A day in the life (2014 edition)

Yesterday I participated in #onedayHH: a yearly event where bloggers and instagrammers and people from all over chronicle the extraordinary and mundane events of everyday life. It is hosted by Laura Tremaine over at hollywoodhousewife.com. (Click here to check out my post from this event in 2013.)

My day begins like most days: I am awakened by the sound of my son. It is still dark out, but that doesn't mean much because it's fall here in Michigan and our sun is rising late these days. Like I do every morning, I rub my eyes and look at the clock:

Yep. It's %$:#! o'clock. Plus, I don't have my glasses on. John's already up and out of bed so I take a guess that it is actually morning and not the middle of the night and stumble into Arie's room.

How is he so happy already? My brain has barely turned on. I tell him to go pee while I get his breakfast downstairs.

Arie has not been big on breakfast lately so I fill a sippy cup with kefir and a touch of maple syrup: something I know he will ingest. I grab our kindle so he can watch a kids' show while I get ready.

"Here Arie. Watch this while I figure out what day it is."

I check the clock again.

Okay it's past 7… time to take my first fertility med dose of the day. I put my glasses on and head back downstairs. John has blessedly made coffee. I take my pill, toast some raisin bread, and fill a cup of coffee. I pick this mug Arie made last Christmas because it's my favorite.

 I'm starting to wake up a little.

Emphasis on "a little."

Once I've finished my breakfast I head to the bathroom for a shower. I flick on the lights… apparently we need to replace two of the bulbs. Mental note: get new bulbs when I'm at the grocery store today. 

I shower, get dressed, and review my medication doses for the day. Timing and dosing fertility meds is no joke!

Once I'm dressed, I pick out Arie's clothes, asking him to put them on and then make his bed. He complies- albeit with much complaining about having to make his bed. Buttons are still tricky for my little boy; he makes me laugh when he walked into my room with his belly hanging out saying, "I'm having a big problem Mom! You can help me?"

Yes I can help you. Just call me Button Master.

We brush his teeth, comb his hair, tie up his shoes, zip up his coat and head out the door. Today is a preschool day! Both of our favorite days. Before preschool, however, we have to zip John over to work. The life of a single car family.

Once Arie is buckled in, John starts scraping the frost off our windows: a reminder that winter is quickly approaching. We laugh when we see a lemon wedge stuck to our back windshield; we went out to eat yesterday and Arie "saved" the wedge from his ice water. John must have put it there when he was buckling Arie in and somehow it held on for the almost hour-long drive home. Ha!

The drive to church is magical this time of year. The leaves are all changing colors and the late morning light combined with the soft clouds of melting frost rising from the ground make everything beautiful. I'm definitely awake now.

We drop John off and he waves from his office window. To preschool!

The sun peaks through the trees at preschool with the promise of possibility. Arie jumps out of the car and into his backpack before skipping to the classroom door. His teacher Miss Megan greets him with a cheerful, "Hi Arie!" He smiles shyly. I always feel so good when I bring him to class; our preschool is amazing! I help him find his name tag, wish him a great morning, and head back to the car.

Normally I work on my blog while Arie is in school but this morning I have to make a quick run to the grocery store for apple juice: our snack assignment for a preschool event tomorrow night. I also want to get a walk in before I pick Arie up in 2 hours, so I race as quickly as I can. I pick up the apple juice and a few more needed groceries and head home again.

At home I put the groceries away, start a load of laundry, and go to the bathroom.

DARN IT ALL! Guess I didn't file that mental note about picking up new light bulbs in the right drawer. I hope that last glowing globe can hold on for one more week.

Downstairs I pull on my "running shoes" which have never actually been running. I always say I will only run if I'm being chased, but walking? That's my jam. As I head out the door I slip on my earphones so I can finish listening to my latest library audiobook: Orange is the New Black. If you're looking for an audiobook, this one is pretty great!

The sun is high by now and the sky bright blue. It's cold outside: about 40 degrees, but I walk quickly to get my blood flowing and I'm soon feeling nice and warm in my sweater. I make my way through our local park where everything is beautiful: the lake, the trees, the fallen leaves littered like confetti over lush green grass. Whenever I walk here I think over and over I love where I live. 

About half an hour later I head back home. I put the laundry in the drier, empty the dishwasher, and boil some eggs for Arie's lunch before heading back out to preschool.

Usually the kids are all playing outside when we parents arrive for pickup, but strangely the playground is empty when I pull up. Huh. I join a group of gathering moms by the preschool door. Miss Megan soon pokes her head out and tells us the kids are just having their snacks so she'll release them as they finish. Arie is a reeaaallllllyyy slow eater so I'm thinking he'll be one of the last ones out. Surprisingly after only 4 or 5 kids go home, I see his smiling face through the glass door. Just the sight of him makes me grin and laugh out loud: oh how I love that little guy!

