Week In The Life 2012: Monday

Because I like to keep things interesting, I decided to do Navigating the Mothership's Day In The Life project on steroids this spring and capture a week of my life instead. It's not a new concept (The Mothership does it, too) but it'll be my first time committing to daily recaps of this scale. The ins and outs of my life may not be riviting to anyone else but I wanted to document a week because my days are so different from one another (stay-at-home-mom days vs. working days vs. weekends with Andi home).

MONDAY, APRIL 23
Stay-At-Home-Mom Day

1:58am
I wake up to the sound of Tory fussing from her crib. I glance over at Andi to see if he's awake and on the off-chance going to get up with her. No dice. He's sound asleep. So, I stumble out of bed and head to the kitchen to make a bottle. I pour 5oz. of water, add formula, shake-shake-shake, and walk back to Tory's room to feed her.

2:23am
After I lay Tory down in her crib, I crawl back into bed and pull the covers up to my nose. Just for good measure, I shove my ice cold toes under Andi's right leg to warm them up. You'd think he'd bock at the feeling, but it doesn't phase him.

6:58am
My internal alarm goes off and my eyes bolt open. I wonder about the time and grab my Blackberry on the bedside table for reference. I close my eyes again.

7:00am
Tory's awake. Of course she doesn't sleep a wink past 7am when it's a day I'm home with her. A "nanny day" on Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday mornings? I hear she sleeps much later, until 8:30am sometimes. I'm never so lucky.

7:05am
I hop out of bed and walk into Tory's nursery. She greets me with a big grin and flails her body like a fish out of water. Someone's in a good mood this morning.

7:10am
After a few hugs and kisses, I lay Tory down on her changing table. She's a wiggly worm these days so I quickly hand her a book to read while I change her diaper. This image has got to be one of my favorite moments with Tory lately; she "reads" to herself (babble, babble babble) while I do my work.

7:15am
Tory and I walk to the kitchen to make breakfast. She had a nasty stomach bug last week so we're slowly transitioning from the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast). Except, Tory's a picky eater and won't eat applesauce and refuses to try toast so it's more like the BR diet for her. I heat up two frozen cubes of pureed bananas in the microwave and mix together 1/4 cup of rice cereal for her breakfast. She scarfs it down like nobody's business. Girlfriend was HUNGRY this morning!

We're practicing our sippy cup skills at mealtimes, too. Tory is able to drink out of a cup with help from her feeding assistance (aka: me) but prefers to suck on the bottom of the cup when she's going at it solo. You'll get the hang of it in time, my dear ...

7:28am
I wipe Tory's face and hands and plop her in her activity center while I knock out a few household chores. Like washing bottles for the gazillionth time ....

... and steam-cleaning bottle / bottle parts. BE GONE NASTY STOMACH BUG!

7:45am
Tory and I move into the living room for play-time. Hey, Chloe! Nuzzled up in her blanket on the couch, like usual.

I try to read Tory a story, but she decides to read it to me instead. (The duckies on the front cover is her favorite part).

8:30am
Nap time: seriously the biggest time suck on Earth. I fed Tory her morning bottle and rocked her to sleep .... and again ... and once again until she finally gave in 30 minutes later.

9:00am
Coffee time. STAT. More exciting than a picture of my Keurig machine is a picture of where my coffee creamer resides ... a look inside my refrigerator this morning.

9:15am
Tory's fussing again from her crib. Great. I swig a sip of coffee and decide to hop in the shower while she "comforts" herself back to sleep. I'd rather the sound of the shower muffle her cries than listen to them in high-def. In the five minutes it takes me to shower she usually puts herself to sleep.

Before the shower:
(if I'm going to get real; aren't I glamorous in the morning? Sorry fellas, I'm already married).

And after a shower:
(Tory is asleep, by the way. She only cried for a minute.)

Still unclothed, I run downstairs to blow-dry my hair. We have a heater in Tory's bedroom and it trips the breaker if I use my hairdryer while it's plugged in so I have to do downstairs. While I'm down there, I throw in a load of laundry and about have a heart attack at the sight of a duck outside the window! Seems a little random to see a duck hanging out on the side of my house.

