Did you manage to check in with your time log today? Weekends can be a lot more challenging for time tracking. We tend to lack the guideposts of our normal routines, and (if you’re using a spreadsheet) you’re probably not on your devices as often. I will say that it does get easier. After seven years of time tracking, I’m able to check in twice or even just once a day on weekends by making mental notes about my time.
Anyway, last night was not great. The toddler refused to go down. In general he’s been sleeping much better in the new house. Maybe it’s having his own room and not being in a closet. Maybe it’s that I’m sleeping farther away and so I don’t hear short wake-ups. He doesn’t appear to be traumatized in the morning, so I guess it is all sorting itself out. But last night was not good. He refused to go down until 10:45 pm. So the evening was pretty much completely spent dealing with that. (And unpacking groceries — my husband and 6-year-old had gone grocery shopping after his Nerf War event).
Speaking of that 6-year-old…we now have a 7-year-old! Long time readers will recall that he was born in a bit of a rush overnight seven years ago. I had been induced with my first three children, so it is possible that I didn’t recognize the early stages of labor. It became obvious soon enough, though. We had pulled into the hospital parking lot at 1:13. a.m. and he was born at 1:32 a.m. He has continued to do things in his own way ever since.
We were trying to figure out what to do for his birthday. I’d thought our “big adventure” for the week would be to drive to the National Aquarium in Baltimore, and we had blocked out today for that. But it became clear that the 7-year-old really didn’t want to spend his day going on a long trip. So we regrouped in the morning. I was up at 7:45, dealt with the baby, got ready, and then bought tickets for this Dinos and Dragons Stroll in a nearby expo center.
All the big kids got up and we were all in the car at 10:00. It was quite the hilarious exhibit. A bunch of dinosaurs that were basically like those inflatable mascots you sometimes see in front of car dealerships… The 2-year-old loved it. The 7-year-old tolerated it because I bought him a light saber type thing while there. The older children just rolled their eyes. We walked around for 40 minutes, got in the car, went to Wegmans to get muffins for our birthday celebration, and were home by 12:15. So not exactly the “big adventure” I intended but oh well.
There was much unpacking of boxes. We did presents and muffins (the 7-year-old doesn’t like many foods…including cake) around 1:00. Then I tried to put the toddler down for a nap. He was having none of it. I left him in his room from 1:40-2:10 to see if he’d think better of the nap strike but no (I read my Shakespeare during this time). I went back to play with him from 2:10-2:30, then my husband took over while I scrubbed the walls on the stairs that got scuffed during the delivery of the theater chairs on Friday (sigh…). In 30 minutes (2:30-3:00) I did make them look a lot better.
I took the toddler for the next half hour, then I walked around the neighborhood for a bit to clear my head (3:30-close to 4). It was cold! Nineteen degrees I think. With a hat and boots and gloves it’s not so bad. I gave the toddler a turn on the computer (the 7-year-old and 10-year-old were having a grand old time playing with his new walkie talkies) while I played the piano for 20 minutes. More Debussy! Then I got ready and took the 10-year-old over to a friend’s house for a birthday celebration. I had appetizers and a glass of wine with the adults, and it was nice to have a bit of a social occasion on Saturday night! (My husband was home with the other kids, and another child who came to visit one of our kids).
I left around 7:40, came home and put the toddler to bed. Given his wretched night last night and his lack of a nap he went down pretty easy (by 8:10). Now I am writing this on the couch with a fire going in the fire place and recorded football games from earlier in the day playing on the TV. (I am really glad not to be watching football outside in Buffalo right now…) I’ll probably put the 7-year-old to bed soon and hope that my husband deals with the older boys at some point.
Only one more day to go for the time tracking challenge! If you’ve made it this far, you can make it through tomorrow. Right? Hopefully you’re finding the experience enlightening!
Photo: The dinosaurs. I kid you not.
Oof that is a bad combo of a rough bedtime and then a nap boycott! I was wondering how the baby was adjusting to his own room but sounds like it’s mostly gone well. I hope that night was a major outlier!
I have had to make notes in my planner for times when I’m not at my work computer and that has worked pretty well. This has been such a weird week between our son getting tubes and then getting a virus on Wednesday and being home the next 2 days. My number of hours worked is going to be lower than usual but wow I was productive when I was working! And my time spent exercising is super low since I had to use spare moments to work. But oh well. I weighed myself this morning and actually lost weight this week which really shocked me as I’ve treated myself to ice cream several times as a reward for making it through horrible nights of sleep when the baby was sick (and I know that is not a healthy reward but I needed some sort of treat)? I have countif equations set up in my excel spreadsheet so I can easily calculate my totals. I used really broad categories (like kids, work, home organization). The hours spent on home organization will be much higher than a typical week as I’ve been bit by an organization bug. My husband has done lots of child care to allow me to focus on that over the weekend but we will both benefit!
I will be so sad when your daily time check in is over. I seriously laugh out loud at many things you say. I love the way you put things. I’m glad you find humor in the every day life. Man, having kids isn’t for wimps, is it? We think we have it all together, and BAM the kids rule our lives. hahahaha Hang in there. I hope the sleeping parts get better for you soon. In the meantime, (see what I did there?) I love your attitude.
Hi! I sent you a message via Instagram asking about Turks and Caicos. Maybe you missed it. Just wanted some recs for food and fun. And scuba- which outfitter did your husband dive with? Thanks!
@Kwan – hey- sorry I must have missed it – I am not entirely sure how Instagram messages work. We stayed at Beaches so we just did everything through them – it’s an all-inclusive resort. Kind of pricey, but fairly easy from a food and activities perspective…