A Day in the Life

4:30 AM- baby up and crabby. Hands itchy (grrrr...yes we're trialing a new food...but I ate out last night so that could be it too). We stay up and watch Harold and the Purple Crayon videos on YouTube, LOL. He loves the music and nods his head up and down to it. I figure out how to keep two windows open so he can watch and I can read my blogs. ;-)

6AM - little girls up, this is late for Batty. They enjoy a few minutes of Harold. Jeffrey getting tired and cranky.

7AM - dh up and showered, I put Jeffrey back to bed and go shower. Jane is eating Honeynut Cheerios without incident! (a food trial for her too). The rest of us eat and get ready for the day.

7:30- dh leaves for work, I empty dishwasher. Girls get dressed. They start playing nicely so the daily debate goes on in my head. Do I *stop* them and force them to do school? Do I let them play? Playing wins today because they are being productive and doing age appropriate things: Rose is practicing roller skating in the basement (she's taking a class), at the same time she's playing checkers with Jane -- skate around and move her checker, skate around again, LOL. Not sure what Skye is doing...hmmm...ah, playing battleship.


9:30 - Jeffrey still sleeping and I decide to get the girls moving on something "mommy driven" because this is when things typically break down - they've been playing long enough and will soon be fighting and crying. Gotta love girls. ;-) Go downstairs to get them and realize the rooms are trashed. Get them cleaning up and start foldling laundry. Girls want a snack now. I agree, mostly because Jane now seems painfully small and we are trying to get her to eat more. We're adding a snack into our days mid-morning. We used to do breakfast, an early lunch, a snack, then dinner and occasionally something before bed. Now there is a mid-morning snack (second breakfast? it's too early for elevenses) and a later lunch.


10- Jeffrey's up and girls are enjoying their new workbooks (yes workbooks. Shuddup, LOL**). Things go well until they all want to talk to me at once (some need help, some just never stop talking) at the same time that Jeffrey is fussing about wanting to nurse but NO really wanting to get down, no wait, I really DID want to nurse -- and then he's all over the girls trying to rip at their books. Sigh. Realizing just how much I get distressed when Jeffrey is going around loudly going "uuunnnhhhh! uuuunnnhhhh! UUUUNNNHH!!" all day because he's frustrated that he's not 5 years old. Then Batty has a tantrum because I tore out the next page of her book instead of some *other* thing she apparently wanted but couldn't articulate. Dd needs to pick a state to replace "Maryland" in an exercise so I tell her to pick one she can spell (this is asking a lot from a child that can't spell "girl"). They all chant together "M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I" :)

I realize we all need to stop for lunch when the youngest two start indian war chanting and I can't. stand. it. another. second.

11- LUNCH. I share mine with Jeffrey and hope he doesn't react. He's quite happy to get a few broken up pretzels! Can I take a moment to brag on my big girls? They each make their own lunch and help a younger sibling. It's usually the same one or two things, but it is such a load off my sick-of-food-allergies mind.

12 Noon- lots of running around and general mayhem merriment now that they've eaten.

12:30 - Skye asks for computer time and it's granted since her workbooks are done (I'll read aloud when I put Jeffrey down for a nap). Batty could use a nap too, but I let her watch the girls on the computer. I'll make her lie down when Jeffrey goes down. More quiet that way. Ahhhhh... I nurse a bunch and read computer stuff...

1:30 -4:00 - I read aloud Across Five Aprils and 3 chapters in Landmark History of the American People (my kids were actually begging for more of this after one chapter). We discussed many things relating to the civil war, political parties, and slavery. Batty woke up at some point and had a computer time while all had a snack of toast (I'm still reading). Watched a short video on Cosmeo about elections/government (although it didn't answer the questions Skye had about beliefs of Republicans vs. Democrats). Then Jeffrey woke up and I sent everyone packing. I'm fried! Reading aloud/discussing takes a lot out of me, especially heavy topics like slavery/war.

Now it's 4:45, and Batty just had another one of her constant tantrums about who knows what. I wish I knew what was wrong with that girl. Is it normal for a 3yo to scream bloody murder and slam doors?? She doesn't seem out-of-control-crazy as much as she seems angry. :( :( I guess it's hard on a strong willed control freak to be born 4th in a family of strong personalities. She's improved much in the past year but still has a loooong way to go.

And on that note, so do I.

Time to go make dinner! Still not exactly sure what, but all the fixin's for our usuals are around here somewhere. Off to round up the slave labor before-dinner helper! :) Thanks for stopping by to read about our day.

**I'm talking to the voice in my head.