A Day in the Life Of

Ashley inspired me- A friend of her's asked "So....what do you do all day?" And Ashley answered. I quite liked her answer and it made me want to actually see what I do with my day, too. It ended up being kind of long, so don't feel obligated to read it, I think it's more for me.
I would love to see "A Day in the Life Of" my other mom friends, though, if you're up for it.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Jane Wakes Up
6:10 am-Jane wakes up and I listen groggily trying to gauge if she'll play for a while or if she's already hungry.
6:15- I nudge Eric and tell him when he gets up (he's usually up already) to see if she won't take a bottle in her crib and MAYBE go back to sleep (yea right, that's happened all of twice, a girl can dream).
6:20- start dreaming about about organizing people, that's all I can remember now, but trust me, it was weird.
6:30- Jane lets out a howl. My guess is Dad gave her a bottle and then walked away from the crib (like I told him to). I'm right. Jane stops crying and I get another ten minutes, not really sleeping but not up either.
6:40- I finally cave and drag myself out of bed. Eric goes back to bed.
bet you didn't know there was so much drama about getting out of bed!

Pre-Morning Nap Activities
6:45- Jane needs a bum change and so I go ahead and get her dressed for the day and then let her play for a few minutes while I check my email and the weather, get dressed and get my gym stuff together.
7:15- time for Jane's breakfast. This morning she eats a mixture of oatmeal, formula, cinnamon, applesauce, and yogurt.
7:40- I eat a bowl of cereal while reading my scriptures while Jane chews on a spoon. I get a section of the Doctrine in Covenants in for my lesson on Sunday before Jane gets bored of her high chair.
8:00- I'm getting the last few things together for the gym (yes, it takes FOREVER to get ready to go anywhere with a baby...) and discuss with Eric (usually he's gone already but he had a bad night) if I should stop and get gas before I head to the gym (the gas light flipped on yesterday). I'm running behind.
8:10- We FINALLY leave the apartment, get gas (like Eric told me to), and get to the gym.

8:27- I'm in my BodyFlow class-a combination of Tai Chi, Yoga, and Pilates, and I'm only 2 minutes late while Jane is in the babysitting below me. It's a great class and I'm thrilled to be doing yoga again, although my body is still screwed up in places, I'm able to do more than I thought I could.
9:20- I hit the elliptical after class for a few minutes and stretch and then go pick up Jane.
10:00- return some REALLY overdue books to the library on our way home.

Morning Nap
10:15- Jane gets another bottle, some stories, and goes right to sleep no fussing. She even cuddled my shoulder of her own free will! This new naptime seems to be working great!
10:30- I get to work on some stuff for Eric's various summer job applications, email him the research I find, then check my email and my bloglines (which is when I read Ashley's "Day in the Life of" --see, I'm postmodern, too) while sipping some peppermint tea. I read yesterday it's good for the digestion and bloating. And I like it.
11:35- start blogging myself (MORE postmodernity).
11:43- time to get back to working on some of Eric's job stuff while Jane is sleeping. With great willpower, I pull myself away from bloglines, MUST NOT READ ANY MORE CRAFT AND DESIGN BLOGS.... and put on "The Fear You Won't Fall" by Joshua Radin. Mmm. That's better. I need more tea.

Post-Am Nap and Lunch
12:30- Jane woke up (early) at least fifteen minutes ago, crap. Time for lunch.
1:00pm- Mostly done with lunch, although Jane's still playing with some rice cakes. I pull out some mediterranean cooking books to prepare for the cooking class I'm teaching on Thursday.
1:30- Jane won't let me work anymore, she thinks she's poopy. We change her bum and I get in the mood to finally hang up a bunch of stuff in Jane's room. And then I decide to pull down all the 12-24 month clothes since Jane wore a 24M dress on Friday...(notice this is the first thing resembling housework I've done today) I let Jane play with the mess on the floor and then make a mess out of the changing table baskets.
2:45- I really got into working in her room! Not that you can tell a difference, other than the large flowers and insects above the crib. Bottle time for Jane and maybe we'll see if she's tired for another nap, as she's got a bit of a temp, runny nose, and is a touch fussy.

