An April Day-In-The-Life

Someone (who shall remain me) asked on Michele's new forum, "What does your typical day of learning look like? Help me learn from you."

Despite the fact that my last Day In the Life essay gained me my first ever rude comment (on this blog), I'm doing another one. It's only fair to do what I've asked others for. :) I have a few minutes to rest while everyone is happily occupied (it's 1:15 PM) so I'm going to write what I have so far.

6:45 - hear dh in shower, get up and check email while waiting for my turn. Our early riser, Batty, is already up and watching something semi-educational. (She is usually up between 5 and 5:30 when we are not functional after a night of nursing, so she watches some TV while dh rests in the same room.)

7AM - my turn for shower. Get dressed then get online to find an address for a package I need to return. Quick check of google reader and boards. Other children are getting up.

7:30- say goodbye to dh and nurse Batty. She only asks once every day or other day. And that is fine with me, but I'd be happy if she stopped!

7:45 - eat breakfast in dining room. We usually eat in kitchen but there isn't enough room for everyone at once. The change is enough to spark good conversation and happy attitudes from everyone. I make a map of the upstairs to show Rose just how close the sleeping baby is, then we talk about maps, how we all want to make secret places for ourselves and drill through our closets to make secret passageways (them now, me as a child - although I would still love a teeny room that no one knew about!! LOL) The girls line up cereal boxes in middle of table and declare it the Great Wall of China. They try to get a large marble through as an "attack". I remember a realization I had awhile back that Skye is often trying SO hard to hear everything around her (she has a severe unilateral hearing loss but refuses to wear her aid most days)-- that it must be more tiring than a normal child, and it's no wonder she seems tense and serious.

8:15 - Skye asks for P.E. so I give her exercises. She leads the little ones in some fun. I try to figure out which Sonlight Core 4 books are at our local library

8:30 Jeffrey up. Change his and Batty's diapers and encourage everyone else to get dressed. Skye helps put laundry away because she wants to play with the basket. Everybody brushes teeth, I get clothes for Batty and Jeffrey, and rinse the cloth diapers that have been sitting in the washer all night. :-P

8:50 - I nurse Jeffrey while doing a little internet surfing. Rose is reading Follow My Leader, Skye and rest of girls are playing train with the laundry basket. When that breaks up I remind everyone to straighten their beds (it's only pulling up the comforter for all - so a 2 second chore!)

9 - Read King of the Golden City to Rose. Try not to obsess that Skye isn't there to hear it. I tend to get to forceful about stuff like that, but KOTGC is a favorite around here, I'm sure she has heard this part already, and will hear it again - even though I starting reading it for HER because it's her First Holy Communion next month. Jeffrey's on my lap.

9:30 more laundry. Skye looks at American Girl catalog (the girl is obsessed with both American Girl and catalogs in general, LOL). Rose goes outside, I calm a toddler tantrum (she wanted to go outside too).

9:40 - Batty wants a bath. Great idea!

9:45 - Skye looks restless so I suggest math. She jumps at the idea, but then is stressed by the mental math questions. We work through it. The girls HATES problem solving - she wants to be told exactly what to do, not try to come up with it herself. She comes by it honestly! LOL Jane is wandering around all dressed up to go to her grandparents in two hours. She can't wait!

10:15 - Jeffrey down for a nap. Skye still doing math. Batty is now looking through yard sale workbooks I'm ripping up to file by subject, then wants to color some. Jane tries to make a book like they show in one of the workbook pages, but then stops because she can't get her writing small enough to copy her favorite book, But Not the Hippopotamus. :-) Rose is in her room finishing her original story "The Adventures of Superbaby".

11 AM - Rose comes out and reads me her story. She'll probably type it into the computer later. The story is great (her spelling is totally invented, though, so she needs to read it to me). Typing it in will help with spelling since she has spell check. :) Jane and Skye get on Webkinz and Batty watches. I ignore signs that my blood sugar is plummeting. Bad idea.

11:30 - all but Skye eat lunch (Skye still on Webkinz)

12 PM - my parents arrive to pick up Jane. Batty gets on computer. Webkinz too frustrating, so she switches to Starfall. I get Skye off of Webkinz and sit with her while she eats lunch and I make up a chore list of paid chores the kids can choose (like scrubbing bath tile grout - not their usual chores). Rose gets on Webkinz.

12:30 nurse Jeffrey. Flip laundry. Try to clean up a bit - hard with Jeffrey!

1 PM - try to get Batty to rest in bed with books. Jeffrey seems very tired so I try to put him down too. Batty up needing new diaper. I finish typing up my morning. Now it's 2 PM. I feel like my blood sugar never really came back to a good level - still hungry! Littles finally quiet, olders watching each other on computer. I'm off to find a snack and think about what we can do this afternoon.

I'll come back and either edit this or make new post to finish the day.

Alright, I'm back. In real life it's 5:20 and I'm waiting for our bricks bread to rise so I can bake it for dinner. We may be making a quick trip to the market at this rate! Anyway...here is the rest of our day:

After 2 PM, we all kind of floundered for awhile. I was tired, the kids seemed happy enough but weren't "into" anything. I felt the urge to suggest some group activity to gather us together, but couldn't think of what. We talked about read alouds, but couldn't find one we all wanted to hear. Somebody (me I think?) suggested baking bread! Well, we've never done this before. It was fun, and went well enough, but it's NOT RISING. The yeast has recently been proofed and it was fine. I had the same problem in the breadmaker a few weeks ago. I may just ditch the yeast anyway?? Well, we may be having soup and bricks for dinner, but it was fun. This was all about 3-3:30 PM.

3:50 nurse Jeffrey. Bread still not rising! (LOL it's 5:30 and barely any rising. I may just bake it anyway) Jane comes home with my parents. The girls all go watch HGTV. Jeffrey gets tired again quickl so I try another nap. He fusses for a bit but eventually falls asleep! I check email, get some snacks, google "time for bread to rise" and find nothing, LOL. So with everyone happy I sit down to finish this.

ALL IN ALL - a good day for us. I had two moments of "bad mommy" - the first while making bread because all of a sudden it went from being nice and dry to being totally sticky again...I got frustrated and was not really nice to my dd who was kneeding that one. I wasn't horrible, far from it, just kind of exasperated. The second time was again when I was feeling tired and overwhelmed...the under 6 crowd was with me and I was trying to get fussy Jeffrey's pants on while Jane kept "tattling" on Batty...I got exasperated at Jane but what I was really mad at were the pants and the fact that Jeffrey was fussy and I had NO energy. I don't mean to ramble, it just helps me to identify my triggers so I can go to greater lengths to avoid/change them. But like I said, this was a GOOD day for us so the "triggers" were minimal.

Off to check the bricks again! Happy day, everyone. :)