5:00 am: My alarm starts beeping. And beeping. And beeping.
5:04 am: I finally snooze the alarm.
5:19 am: My alarm starts beeping. Again. And gets snoozed. Again. And again and again.
5:57 am: I'm poked by Tom and told that it's time to get up or we'll be late, so I literally roll out of bed and hobble over to plug in the iron before hopping in the shower.
6:10 am: My shower is finished, the iron is ready for steaming, and I'm ready to crawl back in bed. Instead I make the bed, pick out my clothes, and brush my teeth.
6:20 am: The ironing of the clothes begins. I iron a shirt and pair of pants for Tom and then whatever I plan on wearing for the day, which is usually either a dress or a skirt and shirt during the summer. Tom shaves and finishes getting ready for the day while I'm ironing.
6:30 am: I throw my gym clothes together while Tom pads down the hall to start the Stasa wake up process, which involves opening her curtains and blinds, turning on her bedroom light, and turning on the playroom television. She manages to recover her entire self with her quilt and promptly goes back to sleep.
6:32 am: Tom goes downstairs to pack our bags and breakfast and lunch. I go in to wake up the Lexifer. If she’s already awake, she’s usually sitting her crib and talking to her baby. If not, she wakes up pretty easily and stretches, yawns and raises her arms to be picked up. I let her run around for a bit before getting her changed and dressed for the day. Plus she usually runs straight to Stasa’s room and climbs into bed with her and that always gets Stasa up and out of bed.
6:35 am: I start brushing out my hair, which almost always gets thrown into a messy bun or slicked back into a ponytail. Then it’s on to makeup and by then one or both of the girls are standing with me and rifling through my stuff.
6:45 am: I finally start the process of getting the girls ready. Lexi’s easy – I just pick out an outfit, change her diaper and throw her clothes on. She either gets pigtails or one giant ponytail on top of her head. Stasa’s a bit harder. She’s quite opinionated about what she wears each day. I pick out her outfit and get her dressed while she’s watching tv.
6:50 am: Stasa takes off all of her clothes and declares that she CAN’T WEAR THIS TO SCHOOL. She picks out a new outfit, which almost never matches, and gets dressed on her own.
6:53 am: Stasa takes off all of her clothes again, this time to go to the bathroom.
6:56 am: Stasa is finally dressed for good. The girls brush their teeth with Tom.
6:58 am: Tom and I both get dressed and start herding the girls to go downstairs.
7:00 am: The girls sit on the bottom stair to put on their socks and shoes.
7:02 am: Stasa starts throwing a fit because she doesn’t like her Spongebob socks and needs to wear her Hello Kitty socks. I explain that her kitty socks are dirty, but that we can wash them after school.
7:10 am: Stasa is now in time-out for refusing to listen. Lexi has migrated to the kitchen carrying a new pair of shoes and is struggling to change her shoes.
7:20 am: Stasa is still in time-out because she refuses to sit in the time-out spot and is spitting her tongue out at Tom. I help Lexi change her shoes while Tom calmly tells Stasa to sit in time-out.
7:34 am: Stasa is STILL in time-out, this time because she still won’t sit down AND she tried to hit Tom. Tom is still calmly talking to Stasa, though at this point her new princess figurines are also in time-out. Lexi is happily rifling through our shoes and brings me my flip flops.
7:45 am: Stasa is FINALLY out of time-out. Tom talks to her about why she was in time-out, we tell her that we love her and we need her to be a good listener.
7:50 am: We’re now all in the car and are finally on the way to daycare and work.
8:02 am: Both girls walk into daycare and both have immediate meltdowns. Lexi falls to the floor, kicking her legs and crying. Stasa clings to us and begs us not to leave. We calm Stasa down and get her in her seat for breakfast, give hugs and kisses and say goodbye.