I deliver the apple juice I just purchased and escort my little man out the door. He's always wired when I pick him up, racing down the sidewalk to our car. I'm still wondering why the kids weren't outside at pickup so I ask, "Hey Arie what did you do today?"

"We play GYM!"

Click. I suddenly remember that note I got last week, informing me that today was gym day and asking me to please send my child in gym appropriate clothing…

… whoops. Sorry about that Miss Megan!

Back at home we eat a quick lunch- eggs and an assortment of finger foods for Arie, the last bowl of leftover chili for me- before climbing back in the car. John and I have to visit a notary over his lunch hour to sign two last documents for our embryo adoption.

I'm supposed to pick John up at 12:30 and I'm running late so I hurry. I arrive at 12:35… not bad! Arie and I walk up to his office. It's empty?

Turns out John forgot about us. He's off site but will "be there in 15!" We're encroaching on Arie's nap time and it's starting to get obvious. "Can I sleep here Mom?" You know your preschooler is tired when he's asking for a nap!

His attempt at sleep is unsuccessful so we switch to playing. Arie proudly writes his name on one of those magnetic boards and gets all the letters in the right order… okay the "e" is off but only because he ran out of space. Proud Mama!

Finally we see John pull in so we head back to the car.

This photo going public is John's consequence for forgetting about us:

;-) Love you babe!

We zip over to the notary where we wait some more and then finally get our papers signed. Hurray! One step closer to our babies!

John drops Arie and me off at home. I finally put Arie down for his nap and he falls asleep in seconds.

Back downstairs, I fill up the kettle so I can make a cup of tea. Red raspberry leaf of course: all my infertile friends know why. I can't wait to stop drinking this stuff. It's not bad tasting… I'm just sick of it. One more week!

I set up my computer, light a candle, do my devotions, and work on my blog.

At 2:30 my alarm goes off, reminding me to take my next dose of fertility meds.

I swallow the little pill and then pull out my bread maker: we're having pizza for dinner! Flour, water, salt, oil, yeast… push a few buttons and in 90 minutes I'll have a perfect batch of dough. I love my bread maker.

As I'm finishing up I hear Arie's voice over the monitor so I head upstairs to get him.

Unlike in the mornings, Arie is a total grump after nap. He glares at me and gives me this impossibly sad look. "I'm so hungry!" he complains. "Okay come downstairs and we'll get a snack."

I have to finish my blog post so I set him up with a snack in the playroom. He slowly brightens up and soon is munching away and playing with his toys.

As Arie plays I finish up my post, hit publish, and move to the kitchen so I can finish making our pizza. I ask Arie if he wants to help, but he declines. His pirates are having a birthday party in the playroom and he really can't leave.

Fair enough.

John comes home while I'm working on the pizza. Arie skips any kind of "Welcome home!" and jumps right into, "Papa do you want to play with me? You want to play with me Papa? We can play? You play with me?"

John obliges but not before taking a few pictures of me in the kitchen. I laugh when I see my expression in the photo: I look just like my mom!

As I pull the pizza out of the oven I call Arie to come set the table. While he hates making his bed, he loves setting the table. It's so cute to see him concentrate so intently on getting it right. He always does a great job too!

I look at the clock and realize we have about 10 minutes to eat before we have to drive back to church for our Wednesday night programming. John is doing premarital counseling with a couple and I'm helping in Arie's class. We burn our mouths on the pizza and then I run upstairs to change into my children's ministry shirt.

"GET YOUR SHOES ON!" I yell down the stairs to Arie and John. They do. We descend the porch steps for what seems like the 100th time that day and climb back into the car.

Arie and I are 15 minutes late to class, but we start out with free play anyway so no harm done. We play and sing and color for the next 90 minutes. It's almost 8pm when we're done.

I don't know what it is about being at church in the evenings, but it makes Arie so hyper! When we travel to John's office to retrieve our coats at the end of the night he runs and yells the entire way, tantalizing passersby with, "YOU CAN'T CATCH ME!" (One staff person takes him up on the offer and catches him.)

We exit into the parking lot and John wrangles our hyper son into his carseat.

As Arie yells and "sings" from the backseat I look at the clock in the car and once again is is %$:#! o'clock. Time to get my boy in bed; I'm nearing the end of my energy reserves.

At home John wrangles Arie again: this time for teeth brushing. It's really hard to brush your kid's teeth when he won't stop talking.

Finally teeth are brushed and pajamas are on. I tuck Arie into bed. He's still talking and singing and yelling and giggling. I sing his prayers, kiss him goodnight, and breathe a sigh of relief as I close his door behind me. Another day of mothering in the books.

Goodnight my sweet boy.

… just kidding. John and I take three more trips up to his room before Arie finally falls asleep. :-P

Now I'm ready for bed! I give myself my daily injection: another fertility med and take my last pill of the day.

John and I set up out laptop in bed and laugh over the latest episode of New Girl before turning out the lights.

Love you we whisper.

Nighty night.

A day in the life.

xo