Day in the life: Fall 2020

I had every intention of doing this DITL post earlier in October, and then it snowed and I thought, well there goes Fall and HELLO WINTER! But, whew. The snow melted and the fall weather came back, even if it’s temporary.

You can read more Day in the Life posts by clicking here.

Day in the Life: Fall 2020

Wednesday, October 28th

Chris is 38, Risa is 35, Olivia is 4 years 11 months, Emelia is 12 months, and Toby is 12 years old.

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2:34 am- Emelia wakes to nurse. Chris brings her to me, I nurse her for 15 minutes in bed, and then he brings her back to her crib. Luckily, I can fall back asleep pretty easy.

7:30 am- My alarm is going off. Olivia has preschool day. I forgot. I hit snooze. 

7:45 am- I’m up for real. I get dressed, wash my face, and brush my teeth. I hear Emelia squeal from somewhere in the house. I know I need to get myself all ready so I can tackle the chaos of getting Olivia ready for school with a needy baby following me around. Thankfully, my husband is still working from home.  

8:00 am- I walk out to the living room. The house is quiet. The girls are downstairs with Chris. The kitchen is a mess from last night. I make a shake and pour some coffee for breakfast. Normally Olivia gets her lunch out of the fridge by herself and puts her ice packs in, but today I decide to grab them since I’m heading downstairs anyways. In the entryway, I throw her lunch in her backpack and put her boots in a separate bag she uses to bring all of her outdoor gear for when they go outside. I throw a mask into my purse. Olivia and Emelia are downstairs playing together but the moment Emelia sees me she starts crying.

I say a quick hello to Chris in his office and sit down on the couch to nurse the baby. Olivia is already dressed and she goes upstairs to brush her hair. Emelia is righteously distracted by Olivia when she comes down again and keeps flipping upside down to look at her.

8:15 am- We pause the movie we’re watching, and Olivia goes upstairs to brush her teeth and use the bathroom one more time before school. I leave the baby downstairs while I go and fill up my water bottle. Olivia goes back downstairs and tells me the baby is halfway up the stairs with her pants off. I tell her to hold on to her and come down as fast as I can. Emelia is getting faster. Chris comes to see what she’s doing and rescues her. I tell Olivia she can watch TV for a little bit longer until we have to leave.

8:40 am- Olivia and I get in the car to drive to preschool. She asks me if she can just go in by herself. This girl is getting so confident, but I tell her no, she can’t do that. On the way, we discuss the patches of blue sky, the geese and all the Halloween decorations that we pass by. We wait about four cars back in line, and when it’s our turn, I pull my mask on, unbuckle her and walk her to the door. Her preschool director is there to greet her and takes her temperature. She’s good to go and says a quick goodbye to me before walking down the hall to her class with her backpack and bag of winter gear.

9:05 am- I arrive back home and head upstairs to wash my hands after putting my mask in the plastic bag of ones to wash. The baby is waiting for me when I come downstairs. Chris is in a meeting and Emelia wants to nurse again, so I sit on the couch and catch up on notes for this post.

9:15 am- I go upstairs to change Emelia’s diaper and put her in her sleep sack. We go into her room and I close her curtains and turn on her white noise. “It’s night-night time,” I say and she laughs a little bit while I kiss her cheek and then she cries because she knows she’s getting put down. I lay her down protesting, tell her I love her, and shut the door.

I go downstairs and decide to just crochet for a bit before my virtual therapy appointment at 10:00. I have to rip out the whole infinity scarf I’m making because I messed it up in one part and it’s going to bother me. I grab my phone to check on the baby and see she’s already asleep. 

11:00 am- I finish up with my phone call and crochet a little bit longer while watching Breaking Bad reruns. I pick up the family room downstairs, knowing it’s going to be a lost cause once the baby is awake again. Chris goes out on a run.

11:42 am- Emelia is up, so I get her and change her diaper and sit on the couch to nurse her.

She cries when I put her down on the floor because I need to prepare my lunch. I make a pita with chipotle mayo, turkey and cheese, and the rest of the endive we got from our Misfits Market box. I decide to slice the tomato since it’s going to become overripe soon. For Emelia, I give her some deli meat and cheese, quartered grapes (a new favorite), with a cucumber spear.

12:05 pm- Emelia and I sit down to lunch. Chris gets home from his run and heats up the leftover butternut squash Chipotle chili but has to head back downstairs for a meeting.

