Sequential II Would Come in Handy

Let's have a round of applause for AK! She actually napped yesterday. Okay, so it was only for 45 minutes, about 20 minutes LESS than her big sister, but you have to start somewhere. She also was not crazy ravenous when I picked her up, although she did start eating dirt which ended our trip to the playground.

I am going to have to figure out how to adjust out home might-time schedule. However, this is complicated. I feel like it is one of those logic games we used to do in math class in junior high: Jenny, Susie, Mikey and Joe all want to go on a horse-drawn hay ride. Jenny and Susie want to sit next to each other. Mikey can't be next to Susie, Joe hates horses...

1. Tue-Thur I pick the girls up around 5
2. The girls need to be eating dinner no later than 6:15
3. AK needs to be in bed BY 8 (as exemplified by her mini-meltdown at 8:05 last night)
4. The Hoos gets home around 7:15
5. Baths need to be done by 7:45
6. The Hoos and I need to eat dinner
7. I need to make the girls' lunch
8. I need to digest for at least 15 minutes before walking on the treadmill
9. I spend 20 minutes on the treadmill
10. I should start getting ready for bed by 10:15

I know it would help if I didn't feel the need to make dinner every night. But I just can't see myself making and freezing meals on the weekend and I try to limit take-out to one night a week.

Want to plan my evening?

So Predictable

My life has become predictable. No, I can't tell you exactly what LP will say (recently it will likely involve her trying out a new curse word) or AK will do at any given moment (likely try to get to a piece of paper that she can tear apart and eat), but I can, with some degree of accuracy, fill in the basic outlines.

For instance:

1. On the days I am in the office I pump around 9, 12, and 3 and I know that I will produce 5, 3, and 4 ounces respectively. This is amazingly awesome - with LP there was no rhyme or reason to my production. Let's hope it keeps up until I am ready for it to not keep up.
2. AK requires solids at 9, 12, and 6. If you try to feed her before any of these times she will refuse to eat. If she goes for too long after she will freak out and remind you of her needs.
3. At 8pm AK needs to be in the bath. If she is not in the bath and therefore moving closer to going to bed, she will once again remind you of your duty.
4. LP will insist on drinking from the water fountain before exiting the building when I pick her up from school.
5. She will also request - every day - that we go to Stew's before heading home. Some days this is feasible (I am early, she drinks really quickly) and on other days it is not (it is raining, it is snowing, it is perilously close to AK's 6pm feeding).
6. LP will likely want pasta for dinner, require a trip to the potty when mommy and daddy are eating, and ask for "another song" at least three times before finally going to sleep.

I can also assure you that I will be tired. Every day.

Cluster F***er

FEEDer folks! FEEDer! Get your minds out of the gutter.

Baby Dee is a cluster feeder. She would eat every hour if possible between 7pm and 10am and would prefer to sleep straight through the other nine hours a day. Unfortunately, 10am-7pm is the DAYTIME when I would much prefer she be awake and alert and burning up energy to sleep through the night...sigh.

Last night we put Dee down in her crib for bed for the first time. She has napped in the crib but this was the first night she didn't spend in our room. I figured that she would get better quality feedings and I would be more likely to change her if I actually got out of bed.

The good news - I actually changed her twice - which is much better than me contemplating changing her several times and not really getting around to it until 7.

The bad news - I was in her room at 12, 2 and 4 and she wasn't interested in returning to the crib after the 4am feeding. She spent the rest of the night nestled in the crook of my arm. I think that was her plan all along anyway.

I am trying really hard during the day to wait at least two hours (okay, an hour and 45 minutes) between feedings in the morning and at night. And I also make every effort to wake her up and force her to eat during her day-long "nap". I know this is very necessary if I ever want to STOP LEAKING and if there is any chance of ever getting her on a schedule. (Yes, I realize she is on a schedule, but it isn't really one that is consistent with the timetable of the rest of the world).

As generations before me have said, it is a good thing that babies are cute...

Finding Coverage

As much as I am sure everyone would love to read a post about my take on universal health care coverage, this post is actually about child care coverage.

This week LP's day care is closed. Fortunately, I only have to get people to watch her for two days since I am typically home on Mondays and Fridays and Tuesday was a holiday that everyone gets off. Even more fortunately, LP has two sets of grandparents that look for any opportunity to help out and watch the energetic little munchkin.

LP spent yesterday with my mother-in-law. Apparently she was "an angel". They went shopping and she spent the entire time calmly standing in the main section of the cart, enjoying the view of the toy store. If I was the one pushing the cart I would have to resort to bribing LP to stay in the cart. They also managed to eat lunch out at a local diner. Again, if the Hoos and I were there she would spend the time throwing food, climbing out of the seat, and running around the restaurant. Typical, right?

Today LP is with my parents. I am sure I will have a similar report about how she was wonderful and angelic and the most perfect little child. I am not going to complain, though. If she wants to be good for our babysitters, that is great, because that means they won't mind babysitting again.

On a more serious note, the week without day care really has me thinking about how parents with elementary age kids do it. My parents were teachers, so growing up we pretty much always had the same vacations. The Hoos and I and most other parents do not have this luxury (although there is no way I would trade my job for being a teacher full-time). Summers become a time of juggling different camps, seeking full-time babysitters, and paying lots and lots of $$$ to keep your kids occupied.

But summers only come up once a year, I am also thinking about the five days a week that the kids go to school!

In our neighborhood, the bus pick-up time is 9:00 am. Well, even with his relatively open schedule there is no way the Hoos could get to work at a decent time (9 is considered late at a lot of offices; I get in at 7:45 currently). Of course there is before and after school care (starting at 7 and ending at 6) which I guess isn't much different than day care, but it seems to me that school-age kids start knowing the difference between kids whose parents pick them up and kids who "have" to hang out at school and do their homework. Ugh.

The good news is, LP is in day care for another three years. That should give me enough time to get my head around all of the craziness that will become my schedule in the not-too-distant future. Just in time for carpools and tee-ball practice.