One Mom. Two Kids. One Day In The Life.

...within the framework of a blog, a running list of the day's events gives a different kind of insight than a more conventional post.

And so writes Sheryl of Paper Napkin. Yes, the lovely lady who brought us De-lurking Day is now bringing us Day In The Life.

Here goes...

7:00 Hear and ignore Thomas waking up. He seems content to talk to his lion. I try and go back to sleep.

7:30 Thomas starts crying. Get up and put him in front of Sesame Street. Pee, make bed. Prepare juice cups for Thomas and Emily, who wakes up shortly after Thomas. Both kids seem to be in a good mood. Excellent.

8:00 Make coffee and breakfast: scrambled eggs with cheese, banana for the kids; 2 turkey sausages for me. Water front yard and plants that don't have sprinklers.

8:15 Transfer two dozen pre-made cookies from their wrapper to cookie sheets. Bake cookies to take to playgroup. Stock diaper bag and car with diapers.

8:30 Check email. Karen and Jess invite me to room with them on Thursday night! Get excited about BlogHer. IM Mike to tell him that BlogHer is now an entire week instead of just two days. Reply to emails.

8:45 Grab daily paper and take with me to bathroom. Read two headlines before being interrupted by a piercing wail coming from the playroom and the beeper going off in the kitchen reminding me that my cookies need to come out of the oven. Sigh and hate every businessman I've ever seen saunter off to the bathroom with his sports section.

9:15 Realize that if I don't stop reading blogs that I will be late for playgroup. Shower and get dressed. Get the kids dressed.

9:50 Leave for playgroup.

10:00 Arrive at playgroup. Chat with other moms while keeping one eye on children. Dole out cookies. Wonder why some moms refuse to eat sweets in public when I know they're chowing down on them at home. Eat several cookies. Kiss a skinned knee. Negotiate some toy issues. Stop Thomas from eating some other kid's food. Watch Thomas have a tantrum. Realize he is entering the phase known as "The Terrible Twos." Ignore him and hope the other moms approve of how I'm handling the situation.

11:30 Leave the park. Change Thomas's diaper in the car before heading home.

11:45 Arrive home. Prepare lunch: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with leftover mac-n-cheese and green beans. Eat lunch, load dishwasher, clean out fridge of old leftovers. Make second sandwich for Emily at her request. Become annoyed when she licks it and declares it yucky. Give her a time out and tell her I'm not her personal short order cook. Even though I am.

12:15 Start load of wash. Put away folded clothes I washed yesterday.

12:45 Decide to take a photo of what I'm wearing for the Internets.

1:00 Post photo. Realize kids are being too quiet and go in Thomas's room to discover the entire floor covered with diapers. Pick them up. Change into my bathing suit. Get Thomas and Emily into their bathing suits. Sit down at the computer to quickly check my email and realize it's now 2:00.

2:00 Put clothes in dryer. Ask Emily if she wants to go to the pool. She doesn't, so instead I fill up the water table and sit outside while they play. Wish I could fall asleep in the sun. Wish sitting in the sun wasn't ruining my skin. Spend a little bit of time reminiscing about the good ol' days when tanorexia was fashionable.

2:45 Decide everybody's had enough sun. Also, I am tired of saying, "Don't climb into the water table! Thomas, get down!"

2:55 Get kids into clean clothes, empty water table, and pick up plastic tea set that is scattered over patio. Give the kids Emily's leftover PB&J for a snack. They devour it. Load and start dishwasher.

3:00 Practice walking around the house wearing nothing but my swimsuit. Imagine I am a housewife from the fifties in L.A. Isn't this what they wore? Decide I feel naked and embarrassed even though nobody can see me.

3:05 Put on running clothes in anticipation of a run when Mike gets home.

3:06 Fold clean clothes and put away. Do some light cleaning and organizing in the bathrooms. Re-stock toilet paper. Change poopy diaper.

3:30 Read blogs. Leave witty comments.

4:00 Put on some 80s music and play dance party with the kids while contemplating what to cook for dinner. Water plants. Vacuum.

5:00 Start dinner: roasted tri tip with baked beans and corn. Set the table and put away clean dishes. Keep repeating the following phrase: "No, you may not have a cookie; we will be eating dinner soon."

6:00 Mike gets home. We eat dinner in a relatively peaceful and calm fashion. Thomas gets a little cranky at one point. I can't remember why; sometimes the crankies all run together. I sense more of the impending Terrible Twos. Clean up after dinner and load dishwasher.

6:45 Run 2 miles. Do 150 crunches and 25 push-ups.

7:30 Get dressed in earlier outfit, comb hair, and go to monthly meeting of my mothers club. The meeting is on Positive Discipline. Decide I am open to trying some of the techniques but realize that I am an old dog and it's doubtful whether I can be taught new tricks. Have some nice chats with friends about our kids, lives, etc.

9:30 Get home in time to kiss Emily goodnight. Thomas is already in bed.

10:00 Upload pictures from the day. Write this post from notes. Make the day sound better than it really was. Hopefully.

11:00 Post. Turn off computer. Go to sleep. Goodnight, Internets!

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