A Week in the Life...

A friend of mine, who happens to be single and without children yet, recently asked what I have been up to lately. My life has developed much more of a rhythm, or pattern, since N was born.

For example, I go to the grocery store on Mondays. On Tuesdays, N and I go to church where I help to lead a women's Bible study group. We spend Wednesday mornings gathering with a wonderful group of my friends who also have young children at home.

I tend to keep Thursdays open for outings, either to visit my Grandma or a friend. Fridays are somewhat of a "catch-all" and include everything from laundry to the library to cleaning the house. Most every afternoon, I take N for a long walk around the neighborhood.

This week, some of the "postcard-friendly" highlights included playing at our neighbor's house on a rainy afternoon, meeting my friends and former coworkers for lunch, going to the park, and meeting a friend at ImaginOn.

For those of you would like a more "realistic" picture of a typical day with a 16 month old child, let me share today's happenings with you:

I woke at 6 a.m. to have a cup of coffee and read my Bible for a little while.

N woke up around 6:30 am, happily talking to himself. After about 10 minutes or so, he began whining because he dropped his blankie, so I went upstairs to rescue it for him. At this point, we turned on music and changed his diaper (a big nasty one, and since we use cloth diapers, I wiped the poop off into the toilet before moving forward with the morning routine). N then went back in his crib with some toys and books while I took a quick shower.

We ate breakfast together around 7:30 am. This little guy loves to eat! He consumed an entire banana, handful of cheerios, and a bowl of oatmeal, polishing it all off with a cup of milk.

We played downstairs for about an hour or so, reading books, playing with blocks and other toys. Then we took a diaper change break, and I finished getting ready (brush teeth, makeup, make the bed, etc.)

Today we went to ImaginOn for story time. It's a rainy day here, so we bundled up with jackets and hats and made a run for the car. When we arrived at the library, N wanted to explore, so I followed him around while he looked at everything. After he put his books in the book return ("bye-bye books!") he played on a children's stage.

Since he has started walking, I have noticed N's independent streak coming out more and more on a daily basis (hhmmm...wonder where that comes from?) Today's example - he didn't want to move from one area of the library to another, so he had a little temper tantrum. Oh well, my love - Mama is still much bigger than you are and you're coming with me!

N fell asleep in the car on the way home, and woke up sweaty and grumpy. He picked at his lunch (a potato-veggie-rice pancake) and then mashed the leftovers all over his tray.

Following lunch, we played a bit more and folded clothes. Around 1 pm, we headed upstairs to get ready for a nap. I suppose since he had taken a mini-nap in the car, he wasn't quite ready to sleep, so he's been up there awake for about the past 20 minutes. The blanket went overboard again, so I rescued it and settled him back down.

Now here I sit, listening to him talk to himself before he drifts off to sleep. The rain is making me really want to hit the couch to read Anna Karenina and nap a little bit, but I need to get hopping on the Friday cleaning plan.

All in all, I find that routine is good for me and great for N. I couldn't be more thankful for this season of being at home with our son. Sorry there's not a picture to accompany this post - blogger is having trouble uploading photos right now, and honestly, I only took about 2 good picture this week. Sometimes it's like that - the camera stays in the bag while I chase a curious little boy!