Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Day in the Life 6/28/11

Yesterday was another very full day, so I thought I'd use it as a day in the life post. Again, no pictures, so probably pretty boring to most.

Graham came in my room around 7:00 and I had him lay down on his mat and sleep a little longer. By 7:30, I knew I needed to get up, so I changed his diaper and got him dressed and then I took my shower. When I got out, all 3 big kids were in my room watching tv. I turned it off and told them to all go downstairs and eat breakfast so we could leave for bible study. Then I finished getting ready, got Leah up (she had just woken up when I went to get her), changed and dressed and went downstairs. I was so mad when I found all 3 big kids, again, sitting there watching tv. None of them had eaten yet. I didn't just tell to go downstairs, and I certainly didn't tell them to go downstairs and watch tv. I specifically told them to go downstairs and eat breakfast. On days when we have to get out of the house "early" they are really good about doing this on their own, I don't know what it was about yesterday. We needed to leave in 10 min, so I told them they better stuff their faces or they'd be hungry! lol I got Leah's breakfast for her and made my coffee. Got everyone's bags ready, poured my coffee into my travel mug and had everyone put on their shoes and get in the car. On the way to church, I called the pediatrician to scheduled Leah's hip sonogram. They said they'd have the dr. call me back. We were 10 min. late to church. I got all the kids signed into their rooms. Natalie has piano lessons during the bible study so I reminded her teacher that her piano teacher would be coming down to pick her up and take her upstairs for her lesson and then bringing her back to class. During bible study, the pedi's office called me back, so I walked outside to take the call. They told me that they'd scheduled Leah's sonogram for 9am Wed. morning. Perfect. While I was on the phone with them, my friend Erika had called. Her husband is being stationed in Italy, so they are packing and getting all their stuff ready to leave this week. I'd told her I'd help her with her kids if she needed it, so I figured that is what she was calling about. Sure enough, the packers were not coming when they were supposed to, so they had a mad dash to get things ready quick. So she asked if I could keep her kids that afternoon. I of course, said yes, I was happy to help (and to get to see her one more time before they leave). When I walked back into bible study, I asked my friend Lauren, who was sitting beside me if she could watch Erica and Graham for me while I took Leah to her sonogram, and that I'd bring Natalie with me to help. She said yes, and then asked if I could watch her kids an afternoon this week when she had a dr. appt. That's what friends are for! When bible study was over, I picked up the kids and headed straight home because Erika was meeting me here at 12noon. We came in and picked up as quickly as we could. I hadn't done the dishes yet that day, so I ran a load quickly and then started getting plates out to make lunch. Erika got there and brought in her 4 kids and the food she'd picked up for them on the way over (she'd offered to get my kids food too, but I told her I'd just make them something at home). I had Natalie make all our kids a Sunbutter & honey sandwiches. Sunbutter is like peanut butter, but made from sunflower seeds since Natalie can't have nuts. All my kids LOVE it! Then I cut up some fruit for them to go with it. While I was getting everyone situated, Erika fed the baby, Levi, a bottle and then she left. I put Levi in the exersaucer and made a sandwich for myself (no sunbutter, tyvm) and scarfed it down with some Diet Dr Pepper. Then I had to get ready for naptime. Erika said all her kids were very tired and cranky, so they'd all need naps. I had to get creative as to where to put everyone for naptime. Five diaper changes later, we were ready to lay down. I ended up putting Leah in her own room. Then I put Madison (age 5) in the girls' room. Jacob (age 3) slept in Graham's room. For Caden (age 2), I set up the pack in play in Eric's closet. Then I put Graham on his napmat in my room. I didn't plan on having Natalie and Erica take a nap, but Natalie was tired she went down to the guest room to take a little nap (though I don't think she ever slept). Erica stayed upstairs in the loft and watched tv quietly. Levi (age 6 mos) ended up falling asleep in the bouncy seat right by the computer. While everyone (mostly) slept, I was able to check my email, fb, blogs etc. I got maybe 45 min. or so before anyone woke up. When Levi woke up, he was ready to eat, so I took him downstairs and made him a bottle and fed him. When he was done, I let him play on the floor while I cleaned up the kitchen from lunch. Soon, one by one the kids started trickling down from naptime. I changed everyone's diaper as they came down. From then until about 5:30, I just spent my time trying to keep everyone happy and out of trouble. I wasn't totally successful, but we survived. Erika and her husband Jake came to pick up the kids and we had to say our final goodbyes to them. They are leaving tomorrow (Thurs) to go visit their families across the country, and then will be headed to Italy. I can't even begin to tell you how much we're going to miss them! When they left, I started dinner. I made tacos/nachos. Eric got home a little after 6:00 and we all ate dinner. After dinner, I took Graham and Leah upstairs and got them ready for bed. Then I gave Erica a bath and Natalie took a shower. I let Eric finish getting them ready for bed because I needed to go to Target. I know, I was just there the day before, but we were already out of milk and bread and Leah needed more Ibuprofen. So I made my short list of a few other things we needed and headed out. I took my sweet time roaming through the store, stopping to look at cute stuff I had my eye on, only buying a few impulse items. When I got home I carried in the few bags I had and put them up. Then sat on the couch and talked to Eric some before heading upstairs. I got on the computer and checked my usuals and then did some housing research for the Austin area. Tried calling it an early night (anytime before 11 is early for me), but I'd had iced tea with dinner and couldn't go to sleep. Caffeine affects me soooo much since having kids. I think I finally drifted off somewhere around 12:30.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Day in the Life 6/27/11

I had a very sweet blog friend ask me if I'd participate in a Day in the Life series. Basically, I'll blog about what I did that day. I told her I'd thought it'd be pretty boring for most people to read, especially because I don't take pictures throughout the day normally. But she said she thought it would be great to see what a homeschooling mom of 4 does with her days! So, I agreed. I will blog as many days out of the week as I can. But, you have fair warning, that I don't lead a very interesting life!

