A Day in the Life Of... A Stay at Home Mom! (Jess!)

And so begins our first "Day in the Life Series"! 

 Today we’ll take a look into a day in the life for Jess! Jess is a stay at home mom to her three growing boys! There’s 3 year old twins Ben and Sam, and their 8 month old baby brother Jack. 

Take a look at what just 24 hours in their house looks like as Jess juggles preschool, nursing, lunch, naps, laundry, and everything in between!

3am

Sam, one of our almost 3 year old twins, wakes up screaming and crying. He hasn’t been sleeping well lately (and because of this, neither have I). I give in and just throw him in bed with us. Oh the pain! Can you say “ENGORGED”?? I decided to cut out our 8 month old baby’s 11pm feeding last night and now I am totally paying the price.

630am

Ben, our other almost 3 year old, wakes up for the day, comes into our room and now the entire family, except baby Jack, is up for the day. Still engorged! OWIE! And now I’m starting to leak through my shirt…GREAT!

7am

Nate feeds the twins breakfast and I actually get a chance to take a shower (how many days has it been since my last shower anyway?). Maybe the steam from the shower will give me a little relief/release until the baby wakes up for his morning nursing.

730am

Nate leaves for work. Muah, kiss goodbye, and I set the twins up with a little Backyardigans action and dig into my morning coffee before Jack wakes up. A shower and coffee in peace? This day is starting off GREAT!

8am

Jack is up…time to nurse.

815am

Change Jack’s diaper and dress him. Here we go… Ben has a meltdown because I won’t let him press the buttons on the TV remote while Sam climbs onto the kitchen counter trying to reach my computer mouse. He’s told to get down which results in a famous Sammy tantrum. Two minutes later he is complaining that he’s hungry… Well, I wonder why…he only ate 10 cheerios for breakfast! So I pay “let’s make a deal”. If he lets me change his diaper and dress him, he can have more cheerios…it works! However, “Let’s make a deal” is not a success with Ben. But the treat of a time out and counting to three gets him off the counter, onto the floor and ready for a new diaper and clothes. Just as Sam yells, “I WAN MOR MILK!!”

830am

Set Sam up at the table with his “MOR MILK” and cheerios. And now Ben wants cheerios and milk too. Oh, and a spoon! I prepare Jack’s baby food (apples and plums, since he is battling constipation...fun) Yummy!! I clean up the breakfast dishes. Sam wants more cheerios. Me, “Say please!” Sam, “Cheese!". Me, “Ben put my mouse down and eat your cheerios or I will take away your food and you will be all done.” He sits down and eats his cheerios. Ben “I wan more” Me, “Say please.” Ben “Peas!” Alright, time to get ready for the day. I pack food, a bib and spoon for Jack. Pack diapers and wipes and, of course, my coffee thermos (and yes, this time I DID remember to fill it with coffee). Ben “I wan more peas.” SUCCESS!! He said “Please” without me having to remind him! “Yes, you may have more, very good manners Ben!” I pack the twins preschool backpacks and clean spilt cheerios from the floor. Sam, “I wan mor” Me, “How do you ask?” Sam, “Ask”. Me, “What do you say?” Sam, “Say.” Me, “No, you say please”. Sam, “Cheese!” Okay, close enough. From the living room floor Jack starts crying. Must be hungry for solids. I put Jack in his highchair with puffs and start to clean up the remnants of Sam’s cheerio snack as he tries to escape out the front door. (Daddy much have forgotten to lock it when he left for work...GRRRR!) Okay, now I unpack Jack’s food, guess he’s ready to eat now. Me, “Ben you do not play with your cheerios, you’re all done.” Then I clean up Ben’s mess while trying to feed Jack. Next, Ben and Sam jump into their Little People ride-on toys and start racing through the house, ramming into walls. “Do NOT ram into the walls or you WILL have a time out!”

9am

Jack is done eating. I clean him up, strap him into his car seat and chase down the twins, finally corralling them in toward the front door. One at a time I wrestle the wiggly little toddlers into their shoes and coats, then out the door and into the car. Sammy touches his hair and declares, “Mommy, my hair is cozy.” (Where do they come up with this stuff?) Then back into the house to retrieve the diaper band and the sweet, little, IMMOBILE baby Jack. And we’re off! Riding along Ben states, in a concerned tone, “Mommy I gotta da cwocs on my dumb.” Umm, what!?! It takes me a minute to decipher the toddler language, but finally I crack the code! “Ben, do you have cracks on your thumb?” Ben, “Yeah I gotta da cwocs, I do, yeah, dat’s wight”. Sam, “Ben got cwocs, dat’s wight”. Me, “It’s okay. We will get lotion to make the cracks feel better.” Ben, “Gotta getta da lotion. It will be bedder.” Sam, “Yeah, it will be bedder Ben. Ben, “Yeah, getta da lotion. Gotta go back and get da lotion!” Me, "We don’t have to go back to the house, we will get lotion from your teacher when we get to school.” Ben, “Yeah, it will be bedder.” Sam, “Dat’s wight Ben.” And the conversation continued back and forth, just like this, for the entire 15 minute trip to Preschool.

