A little while ago my older sister, Krystal, told us about what a day at her house was like- for a full 24 hours. She has 5 kids, the youngest two are only 4 months and 17 months old. I was fascinated at this peek into her normal life. And very impressed, because she has her hands full. I remember thinking that she has it harder than me, so I shouldn't complain. ;)
I think back to when I only had one kid, or only two. I only
wish I had written down what my days were like then. It seems like it MUST have been so simple...but I never remember thinking it was very easy...but I honestly can't remember what our days were like.
So I decided, mostly for my own record, to record a day in my life. I chose a random day (yesterday, Tuesday) and wrote things down to help me remember what those 24 hours were like. And it will be real. And you might be surprised, or you might feel better. You might wish you had it easy like me, or you might not want to trade me for the world. But this is my life, at home, on a special diet, with an almost-four-year old, a close-to-three year old, and my little 4 month old.
6:27 a.m. Ella, next to me in bed, wakes me up with her tossing and turning, and I realize she has a poopy diaper (unusual for her to do in her sleep.) I cannot get my eyes to peel open for about 9 minutes. Finally get up to change her, and she is super happy and ready to stay awake. Darn. Early start for me today. I am starving and eat a banana, feed Ella, pump the other side while Ella plays in her Exersaucer.
7:30 a.m. Kalia and Annie wake up and are really excited that I am up before them for once. I feed them each a yogurt and a little banana.
7:51 Ella is tired and goes back to sleep. I bounce and sing her a little, then put her down drowsy-but-awake. It works! She goes to sleep without protest.
I am so exhausted from a not-very-good-nights-sleep, that I tell Kalia and Annie to watch TV while I go take a nap.
8:10 I can't fall asleep. The girls keep coming to the door to tattle or complain or tell me something. I keep trying, desperately, to squeeze in a nap. Sleep won't come.
9:30 Ella wakes up. I give up, get up and throw Annie's bedding in the washer. We forgot to put her in a diaper before bed, and she peed on everything in the middle of the night (part of the reason I didn't sleep well.) Try to pick up some random things around the house. I am SO tired. Get Ella dressed. They decide that they
also want to wear a pink onesie, like Ella, and they both actually find some in their room that fit. I take a pic because they look so cute. (Ipod pic- bad quality. sorry.)
10:30 Ella is officially starving. I feed her the pumped milk to make sure she gets a full 6 oz. She drinks a bottle better than she nurses. She can focus better or something. I realize that I'm very hungry. I tell the girls to hurry and get ready so we can go to the library. I remember that I'm hungry and eat two small baked potatoes with olive oil and salt and pepper. Not very satisfying.
11:00 We don't make it to the library. Ella is tired again. Back down for a nap, again, drowsy but awake. I'm happy that she's starting to be able to do this.
11:15 Ella is asleep, I throw in another load of laundry, reminding myself not to do too many loads in one day (or else I will get overwhelmed with how much there is to fold, and let it sit for DAYS.) Go into the girls room. It's a disaster- clothes everywhere from their "onesie" search. I sit and supervise the girls as they clean up everything. Then I vacuum their room.
12:00 I hear Ella wake up, (dang it!) but I leave her for a minute and she goes back to sleep. Yes! She's having a good sleep day. I realize I'm hungry again. Can't think of anything off the top of my head to eat so I don't eat anything. Sit down to write things down, and within 60 seconds the girls are swarming all around me. Both squeeze onto my lap and start taking my pen, my gum, anything they can get their hands on. Kalia sees me write her name and wants to know why. I feel a little smothered and need some peace and quiet. Decide to feed them lunch.
12:30 Sandwiches- Annie requests peanut butter and honey, Kalia requests turkey, cheese, and peanut butter. I explain that she needs to choose a sweet sandwich or a salty one, but not mix the two. I make their lunch, and give in to the delicious bread and nibble a tiny crust. Then I cheat some more and swig a tiny sip of orange cream soda that's in the fridge. YUM. I feel kind of guilty but hope Ella will be fine. While they eat, I write a quick email to my brother. I am still not dressed. I find a bra and yesterdays clothes on the back of the couch. I at least put the bra on. Then I search for a song I heard yesterday that I loved. Find it on YouTube. LOVE it. The girls love it too. They get out and dance together and giggle. (They call this marrying each other).
1:03 I start to cook myself a turkey patty on our little skillet (no stove, remember). I put Annie down for her nap, but first she insists (as always) that she has to change into a new pair of pajamas for her nap. Ella wakes up happy and so excited to see me.
Kalia tells me that she can't pee because it hurts. I take a look and see it's a little red down there...but think it might be a UTI?
1:10 Annie comes out, proclaiming she had "a good nap." Nice try. Back down she goes.
