Yesterday evening I posted on Facebook "what a perfect day" I'd had. I chuckled to myself when I thought of what that might have meant ten or even five years ago: sleep in late, graze on a sugar-filled breakfast, settle in for an all-day Anne of Green Gables marathon or something of the sort, order in Chinese for dinner. Such days are long gone, of course. While it still sounds nice occasionally, the "perfect day" of this stage of life is much more satisfactory.
5am: Owen wakes up, but since he doesn't always go back to sleep if I nurse him at 5am, I decide to wait a while. He's back to sleep within half an hour.
6:45am: Isaac's alarm goes off and he sleeps through it, so I nudge him out of bed.
7am: I shower and dress.
7:30am: I wake up Owen so that he will take a morning nap before we go out.
7:45am: Isaac leaves for work.
7:50am: Levi wakes up; I get him dressed.
8am: We feast on zucchini bread made the night before; the boys also have homemade yogurt (strawberry for Levi, peach for Owen). The benefit to Isaac working Sunday nights is that I have time to prepare for the week, be that making bread, or meal-planning, or gathering some activities for Levi, or folding laundry (I did two loads Sunday night), or baking something special for breakfast.
8:30am: Bible/book time around the table. I do my BSF homework, Levi listens to The Jesus Storybook Bible and looks at the pictures, and Owen "looks at books" (or, rather, chews on them and throws them on the floor).
9:15am: Owen goes down easily for his morning nap. Levi and I work on his button snake for a few minutes. He disappears to play with his letter mat (as he is doing right now, as I type this) and I pack our lunches.
10:05am: Just when I'm contemplating waking up Owen, he wakes up on his own! Diaper changes all around, socks, shoes, jackets, stroller, diaper bag, lunch bag, and we're out the door!
10:30am: Story time at the North Central branch of the library. Levi is now so comfortable (and compliant) with following Miss Kelly's directions that I can have Owen on my lap and act out some of the song motions with him. We sing a lot of favorites, put the Brown Bear animals on a felt board, shake and pound a jingle bell on a stick, and actually hold hands with the little girl next to us for circle songs!
11:30am: Lunch with Daddy at his office (which is just down the street from the library). Bonus: leftover Oreos from youth group the previous night.
12:30pm: Home to play outside on the deck. Levi loses his purple car* privileges because he keeps barreling into Owen, but he takes it well and they have fun. *There's a picture of Levi in the purple car at the bottom of that blog post.
1pm: Owen goes down for a nap. Levi and I pick up some toys and read some stories.
1:30pm: Levi is down for a nap. I had planned to dust the downstairs and then take a nap, but instead I spend all of naptime (which is half an hour longer than it often is) on the couch with a fascinating book Isaac just purchased for his personal church library. More on that in the future!
3:15pm: Owen wakes up.
3:30pm: Levi wakes up. We all have some grapes in the kitchen. I get dinner in the oven.
3:55pm: We head outside with Levi on his "bike" and Owen in a sling to watch for Daddy. This is our first time with the bike outside, and it is extremely slow-going: so much so that, when Daddy gets home twenty minutes later, we've only made it past three houses!
4:15pm: Isaac gets home from work, bringing with him a chocolate milkshake, thanks to the Goody Shop's end-of-season happy hour. We spontaneously decide to walk the neighborhood, Levi alternately riding his bike and making Daddy carry it.
5pm: I finish dinner while Isaac plays with the boys.
5:45pm: We eat, and neither boy protests. The whole time, Isaac and I have excited conversation over the material in the book I read during nap time.
6:30pm: Isaac reads to us from the Bible and we sing a hymn.
6:45pm: I put Owen to bed. Isaac cleans the kitchen and keeps an eye on Levi.
7:15pm: Bedtime rituals begin for Levi.
7:30pm: Isaac takes care of a few man things (bills to pay, etc.) while I prep for the next day (dinner out of the freezer, etc.) and read a magazine.
8:30pm: I have a snack while we chat on the couch.
9pm: Upstairs and in bed by 9:30.
