a day

I had someone ask me here recently what a day was like in the life of Echo. Sounds like a simple question, but if you really honestly answer it to yourself it makes you think. Or at least that is what it did for me. Made me wonder if I was using my time as well as I could be. I know I'm not. It also made me wonder what it would look like down in writing. Fun little thing to do in my spare minutes here and there.
5:00am Vera awakes for her morning bottle.
Eyes half closed I shuffle my feet and cradle my little squeaker close as to attempt to keep her calm as I make my way to the kitchen. After the bottle is made I shuffle my way back to my bed much more awake now. With the pillows propped up I sit up and feed the baby while the animal planet plays in the background. After the baby is burped and her diaper is changed I shift down a little so I'm more reclined and we lay belly to belly as we relax into sleep around 5:45 to 6:00 am.
7:10am Alarms wakes me, it's time to wake Justice up for school.
After I lay the baby comfortably in her bed I walk (waddle) my way in to Justice's room. As I sit on the edge of her bed I rub her back and say good morning sunshine. Occasionally she'll pull her mask off her eyes and say she's too sleepy. I reset the alarm for 7:30am and I snuggle up next to her.
7:30am Time to really get up.
I give her a kiss and tell her I'm off to make her breakfast. While I go into the kitchen I leave her in her room as she gets dressed. We pick out her clothes the night before that way our morning goes smoothly. pre-cooked sausage pattie warms up in the microwave an egg white slowly cooks in a frying pan and right as i split apart the potato bun and finish slicing the cheese i hear Vera awake.
7:40am Vera wants to be held.
I go and get Vera, snuggled in her blanket she just wants to be held. As I walk past Justice's room with Vera in my arms I inform her that breakfast is just about ready. She's now dressed, with feet still bare. Justice sees Vera and asks how she's doing, and says she wants to give her a kiss. I lean and she kisses the baby. We walk into the living room and Justice asks to hold the baby. 'Of course' I say and Justice sits on the couch holding her sister while I put her breakfast sandwich together. Justice eats her sandwich as Vera and I pack her school bag.
8:00am Justice shows me she's ready. She runs out of the bathroom and smiles big proudly showing her freshly brushed teeth. I have her sit down in front of me while I sit on the couch with Vera laying sideways across my lap. It's time to fix her hair. I take the 4 french braids out of her hair so her hair is crimpy (curly as she calls it). She turns and I put her socks on for her and help her into her coat after she slips her shoes on. We feed the cats so she can put up a sticker on her chore chart.
8:10 Waiting for the bus.
As it pulls up she gives me a kiss, I tell her to have fun and she asks me to tell daddy she loves him.
8:15am I watch Justice climb up the steps onto the bus and watch the door close behind her.
8:30am Vera and I are usually back into my bed by now. Not sleeping yet instead we have a diaper change and talk to each other for a little while.
9:00am Vera wants a bottle.
I make this bottle for her with eyes that are much more awake now.
9:30am Vera takes her morning nap.
On a day we don't have doctor's appointments I tend to take a little nap with her.
11:00am I wake up. It's time to be some what productive. I take advantage of the time I have and put in a load of laundry and do the dishes. If the baby is still asleep I clean the glass table top, front windows and the back sliding glass door with my favorite Mr. Clean all purpose cleaner. It smells amazing.
12:00pm Vera realizes no one is holding her. I go and get her and cradle her close in my left arm. She fits just perfectly tucked against my side just above my hip with her head laying in the bend of my elbow. She falls right back asleep. I use this time to switch over the clothes from the washer to the dryer. I plan out what I'll make for dinner that night at this time and set the dry ingredients out the counter so I wont have to look for them later.
12:30pm Vera is awake. Perfect time to do some vacuuming, she actually doesn't mind the noise if I'm holding her. She does great but the large floor rug in the center of my living room is a pain. you only can vacuum in two directions otherwise if you go against the grain it is nearly impossible to push with one arm.
1:00pm Vera is ready to talk a little. She enjoys laying flat on the ground and cooing. Tickle her belly a little and the cooing intensifies. She seems to love it if I ask her 'Are you yellin at me?' and tickle just beneath her chin.
Sometimes around this time Mark might hold her a little. I use this time to put together something for him to take for lunch. I hurry and sweep the floor and give the cats fresh cold water.
1:30pm Mark needs to finish getting ready for work. I run a mild bath for Vera. She likes her bath chair but really likes when I help her do a back float in the open water. She does amazing in the bath the only difficult part is when I take her out she gets a little upset.
2:00pm Mark has left for work. Vera is itching for a bottle, after the drama of me putting an end to her bath. She eats good but a little quick. She tries falling straight asleep and tends to get a little fussy when I make her stay up and burp.
2:30pm I have her calmed down and now Vera is drifting off to sleep. I lay her in her bouncy chair. It has a vibrating mode that she likes, snuggled in her blanket she sleeps good.
