The “Day in the Life” project is hosted quarterly by Navigating the Mothership. I think you should check out her blog – I enjoy following her! The Day in the Life’s are cool to read and they seem to grow each time they’re hosted. Can’t wait to see what this winter’s holds.
If you’re interested, check out the Mothership blog and see if you’re up for it.
If you want to see what mine looked like when I did it the first time, here’s mine from October 2011, one week before Elle came to our world.
And without further ado, here’s mine for Winter 2012.
Enjoy!
Saturday, February 11, 2012
6:56 a.m.: Elle’s awake. Time to get medicine, a bottle and the like going for the day. (Let it be said that Jon took the middle of the night dining event, so that wasn’t a part of my day).
7:00 a.m.: Here I don’t have enough hands to make the bottle, get the medicine and the whatnot going – so Elle takes refuge on the floor of the kitchen. And no, the floor is NOT clean. Whatev’s.
I choose the Avent bottle over the Playtex Ventaire bottles for no particular reason, other than the Avent’s are clean and the Playtex are all used and need washed.
Here’s Elle (still laying on the floor) getting her medicine. It’s propanalol for her hemangioma and it’s working wonders. She gets this dosage three times each day.
Elle loves her medicine AND the mornings. Here’s our happy girl!
7:03 a.m.: Bottle made and medicine administered, it’s back to Elle’s room to photograph the evidence as well as change a diaper.
The blanket made its way to the floor in the middle of the night, and I had to use the flash to shoot this photo because it’s still so dark out.
7:13 a.m. : Here are Jon (gray sweatshirt on the left), Elle and I laying in bed as Elle eats breakfast. Let me add the disclaimer that MANY of the photos you’ll see of me are unfortunate looking…but whatever, this is my life.
7:17 a.m. : This is what I find in the living room upon my entrance this morning…the remnants of Jon’s Call of Duty Modern Warfare festival last night. In other words…a bean bag chair and the boppy on Elle’s blanket, in front of the tv. Glad that the boppy has found good use – holding up Jon’s rear for marathon COD events.
Just another view of Jon’s setup for COD playing.
Playing with her feet – a new trick of Elle’s! The blanket was made by my grandma’s sister in law, my Aunt Julie.
Realize that my camera time and actual time are off by several minutes. Take this photo to be able to calibrate the timing for my Day in the Life blog.
7:18 a.m.: NEED COFFEE. Dunkin Donuts Hazelnut is my absolute favorite these days. One scoop per two cups for this gal…does that make it weak? I don’t know if it does or doesn’t, but it sure makes it taste good.
For the record, I realize after I take this photo that the clock on my coffee maker is horribly wrong, so I set out to fix it. I thought it was going to be one of those awful things…but turns out, I just had to push ‘hour’ until it came back to 7 a.m. and I was done. TOO EASY.
7:24 a.m.: I notice this stack of ‘stuff’ in the kitchen next to my dying Peace Lily. The pile includes anything out of the dishwasher that Jon didn’t know where it went. A cutting board and a decorative appetizer plate. Put those away…
Speaking of, I decide to try to figure out why the lily is dying. Because it’s really pitiful.
Over-watering seems to be the culprit. I dump the water out from the container and jot a mental note to stop watering the thing. Realize that I haven’t watered the poinsettias by the front door in over a month, but they’re still doing alright so I don’t worry about it. I’m hoping they die anyway.
7:28 a.m.: As mentioned in a previous post here, I recognize that my kitchen counters really need to be wiped down, so I grab my favorite stuff (which I can no longer find at the Dollar Tree) and begin cleaning the countertops. LA’s Totally Awesome, Lavender.
Were you wondering where Elle was this entire time? Me too. No, kidding, but she was back in bed with Jon for some quality snuggle time, which allowed me the time to clean the counters and get ready for the race.
More to come on that whole race thing…
Evidence that I fixed the clock, at 7:43 a.m.
And, with that the coffee is FINALLY ready.