9:30am
Back in my upstairs bathroom, I finish getting ready for the day. A quick snapshot of me post-shower (much improved over the "before" image).

9:40am
I hear a car pull into our drive-way and glance outside to see our house cleaner making her way to the front door. Good thing I put some clothes on! I was literally walking around the house in my birthday suit just 10 minutes beforehand. Oops! I guess I forgot she was coming today.

9:50am
I make small-talk with the cleaner (she's quite chatty) and run around picking up the toys from our morning play session in the living room. I strip the sheets of our bed so the cleaner can put some new ones on (I love the way she makes my bed - so magazine-like!) and replace the duvet cover over the comforter Tory puked on earlier in the week. Putting those things on is seriously the worst job ever.

10:15am
Tory's up from her nap so I got into her nursery to greet her, change her diaper and dress her for the day. I have to drop off a sample of her stool to the doctor's office today to rule out some parasite that's floating around Twin Cities swimming pools. (I'm fairly certain she had a stomach bug last week, not a diarrhea-causing parasite but just to be safe, I follow the doctor's orders and scoop a chunk of her poo into the specimen container. Fancy life I lead, eh?)

10:33am
Next, I load Tory into her car seat in route to the doctor's office and to the bank (since I forgot the cleaner was coming today, I don't have enough cash on hand to pay her). It should be noted that I have to run to the bank every time the cleaner comes. I never plan ahead and get cash the day before.

11:15am
Back at home, Tory and I dodge the house cleaners working around the house. We change the laundry and head back upstairs for more playtime.

11:30am
Alright, I can't avoid the cleaners any longer. Tory Bean is getting fussy and needs to eat lunch. Today's fine Gerber entree is Spring Vegetables and she gobbles them down quickly (mostly because they include peas - her favorite!)

Noon
I think the cleaners are almost done so I buy time by giving Tory a bottle with some leftover Pedialyte from yesterday. There's no use putting her down for a nap until they leave and the house is quieter.

12:30pm
I pay the cleaner and high-tail it to Tory's room for nap time. She quickly drinks her bottle and goes to sleep without a fight.

12:45pm
I haven't eaten anything today and I'm starving. I shove a homemade chocolate chip cookie in my mouth and make a BLT sandwich. Have you seen one of these microwave bacon cookers? They're amazing.

1:00pm
It's a gorgeous sunny day and the three-season porch is nice and warm. I cozy up out there with my sandwich, Diet Coke and turn on the TV to Rachel Ray. (Hey Chloe! Sunning herself in the corner by the window).

Truthfully, I think daytime TV stinks these days so it's basically white noise as I log into Care.com and respond to a few nanny job applicants. I also check Twitter, Facebook and my email while I'm on the computer.

2:00pm
Way to go, Tory Bean! She up from her nap but slept for 1 1/2 hours which is really good for her. As I hear her stirring in her room, I clean up my lunch (read: throw away my paper plate) and head to the nursery to get her from her crib. She's all smiles (like always). What a happy girl I have!

2:10pm
We stop by the mirror and practice waving "hi" to one another. I try to snap a picture of it but she can't stay still long enough for the no-flash.

2:30pm
I decide to take Tory and Chloe for a walk around the neighborhood so we can enjoy the sunshine. It's a little brisk outside so I grab our jackets and a blanket and head out. I've probably mentioned it before, but we have an awesome trail system that connects all the neighborhoods and schools around our house. It's one of my favorite parts about where we live.

Today we walked by the neighbor's house with stuffed cats in the window. I took a picture of it. I'm sure they appreciate the documentation.

2:45pm
Tory, Chloe and I make a pit-stop at the nearby elementary school to play on the swings. I just discovered the baby swing here a few weeks ago and Tory loves it! I like to come before school lets out though; before the playground is over-taken by screaming big kids.