8:05 am: Lexi has stopped her freak out and happily walks to her room. As soon as she gets to her morning room she takes off without looking back. Not even a hug, kiss or wave goodbye. It’s breakfast time and that girl takes her meal times seriously.
8:07 am: We walk back to Stasa’s room to give her an extra hug. She’s in tears and keeps saying “come back for me.” I explain that we’re going to work and that we’ll be back as soon as work is over. I also point out all of her friends who are there and ready to play. She doesn’t care and clings to me, repeating “come back for me” over and over. We finally kiss her and hug her and tell her goodbye and as we walk away she bursts into tears.
8:10 am: My heart breaks.
8:11 am: I wish I could skip work, scoop up my little girl and spend the day with her. I can’t so I hop in the car with Tom and we drive off to work. It’s just past 8:00 am and I’m already exhausted from the morning’s events.
Showing posts with label routine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label routine. Show all posts
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Friday, June 22, 2012
Bedtime routines
Totally off the subject I intend to blog about, but little Lexi has sooooo many nicknames and you never know which one Stas is going to insist we call her. She's referred to as My Sister, My Lexia, Lexi, Alexi, Lexia, boo-boo, and so many more. Oh and if you ask Stas what Lexi's name is she yells AH-LEX-EEE-AH!
I digress.
Putting Lexi to bed has never been easier. Scratch that. It's never been more fun. It was definitely easier when all I had to do was nurse her to sleep. But now she's a participant in the bedtime routine. And she follows direction so well. After bath and pjs and teeth brushing, I tell her to get a book and her baby. She grabs a book and her baby and heads down the hall to her room and starts climbing into the armchair for story time. We read and then she flips through the book on her own. After that she climbs down, throws her friends in the crib, marches over to turn on her sleep sheep, and then stands under the light switch, waiting for me to lift her up to turn it off. Once the lights are out, baby wants down in her crib. She lays down, waits for her blanket and book and then is ready to be alone.
I mean, could that get any more fun? And easy? I love it.
Bedtime for Stasa is a bit different. She starts out bartering for two or twenty books. Once we finally land on a single book (which is almost always a Berenstain Bears book - why, oh why do those books have so many ever loving words?), we all have to cuddle up in her bed. Usually at this point it's just her and Tom and I join them after I've finished putting Lexi to bed. Is that weird that we do Lexi's bedtime 1-on-1 and Stasa's as a group? Maybe. But I think we do that because that's how her bedtime routine was when she moved to the big girl room and we didn't want things to change once Lexi arrived.
Anyway, by the time I arrive, Tom and Stas are mid-story. After we finish the book, it's lights out, music on, and sayonara daddy. Every single night Stasa asks, "Mommy can you stay with me for a coupla songs?" And every night I do, though most nights it's more like 5 or 8 songs. During that time we lay in her bed and talk about our days. Sometimes we change it up and play shadow puppets with the light cast from her night light. Lately we've been watching short You Tube videos of fireworks displays to prepare her for the big show on July 4th.
After I leave her room (with lots of "No stay! I need you!"), she comes out maybe 5 minutes later to announce that she needs to go potty. Every.single.night. Now we just tell her to go on her own and she does and then trots back to her room.
I think things are definitely going to have to change once Lexi's in a big girl bed, though we have quite a long time before that happens.
I digress.
Putting Lexi to bed has never been easier. Scratch that. It's never been more fun. It was definitely easier when all I had to do was nurse her to sleep. But now she's a participant in the bedtime routine. And she follows direction so well. After bath and pjs and teeth brushing, I tell her to get a book and her baby. She grabs a book and her baby and heads down the hall to her room and starts climbing into the armchair for story time. We read and then she flips through the book on her own. After that she climbs down, throws her friends in the crib, marches over to turn on her sleep sheep, and then stands under the light switch, waiting for me to lift her up to turn it off. Once the lights are out, baby wants down in her crib. She lays down, waits for her blanket and book and then is ready to be alone.
