Day in the Life with an Almost 3 Year Old

It's been a few months - oops! Right after the last update, we learned we were expecting! First trimester tiredness made me more keen to nap during naptimes than blog, and we were pretty dull those months (both food-wise and activity wise). Luckily I'm now 16 weeks along and feeling much more like myself! Unfortunately I've been suffering some hip pain and am seeing a chiropractor, so have been trying to not walk TOO much and have been getting several lap swim sessions in each week at Gold's which is helping. My first trimester was filled with carbs, chicken, ceaser salad and apple juice. But the last few weeks, burgers have reigned king (I may or may not be on a first-name basis with the P. Terry's team by the chiropractor - yikes).

Other fun this fall included celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary. We also enjoyed a trip to Houston for our friend Shanna's wedding and fun with my family. Our friend Christine and her daughter Aurelia came to visit from Japan and stopped in Austin for a day - so great to catch up! And Luke's parents were kind enough to take Emmett to San Antonio for a day and took him to the zoo while Luke and I went to Wurstfest with our friends in New Braunfels and had lots of fun. We then headed to SA to stay the night and have some more family fun.

 

And of course, we enjoyed Halloween! Luke and I had a sitter one night to go to a party and had fun dressed up as a pregnant housewife and the milkman. For trick-or-treating, Emmett was Daniel Tiger (surprise surprise). He enjoyed trick-or-treating at our neighbors' houses and had no problem knocking on the door and saying trick-or-treat! We also went to a trunk-or-treat at his school's church but couldn't convince him to wear his costume. He and Luke already had flannel on, so we made a 5 minute family lumberjack costume - ha!

E's favorite phrases:

• Ding Dong jokes (knock knock jokes actually - but he never has a punchline!)
• I'm just being silly (usually as an excuse if he does something rude/naughty)
• We can do thaaat! (when he's trying to be persuasive or plan our day for me)
• Why? (all day, every day) 
• Do I get to go to school today?
• Do you have to go to work today? I'm sorry. (Said in a desolate voice. We always laugh about this since Luke likes his job and rarely complains).

He loves to sing and does it all the time. Mostly Daniel Tiger songs, songs he learns at school, or familiar song melodies with his own made-up words (which is something I always do and am kind of tickled pink that he does it too).

And here's a day in the life!

7:10 a.m. We hear footsteps and Emmett appears on Luke's side of the bed saying "my clock is green!" followed shortly by "I'm hungry." Ha! Luke pops out of bed, thankful to get to sleep past 7 and they head downstairs. I take a couple extra minutes to wake myself up and follow them. The OK to Wake clock has been awesome and I would say it works maybe 1/2 of the time (especially on mornings I can hear him fidgeting around in his bed waiting for the clock to turn green at 7.

7:30 a.m. We sit down to a breakfast of mixed cereals, pomegranate arils and pecans. I LOVE pomegranate season and enjoy it over Quaker Oat Squares - which is quite a change since I've not been feeling cereal this pregnancy. Emmett discovered he LOVES pomegranates and enjoys munching on them one-by-one and in his Greek yogurt and Cheerios. We easily polish off a whole pomegranate worth of arils.

8:00 a.m. Luke heads upstairs to shower and change for the day and Emmett goes to his play area for a bit while I tidy up from breakfast. I'm in the midst of getting him changed when Luke needs to leave for work, so for once we don't go to the front yard to wave goodbye to him. It's actually kind of nice because then I get a chance to tackle a few more morning routine chores instead of monitoring E in the front yard.

8:30 a.m. I spot the neighborhood guineas in our backyard! Such a treat, since they haven't been there since right after we moved in (due to Benji no doubt). E and I get excited and try to head back there without Benji noticing, but no luck. He jets past us and scares them up on to the fence/trees, but we have fun playing in the back on the swing set and sand box. E is happy so I run inside to get dressed.

9:15 a.m. We head out on a balance bike walk in the neighborhood. We had a playdate scheduled for 10, but my friend let me know she was running late so instead of a one-block walk we go for about a mile. He is SO fast on his bike now - he usually gets about 4 houses ahead of me and then has to wait for me to catch up! We cover just over a mile which is great since we're doing the Hike It Baby 30 challenge and we could use a few more miles!

10:05 a.m. We get home and quickly throw snacks in a backpack and head to Catch Air. E snacks on some animal crackers in the car and I snag a few. It's SO GOOD to see my friend Rachel and her daughter Amity - they're just 3 weeks apart and have been pals since they were tiny babies. Rachel's family has been living in Utah this fall so it's been a while since we've seen them. The kids have fun playing and we get to catch up a bit. It turns out to be Catch Air's 2 year anniversary so they have a clown doing balloon animals and free donuts (yum! E and I split one). He doesn't know what to make of the balloon animals and kind of just wants a regular balloon. He won't tell her what he wants so she gives him a little doggie that he loves (Amity gets a huge octopus which is SO cool and all the kids are obsessed with it). They also each get a regular balloon that E won't let he hold or tie down, and of course it flies away within 2 minutes and he loses it. *sigh*

12:20 p.m. We head towards Phil's Icehouse to continue the playdate fun with burgers (a corndog for E!) and a great outdoor playground.