I grab my favorite cup, so that it can make it into “Day in the Life” blog. It says “Peace Also Takes Courage”. The coffee tastes better out of this particular mug.
Notice the spilled coffee spot on the counter…I hadn’t gotten around to that side of the kitchen with my Totally Awesome yet, but I did manage to do it after the photo.
As I’m now snapping pictures, I realize that the scene with Elle’s bottles and mine (mine are the ones with wine in them) is kind of a neat (weird) photo, so I capture it. Also, I really wanted you to see how cool that compass thing looks on the wall of my kitchen. Honestly, that’s really why I took the picture. It was a Pier One purchase, but it’s supposed to be an outside decor thing, but I loved it for my kitchen. So there.
8:53 a.m.: Text back and forth with Molly after turning on Good Morning America and the local weather. Turns out, that after the weirdest winter ever where it was like living in the Carolinas or something, winter had finally come to mid-Michigan. It was seven degrees with a wind chill of -12 (so it felt like 12 below for anyone who doesn’t understand wind chill). Molly and I had been planning to run the Sweetheart 5K in Flushing all week, but the weather seemed to be a big road block for me. But, I’d said since the first of the year I was going to run this race. So, I text Molly to see if she wants to back out.
No, she says, reminding me of Rocky with her reference to Eye of the Tiger. She’s in if I’m in.
Ok, crap, I’m in. This is gonna be cold.
Yes, it’s going to be cold. I gather my cold weather gear, including long johns and Dri Fit shirt. That was layer number one. To prove it, I took a picture. I apologize for the body…but…it’s what I’m working with!
8:05 a.m.
Molly is picking me up at 8:45ish. Race registration opens at 9 a.m. and the race begins at 10 a.m. For the record, I printed off the registration form and began to fill it out. Except, I realized only too late that I had written my last name and Molly’s first name onto the form. I swear. So, ripped it in half and threw it away. Only to realize that the directions on how to get to the school were on the sheet. So, I dug through the trash and set my mistake paper into the bag to take with.
8:18 a.m.
Jon and Elle are in bed, and she’s awake, waiting for him to wake up. We hang out in our room just taking photos for my blog and talking about the day. I tell Jon he can always run Elle to my Mom and Dad’s if he wants to get started painting our room, or if he needs to get the driveway cleared of last night’s snow.
This is for photographic proof that I do exist and hold my baby…but since I’m the one that typically takes photos, I have to force others to capture the moment with me and our girl.
Jon’s enthusiasm for my blog and being awake is short-lived.
8:25 a.m.
I’m set and ready to go with more layers to add on waiting at the stairs for Molly’s arrival.
Waiting for Molly to arrive…
Elle and Jon, watching morning cartoons!
Here, a photo of my Valentine’s gift from Jon’s Mom, Karen. She loves orchids and got me own of my very own that I swear I’m not going to make look like the peace lily.
8:45ish: Molly arrives and picks me up. I grab a couple of bottles of water on the way out the door.
9:25 a.m.: Arrive at Flushing Central Elementary. Here’s Molly’s pre-race look.
9:45 a.m.: 15 minutes til race time, I’m just snapping pictures to post to my Day in the Life. Here we are in the elementary school gym. It was pretty well-attended for a race that faced down sub-freezing temps.
9:59 a.m.: One minute til race time. Here’s the crowd amassing for the start of the race.
Here are Molly and I. Again, an unfortunate look about me, but whatever. This is what I looked like for the race. It was cold, so I was certainly not about to make this a beauty contest!
For the record, I did put on eyeliner and a bit of foundation just to try to make myself look a bit better.
10:28 a.m.: Not sure where I was on the race course, but here’s what my run generally looked like. Like running in sand, the snow sucked to run in, but I kept pushing. Not like I didn’t stop and walk, but I felt good that I did it at all. All I wanted to do was finish, and I did that and in a semi-respectable time!
