A Day in the Life: February 2015

I did a few of these when Elsie was little-a little snapshot of what our days were like.  I figured our days are about to change big time so I wanted to do a few of these while it is just the three of us.

Elsie is 3 years, 2 months old
Wednesday February 25th, 2015
Weather:  Somewhere between 15-25 degrees and it was forecast to snow 4"-8"

7:10 AM:  John and I woke to Elsie calling for us.  It is a good day when Elsie sleeps past 7:00AM so I call this a success.  I was up at 4:15 AM and John woke up too.  We both struggled to fall back to sleep until around 5:00 AM.  This is pretty common for me lately and I blame it on the pregnancy. John got Elsie and brought her back to our room and he got up and got ready to leave for work.  On days I stay home with Elsie he is normally gone between 6:00-6:30 AM so he was running a little bit behind.  Elsie and I snuggle in bed while we watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

7:45 AM:  We make our way downstairs, let Tally out, and I throw a load of clothes in the wash.  Then I get our breakfast which isn't anything too fancy.  Cheerios and raspberries.  We feed Tally and Elsie plays with her for a little bit.  I gather some things together that I have been meaning to put in the mail and get organized for the day

8:30 AM:  We head back up stairs and change and get ready to leave for tumbling.  It has started snowing and I check to make sure it isn't cancelled due to the weather.  I call John who has already headed over to Ames to see if the road conditions are okay to head over.

9:00 AM:  Like always, we are struggling to get out the door on time.  It doesn't matter what time we start the process it seems like we are still always pushing it to the last  minute to get out the door.

9:10 AM:  We are finally on our way to tumbling.  Elsie is already hungry again so we bring a back of trail mix along.  She is obsessed with trailmix and of course, always eats M & M's out of the bag first.

9:25 AM:  We actually make it to tumbling in good time.  Roads weren't bad at all-I can't believe I was thinking about not going due to the snow.  We stop for a quick bathroom break before heading up to her classroom.  There is a new mom (or nanny) there and she strikes up a conversation.  As much as I like to be social I was looking forward to some quiet time to read our book club pick of the month:  The Girl on the Train.  Thankfully, she is occupied with a baby and a brother who is too old for the class.  I alternate between watching Elsie on the monitor and reading my book.  She had a few rough weeks of listening during class but these past two weeks she has been so good and comes out so proud of herself for being a good listener.

Parents sit out in the hallway and watch the class on the TV.  

10:05 AM:  Class is over and we head back out to the car-I am dreading the thought of scraping the snow off my windows-if you can believe it I haven't had to do it once this whole winter!  The joys of having a garage and a winter that has been pretty mild with little snow.  As we walk out, I notice the snow has stopped and there is no snow on my car at all!  Fabulous.  Normally on Wednesdays we run errands.  I had some things I wanted to return to the mall and Target but I didn't bring them along thinking that with the snow getting worse as the day went on I would just want to get home.  Now that it has stopped snowing for the time being, I am regretting that decision.

10:30 AM:  We stop at the shop on the way home.  John picked up some Chicken Breast for earlier in the day when he ran an errand for work and I wanted to get them to make a batch of soup.  Also, I had to print something off for Bev.  When we stop Elsie has to make a picture-something she does everytime she goes to the shop.  By the time we are getting ready to leave, it is close to 11:00 AM and ask John if he just wants to go out for lunch now.

11:10 AM:  We meet uptown with John for lunch.  Elsie always chooses to sit next to John in a booth at a restaurant.  Not sure why but to be honest I don't mind :)  I get to eat without someone leaning on me or pulling on my shirt.  While waiting for our food, John reads Elsie this little pig book that Bev just gave her.  The book is actually shaped like a pig.  Before leaving, we run into Ruger for daycare and his dad Jared.  Elsie thinks it is pretty neat to see Ruger at the restaraunt.

11:45 AM:  Elsie and I make our way to the post office.  I have some things I have been meaning to mail in forever and I needs stamps too.  The lady who works at the post office asks Elsie how old she is and if she has any brother or sisters.  She tells the lady that she has a sister who is younger than her.  When asked how old her sister is Elsie replies her sister is in my tummy :).

12:00 PM:  Time for Elsie's haircut.  She hasn't had a haircut in ages and her hair is growing in uneven.  Although her hair isn't long, it definitely needs some cleaning up and I want to make sure we get it done before her 3 year pics next week and the newborn pictures in April.  At lunch Elsie told us at Angie's (where we get our hair done) she gets to choose between a black one or a fish one.  At first I wasn't sure what she was talking about and then it dawned on me she is talking about the capes they wear when getting her hair cut-seriously!! I bet it has been over a year since she has had her hair cut and she remembered that.  Naturally, she chose the fish cape :)  She did really good sitting for Angie.  We ended up taking a couple of inches off.

