like doing it for the first time - I had my lashes all clumped together and mascara all over my lids. Luckily, I was able to clean up enough to make myself presentable.

While I was attempting to make myself presentable Riley got into one of my drawers and found these back up glasses. I ordered them online for $25 just in case they were ever needed. It's a good thing I never needed them because the prescription wasn't quite right. Also, once I got them I thought they were ugly, but Riley looks great in them. I'm a little jealous.

Shortly after noon we headed down towards Albert Lea, MN for my birth sister-in-law's baby shower. Yes, that's sort of a mouth full. Tara is married to Derek who is my birth brother and the shower was at my birth sister, Lindsey's, house. (I was adopted and found my birth family years later). It was a fairly nice morning with clear roads, sunny skies, and a decent temperature of 41 degrees. The only downfall was that it was a bit windy so I was on high alert the entire drive down.

I was also hoping that Riley would sleep in the car since the baby shower was right during her nap time, but I made the mistake of telling her she could have the iPad in the car... and there was no sleeping with that.

Southern MN has way less snow than we do.

We showed up about 20 minutes late, but these ladies were on top of things and already started the games. I was ok with this since I'm not a huge fan of games anyway, but it turned out I was a winner in the first game I played.

I did not win this game

We got a little surprise when my birth dad, Leo, showed up. I don't get to see him (or any of my birth family) very much so it was nice to get to chat for a bit.

There were a few other kids there... and books and balloons so Riley had a good time as well. 

Lindsey, Riley and me, of course.

Some last minute primping before we left

We headed home just before 4:00 pm and I was overly optimistic that Riley would fall asleep in the car. I forgot to bring her comfort sleeping items so she just whined for the iPad... and I gave in. 

Oh, Minnesota and your large sculptures of everything.

I stopped to get gas before I got on the highway and it was apparent that the temperature dropped and the wind picked up. The car said the outside temp was 31, but it felt far colder than that. I just hoped that my ride home wouldn't be a white knuckler with the force of the wind, but it sort of was. Let's just say I was grateful when we got home and got in the door. It was cold out and is only supposed to get even colder over the next couple days. Like, don't leave the house cold.

It was about 5:30 and I know both Riley and I were hungry (plus she was getting sleep deprived crabby). I opened the fridge and freezer and made a note that I might have to go out in the cold the next day after all as we really need groceries. Jesse's mom had brought him a party pizza (to remind him of when he was 15 apparently, and me too - didn't we all eat those things when we were teens?) which has been sitting in the freezer so I decided to pop that in the oven. Moments later Jesse walked in the door. He spent the afternoon with his buddy, Tom, playing a board game. There is a game store in Roseville where you can also go and hang out to play games. I don't totally get it, but I don't have to - as long as Jesse gets to see his friends and has fun.

We decided to throw together some other food for Riley so she didn't have to wait for the pizza to cook. And we popped in the movie "Brave" which I just won at work the day before. Eventually, we all sat down to eat with completely different meals. But at least we ate together.

After dinner Jesse gave Riley a bath while I finished putting the laundry away. I then read a bunch of books to sleepy head and put her down about 7:20 - 10 minutes early. It's not much, but she didn't make a peep after going down.

After Riley went to sleep, I finally sat down in front of the computer to write this post and organize all the photos I took during the day. After about an hour I determined I should really eat some veggies after eating  pizza for dinner so I made myself a small village salad.

Doh! Realized a day later when looking at this picture that I forgot the feta!

Seat stealer

At a quarter to 10 the cats start bugging me for food and I realized that I was starving. I don't like eating that late, but there was no way I would make it through the night. I poured myself a bowl of cereal, typed up some more of this post and eventually made my way to the basement to say goodnight to my husband who had been watching West Wing all night. It's 10:30, which is about a half hour after I usually go to bed, and Jesse is asleep on the couch. Some natural disaster show is on and it's talking about the great flood in East Grand Forks in the 90's. I get sucked in, but finally pull myself away at 10:45 and crawl upstairs to zonk out in bed.