PM-Nap Attempt
3:20- Jane is in her crib without a fight and Mom is taking a break with her back on ice (i.e. laying down while working on Eric's job stuff).
3:24- I spoke too soon. Jane's in there gabbing away, probably talking to the new butterflies above her crib...darn it.
3:31- derailed by my Baby Center email...
3:44- back on task!
3:48- and the wailing begins! Why does she fight sleep so hard?

4:11- I cave to the wailing, we go outside and enjoy the sun while looking at the mail.
4:33- back on task! Jane plays with her xylophone/piano.
4:45- finished task, succumbed to blogs...

Getting Jane to Bed
5:00- dinner time for Jane! Sometimes I sing a high note like an opera singer to get her to open her mouth. Today she "sang" back and then clapped for herself. And then we did it again, and again, and again. So cute! I was sad Eric wasn't here to hear it, he would have gotten such a kick out of her "singing" (it sounded more like pulsed yelling, but still cute).
6:20- Jane is out like a light after a dinner of rice cereal, peas, and pears, a nice bath, a whiney attempt at tummy time, 6 oz of formula, two stories, and a few lullabies. I managed to rinse the diapers while she was in the tub. Now I'm off to do some damage control (i.e. housework) before Eric gets home.

My Free Time
6:28- Eric gets home...at least I picked up three of Jane's messes before he walked in the door.
We take a short break (although long compared to most nights) together, eat something, then it's back to work.
7:15- load the dishwasher, tidy up a little, head to the grocery store to get milk and quarters so I can wash the diapers, work on my cooking presentation, try not to bug Eric while he's studying.
9:15- head to bed.
9:35- My sister calls. She always returns my calls as I'm climbing into bed and gets me all wound up, all though I do the same to her often enough...
10:35- drift off to sleep...

GREEN!

There is GREEN outside my window. You know, that vibrant, bursting-with-life green that kicks of Spring? YAY! Finally!

Cousin Lizzy

I am in love with all of my nieces. It's amazing to me that I have so many spunky, unique, fascinating little girls in my family. One such young lady is Elizabeth Gwen. In many ways, she is much older than her 4 years and 11 months. Her imagination seems boundless, her sense of humor is both sharp and sparkling, and her ability to love and show love is so sweet, sincere, and usually totally spontaneous. It has been a special experience to watch my Minnesota nieces fall in love with my daughter and watch my daughter fall in love with them.

The video is a pretty typical one. You can hear Lizzy singing one of her many made up songs to Jane. Usually Jane just falls to pieces at Lizzy's antics, but of course getting the camera out distracts her so you don't get the full effect. I'm so blessed to have at least some family nearby (and more family coming closer very soon! Yay!) And I'm grateful the Lord has given me so many delightful little people to love.

After Bath Photo Shoot

So I've been wanting to post these forever (or like a month, which is pretty much forever), remember the missing camera cord? But then I got buried in pictures to post. Blah, blah, blah. Here we go.

During my "confinement" i.e. when my back was all crapped to pieces, a sweet friend felt my pain via this blog and out of the blue decided to warm my day, which was fantastic considering how cold and long the winter was! Not only did she send mail (I love mail), but she sent a box with cute things in it, including this adorable tutu. She had noticed that I was able to do at home photo shoots while on my back, which did give me great joy, and she thought I could do another with this tutu. I just can't get over how thoughtful that is! This friend, btw, has a baby a week or so older than mine and moved about a month after we did to a totally new place, also a much colder place, so I'm kind of in awe that this thought of hers made it into action and even made it into the mail...all I can say is, Tuck has one awesome mommy.

Now on to the pictures.
We just snapped these after Jane's bath, she wasn't too thrilled about it,

but we did get a couple great grins.

I'm planning on using the tutu for her ninth month pics, as we'll probably be able to get one of her standing by then. In the meantime, the tutu makes a very funny hat, at least that's what my 16 month old nephew thought today. I think I said "do you like my hat?" 22 times in 8 minutes and got a giggle every time.