There was one couple who I ended up keeping pace with the whole time. They would jog and then walk, and I was on sort of a separate jog/walk schedule than them. With just two tenths of a mile to go, I had jogged past them and they were walking. I took off my headphones, said ‘come on, I’ve followed you guys the entire race, I’m not going to finish ahead of you now.’ and we chatted across the finish line. That’s them, holding hands as they cross the finish line. I thought it was very non-competitive (or, perhaps, VERY competitive) of me to do this. Either way, it made me feel good.
About this time, Jon probably took Elle to my parents so he could begin painting after he got the driveway shoveled. Just so you won’t wonder where Elle is when you keep reading…
11:07 a.m.: I’m waiting for Molly in the car. She arrives after completing the 10K. Woohoo! Go Molly. (Forgot to take a picture, but she looked pretty much the same as she did pre-race, except with redder cheeks (hello, wind!).
11:22 a.m.: Bob (Molly’s man) was working on a roofing project around the corner from the race and was freezing. He asked for some coffee, so we stopped at this gas station to pick up a cup for he and his buddy. When I say ‘we’ I really mean ‘Molly’. I didn’t get out of the car, and just let her…Nice of me, right?
I also captured the moment with a self-portrait.
11:30 a.m.: Bob and his buddy get off the roof of the airplane hangar where they’re working to grab the coffee. I tell them I need a picture so I can post it to my blog. The buddy thinks that sounds cool. I don’t let him know how semi-dweeby it really is…because I personally think it’s cool too.
Bob had the door to the hangar open and asked if we wanted to see the planes. What a treat (and, I thought it’d make my Day in the Life seem uber-cool, too). So, we parked the car and hopped out.
Here are some snapshots:
Acting (not very well) like I’m going to start the plane by turning the propeller (isn’t that what it’s called, I had a total mental block when I was getting this pic taken).
In the meantime between the race and the plane hangar, Andrea texted and asked if Jon and I wanted to do pizza and cards at their house later. I get a hold of Jon and he says ‘sure’. So, we now have dinner plans!!
11:42 a.m.: Head to Bob Evans for a post-race breakfast. I totally forgot to take pictures of the food, but at least I took a photo to prove we were there. By the way, I’m SO getting a quart of soup to go (they have them on special for $5 to go). It’s a great deal and it sounds so, so good. That’s probably going to be dinner tomorrow night if I can help it!
12:09 p.m.: And, just to prove I paid the bill, here’s evidence of what I actually ate.
12:30 p.m.: Home again, home again jiggity jog. Here’s a picture from our driveway out onto our backyard and the golf course after the night before’s snow.
12:45 p.m.: We are painting the blue color on our walls in our room today and this is a ‘before’ photo. I have better before photos of the room – this was just for the day’s cataloging purposes.
1:32 p.m.: Progress on the cutting-in. Ugh, tedious. And the color is a BIT brighter than I anticipated. Of. Course.The good news is that I turned on the Pandora “Old School Rap” station, and Jon and I are completely enjoying the tunes.
2:00 p.m.: Still painting.
3:00 p.m.: Still painting. And the Old School Rap station is now repeating songs. Been at this too long. Good news is, Jon and I had decided we’d paint til about 4, get cleaned up, pick up Elle (oh yeah, she was hanging out at my parents house so we could focus on painting) and head to Frank and Andrea’s by 6. Good plan.
4:57 p.m.: Still painting. Or rather, I’m still painting. Jon quietly washed his brush and grabbed a snack and watched some dumb show on E! after the 4 o’clock mark hit. When I asked what time it was and he said “Oh, almost 5.” I about fell off my stool. So, I finished up what I was doing and got ready to go. Sweet, no shower after the race and painting all day. Whatever. They’re not our friends because of our cleanliness, I suppose.
Here’s how much further we got with the awful paint in the looks-like-painters-tape blue.
5:06 p.m.: Select an outfit that doesn’t make me feel awful and slap some make-up on my face. The bathroom is a mess, because we just tried to get everything OUT of our room, and the bathroom worked at the time. Not so much now, but it did at the time.
I also decide I’ll show you how gross it was behind the bed and under the dressers when we moved them. The dust mop is holding my clean-up rag for painting but the dust bunnies…ugh. I was disgusted. I thought I had a relatively clean house. Not so much.
