2023 Time Tracking Challenge, Day 2: Mid-morning check in

Welcome to Day 2 of the Time Tracking Challenge! Now that you’ve got one day of time-tracking under your belt you’re no doubt figuring out how to record various activities as words. It’s fine to approximate. My logs contain plenty of “kids, etc.” time!

After hitting publish last night I attempted to go do Legos with my daughter. But then the 3-year-old decided he wanted to see me to get his diaper changed (he was watching a movie with Daddy). Despite the late nap, he was definitely getting sleepy, so I got him in his PJs, we got his “baba milk,” read a few stories (Little Blue Truck Leads the Way and Little Blue Truck’s Christmas, among others) and then I put him in his crib. I sat in the rocking chair scrolling while he fell asleep, and I was out of the room by 9 p.m.

At that point I went to resume my daughter’s Lego project (we’re building the Art School from Lego Friends). We finished a bag and then I went to my 7-year-old’s room to work on his Minecraft Lego set. He’s not normally been as in to Legos, but he got two sets for Christmas, and he seems to have developed the patience to actually follow the instructions. I played with him until 9:40 p.m., at which point I felt like I really needed to get my contacts out. As I left, my 7-year-old asked if he could keep working on the Legos. Sure, go for it kid! After removing my contacts, I went downstairs to do my puzzle (of Shakespearean insults) for 20 minutes. When I came up to turn everyone’s lights out at 10, the 7-year-old had finished his set!

With all the kids down for the night, I attempted to watch the college football national championship game with my husband for a few minutes, but I wasn’t that into it (also, he’d taped it and was just fast forwarding to the major plays). I went upstairs and read Otherlands (I’m in the Jurassic Europe section…). My husband came up around 10:40 and we hung out for a while and I went to sleep right around my 11 p.m. bedtime. Success!

With getting into bed on time I was definitely drifting awake between 6-6:30 a.m.; I remember being conscious of sleep. My alarm went off 6:30 a.m. and I got up to go make sure the boys were up. The next 30 minutes did not go particularly well. My husband’s alarm went off but he did not seem to be getting up. He needs to be out the door with them at 7 a.m. on jazz band mornings to get the 15-year-old to high school and the 13-year-old to practice at the middle school at 7:20 a.m. He finally was in the bathroom at 6:49 at which point I suggested that he did not have time to shower during this window, and he was not particularly happy with me. I went downstairs to make my coffee but then got a vague sense that all the lights were still off and normally the 13-year-old has been down getting breakfast by that point. I went back upstairs and sure enough, he’d turned over and gone back to sleep. So he was roused a second time, and I threw together something for the boys to eat, and tracked down the 15-year-old who told me he still needed to wet down his hair…and everyone was mad at me which just made me even more incensed. I could have slept later if I wasn’t trying to keep the trains running. Anyway, they left at 7, as I was upstairs waking the 11-year-old.

I made her eggs and made the 7-year-old’s lunch. My husband returned at 7:30, at which point I drove my daughter down to the bus stop. When I returned, I could hear the 3-year-old yelling for me from his crib (I assume my husband was taking his delayed shower and didn’t hear him). The little guy was feeling much, much better (no coughing!) but he was also in a bit of a mood and just wanted to snuggle. So we proceeded to spend much of the next 20 minutes sitting on the floor together. Our nanny came at 8, but I was helping with the kids so I didn’t get to my office until 8:40 when she, the 7-year-old, and the 3-year-old all left.

At this point, having been up for 2+ intense hours, I breathed a sigh of relief, turned on my gas fireplace, and started reading Jane Austen. I wrote my 2 lines in my sonnet, then worked on various projects (interspersed with various logistical matters/texts involving our generator and trying to get Eagles tickets). It is now 10:40 and I will likely to continue to work on the various projects until lunch in an hour. I’ll aim to check back in later tonight with my log from the rest of the day. Hope your morning went well!