...............and, uh, Belinda, this picture is for you. I imagine this is what Jason would have looked like with a tutu on...;-)

Happy Easter!

I made that wreath on the door, btw.

We decided to celebrate twice this year, call it a shout out to those of the Eastern Orthodox persuasion, just don't believe that vicious rumor that I didn't finish Jane's Easter paraphernalia in time...

Anywho, last week we did our Bread of Life tradition, which just means we eat a lot of good bread, homemade and otherwise, to remember our Savior and his preeminence in our lives. We also had Easter dinner with a few families here, including my sister.

aren't they two peas in a pod? Gosh I love those two cuties!

And Eric got his wish of an Easter egg hunt. I filled the 80 plastic eggs, he hid 60 of them. Apparently he was being too thorough, i.e. taking too long, so my sister went out there and "helped." The kids had fun, even Jane got into it.

see the little pink egg in her hand? Isn't she excited?

After Eric helped her find a few, she even spotted one on her own, got all excited (which means her wrists and ankles went nuts) and then reached for it. She didn't have a basket, so Eric put them in her dress.See the green egg in her dress? And the orange one that fell out of her dress next to her hand?

Speaking of dresses....nope. I didn't make her an Easter dress. Yes, I'm mourning that fact. I assembled materials (I had this great idea of using only stuff I had), drew up some designs (I couldn't find a pattern I liked that wasn't too expensive), bought the few things I did need (so much for my green intentions)....and then, I don't know. I couldn't commit to a design and then I got sick...I don't know how I'm going to handle more than one child on regular days let alone on holidays. *sigh*
So we went with plan B--I made Jane an Easter Bonnet from a pattern I bought off of Etsy. I didn't have to go anywhere, even. They emailed it to me. So cool! The pattern was OK, I did have to do some tweaking to make it fit my Jane's rather large head. But as I didn't want to repeat the late night sewing experience of Jane's blessing dress, and as it was stake conference on Easter (ironic), we decided to do Easter baskets and clothes with the Eastern Orthodox crowd, meaning Jane got her Easter basket this morning (she "shared" her candy with Eric) and wore her bonnet to church today.

I made that polka dot bunny Eric is holding and that yellow ducky tweets when you squeeze it. Jane figured out that it also tweets when you whack it. She's really great at whacking these days.

I should mention that in addition to making a bonnet, I also made brownies (twice--Eric burned the first batch) for a friend's son's baptism today, I spoke in Sacrament meeting, prepared my sunday school lesson, and prepped for Primary singing time... so it's been a long day.

Calling Bananas

You know who you are...you read my blog, I wanna read yours! Invite me, invite me!

A Post KINDA about my Baby

I love to watch Jane play.

I love to watch her discover something, study it intensely, take it in and try it out.

It's fun to see which things catch her attention--yesterday it was the bag of cough drops and the bottles of baby wash and shampoo on the side of the tub that have gone mostly unnoticed until last night. I love to watch her world widen, even if it's just to soap bottles.

I don't know if she's just curious or thrilled by all the new things she doesn't yet know about. I wonder what she thinks of things outside it, like all the animals in the books we read. She's only met a few dogs and one cat once. What does she think of the crocodile in Tumble Bumble, or the rhino in Can You Sing? or even all the crazy dogs in Go Dogs! Go (it's never too early for Go Dogs! Go if you're a Ludlow, or so I'm told)?

But then, what does she think of a plastic two colored sphere?

What does she think of two plastic spheres?

And I guess that's the joy of it, the not thinking. Jane is just discovering, she doesn't even have to make sense of the world yet, just experience it. And that's one of the joys of being a parent--I get reminded everyday, if I slow down enough to hear it, of the pure joy that is experiencing the world, of simple sensory discovery sans thinking. Very Zen, no? So if I can just tame that voice in me that demands I be this strange and strict definition of "productive" I have in my head, I can get down on the floor with Jane and experience growing up again...why is it so hard sometimes?


PS- Isn't that headband audaciously fluffy and huge? She only wore it for these pictures. I'm saving it for when her head grows into it, or maybe I'll trim it down. But it adds a certain whimsy to the photos, eh?

