A Day in the Life: 22 months and 2 months

I used to be so good about keeping up with A Day in the Life along with Carter's monthly posts and both have been pushed aside as life has gotten busier.  I'm vowing to carve out time each week to blog as this is essentially our family scrapbook.  As such I want to be able to look back and see what our life was like with three kids under two.

I started documenting a day this weekend and stopped halfway through the day so this post is pieced together through a series of days.  There is not really a "typical" day at this point as we are still trying to figure life out with Carter, Madeline and Molly.

2:30- Molly starts stirring. Matt heads to the kitchen to heat two 3-ounce bottles while I start pumping.  We both bottle feed a baby, he takes Madeline and I take Molly.  I finish pumping as Molly finishes eating.  Matt heads back to the kitchen to store milk and wash bottles while I do diaper changes and swaddles.  We are back to sleep by 3:00.

6:00- My alarm goes off and I jump in the shower, start laundry, feed Cooper, brew coffee, get ready and do a few things on the computer.

6:45- Madeline is awake so I take her to the living room to nurse, watch the news and drink my coffee.

6:55- I hand her off to Matt and he gives her a 2-ounce bottle, does a diaper change, and outfit change.  He hangs out in our room drinking his coffee and watching TV while Madeline snuggles.

7:05- Wake up Molly and take her to the living room to nurse, watch the news and drink coffee.  Carter starts stirring on the monitor.

7:15- I go get Carter and the three of us head to our room so he can watch Mickey Mouse and I can finish up with Molly's bottle, diaper and clothes.  We hang out in bed together snuggling and watching TV for awhile.

8:00- Girls get in their swings and Carter and I head to the kitchen for breakfast.  Milk, yogurt, and cheerios for him, granola, oatmeal and a banana for me which he shares with me.  More coffee for Matt.

8:30- Carter heads to the living room to play while we work in the kitchen storing milk, washing bottles and cleaning up breakfast.

8:50- Carter and I finish getting dressed.

9:00- playtime.  Matt and I alternate playing with Carter and doing things around the house.

10:00- Time for the girls to eat to we set up Carter in our bed with the iPad.  I nurse each girl for 10 minutes while Matt heats bottles and watches Carter.  Each girl follows nursing with a 2-ounce bottle, again Matt takes Madeline and I take Molly while also pumping.  We burp and then Matt cleans up bottles and pump parts, stores milk, and gets everything ready for the 1:00 feed while I do diapers.  We finish around 10:50.

11:00- Matt stays at home with the girls while Carter and I head to HEB.  It's a Saturday so it's slammed but we just need a few items to make a cake.  I have a major sweet tooth lately so fighting the crowd is totally worth it!

11:40- We get home and he plays while I get started on the cake.  Matt has been rocking Molly while we have been gone and I'm super jealous!

12:15- Lunch for everyone.  Carter's lunch is pretty standard these days...milk or water, nutella or PBJ sandwich, raisins and some crackers.  If he's really lucky he will get fruit snacks or vanilla pudding, but lately he's been throwing his food on the floor so he probably can't even remember what fruit snacks taste like.

12:50- Matt puts Carter down for his nap and he spends about 15 minutes standing at his door knocking wanting to come out.  Eventually he falls asleep behind the door, later moving to his bed.

1:00- Start nursing the girls while Matt heats the bottles.  Repeat everything from the 10:00 feed.

2:00- I sit down to catch up on the DVR while Matt snuggles with Madeline while watching Netflix in bed.

2:30- Carter starts knocking/crying at his door wanting to come out of his room.  I start praying that he will lay back down but it's clear after a few minutes that he is DONE napping and is not going to calm down.  I go in and get him and we rock together while watching Octonauts and he has some milk.

3:00- Snack time! Carter and I split some pimento cheese and wheat thins.  Milk for him and diet coke for me.

3:15- I decide to run to Memorial City Mall to pick up some makeup Carter broke and tote him along for the ride.  He's always happy to be in the car as long as we play a DVD or he's tired.  Today he watches Frozen...my new favorite.  I may or may not have belted the songs like Idina Menzel while driving.

4:15- we get back home in time for a later feed for the girls.  Mike and Missy are over visiting with Nate so the boys go outside to play while me and Missy feed the girls.  We may or may not have opened a bottle of wine while doing so :)  Carter and Nate are happy as clams in the backyard with their daddies.  I love that they are old enough to sort of play with each other and have fun.

5:00- girls are finished feeding and hang out in their swings while the rest of us rotate between inside and outside.  Nate eats dinner and the rest of us graze on some appetizers while hanging out.

6:00- Carter sits down for dinner which is usually a fight.  Tonight he has a few bites of chicken before tossing that on the floor, and mainly decides he wants grapes and tortillas for dinner.  We get a few piece of cheese down him before he decides he is DONE and melts down.  I hate dinner time with a toddler! Especially one that is a picky eater!

6:30- Mike and Missy head home and Matt takes Carter to the bath.  I quickly try to clean up the kitchen, living room, backyard and play room before they get out of the bath.

6:45- Matt and I both head to Carter's room for our nightly routine.  Since football ended in December this has become our nightly ritual and it's easily my favorite part of the day (followed closely by my morning cup of coffee.)  We get Carter's jammers on and ready for bed, then sit down on the floor with him to read books.  Lately he has been wanting to ready "B is for Bulldozer" over and over before bed.  We limit him to 3 books per night.  90% of the time he wants to sit with me and read but sometimes he surprises us and sits with Matt.  The it's kisses, pacis, sound machine and prayers before we leave for the night.

7:00- repeat feeding routine for girls.  When we are done around 7:45 we swaddle them in their aden + anais muslin blankets AND put them inside the Summer Swaddle Me.  This is our trick for them never breaking out of their swaddles and sleeping soundly. We turn out the lights and turn the sound machine on and they sleep soundly until it's time for their dream feed at 10.

8:00- After the girls feed Matt and I typically have about 30 minutes to an hour of "chores" to do each night.  Matt hates this and complains about it nightly! Most of the time is spent washing and drying bottles and pump parts.

9:00- We are finally "free" and Matt decides to play Call of Duty while I finally sit down for anything mind-numbing...reality TV, blogs, etc.

10:00- We leave the girls swaddled and lights off for this dream feed.  They usually don't even opens their eyes for their diaper change.  I'm looking forward to the day when we can drop this feed and I can go to bed earlier.  We usually finish around 10:45.

Whew.  It's not glamorous but I do especially love this itty-bitty newborn phase.  It's definitely harder this time around with a toddler to entertain, but we're still enjoying our baby girls.  They truly are the sweetest little girls