Day 295 | Chase Chooses

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It dawned on me this morning that our first born might be feeling *slightly* left out these days. Last weekend, everything was focused on Chris and me as we celebrated our birthdays. And we went straight from that to planning and organizing Robbe's upcoming party (next weekend!). So, today was officially declared Chase Celebration Day. He got to choose everything we did today. Curious about what he selected?
  • Blueberry pancakes with a side of mixed berries and orange juice for breakfast
  • Reading time with Daddy during Robbe's morning nap 
  • A trip to the library (and we told him he could select anything) for new Thomas books 
  • "Chicken" (ok, they were tofu) nuggets for lunch with a side of blueberries
  • Reading a book at the lunch table. Crazy, I know!
  • Oreos for afternoon snack
  • More books (do you notice a trend?) and some quality choo choo play time after nap
  • Chinese food for dinner (I swear that's what he chose...and he even asked Chris very sweetly to drive out in a snowstorm to pick it up) with a side of blueberries, obviously
It was sweet to see Chase so excited about the day being all about him. He loved making the decisions and gave us the biggest smile at bedtime. First ever Chase Celebration Day was a success!

Day 294 | A Day in the Life: Chris

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Rounding out this series of posts, here's what a typical day in the life of my hard-working but always-has-time-for-his-family husband looks like:

6:25 - Wake up to alarm clock (not even a phone...how retro!): shower/dress/eat breakfast (cereal)/make lunch/out the door
7:25 - Workbound commute: walk .63 miles, wait for train, metro 15 minutes, walk via indoor walkway to office (fancy, right?)
8:00am - Arrive at office: respond to emails and review documents
8:45am - Meeting and coffee with boss
9:15am - Read material and prepare for meetings
9:30am - Meetings
10:30am - Respond to emails
11:00am - Conference call
11:45am - Eat lunch at desk (two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and pretzels)
12:15pm - Prepare for afternoon meetings
12:30pm - Meetings (including a meeting in favorite conference room--the one with a great view of the Capitol)
2:00pm - Send emails and talk to co-workers to prepare for later meetings
2:30pm - Meeting
3:00pm - Respond to emails, draft documents discussed in earlier meetings
4:00pm - Meeting
4:30pm - Continue drafting documents/revise other documents/respond to emails
5:50pm -Homebound commute: walk via indoor walkway, wait for train, metro 15 minutes, walk a blustery .63 miles
6:30pm - Arrive home to excited babies and spouse and eat dinner 
6:45pm - Change out of work clothes/change Robbe out of stinky diaper
6:50pm - Playtime with the babies=favorite part of all three of their days
7:20pm - Give goodnight smooches to Robbe
7:25pm - Continue playtime with Chase (Chase has Mama Kitty read a story)
7:40pm - Start Chase's bedtime routine: potty/brush teeth/lotions/pjs/pick out sleeping friends/read two books
8:10pm - Put Chase in crib then pay bills and review mail
8:25pm - Check in on Chase and say goodnight one more time
8:25pm - Catch up on correspondence, check flight prices for future trips
8:50pm - Settle in for some funny tv
9:30pm - Watch the Badger game 
10:45pm - Head to bed: get water/check locks/brush teeth/change
10:55pm - Sleepytime

There you have it. You wonder where the days go and then you track them like this. There's your answer. 




Day 293 | A Day in the Life: Robbe

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It's our little guy's moment in the spotlight. Here's a glimpse at what a day looks like for our he'll-be-one-in-10-days baby:

