Day In The Life: Spring 2013

Day In The Life - Spring 2013 Edition
Wednesday, April 24

**Tory is 19 months old**

Wednesday, April 24th was kind of a wack-a-do day since we returned from vacation the evening before. All day, I kept thinking it was Monday and felt like I was playing catch-up with a suitcase of dirty laundry and piles of mail and other crap hanging out on my counter tops.

Tory refused to nap during our travels back to Minneapolis on Tuesday, so I was nervous how the overnight would go having her so overly tired and off her normal schedule. Exhausted and cranky kiddo almost always equals crappy sleeper.

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1:30am
I hear Tory fussing from her crib, but give her a minute to see if she settles back down to sleep. Luckily Andi doesn't seem to hear her wake up or it's the guilt from keeping him awake that usually prompts me to get up with her. After a minute or two, Tory's quiet again. Score. Back to sleep for me.

5:30am
Andi wakes up for work and hops into the shower. I cringe when he gets up in the morning because despite his quietest attempt at tiptoeing past Tory's bedroom door, she almost always hears him and wakes up for the day.

5:45am
Andi kisses me good-bye as he leaves for work. Simultaneously, Tory cries out from her crib. My day begins now....

6:00am
I retrieve Tory from her crib and bring her back to my bedroom to watch some TV (aka: allow her to wake up slowly while I check Instagram and blogs on my iPhone). Tory Bean is not a morning person so it's always best if she has a little time to adjust to being awake. I can't help but think if she slept in a little later than 5:45am, she might like morning a little better. I'm also desperately trying to break her from her obsession with Bubble Guppies so I put on Dinosaur Train and she seems content to watch it. Some mornings are a scream-fest until her preferred television show is played for her Majesty.

Girlfriend does not appreciate having her picture taken in the morning

6:30am
Tory and I get out of bed and head to the kitchen for breakfast. I have zero groceries in the house since we were traveling the last few days so I pull together peanut butter toast and applesauce for Tory and an English muffin with butter and jelly for me. I'm fairly sure my English muffin is on the verge of being old (the top layer is quite soggy) but toasting always makes things better, right?

Just when I sit down to eat my breakfast, Tory fusses to have her hands wiped clean of peanut butter. She's entering into a stage where she does not like her hands to be dirty and has to have them wiped off once or twice before her meal is finished. When I do sit down, I quickly shovel one half of English muffin into my mouth before Tory feverishly signs "all done" letting me know she'd like out of her high chair. I stop eating, clean her up and finish my applesauce while also washing dishes.

7:30am
Andi told me the other day, one of his favorite parts about me not working anymore is that he doesn't have to clean up the kitchen after dinner. I had to have it cleaned up when I was working because there wasn't time to clean up in the mornings before work and I would likely have died instantly if our nanny would have arrived to a messy house. Now, I'd still like it to be cleaned up before we relax for the night, but sometimes I'm feeling lazy and I agree to clean the kitchen in the morning. This is Andi's favorite answer, apparently.

When we got home from the airport last night, I was feeling nauseous from the cab ride (this pregnancy has me feeling car sick almost every time I ride anywhere), so I laid down and read books to Tory while Andi ate dinner. I can tell by the way the kitchen looks this morning that he actually tried to clean up after his cooking, but his clean-up definition and my clean-up definition are not the same. Therefore, I'm feeling a little stabby this morning as I clean up dirty pans left on the stove last night and a sporadic mess of cups, silverware and plates left out on the counter top. It's hard for me to do anything else in the morning until all dishes are put away, counters wiped down and the floor is swept clean.

Dirty kitchen - dun dun dun

Usually Tory helps me clean up after breakfast by unloading the dishwasher (she's actually very good at putting her cups and plates away in her cupboard). Today's no different. She's feeding her baby breakfast while hanging out on the dishwasher door.

Next, she moves to the refrigerator to play magnets. The best thing about being away from home for a few days is all toys are like shiny new pennies again. She hasn't played with these magnets for weeks, but suddenly they're very interesting.

7:45am

Just as I wrap up kitchen clean-up, Tory throws a tantrum on the floor. I'm not sure what the matter is, other than she's still very tired from traveling and having no nap yesterday. I stop what I'm doing and suggest we go read some books together.

8:15am

Tory is transitioning to one nap a day, but today she definitely needs two to catch back up on sleep. I lay her down for a nap and at first she's not pleased with my decision but falls asleep in 15 minutes time.

8:30am

I take the nap time opportunity to get myself dressed and pack our bag for Tory's swimming class. I also make my bed and pick up toys that seem to inevitably gravitate to my bedroom floor.

What I'm wearing today. Since I'm swimming with Tory later, it's yoga pants and a t-shirt
Also note: my teeny tiny preggo belly :)

9:00am

I sit down to blog about our Savannah vacation and to complete a weekly status update on my baby blog. I'm a day late in writing it which makes me feel twitchy but it is what it is because we were traveling and I didn't have the time to write yesterday. Also, I seriously debated for quite some time in my head if I was going to take my weekly pregnancy photo while in Savannah (on Tuesday, the actual day I turned 12 weeks pregnant) or if I'd wait and snap the photo at home in the same mirror I've been using every week (but at 12 Weeks, 1 Day). I opted to wait. That is one of those internal conversations I usually keep to myself because if I would've told Andi he would have said, "that was your biggest problem today?" (He's just jealous because my stay-at-home-mom life is less stressful than his running a successful ad agency life).

10:00am

Tory's up from her nap and I dress her for the day and finish packing her swimming bag. She's still a little grumpy so I plop her in the high chair and feed her some yogurt melts while she watches Bubble Guppies on TV.