12:25 PM:  We make it home finally, after being gone all morning.  We both head down to the storage room to look through the baby tubs.  I want to start washing things like the cloth covers for the carseats, bouncy seat, and swing as well as receiving blankets and baby blankets.  I can't believe how many we have!!  Elsie has fun exploring through the tub and discovering new treasures.  I change the laundry and we head back upstairs.

1:00 PM:  Elsie plays with Tally for awhile and then sets up the living room to put on a performance for me.  She dances and does tricks.  It is so fun to watch her imagination and how her level of play is changing.

All set up for her performance.  I'm not sure who she thinks is going to fill the other two seats ;). 

1:25 PM:  The both of us head upstairs for naptime.  We read a few stories and sing our songs.  She is really into me singing "baby songs" which is Rock a Bye Baby and Hush Little Baby.  She likes to join along and sing to my belly  It really just warms my heart.  She ends up bringing up a baby blanket that has a giraffe on it and insists that she needs her Giraffe friend to sleep with.  I look in her closet in her "friend" bin (where we keep all ehr stuffed animals) and I can't find it.  She gets out of bed and starts looking for herself and comes out with a little taggy blanket so excited that she found her "ba-ba".  What?? I have never heard her call something that before.  I wonder where she picked that up?  She just has to sleep with it.

2:03 PM:  I leave Elsie's room and go to my room.  I set my alarm for one hour-I just need one hour nap and I will be set to go for the rest of the day :)

3:55 PM:  I wake up!  Almost two hours later.  I wonder what I did to the alarm and remembered that I had turned off my ringer during tumbling and never turned it back on-oops.  I guess I need close to two hours of sleep this afternoon.  Just as I was about to get up, I sat up and Elsie comes walking through my bedroom door-this marks the third time ever she has gotten out of bed on her own.  We head downstairs, let Tally out and I jump in the shower.  We are meeting John's parents and one of our territory reps for dinner tonight and I haven't really gotten ready for the day.

4:10 PM:  I shower and Elsie plays in "Grandma and Grandpa's room"  Which is the guest room.  We are still using the shower downstairs because John hasn't gotten around to fixing the upstairs shower yet since most of his focus was on refinishing the stairs over the past few weeks.  I always make Elsie stay in the guest room while I shower.

4:30PM:  John gets home and we all continue to get ready.  Elsie insists I wear a dress to dinner too so I find a long sweater that Amber borrowed me and leggings-this will have to do as a dress.  It seems to make Elsie happy.  Change the laundry again.

5:10 PM:  We head out the door for dinner at Hickory Park.

5:25 PM:  We arrive, meet up with John's parents and wait for our table to get ready.  I order a malt-I have been craving ice cream all day long!   Elsie gets Mac and Cheese and applesauce, I order the BBQ dinner which is always way more than I can eat but I bring about half home and isn't much more in cost than a sandwich.  I don't really care for the bread so I rarely order sandwiches there.  John orders the grinder.  Dinner goes pretty smooth and Elsie chooses to sit across the table from us between Dale and Bev.

6:40 PM:  Dinner is over and we make a quick stop to pick up some wing sauce to send to Tony and Magda and a gift card for one of the prizes for our upcoming game night.

7:10 PM:  We make it home-John and Elsie head upstairs to get ready for bed and I get my stuff ready to work.  It is one of my nights to work from home and John's turn to put Elsie to bed.  We still almost always alternate every other night for who gets to put Elsie to bed.  And she does a good job of keeping track whose turn it is :).  We both have always enjoyed it that we take turns-I wonder how this might change when baby comes.

7:30 PM:  Elsie comes down one more time for hugs and goodnight kisses.  It is taking John a long time up there.  I hate to say it but she tends to give him a bit harder of a time going to bed-she can always find one more excuse for one more thing.

8:05 PM:  John finally comes downstairs and crashes on the couch.  He turns on Grey's Anatomy-we are two weeks behind.  I don't focus on it too much because I am working on payroll stuff and catching up on some work things.

10:30 PM:  I finally turn off the computer for the night.  John has been asleep on the couch for awhile and Tally is crashed on the floor.  I tell John I am heading upstairs and I will see him in a few hours-half jokingly.  Once he falls asleep on the couch he has a hard time getting up and making his way upstairs.  I go in and give Elsie a kiss goodnight and tell her I love her.  I do this everynight.  Sometimes in her sleep she says it back and it just warms my heart.  There is just something so peaceful about sleeping children!  I then climb into bed and pull out my kindle and read a little more.  Around 11:00 PM John came up and I drifted off to sleep.