Time for the make-up. (And a different bathroom).
5:12 p.m.: Well, not too shabby for not showering at all.
I need to run and pick Elle up from my parents house. I suggest to Jon that he shower while I go grab her.
So, I need shoes. Unfortunately, I’m still wearing white athletic socks. And I choose the black and white heels. Bad choice in the ice and with the socks. But, here were my choices sitting outside the garage door…
5:13 p.m.: Opening the garage door and heading out to get Elle – nine houses down from ours.
Treacherous driveway.
And with a windshield like this, it could be scary. Evidently, when Jon moved cars around and pulled mine in to the garage, it hadn’t had enough time to warm up.
5:14 p.m.: Didn’t let the car warm up very long, did I?
Here’s our house in the snow.
And, nine houses later, here we are at my Mom & Dad’s.
5:15 p.m.:
Here’s Grandpa, making pork chops (or something that smelled equally as delicious).
My Grandma, Ruth, is in town visiting at my parents. She claimed Elle was totally happy until my Uncle Bill had arrived. So, we are proving here that Elle isn’t 100% happy ALL. THE. TIME. And, she loves her Uncle Bill. So. It is what it is.
5:17 p.m.: Uncle Bill and my Dad.My Uncle Bill has been doing a lot of genealogy research on our family and I asked if I could be a D.A.R. and he found about four ways I can. So, he was telling me all about it while we were there. I tried to wait for my Mom to get home from the grocery store, but it didn’t work out that way. We had to get our show on the road.
Here’s my Grandma – Elle’s Great Grandma. So glad she and Elle have been able to meet one another!
5:21 p.m.: Still waiting on my Mom. Elle and I take a self-portrait on the couch. For the record, Jon dressed her for the day. Typically, I lay out clothes for each day but didn’t before I left on Saturday. Jon’s a snazzy dresser generally and he did a good job dressing Elle. Not an outfit I would have put together, but terribly cute. Purple long-sleeve onesie, purple fleece pants, purple socks. Lots and lots of purple – but at least it all coordinated!
Here’s the view from the couch and my senior year headshot above the fireplace. That handsome guy adjacent to me? Uncle Trevor!
5:47 p.m.: We have now gone home, picked up Jon and got back into his car to head to Frank and Andrea’s. I tell Jon about my Day in the Life project and he’s grouchy about it and tries to look out the opposite window instead of on the road. Which makes him mad. He snaps at me. We sit in silence for about 7 minutes until he cracks. I win. And I got the picture!
6:11 p.m.: Arrive at Frank and Andrea’s.
Greeted by Drew on our arrival!
7:27 p.m.: Capture a photo of Jon, Elle, Frank, Steph and Tim (Andrea’s sister and brother-in-law). We had just finished eating pizza and salad.
8:18 p.m.: Girlfriend needed a diaper change AGAIN. And this one was bad. It was reminiscent of hummus. Uck. Ucky uck uck. She, however, couldn’t be more pleased with herself.
We hang out at Frank and Andrea’s, don’t play cards and just chat away. I drink about a bottle of wine. I cuddle Drew up and just have a nice time with our friends. Great night.
Jon drives us home. We get home about 11 p.m.
10:47 p.m.: Spotted…a man in a forever lazy.
Had to snap a picture because it cracks me up that he loves that thing.
10:55 p.m.: Snap a good night picture of Jon and I before he plays Call of Duty and I watch Grey’s Anatomy on the iPad.
10:58 p.m.: Elle had slept on the way home and we put her in bed. She woke up a little and instead of waking her up to change her and properly feed her, I just stood there and fed her the rest of her bottle. And it worked like a charm. I snapped this photo to end the evening.
11: 10 p.m.: Laying in bed, checking “Texts From Last Night” and playing some silly games before turning on Grey’s.
11:15 p.m.: Turns out, I fell asleep before the first commercial of Grey’s. Oops.
Great day, good night. And it was all just a day in my life!
The Baby Brain 