1:23 I call my sister and Samuel too for their thoughts on a possible UTI. Debate taking her to urgent care. Decide it's probably just a rash. Put her in the tub with Epsom salt, per Samuel's suggestion. She is able to pee when she's in water. Good sign.
1:30 I am famished. I finally get to that turkey burger. Only 200 calories and 6 grams of fat. (sigh.) That's not going to be enough. I add olive oil to the skillet to add some fat, then I eat a red pear to try to get full. I make Kalia go rest with a pillow and blanket and some books on the stairs. There is nowhere else for her to go in our 2 bedroom basement apartment/home.
2:00 Snack on some potato chips. They are too hard and not very good. Remind self to go get some good chips at the first opportunity. Ella is hungry. Feed baby. Finally an excuse to sit down with my feet up, on the couch, and turn on a show I had DVR'd. Remember to go get the clothes in the dryer. I fold the first batch while Ella plays on the floor.
2:30 Kalia keeps begging to get up and play computer games. I finally give in. She is able to start the computer, unlock it with "control+alt+delete", start the browser, and go to nickjr, all on her own. I like this independence. Ella is done playing and wants to be held. I hold her on my lap and watch a few more minutes of my show. I catch Kalia with one of Ella's binkies in her mouth. (a daily occurrence). She goes to time out.
3:00 I turn off our air conditioning. We are on that savings plan where you have to stop using as much electricity as possible from 3-6 p.m. Ella is tired. Kalia wants to carry her to her bed. She manages to do so without dropping her. Poor third child. A tough little thing though (as most 3rd children are.) :)
We do our little bounce and sing routine (quietly, in a dark room) and then I put her down. She protests this time for about 10 minutes. Then goes to sleep. Annie wakes up. Dang it. I really was hoping for a little more quiet time for myself. Annie puts on her second outfit for the day, then poops on the potty and asks for her reward- chocolate chips. I get them for her and sneak 4 chocolate chips for myself.
3:50 I'm hungry again. I open a can of green beans and eat another banana. Sit back down on the computer while the girls play more computer games. I hold Ella and check facebook, email, and our bank account. 3 more days til payday. Yay. I ask the girls to put away their clothes that I folded. Kalia gave me her regular answer, "Of course!" I love that answer. They stuff their clothes in drawers and completely undo any folding I just did. Oh well.
4:45 The girls are getting irritable from being cooped up all day with nothing constructive to do. I am getting hit with the afternoon fatigue, and can barely keep my eyes open. We decide it's time to swim. We get our swimsuits on and I notice that the girls have clothes ALL over their floor again. I make them put them all away before I will let them swim. They clean up fast.
Ella still sleeping so we turn on the baby monitor. We go outside, the girls do their best tricks off the diving board, and just like I do every day, I give thanks for the blessing of having a pool in the backyard. Even if the water is 95 degrees. The girls eat otter pops.
5:15 Ella wakes up, so I put her in her swim suit and she joins us in the pool. I haven't showered today, but that's nothing new. Since we swim every day, I count that as good enough, although I don't get my hair wet because I don't want to wash it. The girls smother Ella in the swimming pool and I have to get her out.
Ella starts making these cute screeching noises, and we have a conversation. I love her to pieces. (video clip of this...at the end.)
5:30 Come inside and I brainstorm- what can I whip up FAST for dinner for Kalia and Annie. I brown some ground turkey, make myself some quinoa in the rice cooker, and boil some macaroni noodles in the microwave. I unplug the fridge because if I use the skillet (turkey), the microwave (noodles) and the fridge all at once, the circuit will blow out. Did I mention that we all stripped out of our swimsuits and didn't put anything else on? Ella is at least in a diaper. I finally wash off the high chair and booster trays that are still dirty from last night's dinner. I ignored them all day and finally, they are too dirty to ignore anymore.
6:15 Fatigue is hitting me again. I am so so so tired. I turn the a/c back on. Ella goes into the exersaucer. Girls are eating their macaroni/ground turkey/spaghetti sauce with sprinkled cheese on top. I know Annie might have some stomach problems from the dairy, but I let her have it anyway. I eat my quinoa and turkey. (For those of you who don't know what quinoa is, (I didn't know until this year) it's a very high and complete protein in the millet family. It has a strong flavor that is not that great, but is much better when mixed with other foods.) It looks like this.
6:30 Ella is protesting loudly and wants out of the exersaucer. I move her to a Bumbo seat so she can watch her sisters eat.
7:00 Ella starts staring off at nothing. I put her in PJ's and put her down for one more catnap. Kalia and Annie go into the bath. Kalia has to pee in water again because it's still hurting down there. I start watching the clock for Samuel to get home. I listen to my new favorite song again ("If I Die Young by the Band Perry.)
