our day

Inspired by this post over here at Annapolis & Company (one of the new blogs I am loving and mentioned in this post), I decided to share with you our day, because you care, right?

A typical day in the life of the Wall family... I thought it'd be a fun post to do around the time of Uriah's birthday (which is Friday...?!!) each year, to have to look back on and see what we were up to - where we lived, Stephen's schedule, Uriah's schedule, what we did...how we lived. And I say typical because as much as I try to have a set schedule around here, Stephen occasionally works late or doesn't get to come home at all or Uriah's naps are off an hour or so, but you know, for the most part, this is our day. Living in Idaho, Uriah at (almost) one, in our third year of medical school...

5:30 am >> Stephen's alarm clock goes off and the two of us snuggle in bed, slowly waking up together. Or, really, we struggle waking up together... I hate that alarm.

5:35 am >> Uriah wakes up, without fail, five minutes after the alarm goes off. Stephen gets up and starts going about his morning routine - bathroom, breakfast, coffee, studying. I go upstairs to nurse and snuggle Uriah, who goes back down to sleep.

5:45 am >> I crawl back in bed to zone out on my phone - Instagram, Pinterest, email... I take awhile to wake up, so these few quiet minutes by myself in bed are necessary (for my happiness and everyone else's).

6:00 am >> I join Stephen in the kitchen to have a bowl of cereal while he studies across the table from me. We'll exchange kisses and dream talk between bites and book pages, but it's usually quiet time for the two of us.

6:30 am >> Stephen will head for the shower and I'll turn on some lights around the house, fix myself up a little bit, put away things I didn't get a chance to the night before, finally feeling a litte more awake.

7:00 am >> Stephen leaves for work and Uriah wakes up for the day. I'll go upstairs to change him, nurse him, snuggle him, rock him, and read stories with him. Uriah takes awhile to wake up, too, so we have a pretty slow, casual morning routine.

7:30 am >> Uriah will start to play with his books on his own and sit and read and play by himself, occasionally bringing me books to read or coming over for "loves" or showing me the new toy he's picked up.

8:00 am >> Uriah and I head downstairs to "wake up the house" - we open all the curtains and blinds, turn on more lights and get ready for breakfast (eggs, avocado and a handful of cheerios)

8:20 am >> This time before his morning nap is spent in independent play. Uriah will drag out books and toys onto the living room floor and contently play as I do the morning round of dishes, make our bed, fold a basket of laundry (all of which he loves to "help" with). He'll follow me around and do a lot of exploring, but is most often happy to be by himself and doesn't require a lot of attention.

 

 

9:00 am >> We'll head upstairs to read a book or two and then he's down for his morning nap. I'll take a shower, put my face on, get a snack (toast and fruit) and start a blog post or watch an episode of Friends.

10:00 am >> He's awake! This hour is very similar to our seven o'clock hour. Uriah will nurse (purely for comfort, I told you, he takes a long time to wake up) and we'll read a few books together before he's ready to play on his own.

10:30 am >> Uriah will get into his toys and books and dad's guitar, while I open up the blinds, turn on some lights and pick out his clothes.

11:00 am >> We'll go downstairs for Uriah's brunch (fruit) and turn on some music.

11:20 am >> The time before his afternoon nap I like to spend being very intentional with him. He's great at independent play, but I want to make sure he gets some good one on one time with mom each day. We'll play toss and peek-a-boo and walk all over the house. I always try to put my phone up and focus on Uriah - pointing out colors, textures, sounds, animals... Forty minutes of homeschool for my one year old ;)

12:00 pm >> Uriah will go down for his afternoon nap after reading a story or two. I'll do the afternoon round of dishes, start some laundry, make a grocery list, clean the house, do my hair (maybe), read, journal, blog... Once my chores are done, this time is spent in "me" mode.

1:30 pm >> Uriah will wake up and be ready to eat and play. We'll hang out upstairs for a bit, walking and playing before heading down to eat lunch (veggies, beans, fruit, bread, usually anything he can eat himself)

2:00 - 4:00 pm >> This is typically Uriah's happiest time of the day. It's his longest stretch of awake time and always my favorite because he's alert and happy and (for the most part) well behaved, so we use this time as our "do something" time. Weather permitting, we'll play outside, walking around the house, finding leaves and sticks, walking the block to the park to go down the slide, and then load up in the stroller and walk the neighborhood or through downtown. Weather not permitting, we'll go the grocery store, the library, to a friends or have friends over, or on a drive - anything to stimulate him, get him some fresh air or a change of scenery.

4:00 pm >> We'll come home or come inside and Uriah will go down for a nap while I start dinner in the kitchen.

5:00 pm >> Uriah will wake up and hang out with me in the kitchen, either ripping open all our cupboards or snacking in his high chair while I finish dinner.

5:30 pm >> Stephen comes home! Uriah will beg to be with dad, so Stephen will take him to see the globe, the rhino and the bells (their evening routine) and then into the bedroom so Stephen can get changed, all while I set the table and clean up Uriah's kitchen disaster.

6:00 pm >> We'll eat dinner as a family, one of my favorite parts of the day. We'll talk about our days and laugh over Uriah's enthusiasm for his food and linger over our empty plates talking, not wanting to start studying or do the dishes.

6:30 pm >> Stephen will take Uriah to play with the helicopter or with his toys in the living room, while I clean up the dining room and put dinner away, and quiet often, sit and watch my boys play together from the other room - it is such a sweet and heart warming sight.

7:00 pm >> I'll take over entertaining Uriah and Stephen will start studying. I'll start his bedtime routine with a bath, naked time upstairs, lotion, jammies, and some more quiet play time.

7:45 pm >> Stephen will join us upstairs to read Uriah a couple stories and get in his goodnight kisses while I clean up his room. Stephen will resume studying and Uriah and I will have time to rock and nurse.

8:00 pm >> Uriah's in bed and I'll get to working on the evening round of dishes. I'll clean up the living room, fold laundry, straighten up the house and zone out on my phone or the computer on Instagram, Pinterest, blogs, usually with a cookie and a glass of chocolate milk, waiting for Stephen to call it quits.

9:00/9:30 pm >> Stephen and I will get ready for bed and snuggle up under the covers to read Game of Thrones (or whatever series we're reading at the time). It's such a sweet part of my day - one on one time with Stephen. Occasionally we don't read, and just lay and talk and laugh and probably stare at pictures of Uriah on our phones.

10:00 pm >> We out.

Add in a few FaceTime dates with my mom and sister and that's our day! It's simple and maybe a little mundane, but I love our life, and I hope when Uriah's two or seven and there are other Wall babies and our schedule is busier and crazier and Stephen's working nights for weeks on end, that I'll be able to look back at these times and say I truly did enjoy it and soak it all up, instead of waiting for the next thing to come along. For now, this is us, this is our life. And I am grateful.