My Hectic Life*

I've been complaining for weeks now about my hectic life.  I thought I'd give you a little insight into our day.

• 7:15ish am - I get up, get ready, make breakfast for Miles, and do my best to down a cup of coffee before
• Anywhere between 7:00 and 8:00 am - Miles wakes up.  Sometimes he plays quietly, other times (like every day this week), he bangs on the door yelling, "Mom-mom!  Mom-mom!" at the top of his lungs until I come running in, convinced there is a crisis.  There never is.
• Wake-up time until 8:00ish - Play with Miles in his room.  Eventually get him changed, and dressed.  Usually, end up leaving his room in a state of disaster.
• 8:00 - 8:30 - Turn on the TV and give Miles his breakfast to distract him while I (finally) get to drink my coffee and maybe even get dressed for the day.
• 8:30 - 9:00 - Do some light housework - dishes, laundry, decluttering - whatever I can manage in half an hour.  Miles usually spends this time between my feet "helping" or asking for any number of things I cannot help him with while carrying a basket full of laundry.
• 9:00 am - Load Miles - and his junk - into the van, and drive to work.  If I'm not already completely brain dead, I call one of my parents, as this is my only opportunity to talk to them most days.
• 9:30 am - Arrive at work.  Unload Miles.  Try to get him interested in something, anything to distract him so I can get some work done.  By 10:00 am, I can usually begin working.
• 11:00 am - Miles begins whining because he's a) hungry, b) tired, c) bored, or d) all of the above.  I try to placate him for a few more minutes so I can finish up what I'm doing.
• 11:30ish - Miles finally wins the fight, and we zoom out the door and off to lunch to avoid a Meltdown.
• 12:30 - Drag my exhausted rear-end back into the office, carrying a suddenly-heavy Miles, who fell fast asleep in the van on the ride back.  I spend the next 15-20 minutes making sure he stays asleep.
• 12:45 - I finally get to do some work. Until:
• Anytime between 1:30 and 3:00 pm - Miles wakes screaming from his nap.  Don't ask me why.  He does it at home, too.  It's just the way he is.  I pick him up and cuddle him while finishing my latest task on the computer with the other hand.  Eventually, he wakes up completely, and goes off to play again, quite content (usually).  I generally manage to get a good chunk of work time at this point.
• 4:30ish - Miles lets me know, in no uncertain terms - that he is done being at work and is ready to go home.  I try to placate him, or send him outside with to play with one of my co-workers who is finishing up for the day.  Meanwhile, I frantically wrap up everything, amend my to-do list, cross a day off the calendar, and clean up the remnants left by my son, the Tornado.
• 5:00ish - We finally load our weary behinds into the van, and drive the 30 minutes (longer if traffic is bad) back home.  If I have any energy left, I call the other parent, to make certain they don't feel left out.
• 5:30ish - I make dinner, while Patrick plays with Miles (or vice versa).
• 6:00ish - We all fall into a heap and eat our dinner while staring mindlessly at the television.
• 7:00-8:00ish - Playtime with Miles.  Possibly a bath, if he's amiable.  Or particularly smelly. :)
• 8:00ish - Begin bedtime routine.  Play quietly in Miles' room for 10-15 minutes, then read 2-3 books (with him in bed), then 2-3 lullabies, and goodnights.  Patrick and I take turns on this.  Whoever is not doing bedtime is cleaning up supper dishes, and shoving toys out of the walkway so we don't kill ourselves in the morning.
• 9:00ish - Patrick goes to work on a project (or a work assignment, if it's been that sort of day), while I sit down to catch up on e-mails, Facebook, and maybe my blog.
• Bed for us as soon as we have finished our chores for the night.

Which is why I am going to begin splitting my Assistant job with a friend.  We will each take half of the work load, and thus, half of the days in the office.  On my working days, I will drop Miles at her house before I head to the office, and on my non-working days, she will drop off her six-year-old with me.

It sounds like Heaven.  I can't wait to start next week. <sigh>

*True story: It took me four tries to type the title to this post correctly, because I am one exhausted Mama.

Routine - 17 months old

Again, I am putting this here more as a reference than for anything else.  I apologize if it's boring.  I'll write something interesting tomorrow. :)

6:30 am - My alarm goes off.  I usually get one snooze.  I get up, brush my teeth, get my cup of coffee, and read or play online until I hear Miles on the monitor.

7:00/7:30 am - Miles wakes up.  Get him up, changed.  Read with him in the chair for a few moments, before going downstairs.