7:15 Samuel calls and tells me he is headed to his parents house to feed the starving horse he rescued (another story for another day) and then he will be home. And by the way, the 1st counselor in the bishopric is coming over at 8:30. I start trying to get everything as clean as possible. And I finally get dressed for the day!! :) I wash the girls hair. Kalia sees that I am dressed and asks, "Are you leaving mommy?" And I say no, I just got dressed. She says, "To be a student?" I have no idea what she's talking about so I just say yes. Then she says to me, "You look wonderful." My heart melts.
8:00 Samuel gets home, makes himself a sandwich, since I haven't had time to make him anything, and the girls ate all the pasta and I finished off the turkey and quinoa. (Sadly, this is the norm- that I make a fast dinner for the girls, and then he has to fend for himself when he gets home. I intend to change that this month now that I have a chest freezer and can make some freezer meals.) I get the girls in pajamas and we download a free fairy app onto the Ipod touch. It takes your picture and turns you into a fairy and flaps your wings... (kind of like the Elf Yourself thing that goes around at Christmas.) It was really funny and we all giggle like school girls.
Next we read a few bedtime stories.
8:15 Ella wakes up. Kalia runs in to get her. She demonstrates to me how she can get Ella out of the pack and play: She climbs in with her, picks her up, leans on the side of the pack and play until it tips over (partially) onto the side of my bed. She puts Ella on the bed. Then she climbs up, rights the pack and play, and then picks up Ella off the bed and brings her to me. I find this quite funny to be honest.
8:30 The first counselor comes over. The girls are not in bed yet, so they come running out to see him. He extends a calling to me- to be the nursery song leader. There are 3 nurseries, but I will still be able to go to parts of Sunday School and Relief Society. I am happy with this.
9:00 We read scriptures for a few minutes, and put the girls down. Normally they would be asleep by 8, but tonight they got to stay up late since I had to clean instead of put them to bed. Finally asleep, they look adorable.
I feed Ella one more time, and put her to bed.
9:30 Samuel goes to the kitchen and does the dishes from last night and all day today. What a great man. I share my new favorite song with him and we catch up on the day's events.
10:00 I finally finish the rest of my show that I've been trying to watch all day. Samuel comes over and sits down and rubs my feet with coconut oil (this always makes me sleep better. Always.) I am having major cravings for warm, home-baked cocoa cookies, and although Samuel tells me to just get up and make some, I tell him that I don't want to pump for the next 12 hours, so I just need to tough it out. But I wish I could eat some comfort food. I drink water instead.
11:00 There's nothing else we want to watch, so we read our scriptures and decide to go to bed early. He falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow. It's 11:11 p.m. I remember a few last minute things to check on before I go to bed. At 11:30 I lay down, glad to get to go to bed before midnight.
11:35 Ella wakes up. I try to feed her back to sleep. Then I notice that her diaper has leaked just a little and part of her jammie are wet. I change her. She's now kind of awake. I put her in bed with me with her pacifier. She is really wiggly and doesn't want to go back to sleep. I feed her a little hoping to relax her. I'm glad I am still breastfeeding and don't have to make her a bottle. She grabs onto my hand with both her tiny hands, each hand gripping one of my fingers. I love it.
12:30 Samuel is still sound asleep. Ella is relaxing...binky in mouth...and almost asleep. I am almost asleep. And then...toot...toot...squirt. She just pooped. I can't believe it. I get back up. I change her diaper. I am envious that Samuel is sleeping through all this. I lay her down in the pack and play and we both drift off to sleep.
5:30 a.m. She wakes up. I put her in bed with me and start to feed her. She eats and poops AGAIN. I can't believe all this middle of the night pooping. I change her diaper, and put her back in bed with me in just her diaper. Feed her. We go back to sleep.
AND THAT COMPLETES 24 HOURS IN THE BIGLER HOUSEHOLD!!! WHEW!! I didn't get much done...well, I did end up with a clean family room and kitchen- and one bedroom clean. Don't ask about the bathroom or other bedroom! Oh yes, and two loads of laundry done and put away. That has to count for something. I didn't leave the house besides going to the backyard to swim. I didn't shower. Yet I felt like it was nonstop all day. But it was still a pretty good day and pretty typical. Now maybe you can see why I've lost 42 lbs since Ella was born. 35 lbs of baby weight, plus a little more. If you want to lose weight, go ahead and try my diet. You can eat as much as you want. Lots of olive oil and potato chips! Even sugar, if you can find something that doesn't have milk, eggs, soy, corn, or wheat in it! That rules out almost everything good. Ok, enough about that. This post took forever to type, and now I have to go feed my kids lunch.
Good thing I started early, because here's what happened next.
Here's a bunch of pictures of the party.
