I am re-writing this post after I got about halfway through documenting the day and it somehow all got deleted. GRRRRRRR!!!!!
Brodie: 35
Jessica: 29 (for 2 more weeks!) Hello 30
Ayla: 3
Miles: 3 months
The night before I was able to get Miles to sleep in his crib from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. This was a big deal and a rarity. Brodie went in to get him when we woke up and found that he had rolled to his tummy. We decided that this would be the end of the swaddle. Brodie brought Miles in to sleep next to me for the rest of the night.
Miles wakes up a million times during the night and punches me in the face several times with his tiny fists. I guess it's going to take a while to get used to sleeping unswaddled.
5 AM- Ayla wakes up to go potty. She has grown leaps and bounds with potty training over the last couple of weeks. She goes potty and then holds Brodie hostage in her room.
6:30 AM-Miles is up for the day. He is being very vocal and adorable. I play in the bed with him for a while.
7:00 AM-I get him dressed in this cute monster suit
7:15 AM-Ayla is up for the day. She helps me make banana bread and we put it in the oven.
Sidenote: During my last DITL post I wrote about trying to eat mostly Paleo or at least gluten and refined sugar free. Yeah, well, I have decided that being super restrictive with my diet sucks the joy out of my life and stresses me out. I don't have severe enough symptoms to warrant being so strict. I'm still picky about the quality of our food (for the most part) but I've had to chill out a bit to save my sanity.
Ayla is being cute and silly this morning. Lately she has been flapping her arms wildly when I try to take her picture.
I love watching Ayla with Miles (when she is being calm) and he has started looking at her and smiling. So cute.
8:00 AM- Miles is ready for his first nap of the day. It's his first nap without the swaddle. I get him in his robot sleep sack and nurse and rock him to sleep. I lay him in his crib and his little arms don't jerk up and startle him awake. Success! He looks so big to me in his sleep sack.
8:10 AM- Brodie gets ready to leave for work and discovers Ayla's mini Elsa and Anna dolls in his sock. She is very excited about this as she has been looking everywhere for them.
Ayla yells, "tissue!". Poor girl. It has been a very sniffly Spring. I sit her up on the bathroom counter and clean her nose out with the "nose thing". She is surprisingly patient and willing to let me do it. I put Aquaphor on her face. She has had a rash around her mouth for the last couple of months because she has developed the habit of licking. It's a never-ending cycle,
Ayla says, "Mom I want you to go to work and have a fun babysitter come over."
I say, "Wouldn't you miss me?"
She says, "No".
I let her watch Curious George in my bed while I do some laundry
8:50 AM-Miles wakes up. I try to get him back to sleep but it's not happening. Note the coconut oil stains on his sheet from when I tried to get rid of his epic cradle cap a few weeks ago. I ended up scraping it off his head with a soft comb. It was one of the most disgusting things I've ever done but strangely satisfying once I got most of it off.
I take the banana bread out of the oven and let it cool while I make some eggs and tea. Miles sits in the Rock 'n' play on loan from a friend and tries to eat his hoodie.
I take some milk and bread and butter to Ayla while she watches Daniel Tiger. I sit with Miles and drink my tea. His little charming smile kills me.
I need to get Ayla dressed and ready so that we can run errands and go to the park before meeting Brodie for lunch. I don't have the energy to deal with getting her dressed while she hops on one foot and then runs away so I get her dressed while she is glued to the T.V. Whatever works.
Miles starts to fuss. I nurse him and then put him in his carseat. I get everything else ready so that when Ayla's show is over we can just get her shoes on and go. She goes along with it surprisingly well and doesn't even whine to watch another show. Miles is not happy about being in his carseat but I know that once we get the car started and get going he will fall asleep soon.
We take back a kids yoga DVD to the library and head to the park. Miles is asleep so I leave him in the car, crack a window, and lock the door. (the playground is right next to the car)
While at the park Ayla runs through the dry splash pad and we talk about how much fun it will be when the water turns on. She runs through the giant frog and says he is eating her.
She wants to play hide and seek and this is her hiding spot:
I make a dramatic show about looking for her and not being able to find her and then she jumps out and says, "Mom! I'm right here". She then wants to play Merida on this rock.
I check on Miles and he is awake. It's almost time to go meet Brodie so I get Ayla in the car and we head out.
We meet Brodie for lunch. We both order Cuban sandwiches because we watched the movie Chef the night before and they make them on their food truck. Ayla has a PB &J and chocolate milk. I dump out 3/4 of it it before I gave it to her because they gave us a huge cup and I just do not want to deal with the aftermath of that much sugar. I also sneak her mini rice krispie treat into my purse for me to eat later. Brodie is slightly outraged about the price of that PB &J and says it is the cost of a whole loaf of bread. He's right. We were hoping she would share our sandwiches but she tried a few bites and was not having it. I am not too keen on the sandwich either. It is a little too pickly and mustardy for me. I also don't like the ham. Not sure why I thought a cuban sandwich would be the right choice. I eat the crusts from Ayla's PB&J and look forward to the Rice Krispie treat that I will get to eat later. Remember when I talked about caring about the quality of our food? Clearly I forget that rule while out to eat. But, hey, an exhausted mama's gotta do what she's gotta do sometimes.
Ayla became obsessed with picking out ice from her cup and rubbing it on Brodie's hands. He is way more patient than I am. I would've shut that down long before he did.
1:00-ish PM: Brodie has to leave to go back to work, so I round up the kids and all our crap and head out. Miles cries in his carseat and I'm hoping both kids will take a car nap. I go pick up a prescription first and then get us back in the car and take off. I drive up toward the mountains and Ayla is asking a million questions and singing songs. A car nap does not look promising today. I stick with it though and she finally passes out. Miles does not. I plan to head home and leave Ayla in the car in the garage (with the car turned off obviously). I leave the door to the garage open and go hang out in the basement so that I can hear her when she wakes up. This may seem extreme but it is the only way she will nap. I do this on days when she didn't get enough sleep the night before.
More baby smiles
I felt a little achy and chilled this morning and I'm realizing now that I really don't feel well. I go check on Ayla and she is still out:
2:45 PM-I hear Ayla crying so I set Miles down on his playmat and I go out to get her. She didn't know where I was and was scared. I feel bad. I pick her up and bring her in. I am really feeling sick so I tell her we can watch Brave together on the couch. I get her set up with her movie and get her a snack. Cheese and crackers and strawberry organic fruit snacks that taste like fish. They have DHA in them and they smell like it. The folks at Organic Valley had good intentions but something went horribly wrong. She likes them though.
I didn't take any other pictures for the rest of the day. I didn't cook dinner and Brodie threw something together for Ayla when he got home. Miles was getting fussy around 6:00 so I took him in my room, nursed him to sleep and turned on an episode of Six Feet Under. That has been my nightly ritual for the past month or so. With a colicky baby it has been my sanity. I'm embarrassed to admit how many episodes I have gotten through in that short amount of time.
At one point Ayla really wanted me to come in to her room so I put Miles down in his crib and went in to lay down with her. She was being really chatty and she asked me if we were going to have another baby in our family. She asked if I would please grow another one, a baby girl. She then requested that I sing Christmas songs to her. I got her to sleep after a few minutes and quietly snuck out. Brodie was doing some freelance work in his office and so I made some tea and watched another episode of Six Feet Under and started going to sleep around 10:00. Way too late for someone who is sick, but once I finally have a moment to myself it's really hard for me to give it up. As soon as I started to fall asleep Miles woke up (of course). I brought him into bed with me, nursed him and we both fell asleep around 10:30.