930am

We arrive at preschool…time to unload the rascals and get some lotion for Ben’s “cwocs”. A couple of minutes later Jack and I are back on the road and ready to run a few errands. First to my eye doctor, then to Target. Jack does a great job as Mommy’s errand buddy. He even falls asleep for a little cat nap on the way to pick up the twins from school.

1130am

We pull in at school. The teacher says this is the best day that either of the boys have had so far! YAY! They must be getting the hang of this new school thing! I carry Sam out to the car while chasing after Ben. Jack wakes up and screams the whole way home.

12pm

We pull into our driveway and get unloaded. I make the twins lunch. Let the tantrums begin. Ben loses it when I put his cup on the table because he apparently wanted to do it himself, but never bothered to voice this desire to me (imagine that, a toddler having trouble saying what he wants!). Then Sam has a fit because I had cut his hot dog into pieces (which I always do). Ben has another fit because he wants a fork….then he decides he really wants a spoon instead! And now, Sam wants a spoon as well. I contemplate just dumping the entire utensil drawer on the table for them to dig though.  I strap Jack into his high chair and start to feed him. Then Sam starts to cry, Ben took his spoon. Me, “Ben give Sam his spoon back by the time I count to three or you will have a time out! One…Two….Three!! Go to the time out chair!” Sam gets his spoon back and demands peaches. Ben starts screaming from time out (there’s no talking, or screaming, from time out at our house). Sam yells, “No screaming, be quiet Ben!” Ben responds with a “NNNOOOOOO!” All I can do is pray for nap time to come soon.

1230pm

Ben, Sam and Jack have all finished lunch. I let Ben and Sam watch one episode of Diego so that I can clean up lunch and nurse, change and put Jack down for his nap.

1pm

Diego ends and it’s time to change diapers and round up the twins for a nap. I lie on the twins’ bedroom floor until they fall asleep and catch up on a little Facebook/email with my phone.

130pm Ben and Sam are asleep and I stealthily sneak out of their room. Let the “me time’ being! First, to each lunch, then to pick up the house. I sit down with a couple of hard boiled eggs and…THUD!! What the heck was that?!? I run up to the twins’ bedroom and find Sam on the floor. Poor guy! He fell out of bed. I put him back in bed and lay with him for a moment. After a couple of wiggles and giggles he gets settled and is down for the count once again. I make my escape.

2pm

Back to my delicious eggs and some hulu watching, followed by a nice chat with my lovely sister-in-law (a fellow SAHM).

3pm

Jack wakes up…time to nurse.

330pm

Fold laundry. Twins wake up crying. Not the dreaded nap hangover! Ben comes downstairs to me while Sam stays upstairs crying “mommy!”. Jack spits-up all over the floor. Yucky! Ten minutes later, Sam has finally stopped with is cry/whine fest and has made his way downstairs by way of army crawl. With him he brings the all-too-familiar stench of poo and its diaper changes for all three boys.

4pm

As I rotate and start more laundry, I hear the twins whining for “more milk”. I get them more milk and start packing a light dinner for a surprise trip to the nearby park. I hear a calling out of “daddy” which soon evolves into a full on argument between the two boys over who daddy belongs to. “My Daddy!” “No, my daddy!” “No, my daddy!” waaaaaaaah!!!! Meanwhile, Jack is happily playing and jumping away in his jumperoo, so I steal away in an attempt to use the bathroom. Of course, my escape does not go unnoticed and soon Ben and Sam are crying and banging on the bathroom door. Grrr. And I still have to get back to packing Ben, Sam and Jack’s dinner.

430pm

Jack starts fussing while the boys begin wrestling each other on the floor.

5pm

Finally we are heading out the door. Since we are walking to the park I have Jack on me in the Bjorn with the diaper bag and dinners on my back while each toddler holds one of my hands. Hopefully I won’t be regretting the decision to go without the stroller?!? Ten minutes later we make it to the park. Success! The park is a blast! We do the monkey bars, firemen’s pole, and slides, watch airplanes, pick flowers, jump off rocks and after eating dinner we even climb a mountain (hill)!

6pm

Daddy meets up with us at the park and I gladly let him take over entertaining the twins. He sets them up on the tire swing together and I just sit back, getting lost in the moment, watching them and thinking how lucky I am to have all of these special guys in my life. Then, PURP… I look down to find that Jack’s dinner is now all over my new pair of jeans! 

Ahhh, such is life.