7:50 am - Stacey and Patrick leave for work.  Miles helps me fill his cup, and prep his breakfast, which he then eats while watching Maisy.  Depending on the day, I either use this time to eat, to clean, or to simply sit in my chair, trying desperately to pry my eyes open.

8:30/8:45 am - Take Miles upstairs after he has eaten.  Get him dressed for the day.  Get me dressed for the day.  Brush his teeth, and finish all other prep for the day.

9:00 am - Usually, leave to go somewhere: open gym, the mall, work, etc.  If we stay home, we play on the living room floor.

11:00/11:30 am - Lunch.

12:00/12:30 pm - Miles goes down for his only nap.  I clean, eat lunch, work on projects/work/etc, or simply read.

Somewhere between 2:00 and 3:00 pm - Miles wakes up.  Snack.  Play in living room (or in the office, if at work).

4:30 pm - If home, start dinner prep (including cleaning kitchen).  If at work, head home for the day, then start dinner prep.  Miles plays with pots and pans while I cook.  Or, you know, tries to climb the cabinets in an effort to find where I hide the really sharp knives.

5:15ish pm - Stacey and Patrick get home.

5:30 pm - Most nights, we have dinner at this time.  Wednesdays, I go to rehearsal.  If people are coming over, dinner waits until 6:00.

Post-dinner - Play with Miles, watch TV, do all of those little family things.

8:00ish pm - Bath time (if needed).

8:30 pm - Bed time for Miles.  We read 3-4 books, sing 2 songs, then put him down for the night.

Post-8:30 - Quiet time in the living room for the adults.  Projects, computer time, television, reading, whatever.  Just time to be grown-ups.

10:30/11:00ish pm - I go to bed.  I usually read for at least half an hour before going to sleep.

Routine - 15 months old

I'm using this post for me, today, so read on, if you want, but know that it's nothing interesting. :)

Looking back over the past year, I've realized that I don't have a very clear picture of how far we've come, routine-wise.  I know all of the milestones that Miles has hit, and when, and I have a great collection of photos from the entire year.  What I don't have is any idea what his routine was like at 3 months, 6 months, etc.  So, Future Self, here is Miles' current schedule, in a nutshell.  Note the crazy. :)

Somewhere between 7:15-7:30am -- Miles wakes for the day.  Usually upset, though he's starting to figure out that he can play quietly in his crib until I come get him, so he doesn't start everyday screaming, anymore.  Once he's awake, I get him out of bed, change him, and sometimes even get him dressed for the day, but that entirely depends upon his mood.  We play in his room for a few minutes until he's fully with it.

7:45ish -- Downstairs for breakfast.  I'm a Bad Mommy, so it's usually something like banana slices or toast in the living room.  Even odds as to whether or not the TV is on so I can finish my cup of coffee before the day really gets going.

8:30-10:00am -- Try to get out of the house - specifically, somewhere he can run off some energy.  If we stay at home, I spend this time on the floor with him, trying to wear him out.

10:00-11:00/11:30am -- Return to his room to play with the radio on.  Goal is to get him wound down for his first nap of the day.

11:00/11:30ish -- He goes down for his morning nap.  If I'm lucky, he'll go down without screaming.  I'm not lucky very often.

1:00ish -- Miles wakes from his nap, and we have lunch.

1:30ish -- More playing on the floor.  I try to get out some fun activity for him to do - bucket of beans to play in, collapsible tunnel to crawl through, etc.  This is the other time I try to get him out of the house, if we didn't go out in the morning.  If he's playing by himself, I try to do some housework.

3:00ish -- Snack time.  Again, it's usually in the living room, and taken in spurts as he plays.

3:30/4:00ish -- Whenever Miles starts winding down (or asks for "uhstares"), we go back up to his room to play.

4:00ish -- Miles goes down for his second nap of the day.  Screaming often ensues before sleeping.

5:00ish -- Miles wakes up and we go downstairs.  He plays in the kitchen or watches "Jane and the Dragon" while I make supper.

5:30ish -- Supper, followed by playtime with Daddy.  Mommy sits in her chair, staring at the wall, and gibbering.  Grape throwing could commence and she would never notice.*

Evening is comprised of playing in the living room.  Occasionally, we will all go out somewhere, and twice a week, we have people over.  He usually snacks at some point.

8:30pm -- Bedtime.  This is the one time he usually goes to sleep without much of a fight, provided he has Glow Worm.

And then, we start the whole thing over again.  Note that all times are "-ish", because this kid is nothing if inconsistent.  Seriously, some days he only takes one long nap in the middle of the day, and others, he takes 3 catnaps.  My right eye twitches when I think about his schedule (or lack thereof).  :)

*Please tell me you've seen Overboard with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russel. . .