First solo day

We were blessed that Jeff was able to take a month off when Daniel arrived.  But sadly, he had to go back to work eventually.  And that happened on New Year's Day.  I had a few days grace period with the girls at my parent's house.  So Saturday January 3rd was my first solo day with all 3 kids.  I documented it for future reference (or remembrance in this case).

The night leading up to it was a little rough.  Daniel was up at 1 and 1:30.  Ellie was up at 2:30.  Daniel was up at 5:50 and 6:25.  Jeff was at work so all night wake-ups were on me.  I finally get back to sleep after Daniel's last wake up and Jeff came in at 7:15.  I got up at 7:45 to shower.  I heard the girls up at 8 and I left them playing in their room/crib until 8:15.  (Ellie slept in since she was up at night).  We had a slow start to the morning with some TV for the girls before breakfast.  Daniel slept in until 10.  

Jeff's family was coming the next day.  His parents were going to watch all the kids while the adults went to see the latest Hobbit movie.  Which meant I needed to clean the house!  So the morning from about 9:30 to 11:30 was spent balancing baby needs, entertaining the girls, and cleaning up.  The girls played fairly nicely in the play room and then were chasing each other around the kitchen.  Claire sat at the table for a while with various arts and crafts things.  I put Ellie in her high chair with some of the drawing activities she had received for Christmas.  Daniel hung out calmly in his bouncer for a while. But then he got fussy so I wore him in my new ring sling.  He dozed for a while.  

So at times I felt like I was sailing along pretty smoothly. Then in a moment's notice it could all fall apart!  At one point I was performing a triage to figure what to handle first: a hungry, crying baby, a toddler with a poopy diaper, or a bored, whiny preschooler.  I think I quickly did the diaper, sat down to feed the baby, and verbally directed Claire to get out some of her arts and crafts stuff.  

After our morning in, I thought we needed some time out of the house.  I thought I could manage a trip to Chick-fil-A with all of them.  So I got all 4 of us ready and loaded up. I had thought through how to manage things once we were there.  But I hadn't considered the logistics of getting us all inside!  I tossed the diaper bag on my back, put Daniel in his carseat on one arm and held Ellie in the other.  Claire held onto the handle of the carseat as we crossed the parking lot.  I wasn't quite sure how to manage opening the door.  But as we stepped onto the sidewalk I saw a man inside get up and come running to open the door for us.  Problem solved by a kind stranger!

We had a nice, calm lunch.  Claire played, Ellie ate, and Daniel slept until about 5-10 minutes before we left.  Once we got home, Daniel needed to eat so the girls played while I took care of that.  Ellie went to bed at 1:30-1:45.  I put Claire in the guest room with some kids TV.  Daniel fell asleep in the swing.  I commenced with the cleaning.  Daniel fussed a few times but was calmed with a pacifier and mostly slept until 5!  Ellie was up at 3:40.  I gave the girls a snack while I cleaned more then started some potatoes for dinner.  Jeff was up around 4:30.  He left for the grocery store around 5 with Ellie.  I fed Daniel then we had dinner when they got back.  We did bath time right after dinner so I didn't have to manage it myself when Jeff was at work. 

After Jeff left, I got Ellie to bed.  Claire and Daniel hung out downstairs (Daniel in his swing).  Daniel gave me a break and took a nap while I got the girls to bed.  I read Claire her story and got her teeth brushed and then in bed.  Then it was Daniel's turn to hang out with me, then food and bed for him too.