The baby eats almost all of her food. I finish up and realize I have about fifteen minutes before I have to leave to pick up Olivia from preschool. I load the dishwasher, wash the dishes, and clean up the countertops. I clean up the baby and put her in the living room where she’s more than happy to stand up and play with her sister’s toys on the coffee table while I wipe down her high chair and table and sweep the floor. It’s never ending with baby-led weaning. I bring Emelia down to Chris and set her on the floor of his office and make sure the door to the stairs is shut this time. Then I leave to go pick up Olivia. 

This time I’m the first car in line, and I sip my coffee leftover from the morning and scroll through my phone while I wait. The door to the building opens and I get my mask on to go pick Olivia up. She comes out and I say goodbye to the director. I buckle her in and we’re off.

1:10 pm- We get back home and I send Olivia upstairs to wash her hands and change out of her clothes. Then we go downstairs and FaceTime with my friend Celina. I realize a few minutes into the call that Toby has peed on the carpet next to us (at least I think it’s pee, though it could quite possibly be puke) so I have to let Celina go so I can clean it up. I set Olivia up with some veggie straws and two pieces of deli turkey because I saw she didn’t eat all of her lunch and she was still hungry. We got some salami that she claimed she likes, but nope. She apparently just likes the idea of it.

Chris helps me with the floor, and I have to throw the blanket in the wash that was on the floor near it since I don’t know if it got peed (or puked) on. We all go upstairs after it’s cleaned up and I feed Emelia some vanilla wafers while I scroll social media and she stands by me with her hands on the couch. I decide to make a Costco list.

2:16 pm- I gather the girls, and Olivia gets her shoes on while I dress Emelia. I get them buckled in their seats, grab another mask for both Olivia and me, and we’re off.

Once there, I get the baby buckled into the cart and Olivia helps me get the items. She’s stoked because they have two booths of samples for the first time since the pandemic hit. We try them both.

3:30 pm- We get back home and put away the stuff. I nurse the baby before putting her down for an afternoon nap. It’s later than I wanted, but nothing I could do. Olivia and I go outside and walk to the mailbox. I FaceTime with Celina again for a while and tell Olivia that my hands are getting cold and that I’m going to go inside.

Chris gets off work soon after and he says that he’ll go out with her. 

4:30 pm- I start the oven and decide to make fish sticks and tater tots with green beans. We need to go grocery shopping. The baby is awake so I get her out of her crib and Chris takes her outside and they all go on a short walk together. 

5:10 pm- I’m on the couch after putting the food in the oven. I see the mess in the living room, but am too lazy to clean up, so I read. Chris comes back with the girls and they all come back inside and I nurse the baby. Olivia isn’t happy that dinner is still fifteen minutes away. I tell her she has a ton of new toys from her birthday party, so I’m sure she can find something to do.

5:30 pm- We sit down to eat. Emelia is trying fish sticks and tater tots for the first time and she loves them. Despite Olivia’s face, she likes them too. Afterward, I help Chris clean up, but then I need to go down to my office and plug in my laptop. I’m taking a virtual memoir-writing workshop, and tonight is session one of two. I’m nervous because I found out we have to read our pieces to each other. I make some tea to bring down, nurse the baby one more time, and kiss the kids goodnight. This is the first night I’m not nursing the baby to sleep, so I hope she does OK.

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6:30 pm- My Zoom class starts. I want to volunteer to go first, but they decide to go in alphabetical order, and I’m last. Luckily, it goes well. I’m the youngest writer in their by probably 20 years, but it’s nice gathering “in-person” with a bunch of fellow writers. Vaguely thoughout the class, I can hear Emelia crying upstairs.

8:15 pm- The class ends, a little late, but that’s OK. I close my laptop and go talk to Chris. He says bedtime went fine, but Emelia cried for an hour which breaks my heart. I check my email and see I have one from a web design client. I talk about it with Chris since it involves some security stuff that I’m not familiar with. I write back.

9:00 pm- I turn on the TV and watch Breaking Bad and crochet. Chris comes out of his office shortly after and we watch TV together for a bit. He goes up to bed at 10:30, but I’m not quite ready yet, even though I know the baby still wakes once a night. 

11:45 pm- I decide I’m tired enough, and head to bed. I brush my teeth and change into pajamas—shorts and a tank top since I always get hot. I read for a little bit in bed.

12:15am- Lights out.