I mean, could that get any more fun? And easy? I love it.
Bedtime for Stasa is a bit different. She starts out bartering for two or twenty books. Once we finally land on a single book (which is almost always a Berenstain Bears book - why, oh why do those books have so many ever loving words?), we all have to cuddle up in her bed. Usually at this point it's just her and Tom and I join them after I've finished putting Lexi to bed. Is that weird that we do Lexi's bedtime 1-on-1 and Stasa's as a group? Maybe. But I think we do that because that's how her bedtime routine was when she moved to the big girl room and we didn't want things to change once Lexi arrived.
Anyway, by the time I arrive, Tom and Stas are mid-story. After we finish the book, it's lights out, music on, and sayonara daddy. Every single night Stasa asks, "Mommy can you stay with me for a coupla songs?" And every night I do, though most nights it's more like 5 or 8 songs. During that time we lay in her bed and talk about our days. Sometimes we change it up and play shadow puppets with the light cast from her night light. Lately we've been watching short You Tube videos of fireworks displays to prepare her for the big show on July 4th.
After I leave her room (with lots of "No stay! I need you!"), she comes out maybe 5 minutes later to announce that she needs to go potty. Every.single.night. Now we just tell her to go on her own and she does and then trots back to her room.
I think things are definitely going to have to change once Lexi's in a big girl bed, though we have quite a long time before that happens.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
A peek into our night
6:30 PM
Dinner with both girls. Stasa eats part of a tortilla, some refried beans, a ton of shredded cheese, and half an apple. Lexi eats mushed banana. Well, really Lexi pretends to eat mushed banana, but really just coos and shrieks while nomming on the spoon.
7:15 PM
Bath with both girls. Lots of giggling and splashing and eating of toes. I'll let you figure out who was responsible for the toe eating.
7:30 PM
A clean Lexi gets dressed and fed before bedtime.
7:45 PM
Stasa finishes her bath and runs around naked with her towel trailing behind her like a superhero.
7:47 PM
Stasa manages to get into her undies, but then decides she HAS TO GO POTTY RIGHT NOW DADDY.
7:48 PM
Stasa decides she doesn't actually need to use the potty.
7:49 PM
"I WANT MOMMY!"
7:50 PM
Stasa finally gets in her pjs and gets in bed and Tom reads her bed time story of the week: Things That GO!, otherwise known as the "fruck book".
7:58 PM
I finish feeding Lexi and put her in bed and join Stasa and Tom for the end of story time.
8:02 PM
Story time is finishes and I'm directed to tuck in and give kisses to all of her friends.
8:03 PM - nearly midnight
Tom works out, I finish homework, and together we relax, chat, and watch too much TV. We realize it's close to midnight and that we should have gone to bed hours ago.
Midnight
Stasa wakes up crying. We go in to comfort her. As we're cuddling her and trying to calm her down, PFFFFFFFFFFFFFT she gasses us, laughs hysterically, and then says goodnight.
12:10 AM
Juuuuuuuuuuust start to fall asleep.
12:12 AM
Lexi wakes up screeching hysterically.
12:17 AM
I feed Lexi and put her back to sleep.
12:18 AM
Juuuuuuuuuuuuust start to fall asleep. Again.
12:20 AM
Stasa pads down the hall and into our room. We send Stasa back to her room.
12:21 AM - 1:20 AM
I lay in bed awake, unable to get comfortable.
3:15 AM
Lexi wakes up screaming. I squint at the clock and realize we've actually slept a couple of hours. Tom goes in to put her pacifier back in and comfort her, but she just gets more ticked off. After her crying for what feels like forever, but is actually only 5 minutes, I go in and feed her because we're all exhausted and don't want Stasa waking up again.
3:38 AM
I put Lexi in bed and sigh with relief because she's back asleep. Just as I'm getting comfortable in bed, she wakes up crying. Then Stasa walks in. Again.
