A Day in the Life.. (8 months)

So I think we are about to come up on a schedule change at the Clanahan house so I wanted to record our schedule at 8 months old for posterity sake. Unless you are in need of some reading-induced Ambien, you can probably just skip ahead to the next entry in your blogger :) But I wanted to be able to put this down so I would remember for future reference --- you know, in case God continues to have a sense of humor and we are blessed with another set of twins in the future (ha. my uterus hurts just thinking about it)

R&Q Schedule at 8 months old:

6am: Mommy wakes. Pours a large diet coke and begins heating bottles.

6:15am: Littlest princess stirs (she may stir earlier but she is typically sort of patient until 6:15am). Pick her up from the crib and get my 10 seconds of cuddle time while she tries to adjust to the light. Love that girl. Although I fear she will be just like me when she gets a little older - not exactly a morning person.

6:15-6:25am: Feeding the princess. Typically takes a great bottle and takes it fast. Makes Mommy happy.

6:30am: The little prince is up. Gives me big smiles in his crib and thrashes his feet around. As soon as I bring him into the living room to eat, he gets VERY impatient. Hungry boy.

6:30am-6:40am: Feeding the little prince

6:45am - 7:00am: Mommy eats, watches kids play, catches up on blog and all things important on people.com. Tries to gather some energy for the rest of the morning.

7:15am: Solid breakfast time. Q gets 2 tablespoons of cereal or oatmeal mixed with her formula. Ryan gets 1 tablespoon and typically gags on most of it. I think we will stop cereal for him soon. He's not loving it and I've tried everything to make it better for him. They both get fruit of some kind (peaches, apples, pears or a mixture of all 3 depending upon how crazy Mommy is feeling). Cheerios all around. Quinn eats them. Ryan lets them drop into his bib. Quinn typically eats a great breakfast!

7:30-8am: More playtime & diaper changes and Mommy tries to clean up from breakfast, start laundry, wash dishes, etc

8:15am:  Babies down. Mommy showers. Catches up on email, phones, and blogs. All the important things.

9:45am: Babies back up. Diaper change & clothing change. Depending upon whether we are going out for the day, Quinn may or may not get a bow and Ryan may or may not get socks. If we're not going out, I don't bother with either because they are just going to pull them off in the car. (Yes, I am THAT mom that brings her kids into restaurants without socks. How in the heck am I supposed to keep those things on??!! Their feet are the most fascinating things to them right now.)

9:55am:  Quinn attempts to eat. Usually she has had such a big breakfast that this bottle holds little interest. Two months ago, I used to be able to fight her a bit to take just a little more. Now she is freakishly strong and literally could wiggle/jump/manuever out of my arms. Mommy doesn't fight anymore. Puts princess down who happily resumes her playing that I so rudely interrupted with unimportant things like eating.

10:05am: Move onto Ryan. Takes a pretty good bottle. Wants to look around everywhere while eating. Loves the computer screen. And freakishly loves Hoda & Kathie Lee. (But so does Quinn. They are GLUED to the screen when they first come on for the day. I am sure that is Mommy Mistake #922 that I have made - always having the tv on. But to be fair, I have it on more for background noise. It freaks me out to just hear my own voice talking in an empty house. And we watch educational programs. Like Dr. Oz. And Food Network (oh, they love them some Guy Fieri, too!). And Nate Berkus. So now we can figure out the early warning signs for cancer, fix a healthy and quick meal in 30 minutes, and re-arrange our living room furniture so it matches our family function needs?? Yes, please!)

10:15am:  Quinn gets her first snack of the day - full fat vanilla yogurt. She eats an entire bowl of it. It's amazing. She loves it. Wish I could just feed her yogurt. (And on a side note: Full-fat yogurt is almost IMPOSSIBLE to find these days. Unless you want to pay the premium for "Yo Baby" - which I don't since I pay a premium for Good Start. I finally tracked it down at HEB and almost got run down by 4 other eager yogurt/dairy buyers. Who were going for the low-fat stuff. Suckers.)

10:30am:  Playtime and Mommy finishes getting ready to depart if we are having an "outing". Mommy wipes oatmeal, peaches, yogurt off her babies foreheads, chins, behind the ears and in their noses so they look nice and respectable like.

10:45am: Out the door to go somewhere to run some needless errand. MUST get out of the house. Sonic run #1.

11:00am-1pm: Typically gone somewhere. Mommy picks up lunch somewhere, usually a drive thru unless she is feeling like she has superhero energy to take the "boat" in some unsuspecting sandwich shop. If we are home, then the twins will sleep from about 12:00 - 1pm in their crib. If we are out, they cat nap in between stops and sleep heavily on the way home.

