I can hardly believe Little Bug is almost three years old and Sweet Pea will be turning one in a little over three months.

I’ve been wanting to write a post like this one for a while now because I know these days are fleeting and a huge part of the reason I blog is to have a journal of life with my family. I used to scrapbook all the time (pre-kids, imagine that!) so while my blog is out there as encouragement for those of you on the infertility journey, my blog also serves as my scrapbook.

This post is long. You may just want to skip it as I am writing this for myself to one day be able to read and remember what life was like when my girls were so little and my days revolved around meeting their every need.

I want to record what a “day in the life” is generally like most days around here. Of course, every day is different than the day before, but this is the general flow of our days right now.

I wish I had started doing this a looooong time ago. But, oh well. I can always start now. I’ll do another one in July, I think.

My alarm goes off anytime between 7:15-7:45 depending on what we are doing that day. I go warm Sweet Pea’s bottle and get her Zantac ready. Then at 8am I go to Sweet Pea’s bedroom and she is usually awake waiting for me. When she sees me she gives me a big smile. I get her up, change her diaper and get her dressed for the day. Then we go to the living room for her to drink her bottle. I love the way she opens her mouth getting ready for that bottle as I move it to her mouth. It is so adorable. She is like a little baby bird eagerly awaiting food.

When she finishes her bottle I sit and hold her for a few minutes. Little Bug is usually awake during this time or is waking up by now. After I hold and rock Sweet Pea for a little bit, I put Sweet Pea in the bouncy seat and go get Big Sister up.

Little Bug’s chatter begins the moment I open the door. Recently she told me, “Mommy, after I went to bed my stroller was coming to get me!” I guess she had been dreaming about her doll stroller! We start chit chatting about whatever is on Little Bug’s mind at the time while I undress her while she is still in her crib (a clever idea I just recently discovered to avoid having to ask her to come here a million times while I am trying to get her dressed). She always wants me to warm the wipe I use on her once taking the pull up off. Once she is dressed we go to the living room where Little Bug has her “milk time”.

Then we all move to the kitchen where breakfast begins. I put both girls in their seats while I prepare breakfast. Little Bug chatters away and the girls look at each other and make each other laugh. What a great way to start the morning!

After I feed Sweet Pea her solids, she has Independent Playtime while I finish up breakfast with Little Bug. Dave usually is about to leave for work around this time. We tell him goodbye, I finish cleaning up the kitchen from breakfast and then I let Little Bug out of her seat. We get Sweet Pea and then go to the living room to read books to Sweet Pea for about 15-20 minutes. I like to use this time to teach the girls to share by letting Little Bug pick a book and then letting Sweet Pea pick a book to read. After we read, I lay Sweet Pea down for her morning nap and Little Bug goes to her room to pick toys for room time.

Once Little Bug is in her room, I finish up any cleaning I need to do in the kitchen, start a load of laundry, get dressed for the day, check email and facebook, post a blog, write posts and plan the day’s learning activity. That hour is so invaluable to me in the mornings!

Around 10:30am Little Bug’s room time is over and we clean up her room and then head to the living room where she has another “milk time” and then we read books for about half an hour or more. This is another favorite part of my day. I love reading to my girls!

After that we do a learning activity for the next half hour or so. Then, while Little Bug watches Word World, I start fixing our lunch and get Sweet Pea’s bottle warming. When Sweet Pea wakes up during this time, I give her her bottle. After Little Bug is finished with Word World, it is lunch time and everyone goes back to the table for lunch! After Sweet Pea eats her solids, I put her in the jumperoo to play while Little Bug and I finish our lunch.

After lunch we usually head outside for about an hour. The goal here is to wear Little Bug out for naptime! She loves to play with sidewalk chalk, ride her tricycle, go for walks and play with the soccer ball. She usually asks to go to the park, but that time of day it is just too hot.

Around 1:30pm we come in and start settling down for naptime. I get Sweet Pea in bed first. Then, Little Bug goes potty, she puts on a pull up and we go to the living room to read “naptime books”. We have naptime books because if I didn’t have “naptime books” Little Bug would pick the longest books ever to read before going to bed. These books are short and I read her three books before we sing songs and then head to her bed. Both girls are in their beds for naptime by 2pm.