A Post NOT about my baby

Yesterday Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas came to the UMN law school. Well, actually he's been there a few days speaking and stuff. But yesterday they opened it up to the public and law student spouses got to come, which meant I was something like 25 feet from the guy.

Can I tell you how nice it was to go on a field trip? Jane stayed home with a sitter for a few hours and I drove downtown (without getting lost and successfully managing parking and everything) and met Eric at the auditorium. The event was set up like a Q and A, and there was a surprising amount of sports discussed as well as the obvious topics of the constitution and of course the commerce clause. What I liked best about the whole thing was how candid, down to earth, and humble Justice Thomas was. Politics aside, the guy was very real, committed, and honestly cared about doing the best he could. He kept saying that over and over, that he just tries to do the best he can at the time and not worry if he's in the majority or popular or even right as long as he's done the best can at the time. In addition to that approach, he emphasized the need to "keep thinking." That should have been my mantra in grad school.

Anyway, just wanted to share. 'twas really cool.

Cause and Effect

They say babies learn cause and effect at around about now.
Jane apparently knows what a thermometer is all about, thanks to Eric's month of fever. Thermometers are those things that you put in your ear and when they beep, you look at them.

The other day Jane was on her tummy, head laying down, while I pulled out the thermometer. She didn't see it, but felt something in her ear. After it beeped, she pushed up and turned her head to look at it and then put her head back down. As ear thermometers are famous for their unreliability, I checked the other ear. Jane did the same thing. And because it was so darn cute (and because I wanted to make sure it wasn't a fluke--Jane's reaction, not the temperature), I checked her temp a third time. Sure enough, as soon as it beeped, she looked up at the display screen and then lay back down.

I need to stop saying this or Jane will get a bigger head than her daddy, but she is SO SMART!

And lest I bore my missionary brother with all words and no pictures, keep scrolling and enjoy these. I have several on my camera I want to post but I'm missing my camera cord...ahh the suspense!

Coincidence?

Answer me this--is it coincidence that Jane has experienced a whole slew of health problems since we weaned? OK, so a slew is an exaggeration, but she was a pretty healthy kid (despite the loud breathing and perpetual congestion that I blame on this blasted winter). She's had an ear infection, a yeast infection, large sores on her bum, another yeast infection, pink eye, and now they think she's developed eczema (looks like a nasty rash to me) all in the month since we weaned...

Ahhh-KaCHAW!

The things that make Jane laugh! I don't know where Eric came up with this, but it worked.

Week of Teeth

Jane now has FIVE teeth! She cut her third (top right) late last week and cut two more this week, both on the top and there seem to be more on the way. She's taken to grinding them a bit, I think she's fascinated by the noise. I'm wary about putting my finger in there these days, as she has quite the bite. She's putting those chompers to good use, eating all kinds of normal foods a little at a time--cooked carrots, cantaloupe, bananas, and even cheerios. I'm in danger of saying this every post, but Jane is getting so big....*sigh*

I need one of these

So I've been having a hard time going to bed at a decent hour these days. And OF COURSE Jane is a morning baby, all chipper and ready to go every morning by 6:00 am.
It's all really Eric's fault as he stays up late studying. It's just hard to wind down when he's still going full speed ahead... maybe this will help.

Oh So Happy!

Jane woke up from her nap incredibly happy. Kind of ironic because after we shot this video, she puked all over me.

Jane has been clapping her hands for a few days now, but just here and there. She clapped them for the doctor yesterday when we went in to have her ears rechecked (they looked great, by the way). Eric still hasn't seen her do it. But today, and even as I type this, she's a clapping fiend! Without fail (or at least for the ten times I sung it), every time I sang "If you're happy and you know it," Jane clapped. So it's no fluke, and I've got the cell phone videos to prove it. And that fact that she still clapped with the cell phone out is HUGE! Quickest way to distract Jane is still with the cell phone...

Enjoy! (even though the sound is goofed up, (I don't know why, I tried uploading to youtube with no success) you can still see her clap and smile...)