3:30pm
Back at home, I make a bottle for Tory and we curl up on the porch couch. Next, we dig out the porch toys and spread out a blanket to play. Here's a pic of us together in the reflection of the sliding glass door.

4:00pm
While we're laying on the porch, I check my email and see I've got a message from a nanny candidate. She's going to be near our house tonight and wants to know if she can come over for an in-person interview. I call Andi to make sure he'll be home around 5:45pm, message the nanny candidate back to confirm the appointment and decide to carry the laundry basket back downstairs before she arrives. Before I carry it downstairs, I plop Tory inside and we play "cars" as I push her around the living room in it.

5:00pm
It's dinner time! I warm up a jar of Mixed Vegetables puree (carrots, sweet potatoes and green beans). In the meantime, Tory purposefully drops her toys from her high chair, I pick them up and put them back on her tray, she drops them, I pick them up ... and we repeat this about a million times in the 15 seconds it takes to heat up her dinner.

For the record, she wasn't having dinnertime tonight so I left the jar on the counter and decided to try again later.

5:20pm
Several times a week, I call my parents on FaceTime to chat. I'm not sure it's their favorite thing to walk in the door from a long day at work only to be greeted by the sound of the iPad ringing, but they never show annoyance. Today my dad/papa answers and Tory and I chat with him about his weekend, the weather and our travel arrangements for my sister's upcoming wedding.

5:40pm
Andi's home! Tory and I sign off with my dad and join Andi upstairs. He takes a work call outside on the drive-way while Tory and I wait for the nanny candidate to arrive for her interview. In the meantime, Tory finishes the jar of Mixed Vegetables from earlier.

5:55pm
The nanny candidate is late. Andi says she's already fired. I tell him to take off his Work Hat and chill. She probably got lost finding our house.

6:00pm
The nanny candidate arrives. She's friendly, seems smart and pretty (but not too pretty - more attractive in a clean, representable way). We invite her inside and chat in the living room for a while, asking her questions about her past experiences with children. She's moving to the Twin Cities to further her acting career so that's kind of interesting!

Tory is in melt-down mode, by the way. Forty-five minutes before bedtime is not the most ideal time to interview someone for a nanny position. We spend most of the time talking with Nanny Candidate while passing Tory back and forth from one another's arms.

6:40pm
The nanny candidate leaves (we liked her!) and I high-tail it to the kitchen to make Tory a bottle and start our bedtime routine. After pajamas, we read one bedtime book, she drank her bottle and was O.U.T.

7:01pm
I had planned to make tacos for dinner, but as I was rocking Tory I overheard Andi order take-out from Slim's, a nearby burger/sandwich/wings restaurant. This may sound strange, but one of my favorite things about Andi and I's relationship is how he takes charge and just orders food without even asking me what I wanted to eat. He orders a Mushroom Swiss Burger, French Fries, a Po-Boy Cajun Shrimp Sandwich and a Caesar Salad. Kind of random, but whatev's ...

7:15pm
A landscaper stops by to give us an estimate on re-landscaping our front yard. Andi walks the yard with him and then invites me outside to weigh in with my opinion. I'm looking for easy-to-maintain plants and that's all I care about, I say. I can hear Tory crying so I run inside to put her back to sleep.

7:45pm
After I soothed Tory back to sleep and the landscaper left, Andi re-heated our dinner and carried plates out onto the three-season porch. We tune into Gossip Girl on Netflix (our new obsession) and eat dinner.

8:15pm
We clean up dinner, I wash more bottles and then I start to type this blog post while Andi hops into the shower. I get a text message from our current nanny who says she's sick with the same stomach bug Tory had last week. I phone my ever-awesome MIL Janie to see if she is able to babysit Tory tomorrow. She agrees thankfully. Situation averted.

8:45pm
Andi and I crawl into bed. I continue typing my blog post and Andi falls asleep reading MockingJay (the Hunger Games 3rd book).

9:30pm
Light's out. I didn't finish this post, although I really wanted to, but I need to get some sleep or I'll be a wreck tomorrow at work.