High School Baseball Season. Baseball Widow. Single Mommy. These three phrases go together during this time of year. It's a busy/hectic time of year. Since Tim has been umpiring the past couple of years, I thought it was tough with just Cooper, but this year, tough doesn't seem to be a big enough word to describe it. EXCEPT, it's not
just tough, it's FUN! I am crazy stressed some nights/weekend days, but we're almost always having a great time.
Last year, I remember just praying for bedtime for Cooper. I couldn't wait until that little booger went to bed because I was exhausted. Tired of entertaining him. Tired of everything. I was pregnant, I worked all day, picked Coop up from school then took care of him, and if I'm honest, we both drove each other crazy some nights. Most nights were fun, playing outside, coloring, jumping on the trampoline, reading, doing puzzles, singing songs, having dance parties etc.... But the other nights - those that we drove each other nuts - seemed to be the only nights that stuck in my mind.
This year though? Our nights and weekends seem to be SO MUCH BETTER overall. I have really no idea why. We have so much more to accomplish, more worry about a certain baby girl's schedule to keep, throw t-ball in there and we just have more everything it seems. However, we're doing it fabulously. I'm not wishing its time for bed. I'm really not even as strict about bedtime with Cooper as I am regularly. I think he's growing up. He's much better about entertaining himself when he needs to - and he's becoming such a little man. Katy is certainly an easier baby than Cooper was, and for that, I am grateful, especially during this season of our lives.
I started this post because I wanted to document a typical day in our lives with a timeline as I've done in the past.
Kate wakes up sometime between 5:30 and 6am most mornings. So I'm up with her and we get her bottle in her. I feed her in Tim's and my bed. After she's finished eating, her usual routine is to get up on all fours and crawl over to daddy and start hitting him to wake him up. I think this might be one of the best parts of his entire day. The smile he gets on his face when he gets awakened by his daughter is just priceless. The way they interact is so great. She's so happy to see her dad. By this time its usually sometime between 6 and 6:15.
I hop in the shower while they play, and after that, Tim hops in the shower and I begin to get dressed and my hair fixed while Kate plays in our bathroom/walk in closet. I shut that door so that she's stuck in there - we've had many toys migrate into our closet right now so that she has something to play with. She's mostly got her attention captured by my hair dryer though, she seems to love watching me blow drying my hair. Funny girl.
When Tim's all finished and dressed - we wake Cooper up if he hasn't gotten up yet. We get Katy dressed and she either goes back to bed for a nap, or she stays up and plays some more. Cooper plays around some and then gets himself dressed. I let him dress himself most days. He usually does a good job. We've only had a few mornings where he looks like a bruise wearing navy shorts with black shirts or vice versa. I'm
learning to let these things go, (for now). Once he's in kindergarten, I'm not sure I'll be able to stand him looking like a bruise.
By this time it's after 7am, and once Coop's ready, we head downstairs for breakfast, lunch prep, bottle prep and whatever else we've got to do before we head out the door. Tim sometimes needs to leave pretty quickly, so he does his thing while I get Cooper breakfast and shoes on etc. When Tim doesn't have to rush out, he's very good about helping with the kids.
Cooper, Katy and I leave after all that morning stuff is finished. Sometimes its as early as 7:30, but usually it's more like 7:45 - 7:50. I rush them off to daycare - get them both checked in and head out for work. Work is only 5 minutes from their school, even with traffic, so I normally make it by 8:10. It works out pretty nicely actually. I love having them in care so close to our home and my work.
If it's not a t-ball game night, I work from arrival to 5 then go straight to pick up the kids. We normally go directly home, change clothes (me) and head outside. Cooper loves playing outside and Katy is pretty good about crawling all over the grass (and eating it too), so we spend the majority of the evening outside. We are back in the house by 7pm at the latest though, because Cooper's bedtime is supposed to be 8, with dinner, baths, and one 24 minute Disney Jr show thrown in, it takes awhile to get him there. Kate goes to bed normally between 6:45 and 7:30 these days. 7:30 is on the late side for her, so sometimes I end up feeding her outside, then bringing her in to finish right around 7.
If we have t-ball, then I leave around 4:45, pick them up and head home to get Cooper a snack, then him all dressed and ready, gather the stuff I need for Kate and we leave the house by 5:30. Game time is at 6pm. Games usually last until 7:15 - 7:30, then we head home and get the bedtime routine started. Cooper is usually up until 8:30 - 8:45 on those nights, where we are really pushing Kate's limits of staying awake/eating well by keeping her up during the game, so she's fed and put in bed pretty immediately after arriving home from the games.
After bedtime, it's finally time for Mommy to grab a bite to eat! (This is why I try to meal prep as best I can on Sunday, so that I'm not just eating cereal after they head to bed each night.) Tim gets home normally between 8 and 9. If Cooper's still up, this delays bedtime even more for him, otherwise Tim and I sometimes eat together, then we're so pooped, we try to get a few more things accomplished, sometimes we just crash. THIS is why our house is a complete disaster right now. We've been without time to even pick up the normal "stuff" recently. This past week especially. Weekends are usually our time to at least get things back to normal. My mom hasn't been able to do a real clean on our floors etc for a couple of weeks now, so I seriously need to get that done this weekend also.
This life is crazy, but it's FUN, and I'm really enjoying soaking up these hours with my babies. They won't ever be this young again, so instead of wishing it away when times are busy, I'm trying to make the most of it, and be so thankful for what times we have together!
What are your lives like? Are you this busy? I'm imagining it gets 2 or 3 times harder with multiple kiddos...... Have a fantastic weekend and Happy Mothers Day!
