an average day

7:30 ish. Girls wake up and come to mommy's room. Having slept very little, I'm not thrilled. If daddy is home, he takes them downstairs and turns on a movie. If he's already left for work, I have them climb into my bed and watch a cartoon until I'm awake enough to put together a coherent sentence.

8:30. I finally wake up enough to stumbled through breakfast, get all of us bathed, dressed and ready for the day.

9:45. I drop off Butterfly at preschool or gymnastics and take the younger girls out to run errands or go to storytime at the library. If it's not a school day, we have playtime. This means the girls run around like crazy people and I try to keep them from smothering the baby. It also sometimes involves puzzles, toys or a playdate.

12:30. Time for lunch and naps. During naps, I cuddle the baby and try to declutter the house a bit. Or lacking ambition, I put in a movie and work on baby's Christmas stocking

3:30. post nap snacktime and movie.

5:30. I remember I need to make dinner. whoops.

6:00. daddy comes home. this part of the day is awesome. we race to be first for kisses. Or sometimes the girls are still watching their movie and I get him to myself for a few minutes. then he takes the girls to go get the mail or something so I can finish dinner.

6:30. dinner. complete with bribing and arguing until plates are clean. sometimes dessert.

7:30. daddy takes girls downstairs to play while I do dishes, clean up the kitchen and bathe the baby.

8:30. realize it's bed time. but first we spend a little more time playing, watching a movie and more smothering the baby.

9:00. bedtime. complete with books and cuddling with the best daddy ever. I put baby to bed in her own crib.

9:10. baby wakes up crying having remembered that she hates her bed and wants to be held.

9:30. baby is asleep again so I try putting her back into her bed.

9:38. baby wakes up crying having remembered that she hates her bed and wants to be held.

9:45. baby sleeping, try the bed again.

9:52. baby wakes up crying and I give up, take her to bed with me and cuddle her all night. I don't sleep much this way, since she snores, grunts, squirms and cries all night (plus needing to eat every three hours). But since she does all of this in her sleep, she gets plenty of sleep and I get plenty of cuddle time.