6:00am - Wake up screaming. Mommy offers teething drops and a restless sleep ensues. 
7:30am - Up for good. Snuggle time with mommy.
7:35am - Eat some delicious mommy milk
7:50am - Independent playtime in crib with books and stuffed friends. 
8:05am - Diaper change/dressed
8:10am - Playtime/exploring
8:20am - Breakfast time: green oatmeal with banana and water
8:45am - Playtime with big brother
8:55am - Diaper change
9:05am - Shoes on/coat on/hat on
9:10am - Tag along for a drive to big brother's school
9:45am - Return home for morning nap
9:50am - Naptime routine begins: diaper change, sleepsack on, sing "Hush Little Baby"
9:55am - Sleeping like a baby
11:00am - Wake up time
11:10am - Back in the car to pick up big brother
11:50am - Independent playtime back at home
12:10pm - Lunch: zucchini pancake, string cheese, and strawberries with water
12:40pm - Independent playtime with big brother: ransacking the ottoman toy chest
12:45pm - Family playtime downstairs: ball tower, animal friends, wooden vegetables
1:25pm - Naptime routine begins: changing, sleepsack on, eat mommy milk, read two books
1:50pm - Sleepytime
4:30pm - Wake up, welcome playdate
4:45pm - Snacktime: yogurt pouch, dried apple pieces
6:10pm - Dinner: quinoa tex mex casserole, blueberries, sweet potatoes, and cauliflower with water
6:45pm - Daddy playtime: Mr. Potato Head, quality time with Mama Kitty and baby polar bear
7:10pm - Family playtime
7:20pm - Bedtime routine: change into pjs/sleepsack, lotions, eat mommy milk, read two books
7:45pm - Sleepytime

Day 292 | A Day in the Life: Chase

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Next up? Chase! Here's a glimpse at what a day in the life of our almost-three-year-old looks like.

4:30am - Realize cat pillow is missing from crib. Scream for someone to help. Mom arrives and retrieves cat pillow. Say, "I want to sleep" and fall back asleep.
8:10am - Wake up/change into clothes (with undies!)
8:20am - Eat breakfast snack (a few Cheerios, two prunes, a few craisins): this used to be a way to buy time as I was prepping breakfast when he was teeny but now it's just habit. And playtime.
8:25am - Breakfast time: green oatmeal with dried blueberries and granola. And water.
8:45am - Playtime with little brother
9:00am - Potty/brush teeth
9:05am - Shoes on/coat on/hat on
9:10am - Get chauffeured to school, point out every school bus enroute.
9:30am - Say "good morning" to Mrs. Bruce and Mrs. Olsson. Schooltime fun: worked on our Valentine surprises, had a fire drill (they did a great job), played upstairs in the Great Hall (too cold outside), read a Thomas the Tank story (can you believe Chase's good fortune)
11:30am - Picked up from school. Explain day to mommy: had crackers and water for snack, played with cars and a barn, read two Thomas books
11:50am - Return home/independent playtime.
12:05pm - Ask mommy to read Thomas book before lunch...and she actually agreed!
12:10pm - Lunchtime: leftover turkey burger, soft carrots, blackberries/strawberries
12:40pm - Independent playtime
12:45pm - Family playtime: lots of choo choos
1:15pm - Naptime routine begins: go potty, change into pjs, put on lotions
1:25pm - Independent playtime while mommy puts Robbe down for nap: read some books, played with legos
1:40pm - Reading time with mommy
2:00pm - Quiet time/naptime
4:10pm - Wake up/read book/change back into clothes
4:30pm - Playdate with friend from school. Showed off superb sharing skills.
6:10pm - Dinner: quinoa tex mex casserole, blueberries, avocado. And water.
6:30pm - Daddy gets home = favorite time of day
6:45pm - Daddy playtime: Mr. Potato Head, quality time with Mama Kitty and baby polar bear
7:40pm - Bedtime routine: change into pjs/lotions/teeth brushing/book reading
8:10pm - In crib with three sleeping friends
8:25pm - Mommy and daddy check in one last time.
8:30pm - Sleepytime



Day 291 | A Day in the Life: Me

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I wrote a teaser about this series of blog posts last week. I'm chronicling what a typical day looks like for each of us in this household. For the most part, these days are ordinary and completely representative of our every day life. The day? Tuesday, February 10. First up? Me.