1:30 p.m. It's time to say goodbye and head home for naptime. I let E watch Daniel Tiger in the car to make sure he stays awake.

1:45 p.m. We do a quick naptime routine of milk and 3 (short) books, brush teeth and potty. Then he sprints to his room and jumps on his lamb rug, gets piled up with blankets and says bye.

2:10 p.m. I'm exhausted from our morning of fun but decide against a nap so as not to mess with my sleep tonight. I lay down on the couch and turn on Victoria season one and work on this post. Lucky I don't have any pressing chores to tackle today, because I don't get anything else done... oops!

3:45 p.m. He's up! Usually he's good for a good 2 - 2 1/2 hours, but not today. Not to worry. He comes downstairs and enjoys a bowl of strawberries and an episode of Daniel Tiger.

4:30 p.m. After getting packed up and ready, we hop in the car to head to In.gredients for a Hike It Baby happy hour! He munches on dried okra on the way.

5:00 p.m. It's fun to catch up with friends and play on the new play structure they have! Eventually I go inside to order and get us two stuffed pretzels - one margharita style and the other fig and chevre. He pretty much only eats the plain pretzel part, so I'm glad he at least had a healthy snack! Can't win 'em all.

7:00 p.m. We say goodbye and head home.

7:20 p.m. Back home and so happy to see daddy! We usually see him for lunch and/or dinner, so this was a rare day. We happily play upstairs (hide and seek is a favorite, as well as running around like crazy with Luke).

7:40 p.m. We finally get E in the bathtub a bit late. Luke and I are enjoying catching up on the day and let him play with his tub toys a bit long, and he's mad to have to stop playing to get scrubbed up.

7:55 p.m. I go lay in bed so Luke can carry him in all wrapped up in his hooded towel to snuggle with mommy - a new tradition born from my super tired first trimester days when I'd mouthbreathe while they did tubby time. We get him in jammies and read a couple books in bed, then it's off to brush teeth and go potty. One more book in his bed!

8:20 p.m. A late-ish bedtime for E, but that's alright. Luke and I hang out in the kitchen cleaning up dishes from breakfast (oops!) and making grilled cheese and apple slices for his dinner (and my second dinner - no judging!). We curl up on the couch to catch a couple episodes of season two of The Good Place (how good is that show?! We love it).

9:30 p.m. We head upstairs. I read for a few minutes and zonk out at 10.

Day in the Life with a 2 1/2 Year Old - Part 3

We are over the summer hump! Just a month til preschool starts and I think we'll survive :)

E is still on the move, but with new toys! He's finally tall enough to use the balance bike he got for Christmas, though he's definitely not a whiz at it yet. He also had fun using scooters at his friends' houses, so when a neighbor was giving one away, I jumped at it!

Our friends offered us a 90's era swingset that had never been used, or even assembled, so we happily took it off their hands and have been having fun swinging, sliding and hanging! Other outside favorites are playing catch (he can actually catch now - rock on!) and digging with his shovel in the now-empty flowerbeds.

We've had fun playdates with friends at pools, splash pads, baseball games, birthday parties, and of course, hikes. The baseball game was a bust since E didn't understand why they wouldn't stop playing so he could go play on the field - sigh. And then there was the home run that pegged me in the leg which left me with a wicked bruise for a couple weeks.

We had a wonderful visit from my friend Christine and her 21 month old daughter. They're from Houston but have been living in Tokyo for her husbands work, so we were thrilled to enjoy 4 days with them. Emmett LOVED her daughter and they played together REALLY well.

Luke had a long business trip at the end of the month, but we enjoyed a visit from his mom to help out, and then E and I headed to Houston to spend some time with my family. Luke met us there and we all headed to the beach for the weekend! E loved the beach so much, and the condo we always stay at has a fantastic pool, lazy river and water slide (which he stoutly refused to ride until the very end of the day). He and Ben had a slumber party every night with side-by-side toddler inflatable mattresses (ours is like this), and they slept wonderfully every night.

7:01 a.m. Up and at 'em with Emmett calling for Luke to come greet him in bed. My sister thought it was funny he waits for us. Every morning Ben would try to get him to get out of bed but Emmett refused until a grown up came to get him.

7:30 a.m. Breakfast time! I offered Emmett a choice between cereal or toast and eggs (a new development, he's enjoyed eggs like 5 times in the past week!) and he says he wants Life cereal. Easy peasy!

