A Day in the Life: 4 Tiny Soldiers & 1 General (or just the opposite...)
It's been awhile since I've written a post about our day to day life, and since we're all just curious cats, these are my favorite posts to read. There's a reason reality TV is so popular, right? SO, here's a little insight into our daily routine (if there is such a thing with 4 kids, 2 businesses and more laundry than Lady Gaga. )
Norah is usually the first to wake up, between 4:30 and 5, and she gets quick feed before falling back asleep. I lay her back in her crib, walk back to bed like a drunk person and am back to sleep within 10 seconds of hitting the mattress.
We typically hear footprints down the hallway around 6:30 and it's almost always Bellamy. Last to bed, first to wake every. single. day. She jumps in bed with me (Collin is usually at the gym before 6) and we wait for everyone else to wake up. By 7, our bed is getting very crowded.
If Collin is home, he'll get breakfast for the kids while I feed Norah and get ready for the day, otherwise I'll get breakfast started and then nurse Norah while the kids eat. Our go-to breakfasts are protein pancakes (we use the Kodiak mix from Costco), scrambled eggs, oatmeal, "special yogurt" (which is just greek yogurt with a dollop of jam and drizzled with honey, topped with berries & granola) or cereal if I'm feeling extra lazy.
By 8:00, everyone is upstairs and it's a gong show of clothes, shoes, hair ponies, and the occasional tantrum because it's too cold to wear a tutu or how dare i buy an itchy shirt conundrum.
We are all dressed & loaded into the car by 8:40 with backpacks, diaper bags and a million random toys that make my car look like a homeless camp.
The big kids go to school a 2/3 days a week, so on those days, I run errands in the morning with whoever is not at school, or we'll head back home. If nobody has school (2 days a week), we usually go do something fun, go on an adventure, go shopping or have a playdate. I try to keep those days free of running errands and spend that quality time with the kids.
By 11:30, I'm back at school for pick-up and we head home for lunch and just enough time to tear the house up. It's seriously impressive how quickly a 1, 3 & 5 year old can absolutely destroy a clean house. We usually do turkey, pb&j or yogurt for lunch, and keep it relatively quick.
12:55 rolls around and the kids know that they're going to turn in to pumpkins if they don't get in their beds by 1:00 for naps (cinderella we are not). The girls go down for naps really well, Norah usually will be down by 1:30 and Baylor will either fall asleep or play quietly in his room with legos until 2:00. Once he's over it, he'll come out and ask for snacks or a show relentlessly until the girls wake up.
Once everyone is asleep/quiet in their rooms, I am parked at my desk to work. I finish up projects, answer emails, get shop to-dos done or blog. Sometimes, I'll jump up for a load of laundry or something to the effect, but I try to keep this time free of disruption (at least self-induced, someone always needs something, always).
The kids are usually up by 3:30 or 4 and act like they haven't eaten in days. I get them snacks, let them watch a show a clean the house while they're occupied. Once their show is over, we try to play a game, color, dance or do something that keeps everyone from hitting a wall. If it's nice, we'll go on a walk or jump on the trampoline.
We eat dinner together around 5:30 and try to make it a point to visit, play happy dinner and talk with the kids about their day, whats coming in the days ahead or random subjects that happen to come up (which unfortunately involve "poopy" far too often).
We wrap up dinner, sometimes we'll tag team dishes and other times, we divide & conquer. Collin will take the kids up for baths/pjs while I do dishes & clean the kitchen or visa-versa. By 7:30, everyone is bathed, wet hair and pjs on. We turn on a show for the kids, I'll fold laundry and eventually get Norah down (usually by 8).
The rest of the kids are in bed lights out by 8:30, with the (more than) occasional escapee. Collin and I spend the rest of the evening working, watching a show or passing out in random kids beds until we just can't anymore :)
Most days are full of chaos, totally don't go as planned and at least one drink spills at every meal, but we do our best, we try to keep the attitude light and not to sweat the small stuff.