4:30am - Wake up to Chase screaming (this never happens) and find out he has misplaced his cat pillow. Problem solved.
6:00am - Attend to crying Robbe (what's going on with these babies this morning?). I offer teething medicine and try to go back to sleep. No luck.
7:00am - Shower/dress
7:30am - Snuggle Robbe
7:35am - Nurse Robbe
7:50am - Breakfast prep/dishes clean up
8:05am - Change/dress Robbe
8:10am - Chase awake/dressed
8:20am - Breakfast prep
8:25 am - Breakfast for everyone (cereal for me)
8:40am - Wipe down babies/clean up dishes
8:45 am - School prep (backpack check)/laundry/potty/teeth brushing/diaper change
9:05 am - Coats on/shoes on/hats on
9:10 am - Off to school
9:30 am - Drop off Chase at school
9:45 am - Back home
9:50 am - Diaper change for Robbe/Sing two songs/Put Robbe down for nap
9:55am - During naptime: prep dinner (crock pot meal!), prep lunch, make allergist appointment for Chase all while listening to my favorite podcast.
11:00am - Wake up Robbe (have to pick up big brother)
11:10am - Drive to school
11:30am - Pick up Chase from school (he had a great day!)
11:50am - Return home/prep lunch
12:05pm - Read Thomas the Train story
12:10pm - Lunch (hummus and cheese sandwich for me)
12:40pm - Lunch clean up
12:45pm - Family playtime
1:15pm - Naptime routine starts: potty/pjs/lotion for Chase, then diaper change/nursing/books for Robbe, then back to Chase for books before nap.
2:00pm - During naptime: create/print/stuff/address Valentines for Chase, publish blog post, catch up on correspondence, create new potty chart, watch Days of Our Lives (I'm not embarrassed to admit it...ok, just a little).
4:10pm - Chase awake: change/use potty
4:30pm - Miss Cassie, Matty, and Maggie arrive for afternoon playdate
4:30pm - Robbe awake: diaper change
4:45pm - Prepare snack
4:50pm - Playtime with friends
6:00pm - Dinner prep
6:10pm - Dinner: Quinoa tex mex casserole
6:35pm - Dinner clean up
7:10pm - Family playtime
7:20pm - Bedtime routine for Robbe: change into pjs, nurse, read books
7:40pm - Collect garbage to put out in alley
7:50pm - Nightime catch up: babysitter prep for Thursday, check in on Chase, fill out Chase's medical forms for tomorrow, fold laundry.
8:55pm - Check out for the night: tv and knitting
10:00 - Get ready for bed
10:15 - Sleeptime

Ahhh, the exciting life of a stay-at-home mom. I'm exhausted just reading all of this. Did you enjoy the peek into my life? Stay tuned the rest of this week to learn more about what keeps the boys of this household busy all day.



Day 290 | Birthday Business: Take two

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As if Valentine's Day and my birthday weren't enough, we shoved celebrating Chris's birthday into this long weekend as well. Woohoo!

He managed to squeeze in most of his favorite things today: a trip to the casino, a McDonalds breakfast, snuggle time with the boys, ten hours of gifts (thanks to Chase and Robbe for helping me with this one), a surprise booze delivery (thanks Jason and Mike!), meat and potatoes for dinner, and dirt dessert to top it off. 

Whew. Now if only the weather cooperates and can give him a snow day tomorrow. Asking too much? No way...he definitely deserves it.  

Day 288 | Happy Valentine's Day

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Happy heart day! I've been fully enjoying the love from my favorite three valentines today. 

*Special note: in case you're curious what the perfect glaze frosting is to go with my cookies from yesterday's post, here it is:

 4 cups powdered sugar
6 Tbsp milk
6 Tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp almond extract (the most important ingredient!)
food coloring

 Just mix everything together and then you can dip the cookies in and let the excess frosting drip off. I've been working for years to perfect this recipe for Chris's dream cookie. This is as close as we're going to get. Try it. I promise you'll love them. I promise. 

Day 287 | Cookie Cuties

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*Photo credit to Susan. Such a precious moment.
Susan and Caroline came up to make cutout cookies with us today. Chase's attention span lasted about four-cookies worth but Caroline stuck with it for a long time. Don't worry, though, Chase's stamina for eating cookies was much more impressive.

It was so much more fun making my annual Valentines cookies for Chris with friends. This is going to be my new tradition, for sure. 

