The 21st of December

It's that day of the month again!  The 21st of...December.

The day of the month in which my baby becomes a new age (five months old today!) and I record my whole boring day in hourly photos so someday I can look back and realize how things have changed and how truly, this too *did* pass.  You know how sometimes you wonder if things will ever, ever change or if you'll be attached to the couch nursing a baby for the rest of you life, or if you'll be negotiating with a toddler for all of eternity, etc.?  That's why I'm doing this...to keep some perspective.

And without further ado, I bring you...the 21st of December (which just happens to be my favorite month of the year, holla!).

7:00 AM

I am off to a good start!  By some miracle, I actually wake up and remember to take a picture.  Waking up in a pleasant mood is no small feat for me.  I can honestly say that seeing this precious little face first thing in the morning helps.  A lot.  Also?  It helps that Charles takes her so I can sleep in a bit most mornings.  Those 30 child-free minutes...in bed with a pillow over my head to drown out cries and screams from The Dictator dragon-child Jack are a huge part of my morning routine...for, as unpleasantly as I might wake up, Jack has me beat.  I need this time to feel nicer.  And it helps that by the time I get out of bed, Jack has had something to eat and settled down in front of a train movie and is also nicer.  Win/win.  

8:00 AM

Aww!  Look who's happily entertaining herself when I get up.

9:00 AM

Baby is nursing/napping.  Jack is playing in the room with us.  I am pretty sure it's impossible to have a baby nap when there is a toddler in the house.  Luckily, Jack will entertain himself many times while the baby naps on me.  If I put her in her swing or bed, she tops out at about a 20 minute nap.  

10:00 AM

A month ago, Claire wanted to get Jack's toys.  Now she actually can.  She has scooted over to his train tracks and is taking his trains.  You can see it's blurry here...that's because he just pulled it away from her.  Luckily he still thinks this is mostly cute.

11:00 AM

I get the baby to sleep again and put her in her swing.  While she's down, I run out and set Jack up with paints.  He needs to paint this frame for a Christmas present for his great-grandmother, who's turning 97 next month.  Here he was telling me, "Look!  Two paintbrushes!"  Painting with Jack is actually a pretty easy deal.  He keeps pretty clean, mostly, and is bored after about 15 minutes...so the mess is really minimal. The baby woke up right after I took this. Because that's what she does.

12:00 PM

There has been some serious Christmas crafting going on around here.  See those little jars in the middle of the table?  That's something I learned to make on Pinterest...I've got a post all about it in the works (it's homemade sugar scrub).  Anyway, this disaster needed some cleaning.  Only, Charles ended up shoving everything in a box while I was getting the baby to nap shortly after I took this.  I am not happy about that. And I haven't had a chance yet to get the box cleaned.

1:00 PM

At 1:00 PM, Jack is doing "quiet time" and Claire is napping on me.  And this picture?  Yeah.  We are still in our PAJAMAS.  Sigh.  That's her little polka-dotted bum resting on my big polka-dotted leg.  

2:00 PM

Shockingly, an hour later the baby is still asleep (which is due to the fact that she's asleep on me) and Jack is still partaking in quiet time (aided by another train movie, in this case The Polar Express).  I am browsing Reddit on my phone and happen to be looking at this picture.  Some of the stuff on Reddit just cracks me up.  This picture is no exception (and no, there was no explanation that went along with the picture).

3:00 PM

I forget to take a picture at 3:00.  This is because we are trying to get out of the house to go to a doctor's appointment for the kids (wellness visits).  And this turns out to be awesome...we actually FIND A DOCTOR WE LIKE.

Claire is 26" long and weighs 15 pounds, 4 ounces.  To compare, Jack (at four months) was 23" long and weighed 17 pounds 2 ounces.  They both have giant heads.  

Jack is now 37" and 32 pounds.

5:00 PM

Doctor appointment over, we are on our way to some serious deliciousness.  

7:00 PM

Home, Sweet Home!

8:00

The kids are bathed and drying off by the fire.  They are so damn cute!  Claire is scooting around like a champ and Jack is building (what else) train tracks.  

9:00 PM

The baby is asleep in my arms and I'm going through all of my favorite apps on my phone.  I've checked facebook and twitter about a hundred times each and now I'm back to Reddit.  

10:00 PM

It's not quite 10:00 PM yet, but close enough!  I'm writing this in the dark of my room because Charles is playing video games online with his friends and I'm just not that interested in going out there and listening to the profanity while I try to get this posted.  But, as soon as I hit "publish" I probably WILL go out there because I want some chocolate.  And we have chocolate.  Mmmm.  Yummy.

Well, I'd continue or get all insightful here...but no joke...I want some chocolate.