A day in the life

As I sit here in my lovely massage chair sipping a glass of wine, I'm thinking of all the bazilion things I did today and thought 'd try to recap the day. Unfortunately, I'll guarantee that I've forgotten a good number of cute (and not so cute) things the kids did, but here goes:

5:04am- Baz wakes up....no possiblilty of settling him down- I try, but he clearly is ready to get up, so I pick him up and trudge slowly out to the family room. I'm already tired because he was up twice or so during the night. No fevers, though- his ear infections seem to be on the mend.

Thankfully, he's happy to sit with me on the couch and drink his Pediasure and watch MIckey Mouse Clubhouse. He actually asked for it by name (Icky Ouse House) so I got a mini-nap in

5:30-ish....he's had enough of sitting still and gets down from the couch. I continue to doze on the couch- luckily he doesn't do anything dangerous (that I know of)

6:00-ish....Anya and George appear...it seems that she's decided to go straight to our room to wake somebody up and since I wasn't there, Daddy got nominated (wahoo for me!!!!) I continue to doze off and on until 7, when the intermittent "Mommy, mommy" requests break through and I'm up. The kids have now pulled out a good number of their toys, which are strewn across the family room floor- round 1 begins!

7:00- I've barely made it into the kitchen to get orange juice and bagels for the kids and George has taken over the couch and is O-U-T. OK- I definitely understand being tired, so I move into the kitchen and start with the day's projects. I start by making sugar cookie dough with Anya. My initial plan was to make the dough early, put Baz down for an early nap (10am) and have time to exercise, then make the cutouts. (If you think this plan actually happened, I do NOT live in fairy tale world....this is reality, Greg). ANya was great helping add ingredients and helping the mixer turn, only snitching here and there. I figured we were on a roll and we moved on to peanut butter blossoms. Both kids helped with this one- adding ingredients, rolling the balls in sugar, and when the cookies came out, putting the kisses on top!

8:00- I'm in mommy heaven.....the kids move into the living room and begin playing in their "tent". This tent is Nan's couch with the cushions standing on end and the cushions from her chairs forming the roof. Anya is being some animal- a dog or horse, I think, with her brown boots on her feet and her princess boots on her hands. I don't care one but because the beauty is that they are playing happily together. This is my cue to start cleaning...after making George's sandwich and making coffee for both of us, I break out the Flip-It and mop the kitchen floor. That's the first bonus of the day- I didn't plan on this, but it sure needed doing. Oh yeah, somewhere in there, I put in a load of wash or two.

9:00- I start waking George up, which becomes difficult because Anya wants to have a surprise party in her room. Sebastian and I are ordered to "get the room ready" for a surprise party for me. Apparently this means gathering up and posing a bunch of her dolls and stuffed animals. After this party, ANya had a "sale" of her toys for George and I. I bought several stuffed animals- yay me!

10:00- George has gotten up, showered and dressed and left. As usual, both kids ran to stand on the back of the couch to wave goodbye to him. Baz blew a bunch of kisses and waved his heart out- it was really cute. Baz is now showing signs of getting tired (not surprising based on his sleep pattern over the preceding night and being sick), so I figured I'd give him a nebulizer treatment and put him down. The neb went fine- turns out I just had to ask him to put it on his nose and he did- silly mommy (I spend the entire time at the peds yesterday trying to get the mask close enough so he got afew breaths of it as she screamed bloody murder). THe challenge this time was that Anya wanted some too, so I had to make sure they both got equal time with it.

10:20- Baz goes down after about 10 minutes of screaming (I hate it when this happens because he usually goes down so easily). Anyway, I don't care THAT much since he is sleeping, which means that I have at least 2 (more likely 3 hours) to only monitor one child. I play with Anya for a few minutes, then ask her if I can please exercise. Not that I want to (the devil on my shoulder was becoming very persuasive and I wanted to get it over with before I gave in) but I had to get it in today. She wanted to lay in my bed, so I picked up her Knuffle bunny, her music box, and her sippy cup and moved them to my bed. She followed behind and happily snuggled in to watch Noggin.

10:30 I broke the cardinal rule of motherhood...as I was kicking and punching, I allowed the following thought to enter my brain: "this is so great....I can workout by myself as my kiddoes happily sleep and rest quietly in other part of the house" Yeah, RIGHT. WIthin seconds of having this thought, I hear "Mommy, Mommy, MOMMY!!!!" OK- pause Turbo Jam and run back to see what's so dire that ANya has to scream for me. It turns out that her music box batteries are dying so it sounds crappy. Ugh...I assure her that she can watch TV without listening to her music at the same time and I'd be happy to replace the batteries when I finished. Now that my heart rate has gone back down to normal, I start back up. The exercise gods are with me in that I get through the harder first half (once I've made it through the anaerobic part, I've done the important part), but that's the end of my "luck". Less than an hour into his nap, he starts screaming.

11:00- I go in to try to settle Baz down, but it clearly isn't going to happen, so I pick him up and take him to the family room. I'm hoping that somehow engaging him in TV will allow me to finish my workout. No such luck, but he was interested in the leftover kisses on the counter. No prob- have a kiss and be quiet- worked for a few minutes. I still have 15 minutes or so left, but he only wants to be held and now Anya has appeared and is asking for lunch. ACK! I tell her to give me 5 minutes to finish the important stuff and I'll make her pizza. She disappears to torment the cat and I get Baz into watching Einsteins so I can exercise a little more. I heat up the pizza and put it on the coffee table for them to eat. Anya shows up and munches away as I finally finish working out. I just *love* it when a 50 minute workout turns into 90.

