Fruit roll-ups, you can't eat just one.

So today is my typical day with the kids and because I'm always interested in how other mother's spend their time I'll try and post mine and see how it goes.

The day starts with daddy leaving for work while everyone is still sleeping. Poor daddy, no big hugs or waves goodbye to send him off. The only communication I have with him this early in the morning is a nudge with my foot so he turns off the alarm. Occassionally I need to give him directions on where to find clean pants but since I enjoy sleeping until the kids wake up I usually make sure all of his laundry is done first and foremost.

Timmy also gets up and leaves on his own, even before Vince wakes up. God love the child but I'm not a mom who gets up and cooks him breakfast at 5 a.m. and he's not a kid who wants to eat that early anyway. Plus he's in high school so weaning him off of depending on me to provide all his meals has begun. Eventually he will cook, but like a typical teen, not until he gets desperate enough. And desperation is what we're working toward :-)

The little kids get up and immediately need juice. I don't know what makes toddler's so thirsty and I've never read about it in any parenting book but all children under five drink a lot. My brother did, Vincent is just starting to grow out of it and Sophie does, Timmy did too. So I have a bunch of sippy cups and plenty of white grape juice on hand at all times. **mommy tip: White grape does not contain as much sucrose as other juices (including apple) and is much easier on their digestion.

Baby Bren wakes up to nurse about 7 am but will then sleep until 10 or 11. I am guessing this will be his morning nap time as he gets older. I am not a pancake and bacon maker. If I did all that in the morning I wouldn't get to start any projects until noon. So we have bagels or PBJ in the morning.

Then the diapers are changed, everyone gets dressed and my projects begin. Most days I spend at least an hour in the kitchen cleaning, putting things away...it takes an hour due to a lot of interruptions, but I always feel like the day can start when the kitchen is tidy. On Mondays I start laundry which carries over to tuesday. Some people do a load a day or keep up with it that way but I prefer to do it all at once. Typically there are at least 10 loads. Figuring that we probably make one load a day in clothes and a couple loads extra for towels and bed linens that is how we get to 10. **mommy tip: Sort and conquer. I find sorting out colors from a giant pile of clothes takes up more time than sorting it all at the beginning. While I do the laundry I watch all my shows that I DVR to watch when Vince is at work.

Since we don't get up until 9 or 10 we don't eat lunch until about 1:30 and that's usually sandwiches or leftovers or cheese and fruit. And I take a "lunch break" while I eat to watch a show. Normally I don't watch TV all day except for this time and then after Vince gets home from work. I am always trying to get ahead on the housework. Trying being the key word here. I usually try and put Sophie down for a nap and since she climbs out of her crib I sometimes fail entirely to get her to actually sleep and give up but usually I put her back in the crib 3 or 4 times and if it takes then great if not she goes to bed earlier that night.

My day is broken up by stopping to nurse the baby or check my email and facebook. Those little breaks are needed because being home with little ones all day and doing housework is tedious and lonely. Not that it isn't rewarding to raise your children this way but it does have it's downside, like everything does. **mommy tip on naps: With my first two kids I didn't realize this and I'm happy to pass this on. Despite the fact that your baby sleeps on and off all day I still think they need naps. Especially if your baby is the type that wants to fuss all evening. For me a nap is to feed the baby, swaddle then lay him/her down in a cool and quiet room. Let them fuss a bit, re-insert pacifier a couple times and then once they are asleep close the door and go away. I SWEAR they can sense you in the room (even if you just walk through) and this wakes them up. Naps like this typically start for us at about 6 weeks old. From 3 to 5 in the evening for a happier baby until bedtime. I think a solid couple hours of sleep are more fulfilling to baby than the typical on and off napping and hence they are better rested when they wake up.

Recently I have started "homeschooling" preschool with Vincent and Sophie. We have an easel with a chalkboard and I use that and have them sit on a little rug while we go through the alphabet and numbers and math and shapes. They absolutely eat this up! Only at a certain age are children receptive to sitting still and paying attention and we do this for about 30 minutes until they start to get active and want to do something else. I don't pressure, I make it fun, because basically we all learned our shapes, colors and numbers in due time. It's not rocket science and it's something little humans pick up naturally even if you don't teach them. But school time is fun for us and it makes me feel better than we have some specific learning time in our day. Sometimes I look back and feel guilty that our days go by so unstructured with me concentrating more on the vacuum than the kids. I'll admit that it's very easy to be annoyed that kids are always underfoot instead of realizing that you're there for the kids and should include them in your day.

So darn this was a long post, Sophie and I worked our way through an entire box of fruit roll-ups as I wrote it. It's not a funny story but I hope it was interesting enough :-) I don't proofread, sorry but I have to pick up Timmy from weight training now :-)