This year is the first time I’m documenting “A Week in the Life” with Ali Edwards. I love the concept of taking the time to really observe the day to day moments and then pulling them together for a sort of one-week time capsule of your life.
In thinking about my approach to this project, I want it to be less about the pretty pictures (even though it is so hard for me to post images that don’t seem “good” enough from a technical perspective and even though I hope to get a handful of pretty pictures this week) and more about the little details that I want my kids to know about me and remember about us as a family down the road.
This particular Week starts off slightly unusual because Tim is out of town for a work conference. Note to self: try to get an image of the boys and Tim face timing today. Anyway, his absence is felt but I also like that I am getting a chance to reflect on my time alone with the boys and how our routine alters somewhat when Tim is away (e.g. the boys get to bed at least 30 minutes earlier when it’s just me).
12:30 AM – Our Monday did not start off great. Clayton woke up with a bad tummy ache and diarrhea and was up for about an hour before finally going to sleep in my bed with me. When he woke in the morning though he was back to normal and felt a little tired but otherwise fine.
5:30 AM – My routine is to wake up every day at 5 AM to pray and do my daily Bible reading. Today I finished the book of Joshua and a chapter in 1 Corinthians. I did wake up a little later than normal because of the interruption of sleep so I didn’t do any journalling today.
7:00 AM – I had to wake Ryker up this morning at 7 AM because I needed to drop the boys off at school by 7:30 to make it to my golf tournament with enough time to warm up. He broke his wrist about 10 days ago and he’s finally figured out how to sleep comfortably with the cast.
7:39 AM- Less than 10 minutes behind schedule is a win for me these days. I actually love this picture of taking the boys to school followed by me to golf. You can see the rain drops on my windshield and jacket, the double bob stroller handle sticking up in the back of my Ford Flex, the constant state of mess that my car is in (a few months ago I tried to eliminate all food eating in my car but that didn’t last long), the lunchbox, sweatshirt and tine glimpse of the fire truck pillow case I made Ryker this year for his preschool nap time. Our car seat days are numbered but for now, this is what life looks like.
8 AM – 1:30 PM – On Monday’s I play golf. I belong to and am a board member of the Black Gold Women’s Golf Club, that plays at the public course just a 1/2 mile up the road from my house. Today was the first round of our annual club championship and this is my first time playing in it. I did not play very well – maybe it was the lack of sleep? But the round was totally enjoyable anyway and I got some exercise, fresh air and sunshine so I no complaints on my end.
After coming home from golf, I made myself an egg sandwich and spent some time reading group posts on Facebook. Right now there is legislation pending in California that would eliminate the medical exemptions my kids have for future vaccines. The issue of medical freedom, informed consent and the media fear-mongering campaigns is something that I have become very passionate about since Clayton suffered a vaccine injury that left him with brain swelling, seizures and a speech delay that resulted in years of therapy. Anyway, this year there is an increase in cases of the measles in the country and I’m watching them closely as I simultaneously am tracking what advocate groups for medical freedom have been sharing.
2:30 PM – I picked up Clayton from school and we headed to Ms. Debbie’s for his first swim lesson of the year. When I got to his school he was sleeping (normally he doesn’t like to nap at school) and so he was groggy and whiney all the way to swim. But once he got in the pool he had a great time and his confidence came back with each minute that passed in the water. Ryker was supposed to also have lessons this week but with the broken arm it’s a no-go for now.
3:30 PM – after swim, Clayton didn’t want to put his shoes back on because the warm asphalt felt so good on his feet. I love that this little detail is something he gets from me – I’d much rather walk around barefoot too.
3:45 PM – picking up Ryker from school came with a promise I gave Clayton that he could do the monkey bars outside of the school yard first. This is currently his favorite thing to do. “Two more times Mommy.”
4:00 PM – when we got home we were happily greeted by Buster who has quickly transitioned himself over the last couple of months into an outdoor cat. He comes in and out of the doggy door if he has to but prefers to come and go with us through the front door more often than not. I still am nervous about him being outside (we have coyotes where we live) but he is so happy not being forced to stay inside.
Monday’s are the day we take the garbage cans out so in Clayton’s book it’s the 2nd best day of the week.
While Clayton was taking out the garbage cans, Ryker was watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and something about it had him cracking up.
The boys are loving their chore board and I’m loving that they are actually excited to do some chores.
5:00 PM – We were walking to the mailbox and a neighbor brought over a couple of skateboards for my boys since his kids had grown out of them. Yes, Clayton needs a helmet and pads on his wrists, elbows, knees, etc but that is a worry for another day since just minutes after getting the skateboard he managed to lose it down the drain!
Oh what fun these two had trying to strategize how they might be able to get that skateboard back. Ultimately it was determined to be a job for daddy.
5:30 PM – While dinner was cooking we made some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
This is soooo Ryker right now….he is my addicted to screens child. I’m really thankful that we took the iPads away (I think it’s been over a year now) but he still gets TV when I’m distracted by things like making dinner.
I didn’t take a photo of our bath time routine because bath time is typically time they get with daddy but I’m sure I’ll capture it at some point later this week. Storytime before bed on the other hand is something that Tim and I tend to alternate. We’ve outgrown the chair that I used to nurse the boys in and are talking about putting a loveseat or small sofa in their room instead. We do stories every night and also read a children’s Bible devotional each night as well.
After the boys were in bed, I loaded my images onto my computer from the day (about 20 minutes into this the boys came out of their room to complain that they couldn’t sleep because it was too quiet). So I put them back to bed with some Scout music and went to bed myself to put on Game of Thrones – I’m towards the end of Season 5 – I don’t “love” it but I am so far in at this point I’m wanting to finish it out.
Day 1 of this week is in the books and I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest unfolds!
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