A Day in the Life...a Wednesday With Rooney

I wanted to do another Day in the Life post, but this time show you what our Wednesdays have looked like lately. My goal on Wednesdays is to let Roo get good naps, bond with her and stay in tune with her needs, get all the laundry done, and spend some much-needed time with myself (I'm an introvert). Maybe not the loftiest goals, but at least my goal isn't to get a tan, right? I want to feel what it's like to be a stay-at-home mom for a day (sometimes it helps remind myself that I don't want to be one full-time). See also: A Day in the Life...of a Working Mom for what my days look like when I work.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

6:22 am

My "alarm" (Rooney) goes off. Some days she doesn't wake up til 7:00, but today is not one of those days, I guess...

I think perhaps a common misperception about staying home (even one day) is that I get to sleep in. Not the case (though certainly there are perks).

The first thing I do every day when I wake up is read my parenting devotional. It gives me a lot of peace and wisdom. Today I read while Rooney practices patience :)

6:29 am

Eric comes to say goodbye, gives me three kisses, and leaves to meet up with a friend for breakfast before going to work.

6:40 am

I don't feel ready to get up, but I think Roo has waited long enough, so I get her and take her straight to her high chair for breakfast (banana, O's and milk).

I gather all the dirty laundry and start a load. Sometimes I start this on Tuesday evening, but I forgot this week. These days I have to spray each piece of Roo's clothes with stain remover to get all the food stains out. I wheel Rooney over to the living room so she can watch while she eats.

7:00 am

Rooney is done with breakfast and I am done with laundry (for now), so I take her out of her high chair. She practices walking and drinking from a straw. Then I take her to her room to change her diaper, and realize we are out of diapers and wipes at the changing station, so I refill them both. I change her diaper, get her dressed, and then go through her clothes drawers to remove winter stuff and clothes she has outgrown. This is the stuff that just doesn't get done during the week if I'm working every day!

7:31 am

Roo crawls over to her sleep sack and hugs it. It's a little early for a nap, but I listen to her anyway and put her down.

7:32 am

I go back to bed myself, read emails (personal and blog), check Facebook and Twitter, read blogs, edit photos on my phone for this post, and rest.

Rooney talks for a few minutes, then falls asleep for close to 45 minutes, then starts talking again. She's not crying, so I don't rush to her.

8:51 am

I get up, switch the laundry to the dryer and start another load. I was going to get Roo up, because I thought maybe she had pooped and couldn't sleep, but it is quiet again so she must be sleeping. I put on my makeup, get dressed (same thing I wore yesterday), brush my teeth, make the bed, email Eric to see how his breakfast went and where we should meet for lunch, respond to blog comments, read blogs, and work on this post.

10:20 am

Roo wakes up, and she's crying. I check the clock and figure that she slept about 2 hours and 15 minutes, which is great. Sometimes she sleeps longer and then I worry that she won't take another nap.

I go get her and she signs eat. Time for a snack. I put her in the high chair with a(nother) banana (trying to use them up) and carrot rice cakes, then fold the laundry and move what's in the washer to the dryer.

10:46 am

We're in the van on our way to the grocery store. Rooney was trying to unfold the laundry so I had to distract her and the best way to do that these days is to ask if she wants to go bye bye.

There are a few things that we need, and our local grocery store has 10% off organic produce and health market items on Wednesdays. This saves me a few bucks!

We get out of the house every Wednesday now. Rooney loves to go bye, and she also needs the stimulation. A few times we have met up with Eric. A few times we have gotten groceries. A couple times we have gone to Target. It just depends. The weather is great today so hopefully we will get a walk in this afternoon.

11:17 am

We are done with groceries; now we're off to Chili's for lunch with Eric. I have a coupon for a free dessert - mega score!

We are a little early so we practice "waiting" in the van for a few minutes.

For lunch, Rooney eats O's, a banana, blueberry & beet rice cakes, apple, spinach, kiwi & pea melts, and some of our dessert.

12:51 pm

We are back home and, after a diaper change, Rooney is down for her second and final nap of the day.

I get back on my computer to work on this post.

1:03 pm

I remember there are groceries in the car. Oops! Back out to the garage to get them. I don't want to risk waking Rooney (her room is right next to the kitchen) so I only put away the eggs. Everything else can wait.

1:07 pm

Back to blogging. In particular I'm working on this post, another Rooney in Carts post and my grateful list for May. I may or may not have also gotten sucked into Facebook.

2:21 pm

I hear Roo stirring after an hour and a half nap. She still sounds tired, so I let her wake up slowly before going to get her. I can tell from the video monitor that she keeps laying back down, so I just wait it out.

2:40 pm

She's up for real this time.

Then it's kind of deja vu from this morning. I get her up, and she gets a snack (two bananas and mandarin oranges) in the high chair while I fold the last of the laundry and put away the groceries.

3:07 pm

It's 79* outside so we take off for a walk!

3:53 pm

Forty-five minutes later, we're back home, tired and sweaty. We play in the living room for a while and then head out to her water table on the deck.

4:20 pm

Daddy's home! He finds us on the deck. He takes Rooney inside to change another dirty diaper. I get a little time to myself outside on the deck. What a guy!

4:41 pm

When they come back, he suggests a walk around the block.

4:56 pm

We're back from our walk, so Rooney goes in her high chair for supper: avocado, strawberries, mandarin oranges and milk. Eric does dishes and I work on this post.

5:22 pm

It's bath time! We do baths every Sunday and Wednesday. Rooney has not been loving her baths lately, but today she needs it badly. This one lasts two minutes before she melts down.

5:25 pm

We get her pajamas on and play/read in her room until she asks to go to bed.

Which happens about 15 minutes later. It's an early bedtime for this girl tonight!

5:46 pm

Roo is down for the night! Eric grills dinner for us (chicken breasts + guacamole) on the deck while I work on this post.

6:42 pm

Eric and I spend most of our evenings (except Thursdays) on our laptops, working on our blog (writing or editing photos or creating images or coding). Tonight we filmed five videos about Our Money Story that we will be posting soon!

9:42 pm

It's past bedtime! Eric and I pray together and then hit the hay!

*All photos edited with the Beautiful Mess iPhone app.