After both girls are in bed for naptime, I finish cleaning up the kitchen from lunch, change out laundry and then usually go to my bedroom for some quiet time of my own while the house is quiet. That is my time of the day with no interruptions (usually!). After some time to myself I will go do whatever household chore needs to be done before the girls start waking up.

Everyone is up from nap around 4 – 4:30ish. Once Sweet Pea has her bottle, if we are having an at-home day, we might head up to the park or play inside with toys and games until Dave gets home around 6pm.

Once Dave is home, he fixes dinner. (Yes, he is awesome like that.) We eat as a family and then, depending on what time it is when we finish dinner, we may go for a family walk or go out to the front yard and play before it is time for baths and bed.

I give Sweet Pea a bath around 7:15pm while Little Bug has her Daddy all to herself. They read books, play, share smoothies and make Daddy coffee while I am busy with Sweet Pea. Sweet Pea has a bottle on our bed and then she is in bed by 7:45pm-8pm. Little Bug gets in the bath at 8pm. Her Daddy gives her a bath. When she is finished with her bath time, we go to the living room and she has “milk time” while I read her a Bible story. Then we pray with her, brush teeth and dry hair if it was a hair wash night, and then sing songs before heading to her bedroom. She is in bed by 8:30 or 8:45 every night.

Once she is in bed I do a quick pick up of the house so that we start with a tidy house in the morning. Dave and I also make a point to talk to each other about the day during this time so that we stay connected. Certain nights are “at home date nights” where we do not get on technology and spend time together. Other nights that are not date nights I spend time relaxing before bed. Every night we read the Chronological Bible together and then go have our own separate quiet times with the Lord. And then I try to be in bed by 11pm. I usually fail miserably at this, though, because I am a night owl. Midnight is my limit. I know if the clock strikes midnight, I’ll turn into a pumpkin (i.e. not get enough sleep) and that is not good!

Lately, I have found it is easier for me to take one night every other week or so and, after the kids have gone to bed I will go on a cleaning frenzy and clean the entire house (minus the girls’ bedrooms) in about 1.5 hours. AMAZING what you can get accomplished in so little time without interruptions or children under your feet! For now, in this phase of my life, this system is working well for me and that is all that matters.

So, that is my typical “at home” day with my girls. That of course doesn’t include days we do go somewhere, which is usually 2-3 times a week. I’m not one to be on the go all the time, but Little Bug can’t stay home every day for days in a row or she goes stir-crazy!

It also doesn’t include “crazy circumstances” such as the day Little Bug peed in the pack n play (which was totally my fault because she told me she needed to go like she usually does when I put her in there. BUT, I just assumed, like I usually do, that it was her ploy to get out, so I told her I’d be right there. Well, she peed in there and I had to clean it up ---- after having just changed number who-knows-what dirty diaper, which was why she was in the pack n play in the first place because she cannot be left unsupervised!!) and then, moments later, peed in her crib as well. It also doesn’t include the other “unexpected, unplanned” things that are bound to happen when taking care of small children. Those things, we just roll with and adjust our schedule accordingly!

Overall though I love these days. I cherish these days. Things really do run smoothly around here for the most part. Little Bug is certainly my challenge most every day as I try to stay one step ahead of her at all times. But I know having both girls on a schedule makes our days flow so well. Having our days structured and organized cuts out a whole lot of unnecessary crazy! It makes me be intentional about everything I want to get done in the day because every thing has a time and place. I still have “those days” – we all do!! – but overall, life is enjoyable and I know I am going to blink and these days of taking care of two small children every single day will one day, all too soon, be a distant memory.

On hard days I remind myself that Little Bug and Sweet Pea are not always going to be 2 years old and 8 months old! One day, sooner than I think, they are going to be 5 and 7 and then 12 and 14, 20 and 22 and I will wish for just one more day with my 2 year old and baby.

Infertility and motherhood have certainly taught me lessons in enjoying life for what it is today because soon, it will all be changing…again.

I will be so glad I took the time to type this up so I can remember small details about these todays.

- Elaine