A Day in the Life: Pregnancy Edition

It’s been just about two years since I did one of these posts. Last time, Star was just a month old, Bart was in school instead of working full-time and we were starting to think about our cross-country move.

I wanted to do another one before we added another baby and life gets more complicated again for a while.

January is also a good time to do this when you’re in better habits than you might be in, say, October. Of course, hopefully by October, I won’t be so dang tired by 8 p.m. These last weeks of pregnancy are killing me.

Anyway, this was a day last week where I kept pretty close track of what we did all day long and how we spent our time. Also, I can almost guarantee I wouldn’t have made a real dinner if I wasn’t keeping track of the day and we’d have had pancakes instead. I’d be way more productive if I tracked my time this closely (and then publicly reported it) every day.

 

6:30 a.m. My alarm goes off. I check my email, get dressed in my workout clothes, and make the bed. Bart usually goes running now, but he was up at 4:00 a.m. because he couldn’t sleep so he’s been down in his office since then and now he comes back up and tries to go back to sleep.

6:40 a.m. Head into my office and work on my to-do list for the day (I try to do this before I go to bed, but that only happens about half the time). I make a very important online purchase (nail polish) to use up some credit I have, renew my library books, and update Goodreads. I answer some emails and start working through some tax forms that are due at the end of January.

7:30 a.m. I put on my running shoes and quietly leave the house with everyone sleeping. I listen to two podcasts episodes as I walk just over a mile and a half, all the while thinking about how I should REALLY have gone to the bathroom before I left.

8:00 a.m. I get home to find Ella curled up on the couch reading Ivy and Bean. She’s already eaten breakfast, and asks if we can play Yahtzee while I eat my breakfast.

8:05 a.m. Just as I’m sitting down with my bowl of yogurt and granola, Bart comes out of our room, all showered and ready for the day, and Ella convinces him to play with us while he eats his breakfast. A few minutes into our game, Ani wakes up and eats her breakfast while we play.

8:25 a.m. I ask Bart to come in and look at some of the tax forms I have questions about and he quickly solves my problems so I can take care of these later. We hear Star start to make noise in her crib, and Bart goes down to get her while I start unloading the dishwasher. I get her set up with breakfast while Ella starts working on math, before I realize that I have one more issue with my tax forms and Bart and I look through that together.

8:50 a.m. I head in to the bathroom to take a shower and Bart goes to his office to start work (he doesn’t work from home every day, but on the occasional day he does, it’s the best).

9:05 a.m. I finish showering and Ani comes in and asks to take a shower while I get dressed, put on my makeup and do my hair.

9:15 a.m. Ani gets out of the shower and I get her and Star dressed. I iron shirts for all three girls, clean the mirrors and countertops in our bathroom, and then do everyone’s hair when Ella comes in with her spelling list and I give her the day’s quiz while I braid Ani’s hair.

9:30 a.m. Ella works on her poem while Ani asks to clean the mirror and counter in her bathroom (I’m just now remembering that I never went and looked at it, so I have no idea how clean it actually got).

9:40 a.m. I read a chapter of Caddie Woodlawn aloud to Ella while Ani colors and Star plays around on the couch.

10:00 a.m. We collect our library books, everyone puts their shoes on and we get in the car to go to story time. On the way, we listen to the full-cast audio version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (we’d started listening to this version a week earlier, but there was no narrator – only the actual dialogue, which made it incredibly hard to follow for all of us).

10:20 a.m. When we arrive at the library, Star has a complete meltdown about getting out the car and I end up half-carrying/half-dragging her into the library as she screams and I try to balance our enormous library bag full of returns. I’m sure the library is DELIGHTED we are there.

10:30 a.m. This is our first time going to story time at this library (we just switched which library is our main library) and it’s excellent. Star sits on my lap for the first five minutes or so, but then is finally calm and happy enough to join the girls in the front, and I read my book, Lucky Girl Broken, through the remainder of storytime.

11:05 a.m. The big girls do the craft while I read Star some of the library books that were on hold for us, and then Star joins them and makes herself a paper bowl hat too, while I look at the recipe I’m planning for dinner to see what prep I need to do beforehand.

11:20 a.m. Everyone picks out books and Ani so politely asks if she can get a few extra books that I agree.