And the best recipe I've found? Right here. But good luck finding a cuter baker than the ones I got to work with. 

Recipe update:
Don't forget the frosting! Here's the glaze frosting I've landed on after years of searching for the perfect compliment to the perfect cookies:

4 cups powdered sugar
6 Tbsp milk
6 Tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp almond extract (the most important ingredient!)
food coloring

Day 286 | Valentines

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Chase has his first school Valentine's Day party at school today. So sweet!

The top photo is the Valentine I made for his classmate and the bottom left and right photos are of the goods he brought home from school (including a fun Valentine mask). He was so so excited!

As if that weren't enough excitement for this morning, I toured what I hope will be Chase's future school. It's a five minute walk away, great facilities, is super-diverse, and has passionate staff. Sounds perfect, right? Now hopefully we can secure one of the highly sought after spots. Think happy thoughts come March.

Day 285 | A Little Prickly

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Today was the next installment of the trying to clear up Chase's skin saga. Off to an allergist for a skin prick test. We found out a new possible cause of the rash: staph (not sure why the allergist had to tell us that). And we received some new treatment suggestions. We're headed back for another appointment in two weeks so we'll see what happens. Fingers crossed for a different outcome this time.

Day 282 | Turkey Thicket

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It's a beautiful day and I can't wait to get outside to work on a special Valentine surprise for the boys...but first, a photo from our morning. 

We ventured over to Brookland to visit the Turkey Thicket playground. It's a family-favorite. There's no doubt about it. Did I mention there's a train to climb in? Yeah. That's right. 

Day 280 | Sharing the Love

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Chase has been all about sharing the love the last few weeks. He's constantly pausing mid-conversation or mid-playing (and I mean about 10 times an hour) to look right into my soul and say, "I love you, Mommy." He does the same to Daddy and Robbe. It's probably one of the sweetest, most heart-warming sentiments ever.

The scene above occurred for the entire last five minutes of our grocery trip this afternoon. See? Sharing the love. 

Day 277 | Books for the Babies

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With two birthdays right around the corner (and two more if you include mine and Chris's), I've been pretty deep into bday planning mode around here.

One of the items high on my to do list for these birthdays is updating the babies' books. Seems simple enough, right? I've done a pretty decent job keeping up with the task along the way (I'm not even starting from scratch!) but the process of reviewing scribbled notes, writing everything out, and finding the perfect corresponding photos is crazy time consuming. 

Some tips I've learned along the way:

  • Jot down notes along the way. It's impossible to think you'll remember when things happen by memory. There are just too many milestones! Have a sheet of paper in a convenient spot (ours lives behind our calendar in our kitchen) that you can quickly write down the date when something fun happens. 
  • Keep photos organized. I know it's hard but it's worth it. It makes picking and choosing the right ones much less of an overwhelming task. 
  • Go with your instincts. Don't hem and haw about the ideal thing to write down for the questions. Your voice will shine through if you don't over-think them.
  • Know your style. I've realized after working through Chase's book that I prefer a fill-in-the blank type book, which is what I got for Robbe. Chase's is more free-flowing and open-ended. I've realized I'm much better at just filling in the "answer" and can do that much quicker. 
  • Start a box, too. There are a lot of random baby memories that can't live in a book. Claim a box for the sweet baby mementos (think: the hat he got in the hospital) so you know everything is in the same place.
In case you're interested, this is Chase's book (on the left) and this is Robbe's book (on the right...and this one even comes with a keepsake box).

Fingers crossed I can get these both updated in the next month!

Day 276 | We're Getting Closer

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Not to be outdone, Robbe added to our week of big (huge!) accomplishments last week.

Example #2: Robbe is no longer eating in the middle of the night. That's right: we're down to just three feedings a day (8am, 1:30pm, 7:30pm). Woohoo!

I'd like to say he dropped the feeding/waking on his own, but I decided it was time to nudge it along a bit. He's handled it remarkably well. He has still woken up most nights (though not last night!), but he goes back to sleep on his own and isn't starving when he wakes up. Progress indeed.