12:00- Now I'm tired......sleepy because I got very little sleep and was woken up at an ungodly hour, and tired because I did a hard workout, which was stressful from the added interruptions. I know Baz is tired, so I plop him in his crib and see if he'll cry it out. He does fuss a bit (and play with the 15 toys he insists on taking in with him), but doesn't really cry. I seize this opportunity and jump in the shower. ANya sees what I'm up to and asks to join me. No prob- it'll keep her occupied once I get out. Since I don't hear Baz screaming, I take my time and even shave my legs- oh lucky day! As I get dressed, I still hear Baz talking and playing, but he seems happy, so I run around picking up odds and ends as Anya "cleans" the shower door using my Calgon body wash. Small price to pay... I continue the laundry (the loveseat is filling up with clean clothes to be folded), pick up toys in Anya's room, family room, and kitchen. I replace her music box batteries, chat with my parents, and periodically check on her. Eventually, she's had enough and I get her out and dressed....and now Baz has had enough "quiet time" in the crib.

12:30- I really can't remember what happened now.....at some point, Anya asks to see movies from when she was first born, so we move into the family room and I dig up the requested videos and we all watched for a bit. Somehow, things line up so that I think I can mop the hardwood floors. THere are a handful of spots that have been bothering me, so I set my mind to cleaning them up.

1:00- This was when started thanking Nintendo for coming into my life. Anya asked to play Mario 64 and I was thrilled to oblige. SHe's happy to play it and Baz stands there like he's missing a chromosome watching open-mouthed. I really don't care because it allows me to start cleaning and clean I did......Living room, dining room, hallway, Anya's room. As I was cleaning her room, I hear Baz make an "I'm really hurt sort of cry. I drop my mop and start running. Problem....the floors are wet and my rubber slippers don't have enough traction to fight that. As I turn the corner to the dining room, I feel myself taking flight and begin bracing- this is gonna hurt.....I did manage to catch myself on some furniture (not sure which) and continue on to save my baby. I soon see that he's standing in the middle of the floor and Anya isn't anywhere near him, so this was a frustration cry, not hurt- ack! I'll be feeling that one tomorrow! After I see that he's OK and get Anya settled back in with Mario, I finish mopping the bedrooms - mission accomplished!!! I even find time to grab the vacuum and sweep the area rug in the living room AND Baz's room.

4-ish.....I've now cleaned every floor but the family room (George earlier did our bathroom), kept the kitchen clean, and finished washing and drying the laundry- I see the light at the end of the tunnel! ANya asks me to hold her like she's a newborn baby and watch Wonder Pets- how can I resist? So I have a little quiet cuddle time with her- that was nice. I then realize that I haven't heard Baz in a bit, so I have to check on him. He wasn't doing anything bad, but I bring him in to the family room so I can see him. He now wants to be held, too, so the 3 of us sit on the couch and watch some animal action.

4:30- I now have to get dinner moving, so I chop up the broccoli that Baz has been asking for all day and toss it in the steamer. The turkey tenderloin has been cooking in the crock and is just about done. I set the table and move into the family room to finish the last room to be cleaned. I sweep and mop it up (Baz has finally learned his lesson and stayed on the rug lest he fall on his ass) and tackle the laundry. Once that's folded neatly in piles, I go back into the kitchen to finish dinner- this is easy since it's mostly prepackaged.....Stove Top in the microwave, gravy on the stove, cranberry sauce on a plate....

5:30 George arrives home- Yayyyyyy- reinforcements! As he greets the kids and changes his clothes, I put dinner on the table. Thanks to the promise of a cookie for dessert, Anya agrees to eat all of her dinner. Baz munches away on everything as she eats only the meat and broccoli (what kid doesn't like Stove Top????), but we let her get away with that since she ate the good stuf and she has her cookie.

5:45-6:15- George plays with the kids in the family room as I clean up from dinner and pack up for tomorrow.....I LOVE it when everything is done so that I can rest when the kids are in bed. This doesn't happen often, but it's a good day when it does.

6:15- the kids head for the tubby....Baz pleads for bubbles and opens the drawer where they are kept. I rush back to the bathroom when George lets out a cry of pain. Turns out he didn't know that Baz had opened the drawer and when he went to sit down, his arse made contact with the corner of the drawer- ouchie! After he recovered, I returned to the kitchen to finish packing up and putting away laundry.

6:30- My housework is done!!!! Now I just have to get Baz in bed and I can relax! I take him into his room and he quietly sits as I read Goodnight Moon. He rarely sits still for a book, so I know he's either really tired or really interested (my money is on tired), but it's only good for one book- he has no interest in the Bely Button book. He insists on saying goodnight to Anya and Daddy, so we go in there to kiss them, then back to his room. He makes a move for the toybox, but I grab him and take him in the rocking chair. He doesn't fight as I rock and sing to him. I only have to perform one encore before he was out COLD. (Not surprising...he was up at 5 am and only had less than one hour of his usual 3 hour nap). He did sweetly mumble "baby" followed by "potty" until I put them in bed with him.

7:10- Ahhhhhh..... I sit in my massage chair with my computer on my lap....peanut butter blossom in one hand, white zin in the other..... one interruption by ANya so far....her sleeper jammies were too hot, so she had to have her Dora nightgown instead (has to have outfit changes even in bed!).

Wow- that was long.....and I'm sure there were a bunch of other little things that happened, but that was my day.