Day in the Life with a 3.5 year old and a newborn

Greetings as a mom of two! I intended to do another post during my pregnancy, but holy 3rd trimester! The end was no picnic and I had little energy, so needless to say a blog post didn't happen. Emmett was a good sport, and thank goodness for school days and play dates! I had a tough time being on my feet for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time (I even resorted to doing my chopping, etc. for cooking sitting down at the table!). And part of the reason this time may have been harder is that I had a BIG baby! Meet my 10 pound, 2 ounce baby girl -- Adelaide!

My birthday buddy came into the world on April 17th. This girl is all rolls and cheeks and is sweet as can be. She loves to sleep and is already super into Emmett - and he loves her! He's been such a tender big brother, just as I had hoped.

So not only is this a day in the life, but it was my first day solo parenting these two all day while Luke headed back to work after 5 weeks of paternity leave. I got lucky, REALLY lucky, and know every day won't go this well.

7:45 a.m. I hear Luke in the shower. Emmett snuck into our room to wake him up at 7 and they had been downstairs chilling before Luke came up to shower. Adelaide is still snoozing, so I throw on clothes, grab clothes for the kiddos and head downstairs to have a cup of coffee and some breakfast. We don't have any oatmeal made and I don't feel like making a mess, so I have a mix of cereals, strawberries, blueberries and walnuts. Luke brings A down and I nurse her while he finishes getting ready for work.

8:50 a.m. We head outside to wave bye to Luke. E wants to play in the front yard and A is awake, so I put her in the baby carrier and we play for a bit.

9:15 a.m. I suggest a walk and E is all about it (which is NOT a given these days). I keep A in the carrier, and E grabs his balance bike. He takes me on one of the routes he and Luke have frequented these past few months on their bikes that I'd never been on with them. It was so fun having him lead the way! He is speedy on his bike, but did a good job of waiting for me or going back and forth. It was cooler than it has been out, but still muggy, so by the end of the 1.5 mile walk I am SWEATY!

10 a.m. I put A down and slice up some watermelon for us. Emmett LOVES watermelon and scarfs down 4 slices. I then take the world's fastest shower while A starts getting fussy.

10:20 a.m. I nurse A while E watches Llama Llama on Netflix - his new favorite show (along with Planet Earth II!). It's SO nice to finally have a break from Daniel Tiger after 2 YEARS :)

11 a.m. A nursed for a long time and is ready for a solid nap. We go meet his best friend Max at Jump Party USA and have a fun play date. The boys are well behaved (not a given) and I have fun catching up with Max's mom Anne and her baby Leo (A's future bf?!). While we're there, E has snacks and lunch so I don't have to worry about that later. I snack on apple slices and peanut butter balls. A sleeps through the whole thing!

1:25 p.m. We're home again and I manage to get E to head straight upstairs for nap time (yes, A is STILL asleep). After potty/brush teeth/book time, he says he's not tired, but proceeds to get in bed and fall asleep almost immediately. His naps have been ALL over the place, especially having Luke home the last few weeks, so this was super lucky.

1:45 p.m. I sprint downstairs to make myself a proper lunch (a girl can't live on peanut butter balls!). My friends brought use dinner the other night and included some of their AWESOME homemade sourdough bread, so I cut myself a thick slice, spread some butter and cooked it on the griddle. Then I topped it with apricot jam, arugula and a fried egg. I think of waking up A since I know she should eat, but do myself a solid and lay on the couch for 15 minutes with my eyes closed - not asleep, but a little restored at least!

2:20 p.m. A wakes up and we have a good nurse. I know if I try to put her down she'll be fussy, so we snuggle while she naps on me and I watch some TV (I'm guilt-binging Grey's Anatomy, which I stopped watch 10 years ago).

4 p.m. E is STILL asleep (NOT normal these days), so I go to wake him up. He sits down for some milk, strawberries and graham crackers while he watches more Llama Llama, and I nurse A. Then we play with her on the activity mat and build with magnet blocks. Benji will not be ignored :)

5 p.m. I throw baby A in a ring sling and we head to the backyard with big brother for some fun on the swing set. We eventually head to the front where we find an adorable baby gift from my cousin's family, and a big brother present for Emmett! He's been glued to the red truck they sent!

5:50 p.m. Hooray! Luke is home! We play in the front yard while dinner warms up. Since I was flying solo today, I dug into my stash of meals that I'd frozen and pulled out chili for dinner.

6:30 p.m We sit down to eat. Emmett loves chili (especially the Fritos that go with it ;) ) and we have a nice dinner. Then it's time for the boys to head outside to play. I nurse Adelaide inside and then rinse a few dishes while juggling a baby.

7:45 p.m. We head upstairs for tubby time a little late (oops!). E has a pair of mini kitchen tongs that are his favorite bathtub toy these days - he calls them his fish ;) It's been a few days since A's last bath, so we give her a bath in her whale tub on the counter. Then we all head to his room for jammies, brush teeth and book time. I read a few books, then Adelaide gets fussy, so she and I head off to get her jammies on and nurse while Luke finishes up bedtime with Emmett.

8:30 p.m. I think Adelaide is asleep after just 10 minutes of nursing, so I put her down and pump a bit. Well, turned out to be a fake out so I continue nursing and watching Grey's Anatomy. Luke and I were going to watch West World, but E's bedtime took a while and he needed to finish cleaning downstairs. Plus, we don't think A will stay up long, so we watch an episode of Brooklyn 9-9 while Luke finishes A off with a small bottle of pumped milk.

10:30 p.m. We finally get the lights out and go to sleep. It was a long night of nursing and I'm wiped! I luck out that she doesn't wake up until 3:30 which is a squirmy fake out and she doesn't actually need to nurse until 4:30 -- woot!