Today I'm going to blog about my day yesterday, Monday June 27.

Graham is always the first one awake, usually by 7:00. The other kids don't wake up for another hour or so, so when he wakes up, he comes in my room and depending on what time it is I either make him lay down on my floor on a pallet and go back to sleep, or I will turn my tv on for him to watch. Then I either get up and take my shower, have quiet time, or try to get some more sleep myself. Yesterday, I tried to go back to sleep. But after 30 min. I hadn't been able to go back to sleep, so I just got up and got dressed. By then, Leah was awake, so I went in to get her. I changed her and got her dressed and then changed Graham and got him dressed. The older girls were up by now too and they got dressed and then we all went downstairs for breakfast. Graham and Leah always eat fruit bars (Nutrigrain bars) for breakfast, and the girls just wanted cereal. I got them all situated, then I started a pot of coffee. Leah was extra fussy this morning (I think her hip has been bothering her, I will update about that at the end of this post), so I ended up holding her while I tried to pick up the kitchen a little and drink some coffee. Natalie unloaded the dishwasher while I finished making my grocery list. Then at 10:30, we all put our shoes on and went to Target to get groceries. Normally, I go to the store in the evening, by myself, or with just 1 or 2 of the kids. But we had just gotten back in town from the weekend and I didn't get to go on Sunday night, so I had to go with everyone Monday morning. I got one of those double buggies that can hold 3 kids. Leah sat in the regular buggy seat, and Erica and Graham sat in the extended seat. As soon as we walked in, I got all 4 kids Icees. I don't do this regularly, but I don't normally take them all with me when I have a big shopping trip, so I knew I wanted something that would keep them busy. It was Leah's first time having her own Icee and she was so happy about it. She just kept smiling at me and giggling! First we went to the baby section to get Leah some new sippy cups. Hers have been leaking and she has been more interested in drinking from our cups when we're out (with straws), so I thought I'd try some of the straw sippies with her. Then it was over to the grocery section for the rest of our list. We started in the back with the refrigerated items, and then onto frozen foods. By the time we were at the end of frozen foods, Graham had declared that he "not like this" Icee and threw it on the floor, of course causing some of it to spill out. I threw it away and he sulked. But luckily it was short lived. The kids were all really well behaved for the most part. Of course there were a few, "let's keep our hands and feet to ourselves", but for the most part, everyone did well. We left Target around 11:45 and I went through the Chick Fil A drive thru to get nuggets for the 3 youngest kids for lunch. Natalie and I were going to eat leftover pizza from the night before. We got home and I brought all the kids in and made their plates (nuggets/pizza, canned pears). Then I brought in all the groceries and put them away while the kids ate. When they were done, they went and played in the playroom while I ate my lunch. After that I put Graham and Leah to bed for their nap. Then I took my shower and got dressed. Then I got on the computer, checked email, facebook, blogs, and researched some homeschool curriculum a friend recommended. By this point it was almost 3:00, and I went downstairs to clean the kitchen and get dinner started. The girls helped pick up downstairs because their Meme and Pawpaw were coming over for dinner. Graham came down from his nap at some point and Leah woke up around 4:00, so I went and got her up and changed. A little after that a friend of mine stopped by so we could exchanged some things we'd borrowed from each other. Her kids and my kids played together for a few minutes. Then our dinner guests arrived and I was able to finish dinner without a baby on my hip or kids nipping at my heels. We visited with them and watched video of the girls' piano and dance recitals. When Eric got home, we all ate dinner and visited some more. After they left, the kids got baths and we got them ready for bed. Eric and I spent some time talking together on the couch and then I came upstairs to watch a little tv before bed while Eric studied downstairs.

Riveting, no?

Ok, so about Leah's hip. Week before last she came down with strep, double ear infection, and a yeast infection. Then that Saturday, we noticed she started limping. By Sunday, she wouldn't even walk. I took her to the dr. on Monday morning and she said she thought she had Transient Synovitis, which is basically an inflammation of a joint (in this case, her hip) after an infection. It can last 1-3 weeks and the only real treatment, is just Ibuprofen for the pain and inflammation. She said if she wasn't showing any improvement in a week, that we'd schedule a hip sonogram and maybe an x-ray. She seemed to be doing better over the past week. Eric and I even went out of town for the weekend for our 10th anniversary and left the kids with friends and she did fine all weekend. Then Sunday evening and yesterday, she was very fussy off and on and her limp seemed worse at times, but then about the same at others. So I decided to play it safe and called the pedi this morning to her a hip sonogram scheduled. She will go to that at 9am tomorrow (Wed) morning. Hopefully they will find nothing, and it's just the Transient Synovitis wearing off, but I want to be sure.