A Day in the Life

My day starts bright and early at 5:00 am.  I usually get right up after my alarm goes off, because I know if I don't I will fall back asleep.  I go downstairs and pump.  At about 5:30 I come back upstairs and shower.  Then I go back downstairs and eat breakfast, pack up the pump, and set something out for dinner.  Then I go back upstairs, and do my hair and makeup and finish getting ready. 

As soon as I am dressed and ready, I go in and wake Coen up and get him dressed, usually around 6:30. Trevor gets Sierra up and dressed - I pick out her outfits for him but he does do her hair!  She is usually not a happer camper and does not want to get up.  She often screams and cries but is usually ok by the time she makes her way downstairs to me.  Coen will nurse for about 20-30 minutes and often has a diaper disaster during that time.  Usually right when we are heading out the door!

While I feed Coen, Trevor makes our coffee to go, loads up my bags into my car, and lets the dog out.  Then he gets Sierra's coat and boots/shoes on.  Sometimes he loads Coen into his car seat, sometimes I do.  I make sure I have his bottles in his bag and hope I remembered to put extra clothes in it too.  Once everything and everyone is in the car, I drive them across the street to the baby-sitter's house.  Why do I drive them, you might ask?  Because it is winter, and putting a baby in a coat to walk him across the street is a pain.  Plus I have to carry his bag, him, hold Sierra's hand....it's a lot.  If I drive across, I just jump in my car after I drop them off and head to work.  I might start walking them over when it gets warm and I don't have to bundle the baby up.  It's much easier to just put him in his carseat with the Bundle Me over him.

After I drop them off, I head to work.  Usually it is about 7:20 when I leave, sometimes 7:25 if I am running late.  I get into whatever building I am in for the day and sign in by 7:40.  What happens next depends on which school I am at for the day.  If it's the elementary school, I either have a meeting in the morning or some prep time to prepare for the day or do paperwork.  9:00 I start seeing groups of kids, and they are pretty  much back to back all day.  If one group runs late, it messes up my schedule for the rest of the day.  At about 10:00 I made sure to have a prep in my schedule, and this is when I pump at work.  While I pump, I check e-mail, write an IEP or record data from my morning sessions.  Then it's back to seeing students until 12 when I have lunch.  After lunch I have another prep, because I can't see students then (all kids are either at lunch or recess frm 12-1:10).  So this is my second pumping session of the day.  Then I continue to see students until 3:10.  If I am at the middle or high school, I start seeing kids almost as soon as I get there, but it isn't as busy.  I usually catch up on paperwork or make phone calls to parents on those days.

After work, I often run an errand before I pick the kids up because I have no other time to do it.  This week I went to the bank and post office one day, today I stopped at Auto Zone to get a bulb for the car's headlights.  Stupid stuff like that.  When I get home, I let the dog out and unload my bags.  Then I walk over to get the kids.  As soon as Coen hears me, he starts crying.  It is SO overstimulating when he screams, Sierra is talking, I am trying to talk to the baby-sitter to find out how the day went.  Then I get home and Sierra wants a snack and a "movie" on - so I have to do this before I start feeding Coen.  Which means I do it while he screams because he wants to eat as soon as I pick him up.  Once I get it all set up, I sit down to feed him and usually use the iPad to check e-mail, Facebook, etc.

After Coen is finished, I start dinner.  This can be difficult when Coen cries and Sierra is literally running around singing at the top of her lungs.  Sometimes Trevor gets home in the middle of this, sometimes not.  It depends how busy he is.  This week it has been after 6 every night.

While dinner is cooking, I feel like I have to ignore the kids and keep doing my nightly "chores."  This includes washing the bottles and pump (I hate doing this), washing coffee mugs from the day, and any other dishes.  It might also include emptying the dishwasher, feeding the cat, taking out the garbage, etc.  We have not been sitting down to eat dinner until close to 7 all week, which is too late in my opinion but it is all we can manage.

After dinner, we finish any other dishes and pack our lunches for the next day.  By this point, Coen is fussing and ready to be fed and put to bed.  I do that, while Trevor gives Sierra a bath and gets her ready for bed. Or if Coen needs a bath, Trevor does dishes/lunches while I do that because it hurts his back to bend over to bathe him.  Somewhere in between there, Trevor irons his clothes for the next day.  Yes, my husband irons....I tried to do it once but it wasn't to his standards so he does it himself.

Once Coen is asleep, I pick out clothes for both kids for the next day.  If it is early enough, I will finish getting Sierra to bed - brush her teeth, read her a book, tuck her in.  She can be difficult to get to sleep, and it is often after 9 before she is in bed.

By this point, I am exhausted and ready for bed myself.  But no - I have to pick out something to wear the next day, which still isn't fun because I don't have much that fits.  I am getting there very slowly, but it's still very frustrating.  Then I might blog, e-mail, go on Facebook for a little bit.  I try really hard not to get sucked into the computer, but it's hard. 

Right before I go to bed, I pump again.  I hate the before bed pumping, and think I should probably give it up soon.  Because after I pump, I have to wash everything so it's ready for the morning.  I do have two sets, but I don't have time to wash after the morning pump, and I need one clean one to take to work.  I actually tried to quit the before bed pump, but I woke up so engorged and uncomfortable and I HATE that feeling because it reminds me of how I felt after Adelyn died.  That was absolutely awful, one of, if not THE, worst physical reminders.

If I get to bed by 10:30, it's a miracle.  It is usually 11 when I get to bed.  Sometimes - more often than I like to admit - it is closer to 11:30. Which is not enough sleep! 
And so that is a day in my life during the work week.  I wanted to write it all down so I can remember how crazy it was, because one day I am sure I will long for these days.  Right now I feel like I am just going through the motions, surviving, getting done only what has to get done.  As you can see by my day, there really is very little time to actually sit down and enjoy my kids.  I get to spend a lot more time with Coen because I breastfeed him.  But I miss being able to sit down and play with Sierra every night.  She is at such a fun age for a little girl, I love playing dolls and dress up with her.  I want to take in every moment of that because I never get to do it again.

So it's Friday.....and I am going to try to lie on the couch and watch something off my DVR because I am so behind.  That is, IF I can stay awake.......