Doesn't sound terribly exciting, does it? But I love our routines, our outings, our hard work, our play. With the exception of Wednesdays, most of my days look like this (with some variation of the late-morning and late-afternoon outings). This particular Monday was only special because naps were a little longer than normal, and necessary discipline was a bit more scarce than normal! Those two things alone are reasons to celebrate. :)
5am: Owen wakes up, but since he doesn't always go back to sleep if I nurse him at 5am, I decide to wait a while. He's back to sleep within half an hour.
6:45am: Isaac's alarm goes off and he sleeps through it, so I nudge him out of bed.
7am: I shower and dress.
7:30am: I wake up Owen so that he will take a morning nap before we go out.
7:45am: Isaac leaves for work.
7:50am: Levi wakes up; I get him dressed.
8am: We feast on zucchini bread made the night before; the boys also have homemade yogurt (strawberry for Levi, peach for Owen). The benefit to Isaac working Sunday nights is that I have time to prepare for the week, be that making bread, or meal-planning, or gathering some activities for Levi, or folding laundry (I did two loads Sunday night), or baking something special for breakfast.
8:30am: Bible/book time around the table. I do my BSF homework, Levi listens to The Jesus Storybook Bible and looks at the pictures, and Owen "looks at books" (or, rather, chews on them and throws them on the floor).
9:15am: Owen goes down easily for his morning nap. Levi and I work on his button snake for a few minutes. He disappears to play with his letter mat (as he is doing right now, as I type this) and I pack our lunches.
10:05am: Just when I'm contemplating waking up Owen, he wakes up on his own! Diaper changes all around, socks, shoes, jackets, stroller, diaper bag, lunch bag, and we're out the door!
10:30am: Story time at the North Central branch of the library. Levi is now so comfortable (and compliant) with following Miss Kelly's directions that I can have Owen on my lap and act out some of the song motions with him. We sing a lot of favorites, put the Brown Bear animals on a felt board, shake and pound a jingle bell on a stick, and actually hold hands with the little girl next to us for circle songs!
11:30am: Lunch with Daddy at his office (which is just down the street from the library). Bonus: leftover Oreos from youth group the previous night.
12:30pm: Home to play outside on the deck. Levi loses his purple car* privileges because he keeps barreling into Owen, but he takes it well and they have fun. *There's a picture of Levi in the purple car at the bottom of that blog post.
1pm: Owen goes down for a nap. Levi and I pick up some toys and read some stories.
1:30pm: Levi is down for a nap. I had planned to dust the downstairs and then take a nap, but instead I spend all of naptime (which is half an hour longer than it often is) on the couch with a fascinating book Isaac just purchased for his personal church library. More on that in the future!
3:15pm: Owen wakes up.
3:30pm: Levi wakes up. We all have some grapes in the kitchen. I get dinner in the oven.
3:55pm: We head outside with Levi on his "bike" and Owen in a sling to watch for Daddy. This is our first time with the bike outside, and it is extremely slow-going: so much so that, when Daddy gets home twenty minutes later, we've only made it past three houses!
4:15pm: Isaac gets home from work, bringing with him a chocolate milkshake, thanks to the Goody Shop's end-of-season happy hour. We spontaneously decide to walk the neighborhood, Levi alternately riding his bike and making Daddy carry it.
5pm: I finish dinner while Isaac plays with the boys.
5:45pm: We eat, and neither boy protests. The whole time, Isaac and I have excited conversation over the material in the book I read during nap time.
6:30pm: Isaac reads to us from the Bible and we sing a hymn.
6:45pm: I put Owen to bed. Isaac cleans the kitchen and keeps an eye on Levi.
7:15pm: Bedtime rituals begin for Levi.
7:30pm: Isaac takes care of a few man things (bills to pay, etc.) while I prep for the next day (dinner out of the freezer, etc.) and read a magazine.
8:30pm: I have a snack while we chat on the couch.
9pm: Upstairs and in bed by 9:30.
Doesn't sound terribly exciting, does it? But I love our routines, our outings, our hard work, our play. With the exception of Wednesdays, most of my days look like this (with some variation of the late-morning and late-afternoon outings). This particular Monday was only special because naps were a little longer than normal, and necessary discipline was a bit more scarce than normal! Those two things alone are reasons to celebrate. :)
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