11:35 a.m. We check everything out and everyone leaves pretty happily, which feel momentous to me since last week there were SO MANY TEARS.

11:55 a.m. We arrive back home and Ani has a hard time bringing in her library bag because it’s so much heavier than usual (this is what I get for trying to be a nice mom) and throws a big tantrum about closing the car door (which usually she BEGS to do). Everyone flops on the couch and whines while I start making lunch.

12:10 p.m. The whining, demanding and crying continues and I’ve pretty much had it (I’m sure the fact that I’m sleeping like a 35 week pregnant woman is not helping, but my patience with all of this baloney is non-existent). I tell Ani we will NOT be getting extra books again and send Ella down to see if Bart’s ready for lunch. Ani apologizes and everyone seems to pull themselves together, me included.

12:20 p.m. Bart and I make ourselves turkey sandwiches and we set the girls up with peanut butter toast, grapes, and applesauce, and Ella asks (surprise!) to play Yahtzee. The first half of the game is fairly tense as Star freaks out about her toast (she wants to eat Ani’s but not hers, she’s mad hers is cut up but won’t eat it whole, etc), but finally everyone calms down and eats enough food, and everyone happily finishes lunch and we play two games of Yahtzee.

12:50 p.m. We put away Yahtzee, everyone clears their dishes, the girls eat their after-lunch Halloween candy, I sweep and change a diaper, and Bart takes out the garbage and recycling.

1:15 p.m. Quiet time! Bart puts Star down for a nap while I head into my office to work and the big girls scatter to their rooms with the new library books.

1:25 p.m. I blast through my emails and work on this post. I finish all the tax forms (hooray!), write a book review, and work on a speaking pitch for a conference later this year.

3:15 p.m. Quiet time is over, and I make a chocolate banana smoothie. Bart comes up from his office to have some and while everyone drinks theirs, I start some dinner prep.

3:35 p.m. The girls get on their leotards while I keep working on dinner and Bart gets Star up from her nap and loads them all in the car.

3:45 p.m. We head out to gymnastics and I drop off the older two girls.

4:05 p.m. Star and I head over to Target to pick up a few things including diapers and some chicken because I realized we have none for dinner.  Star keeps saying, “We on a yiddle date!”

4:50 p.m. We get back to the gym and head in to meet up with Ani and wait for Ella’s class to finish. We read a couple of books on the couch and then, when Ella gets out, they ask to play with the toys for a few extra minutes. I check my email and look at Instagram while they play and then we head home.

5:15 p.m. Back at home, I start dinner and the girls set the table. While the chicken cooks, we walk out to get the mail and open the January POPSUGAR Must Have Box they sent me as part of a sponsored campaign (you can use the code SHOP5 for $5 off your first box).

5:45 p.m. Bart joins us in the kitchen and fills up the glasses, and helps get a last few things on the table.

6:00 p.m. Dinner is served. We play Ella’s current favorite game at the table “City, State, Country, or Continent” (I made up this very unimpressive game where we name a place and the girls try to correctly identify what type of place it is).

6:20 p.m. Bart unloads the dishwasher, and I clear the table and put away the food while the girls eat their candy and then put away the Legos and library books.

6:35 p.m. The big girls get their pajamas on and I get Star in her jammies. Bart brushes everyone’s teeth then we meet back on the couch for scripture reading and family prayer.

6:55 p.m. One last game of Yahtzee.

7:25 p.m. Bart takes Star down to bed while I read two picture books to the older girls. They suggest that, if I’ll read a little more, they’ll braid my hair. Done. We finish the latest chapter of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and then they both go to their rooms to listen to a few minutes of their respective audiobooks in bed.

8:00 p.m. I take out my contacts, wash my face, and put on my pajamas.

8:10 p.m. I work on this post for a few minutes, then answer some emails, get a babysitter scheduled for later in the week, browse ThredUp, and look at a bunch of book recommendations. Also, eat some leftover Oreos.

9:10 p.m. I get in bed and read Lucky Girl Broken for a while.

10:05 p.m. Bart comes upstairs and gets ready for bed. Usually we read until about 10:30, but he’s so exhausted from his super early morning that we just turn off the lights and go to bed a little earlier than normal.

10:20 p.m. Good night!