3:45 AM
Stasa's finally back in her own room and we've turned the monitor off and Tom goes in Lexi's room to calm her down. Again. And Again.
4:30 AM
Monitor is still off and Lexi's still crying. She's fed and dry and mad. We finally give up and shut her door and our door and finally fall asleep.
5:00 AM
My alarm goes off. And I hit snooze thinking I'll get up in a minute.
5:30 AM
My alarm has been snoozed a couple of more times and now Tom's alarm is going off.
6:20 AM
We both finally get up and out of bed. Then it's a rush to get showered and dressed so we can get the kids up and ready. I realize I need to be out of the house by 7:15 to make it to Stasa's dentist appointment on time.
7:27 AM
We all leave the house.
Dinner with both girls. Stasa eats part of a tortilla, some refried beans, a ton of shredded cheese, and half an apple. Lexi eats mushed banana. Well, really Lexi pretends to eat mushed banana, but really just coos and shrieks while nomming on the spoon.
7:15 PM
Bath with both girls. Lots of giggling and splashing and eating of toes. I'll let you figure out who was responsible for the toe eating.
7:30 PM
A clean Lexi gets dressed and fed before bedtime.
7:45 PM
Stasa finishes her bath and runs around naked with her towel trailing behind her like a superhero.
7:47 PM
Stasa manages to get into her undies, but then decides she HAS TO GO POTTY RIGHT NOW DADDY.
7:48 PM
Stasa decides she doesn't actually need to use the potty.
7:49 PM
"I WANT MOMMY!"
7:50 PM
Stasa finally gets in her pjs and gets in bed and Tom reads her bed time story of the week: Things That GO!, otherwise known as the "fruck book".
7:58 PM
I finish feeding Lexi and put her in bed and join Stasa and Tom for the end of story time.
8:02 PM
Story time is finishes and I'm directed to tuck in and give kisses to all of her friends.
8:03 PM - nearly midnight
Tom works out, I finish homework, and together we relax, chat, and watch too much TV. We realize it's close to midnight and that we should have gone to bed hours ago.
Midnight
Stasa wakes up crying. We go in to comfort her. As we're cuddling her and trying to calm her down, PFFFFFFFFFFFFFT she gasses us, laughs hysterically, and then says goodnight.
12:10 AM
Juuuuuuuuuuust start to fall asleep.
12:12 AM
Lexi wakes up screeching hysterically.
12:17 AM
I feed Lexi and put her back to sleep.
12:18 AM
Juuuuuuuuuuuuust start to fall asleep. Again.
12:20 AM
Stasa pads down the hall and into our room. We send Stasa back to her room.
12:21 AM - 1:20 AM
I lay in bed awake, unable to get comfortable.
3:15 AM
Lexi wakes up screaming. I squint at the clock and realize we've actually slept a couple of hours. Tom goes in to put her pacifier back in and comfort her, but she just gets more ticked off. After her crying for what feels like forever, but is actually only 5 minutes, I go in and feed her because we're all exhausted and don't want Stasa waking up again.
3:38 AM
I put Lexi in bed and sigh with relief because she's back asleep. Just as I'm getting comfortable in bed, she wakes up crying. Then Stasa walks in. Again.
3:45 AM
Stasa's finally back in her own room and we've turned the monitor off and Tom goes in Lexi's room to calm her down. Again. And Again.
4:30 AM
Monitor is still off and Lexi's still crying. She's fed and dry and mad. We finally give up and shut her door and our door and finally fall asleep.
5:00 AM
My alarm goes off. And I hit snooze thinking I'll get up in a minute.
5:30 AM
My alarm has been snoozed a couple of more times and now Tom's alarm is going off.
6:20 AM
We both finally get up and out of bed. Then it's a rush to get showered and dressed so we can get the kids up and ready. I realize I need to be out of the house by 7:15 to make it to Stasa's dentist appointment on time.
7:27 AM
We all leave the house.
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