A Day in the Life...

Let's see, today was a pretty typical day for us, so I thought I'd share...

4:00 a.m.
Westley troops through our room to use our restroom. We've trained him to come to ours because the toilet in the other one, when it flushes, comes through very loud into Travis' room, and we don't want him waking Travis. I guess either way, we (or I, since Corey's not usually there) would wake up. So he comes through and goes to the bathroom and I take him back to his room to make sure he gets up on his bed safely (top bunk) and doesn't slam his door shut.

5:00 a.m.
The alarm goes off for Corey to get up. Lately he's had Mondays off, and then school is at 7:40 am Tuesday morning. If he leaves here at 6, he won't get to ASU in time to park and walk to class without being 20 minutes late. But if he leaves here at 5:45, he can get to his class by 6:45 and have an hour to kill. Fun, fun, fun. So he gets up and gets dressed. His bags were already packed for this week of school, work and staying in Mesa, so he didn't have to do that. But he did have to eat breakfast and pack a lunch without making enough noise to wake the kids. A tricky endeavor, to be sure, at 5 a.m.

5:45 a.m.
Corey leaves. I turn off all the lights and go back to bed for another fifteen minutes. At 6 a.m., I hear Travis crying. I quietly tiptoe down the hall and lock the boys' door, so they won't come out unsupervised and get in the shower (truly, a rare moment for me, a shower!). I take more time than usual, and even let the water run into the tub for a quick bath as well, savoring the last moments of silence.

6:25 a.m.
I finally am dressed enough to get the boys, who are now yelling through their door because they've gotten up and found it to be locked. I let them out and go in and get Travis from his crib. He is soaking wet from his super soggy diaper, so I go and change his diaper first thing. The boys run out looking for Daddy, but I tell them he has already gone to school. We call him on the phone and have scripture reading.

6:50 a.m.
I pour bowls of Cheerios for me and the older boys and slice up a banana in the bowls. I call them to breakfast, and we sit down to eat. A few minutes in, Caleb starts to scream and I look over and find no bowl on the table in front of him. The bowl is upside-down in his lap, with milk, Cheerios and bananas all over him, the chair and the floor. I quickly get him cleaned up (during all this, Travis is fussing in his high chair because he wants something besides just Cheerios on his tray). Then, I get a Nutri-grain bar from the cupboard and break it into small pieces for Travis. Then I sit down to finish my now-soggy bowl of cereal.

7:30 a.m.
With breakfast done and the boys dressed now, I turn Caillou on for them to watch. They watch it and then at 8, when Sesame Street comes on, they leave to play in their room. I turn the T.V. off, check email, and play with Travis.

9:00 a.m.
I put Travis down for a nap and turn Curious George on for the older boys. I lay on the couch and doze through Curious George and Clifford. Travis wakes up (it's now 10 a.m.), and I bring him out. The boys sit through one more show, Super Why while I do random things and play with Travis.

10:45 a.m.
I start making lunch, peanut butter and jam sandwiches. Last week, Travis ate this, so I make one for him too and break it into bits. The boys devour theirs and ask for seconds, but Travis refuses to touch his. I end up spoon-feeding him some bananas mixed with barley. I eat my own sandwiches. We clean up from lunch and return to the living room to watch Word World.

12:00 p.m.
I put Caleb down for his nap and leave the room. I put Travis down for his nap. Upon leaving Travis' room, I hear Caleb start to scream. I go in and he tries to come out. I don't really understand what he's trying to do or say, so I repeat, firmly, that he must take a nap. He continues to get more frustrated. Finally I ask if he wants to sleep on Westley's bed. This seems to solve the problem, so he climbs up to the top bunk and I tuck him in once more. Then I go out and start preschool with Westley.

12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Westley and I do preschool. We do math, science, and we focus on the letter A for the week. We make an apple book on the computer, complete with pictures of Westley eating apples, applesauce and drinking apple juice (digital cameras can be so great!).

Afternoon
Westley quietly plays with playdough for the next hour. I chat with my SIL, Allison, online and then go in and watch the rest of Yes, Dear. After that, Travis wakes up and I spend the rest of the afternoon with a crying baby following me around. Caleb finally wakes up too, and the boys go off and shut themselves in the toy room and won't play with Travis. Travis has a cold right now, so he's got a runny nose and is miserable. Finally, my visiting teachers arrive at 3:30 p.m., and the boys spend the whole time showing off to them. They leave by 4, at which time I phone my mother and talk for a bit. Then I get the corn dogs in the oven.

5:15 p.m.
I feed Travis his dinner, chicken noodle dinner with sweet potatoes mixed in. Then I get the boys' plates ready and call them to dinner. We eat our corn dogs, canned corn, and canned pears. Then, I get Travis down and clean him up. I put his pajamas on him and make him a bottle. I brush his teeth, give him a dose of Tylenol, and try cleaning out his nose with the suction thingie. The boys, meanwhile, finish eating and then get their pajamas from their room. I rock Travis with a bottle and put him in bed, returning to set up the humidifier. Then, I go out and help resolve the issue of the stuck tape in the VCR, which Caleb tried putting in backwards. They start their movie, an animated story from the Book of Mormon. I clean up the kitchen.

6:15 p.m.
The movie is over. We play one round of Old Maid. Then we brush teeth and use the potty. The boys go to their room and each choose one book for me to read. We read books and say prayers. Then I sing to them and put them in bed.

7:15 p.m.
I finish blogging and then who knows what? Maybe a bowl of ice cream and then a nice soothing bath to finish out the somewhat chaotic day!