10:30am

Andi's dad, Jim, arrives with Chloe our dog. He was doggie-sitting for us over the weekend while we were in Savannah. I invited him to attend Tory's swimming class with us if he'd bring Chloe back over this morning. While Jim is entertaining Tory in the kitchen, I take the opportunity to throw in a load of laundry and pack the car for swimming.

11:00am

Tory's swimming class. As always, I'm scrambling to get us both dressed in our suits and out to the pool in time for class to start. No matter what time we leave the house, we're always running behind for swimming it seems. Tory does a great job at class today and even holds her breath while "zooming" under the water. Her back floats are really improving, too. I try my best not to get too wet during class because I have Baby #2's first ultrasound appointment this afternoon and I won't have time to shower in between swimming class and the appointment.

11:45am

I shower Tory in the locker room, get us both dressed and meet Jim in the lobby. I decide to stop at Panera Bread across the hallway to grab lunch because I'm running short on time in between swimming class and the ultrasound appointment today. I order our usual - Caesar salad and broccoli cheese soup for me and mac and cheese for Tory. I also get two asiago bagels for breakfasts later this week. I can't seem to get enough bagels and cream cheese this pregnancy. Back at home, we eat our lunches.

Lunch for Mom

Lunch for Tory

12:30pm

Grandpa Jim leaves and our babysitter, Taylor, arrives. Taylor is Andi's cousin and she's been watching Tory once a week while I run errands or have some kid-free time. This week, I scheduled her so I could go to my ultrasound appointment without Tory. Tory really likes Taylor and today especially, seems so happy she's here. Tory tries to feed Taylor some of her macaroni and after lunch, they grab their coats and boots and head outside in the backyard to play for a bit before Tory's afternoon nap.

1:30pm

Andi meets me at the ultrasound clinic for Baby #2's appointment. I'm surprised when the ultrasound tech remembers us from my pregnancy with Tory (she must have referred back to past history or my chart?) and is very sweet asking us questions about Tory and how I'm feeling this time around. Today's ultrasound is to verify the baby's size and to test for chromosomal abnormalities. It takes about 20 minutes for the tech to finally get Baby #2 in the right position to measure its nose and neck. In the meantime, Andi and I watch in amazement as Baby #2 squirms and moves all over the screen. He/she has it's hands up near its nose most of the time and we see its heart beating on the monitor. Baby #2's heart rate is 154/bpm and both the tech and the doctor said everything looked great. We'll get our chromosomal test results back in about a week. 

Baby #2 - two hands near its face

2:15pm

After the ultrasound, the tech sends me down to the Lab to draw blood work. Andi and I share a passionate kiss and hug good-bye in the elevator as he's leaving for Montana this afternoon for a work trip. He's basically traveling in various places most of May and June as its photo shoot / catalogue season. Sigh.

Laboratory waiting

2:45pm

I meet up with an old co-worker / friend at Starbucks, just down the street from the ultrasound clinic. She and I have yummy Starbucks beverages as I catch up on all the latest work drama and chat about life / kids / etc.

**My phone dies at this point and my car charger is in Andi's work backpack, so I can no longer capture my day in photos. It's such a paralyzing feeling to be without a phone, especially when I'm away from Tory. I decide to return home after my coffee date because I hate the idea of being out and about without a way for Taylor the babysitter to contact me if I'm needed.**

4:00pm

Traffic. Traffic, traffic, traffic. This I do not miss about driving from my old workplace to home. Although, I will say it's nice to listen to whatever radio station I please instead of Tory's Music Together CD on repeat as she so often demands.

5:00pm

Back at home, I relieve Taylor of her babysitting duties. While I was gone, Tory and Taylor played together and Tory took a 45 minute nap. Tory seems in much better spirits than earlier this morning so I'm hoping she'll be up for a trip to Target.

5:20pm

Target run for groceries. I don't really feel like going (and I really hate shopping for groceries with Tory as she refuses to sit in the cart) but we are literally out of all food at our house so the Target trip is necessary. As we're walking into the store, I whisper into Tory's ear that I will buy her a prize if she sits like a nice girl in the cart. She seems to listen and actually lets me buckle her into the seat, so that's a step in the right direction. 

6:00pm

I'm shocked! Tory actually sat in the cart the entire Target trip! Granted, I busted my bum and grabbed groceries as fast I as could, but still - she sat in the cart! I let her pick out a ball from the toy section and she chooses a giant purple one. 

6:15pm

Back at home, I put Tory in the high chair and whip up some dinner for her while I unload groceries. Because my phone was dead and I didn't write it down, I can't for the life of me remember what she ate for dinner.

6:30pm

Pajamas and books before bed for Tory. No bath needed tonight since I showered her in the locker room after swimming class. Tonight we read Baby Woof Woof and Brown Bear, Brown Bear about a gazillion times. Tory's favorite thing to do is to be quizzed on the colors on the front inside page of Brown Bear. She can say "blue" and "black" and non-verbally identifies all the rest.  

7:00pm

Bedtime for Tory. She fusses and fights against sleeping for about 35 minutes until she's finally down. Boy, do I miss the days of the bottle when she'd go right to sleep.

7:45pm

I make myself a bowl of Raisin Bran and retire to my bedroom to blog. I write up a recap of one of our days in Savannah and a blog post announcing the upcoming arrival of Baby #2, then hit the pillow. I fall asleep reading The Namesake, a book my mother-in-law loaned me a few months ago. Reading this book has been such a thorn in my side with its annoying page-turning and nightlight-needing ... this is the very last time I'm ever committing to reading a paperback book again. Kindles are where it's at. I think I'm asleep by 9:30pm.