Pre-children, pre-suburbia, pre-mommyhood, I was out every Friday night. Most nights in fact. I love music and dancing and coffee and art - I did everything and anything that would pull me out of the house. I performed, had rehearsal, volunteered and worked 40-60 hours a week. All while being aware of what was going on and where and who would be there. I prefer "social butterfly", but my partner likes to affectionately say, "party girl".
When I moved to the suburbs it was hard to adjust. Nothing is in walking distance. The closest coffee is Starbucks - in a grocery store. There is great art - about 40 minutes away. And music and dancing is rare and far between. Before Leeloo we had the divorcee schedule. Every other weekend we'd be sans kids and head out for a downtown brunch or take a drive up the coast. Now that we are 24/7 parents those trips have been replaced by the park, soccer and football and beach, today it was a science fair, and tomorrow Legoland. I forget it's Friday night because the days are such a whirlwind that by the time I open my computer I'm exhausted. It's fun and good, but mighty different from the life once lived.
A typical day:
6 - 6:30am - Leeloo wakes up and wanders into our room to snuggle.
7ish - she decides that it's time to eat, and usually sits straight up saying "Yum! Yummy!"
7:30 - FaceTime with the grandparents. She officially thinks my computer's only purpose is this. She opens it up and looks at the screen saying "Grandpa? WahWah? (her version of abuelita)".
8:30 - breakfast. Avocado on toast is popular. So are soft boiled eggs. And fruit, lots and lots of fruit.
9:00-10 - Caillou is on. Leeloo's favorite show is about a Canadian 4 year old boy. He's kinda whiney and always disappointed, but she likes him so much that she no longer refers to her brothers by anything other than "Caillou!"
I use this time to shower, get dressed, clean up breakfast, get Ripley dressed and get things packed up for the morning (snacks, lunch, etc).
10am - Morning activity. Park, library, dance, playdate, swimming, anything that gets us out of the house.
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| On a walk to a playdate. We stopped for every snail and she discovered ants. It took us almost an hour. Toddler pace. |
Noon - time to head home for nap.
12 - 3 - welcome to the unpredictable portion of the day. On good days she sleeps for a few hours. Lately, afternoon naps are hit or miss. Mama still needs the quiet time. Please, nap overseers of the universe, have pity on us!
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| She's so lovely. |
2:30 - B comes home from middle school. Let the homework begin!
3:30 - Z gets home from school, yet more homework to be had.
4:00 - By now the chiquita is up and it's snack time for all the kiddos. Then we are either off for a family walk, errands, or football practice.
On our way to practice:
What we do while the boys practice:
5ish - head home and cook dinner. Or drop the boys off to their mom and sometimes cheat on dinner.
This day we had some errands to run (buying stainless steel bowls since I'm trying to ween out all plastic). Dinner was found nearby.
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| Dinner cheat. Panera. |
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| Always gotta stop and see the fish. |
6:30 - our normal dinner time.
7:00 - clean dinner plates while the kids go bananas.
7:30 - bath time for all.
8:00 - reading time for the chica and bedtime for the monkeys.
8:30 - 9:30 - convince the 2 year old that sleep indeed is a good thing.
10:00 - 12am - Glass of wine, piece of chocolate. Catch up on daily events, write, edit pictures, anything I can while my eyes stay open. Oh, and maybe spend sometime with the partner (if he hasn't fallen asleep with Leeloo - which is what he did tonight).
And you wonder why I don't remember that it's Friday. Whew!
(all these pics were taken on one day - the outfit changes are typical, 2 year olds are messy!)
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