1pm:  Ryan bottle. No fuss, no muss. (are we seeing a pattern??)

1:10pm: Quinn bottle. Usually a great one. Makes Mommy happy. Quinn happy & giggling. Sweet, sweet, funny girl.

1:20pm: Quinn's second snack - 2 tablespoons of oatmeal or rice cereal mixed with formula and our newest addition, olive oil drizzled on top. And because we like Rachael Ray, only EVOO for this girl.

1:30-2:45ish: More playtime! Mommy tries to eat lunch during this time. And make formula. And wash bottles. My arch nemesis. But we do get in some good playtime & sometimes Mommy laughs so hard that she cries.

2:45-4:00ish: Naptime for babies. Sometimes for Mommy, too. Depends on the day. Usually I try to do my bible study reading then.

4:10pm: Ryan bottle. Usually a good ones. Depends on his mood.

4:30pm: Quinn bottle. It's a toss up - sometimes good, sometimes bad. Mommy tries not to stress about it.

4:45-5:15pm:  Mommy waits for Daddy to get home. Babies wait for Daddy to get home. More playing. The kids try to help fold laundry, but prefer to roll in it instead. We work on our colors. "This is mommy's BLUE hoodie. This is mommy's ORANGE hoodie. These are Mommy's BLACK yoga pants. These are Mommy's GRAY yoga pants."

5:15-5:30pm: Dada is home! Kids so excited. Mommy must be so mean during the day because those kids faces just LIGHT up with Daddy comes home. But I LOVE seeing it. They are just in love with their daddy. And I am obviously thrilled to see him.

5:45pm: Solid dinner of cereal or oatmeal and some veggie that really isn't a veggie that I am familiar with. Except for the night that I mashed my own sweet potatoes for them and both babies gagged. Maybe fruit for a little dessert. Cheerios again all around.

6:00pm: Best hubby ever - takes the kids to bathe. Mommy starts dinner & has a glass of wine. Ahhhhhhh.

7:00pm: Make bottles for last feeding and the next day's first feeding. Give princess her medicine and pray she doesn't throw up her solid dinner b/c she gagged on the Prevacid.

7:15pm: Either Mommy or Daddy feeds Ryan depending upon where Mommy is in the cooking process.

7:30pm: 1st attempt to feed Quinn. Sometimes it's a success, sometimes a big, fat fail. If fail, place sweet princess in her pack 'n play and let her fall asleep.

7:45pm: Mommy & Daddy eat dinner and perhaps have a cocktail.

8:00pm : One cleans up & the other wakes the princess and attempts a final feed. If princess is asleep, then it's usually a success. If not, well... what can you do... tomorrow is another day.

8:00-9:00pm: Catch up on our shows. Typically DVR'd episodes of Modern Family or American Idol. Not much time for tv watching these days.

9:00-10:00pm: Daddy catches a shower & tries to decompress from the day. Mommy blogs or reads stupid magazines. Tries to decompress from the day.

10:00pm: Bedtime for both. Sometimes Mommy can't sleep so she types out blog posts or writes emails or categorizes pictures. But bedtime for Mommy no later than 10:30pm. GONE.

4:00am: Daddy up and ready to start the day at the gym. Darn all of his energy - where does he get it?? Mommy mumbles something about having a good day and promptly falls back asleep until 6am and it's Groundhog Day all over again :)

As much as I may joke about the exhaustion of their schedules, the bottom line is that it truly is a privilege and a responsibility that I take very seriously. Probably too seriously some may argue. I categorize everything. Feeding times, amount taken, poop diapers, pee diapers, whether someone was sick that day or what ---- but it has all proved very helpful in being able to relay info back to Q's cardiologist, pediatrician and dietician --- I think otherwise, I would confuse the kids a bit in my head. This way it's all there.

But am I rigid on my schedule? Absolutely. I feel like I have to be otherwise we would all lose our minds. And it's worked so far. But I have a feeling a change is coming --- we are going to lose a nap somewhere and probably drop a bottle feed. I am excited to lose the bottle, not so much with the nap :) And it makes my head hurt to think about re-orchestrating schedules. But I have a feeling that somehow it will develop naturally. We'll see...

Either way, the kids and I have so much fun during the day --- and while sometimes I crave adult conversation, I am fascinated every day by the new things they are doing. I love the way they interact, I love their sweet giggles, belly laughs, screams of joy, and babble non-sense. I even like their tired screams (for a minute) - because it typically means a nap is coming!

And yes, in case you were wondering... I am very A-Type.

And Blessed.

In His Hands,