2:45pm I pull the clean clothes out of the dryer and fold them up. I pick up the bathroom and start another load of laundry. The bathroom mirror gets a fresh dose of shaving cream splatters every day. This fascinates me. Everyday I clean it, and it just shows right back up. I take the bathroom trash out. Wipe the bath tub out. Good 'ol Clorox wipes, I love them.
3:15pm Justice is back from school. I get a couple minutes to sit down and see what she did at school that day. She tells me all about it. Occasionally she's a little sleepy. We build a fort with dining room chairs and two of the comforters from my room. We lay her orange sleeping bag in the center beneath the fort. Justice kicks back and watches some sponge bob as she builds back her energy.
3:45pm Vera wakes for a quick bite to eat. After a burp and a quick diaper change she is back to her nap.
4:00pm Justice wants to play outside. I clean out her back pack and lunch box. I hunt down her library book and make sure it's in the front pocket of her back pack ready to go for the next school day. I get comfy in the over sized chair in the living room. normally I'm holding Vera by now so she sleeps more soundly. I get quite a bit of knitting done during this time. I put in a dvd of 'deadliest catch' and kick back with my knitting.
5:00pm Justice makes a mad dash for her savings, the ice cream man is on his way down the road and her and the neighbour really want an ice cream sandwich. I get a fast 'I love you' and Vera gets a quick kiss and Justice is off and running again.
6:00pm I lay Vera down and try to throw most of dinner together as quick as I can.
6:30pm Vera prefers to be held. I walk her around to let her sleep. Most of everything is done for dinner just finishing cooking which is easily done with one arm.
7:00pm Dinner is done. I put everything on low and with the baby in my arms I go next door to tell Justice it's time to eat. The neighbour and I talk for a little bit. Normally about the kids latest habits.
7:15pm Justice and I are eating dinner with each other, while Vera is still asleep in my arms. As if she has perfect sense of the situation as I take my plate to the sink Vera Awakes hungry and I make her a small bottle. I return to the table with Justice, this time it's Vera and her that are eating together.
8:00pm Justice likes to do a bit of playing while I change Vera and get her into her pajamas.
8:30pm Vera and I start the bath water for Justice. Justice enjoys her play time, and mean while Vera and I spend the time cooing back and forth with each other.
9:00pm Justice is out of the bath. After Justice is in her pajamas the three of us sit on my bed. That way Vera can lay down beside Justice and coo at her while I braid Justice's hair before bed. Once her hair is braided we pick out a book to read.
9:30pm Justice climbs into bed and I start a video for her. Which is still interesting because she prefers to be wearing her sleeping mask while she sleeps. I believe it's purely for the background noise. Vera and I say good night and we both get a kiss and an 'I love you'. Depending on how long it takes us to pick out a movie to watch or if we decide to read a book or not we usually end up saying or final good nights around 10pm
10:00pm Vera's play time. We bounce, or sing 'wheels on the bus', play raspberry belly, squeak at each other, or lately a favorite is random weird sounds to see what makes her smile.
10:30pm Vera has a bit to eat. She's still not ready for bed though. I change her diaper which usually leads to the raspberry belly game for a while.
11:15pm Vera doesn't want to play much more but still isn't ready to fall asleep. We walk around while we wait for Mark to come home.
11:30pm Mark is home, and funnily enough Vera falls asleep. I lay her down and ask him to listen for her if he is in a good mood and not too tired. If everything seems alright I jump into the shower.
12:00am Out of the shower, feels nice not to have my hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. Fresh and clean, nice and relaxed. I finish doing the laundry folding the rest of the clothes up. Sneaky into Justice's room to get hangers for her clothes so I can hang them up. I search the house for laundry I missed during the day. I do a once over for any dirty dishes hiding anywhere or any discarded water bottles. This is also the perfect time to locate a binky and a back up binky.
12:30am Mark sometimes asks if I'd like to watch a movie. If so I usually do a bit more of my knitting or work on laundry while it's playing.
1:00am regardless of whether a movie is playing or not it's time to prepare for the morning. I make Justice's cold lunch. Ham and cheese sandwich, no mayo, no mustard and no crust. I small baggy of chips, a string cheese, sliced apples or oranges, a juice box and the occasional pickle. After her lunch is made and in her Hannah Montana lunch box I put it in the fridge and pick out clothes for her to wear. I set them out and am off to bed.
2:00am I stretch out in bed and jot down a few things I need to remember to put on the grocery list tomorrow. I set it on the table next to my bed, take a sip of my bottle of water and snuggle into the pillow.
2:15am I haven't quite drifted off yet but I can hear the baby begin to stir. She'll have a small bottle, not much but enough to warm her belly. She's back asleep sound as can be by
2:30am I have no problem slipping into sleep now.