A Typical Day

OK, so this is going to be really embarrassing, but I'm going to outline my typical day, and then I'm going to tell you about today.

7:30 Wake Up, make Kaitlin her bottle, turn on a Baby Einstein or Wiggles movie
7:40 Eat breakfast while reading my book
8:00 Tear myself away from my book and make Kaitlin's breakfast.
8:05 Sneak away from the table, sit down on the couch, read, get tired, lay down on the couch and take a short nap while K finishes eating.
8:30 (Yes, her cereal is very soggy by now, but she doesn't care!) Wake up to K yelling, "Done!", wash her hands, get her down, begin a new movie and pray that she'll sit quietly and watch it so I can resume my nap.
9:00 Kaitlin is obviously not going to cooperate with the movie plan, drag myself off of the couch to answer the phone. It's my sister. Talk for an hour, while trying to placate K.
10:00 Kaitlin and I take a shower. When I'm done, I put her in the bathtub to play with her bath toys until I'm finished putting on makeup and blow drying my hair.
11:00 Play with Kaitlin until my hunger overpowers my desire to mother, and I have to eat lunch.
11:30 Make lunch for myself and Kaitlin. Eat and read.
12:00 Only 1/2 hour to go until nap time. Play
12:30 K goes down for nap. Retire to my craft room to read blogs, read Two Peas in a Bucket message boards, email, and play Mah Jong Medley. This is totally addictive, especially since there is this one puzzle that I've played 119 times, and I still can't beat it! If K is still asleep, do a little something creative.
2:30 Either K wakes up or I wake her up. Do every puzzle that we own. Kaitlin can't get enough of puzzles.
3:15 Start thinking about straightening up the house. Do dishes, start laundry, think about what to make (or order) for dinner.
5:00 Begin making Kaitlin's dinner.
5:30 Kaitlin eats, and we begin wondering what time Jeremy's coming home.
6:00 Only 1 1/2 hours until Kaitlin goes to bed. Play until Jeremy gets home (about 6:30) then play some more.
6:45 Begin getting Kaitlin ready for bed. Bath time, brush teeth, and take vitamin with Daddy. I take over to read three stories and pick out a stuffed animal for Kaitlin to sleep with. Go to the top of the stairs and call Jeremy up for prayers.
7:30 Kaitlin is in bed. Do the bare minimum to clean up for the evening and settle in to watch TV for the rest of the night.
10:30 Go to bed, read for a few minutes. Turn of light by 11:00 (if I'm being good).

So, looking at this typical day, I realize a few things. One, I'm lazy. I'm never going to be the kind of person I want to be if I can't get myself going in the morning before 10:00. Two, Kaitlin really gets the shaft in all of this. What kind of mother am I when all I can think about is when the next nap is, or how much longer I have to wait until Kaitlin goes to bed? We don't play that much, I don't take her out to do fun things. We go to Target a lot, and occasionally I take her to a scrapbooking store. But really she hates that. Three, I'm lazy. OK, so I mentioned that already, but that one really rankles!

Today I broke the mold. I did read at breakfast, but that was the limit. I cleaned out my refrigerator and washed the containers that all of the leftovers were in. I cleaned up the breakfast dishes, and washed the table. I made my bed, started two loads of laundry, showered and got ready for the day. I still took a few minutes to see who had posted a new blog entries, but this was just a short detour while I was upstairs getting Kaitlin's hamper. I did puzzles with Kaitlin, made us lunch, continued on with the laundry, and did a few more puzzles. Then I got Kaitlin ready for her nap and I'm sitting here in front of the computer taking a short break until Kaitlin falls asleep so I can continue to be productive! The thing is I have so much more energy than normal. The idea of laying down to take a nap isn't even a temptation to me today. I have no desire. Is this the secret of a child's boundless energy--the more one expends, the more one has? Maybe we don't have to find a miraculous way to bottle energy. Maybe it's the worlds most quickly renewable resource!

PS The photo has nothing to do with this post. It's just better to have something to look at!