7:45 a.m. All done. He carries his bowl to the kitchen - his new after meal chore - and then asks to go out front. Luke takes him and I get dressed and tidy up the breakfast dishes. We trade off keeping an eye on E while getting ourselves ready for the day, then E and I bid Luke farewell for the morning.

8:45 a.m. We pile in the car and drive to the Hike It Baby hike we're hosting at Great Hills Park Trails. The "cool" forecast for the week has made this hike a popular one - 10 families show up! An impressive feat for an August in Texas hike, right?

9:30 a.m. After some playground time we set off on the moderately challenging toddler hike. It's a bit technical in a few spots, but the toddlers manage it well enough (although I end up carrying E in the Onya for the last 1/3 mile). My friend even braves it with her 17 month old twins! Unfortunately a plucky squirrel ate through the zipper of my backpack at a park last week to steal our snacks (UGH! I was SO MAD!), so I'm using the less nice backpack. Bonus is that with no back padding, my ice-cold camelbak keeps me cool on the hike :) E eats an applesauce pouch and some Goldfish along the way and then we share a GIANT peach when we get back - he eats most of it.

11:40 a.m. We bid farewell to our friends and head home. He has a few minutes left of his Daniel Tiger episode from the car, so I let him watch while I dash up for a quick shower. He declares he's hungry, so I call Luke home and warm up lunch.

12:15 p.m. Lunchtime! On the menu is leftover rosemary honey salmon, rice, green beans and some rotisserie chicken. E is hungry today despite the snacks and cleans his plate along with some blueberries. The boys enjoy a few minutes of playtime (puzzles are all the rage now!).

12:40 p.m. We say bye to Luke again and head to the backyard to play on the swing set. We eventually end up in the front yard to play catch and pretend cook (he picks leaves off an ugly bush and calls them different fruits or veggies). We head inside and snuggle on the couch to read a few books. He's looking tired, so I offer him some milk to go upstairs and get ready for a nap.

1:20 p.m. It's a little early, but we easily read a few books, then go potty, and snuggle up on the lamb rug with his new favorite stuffed animal, a penguin from my Whole Foods colleagues from when I was pregnant.

1:30 p.m. I head downstairs to start on this post and relax a bit.Then it's time to tackle a few adult chores (like making the final payment for my car - woohoo!).

3:08 p.m. Emmett wakes up earlier than usual from his nap. I'm a bit at a loss since he usually goes down a little bit later but sleeps until 4:15/30ish these days. I let him watch some Daniel snuggled up with his penguin and a bowl full of strawberries while I pull together dinner. I usually do that during nap, but I ran outta time today! I already made a sesame peanut sauce, so I boil some buckwheat noodles, slice some cucumbers, shred a carrot and marinade some mushrooms in soy sauce and sesame oil. Then I rinse the noodles in cool water and toss with the veggies, sauce and some rotisserie chicken I shredded yesterday. Put it in the fridge and we're good to go for dinner!

4:20 p.m. My friend Aubrie and her son and newborn daughter come over for an impromptu playdate. The baby sleeps the time away while the little boys play bubbles and lawnmower in the backyard. Aubrie and I have fun chatting (albeit disjointedly - life with toddlers!).

5:30 p.m. Luke is home! He's got another work trip this week, so he's been coming home a little early this week for more family time. We all chat for a minute, then Aubrie heads home. We play ball in the front yard and chat about the day.

6:00 p.m. Dinner time! Luckily E agrees to wash hands without a fight (which has not always been the case lately...) and we sit down to eat. He says the spaghetti tastes funny (he's been obsessed with spaghetti and meat sauce lately so this was probably a little too different), but he eats plenty of chicken and does have a few bites of the noodles and cucumber.

6:20 p.m. We horse around a bit more, and E asks to see airplane photos on Luke's phone (a thing ever since Luke's last trip, it can get out of control sometimes, ugh...).

6:40 p.m. I wave goodbye to the guys and head to Body Jam. We just finished 3 weeks of the same routine (which we do for every launch), so I was excited to mix things up and do some old favorites! Nicole has an awesome mix and we have a blast as usual. One of the jammers made some fun shirts for us, so a few of us had to model them selfie style ;)

8:20 p.m. I say hello to Luke and hop in the shower for the second time today. Then I surprise both of us by asking him to make me an Old Fashioned. I've never been a dark liquor person, but Luke and Christine made some the other week and I was intrigued. We watered mine down just a bit and I loved it! Feel like I put on my big girl pants haha. We turn on the latest Game of Thrones episode and totally dig it.

10:00 p.m. Oops, kind of a late evening downstairs. We head upstairs to get ready for bed and turn the lights out without reading (a rarity these days).