day to day

This is life.

It is cozy, happy, exhausting... sometimes I feel like God forgot to give me an extra three limbs.  People would laugh to see me.  Often I will have a baby in each arm while I am balancing on one foot and using the other to do any number of things: flush toilets, pick up things, move things, open things, close things, pick up things. ... Man, this parenthood thing is kicking my butt.  I mentioned to someone that we have a very specific schedule and they wanted to know what it was.  Actually, here it is:

6:30 am - Parker comes in asking to snuggle and squirms and wiggles till I get up at about
7:00 am - depending on how rough the night was Chris or I will get him breakfast (whole wheat pancakes or blessed cold serial) Lyra hears the movement and wakes up to snuggle Daddy and get breakfast.  Also nurse Esther and Ethan
8:00 am - Daddy leaves for work, everyone gives him a hug and kiss, we say a family prayer.  Then get dressed, diapers changed
9:00 am - Ethan and Esther go to bed we do 'calendar time' where we sing songs, do shape, color, letter games.  Then saxson math and the calendar.
10:00 am -  jobs with Lyra and Parker - empty dishwasher and garbages
10:30 am -  Play outside (right now we have a huge bin of bird seeds that Lyra and Parker play with like a sand box... which is great because the birds clean up the mess and we get to see them through the window right there on our porch.  We love it and Lyra and Parker are learning the names of the different birds.
11:00 am - Esther and Ethan wake up and nurse/bottle feed then eat solids.  Lyra and Parker sometimes help
12:00 pm - Lunch for Lyra and Parker
1:00 pm - Ethan and Esther go back to bed, Lyra and Parker can play with their leapfrogs (thank you Grandma) and I study scriptures with Jessica
2:30 pm - prep dinner, tidy, do any paperwork that has not yet been taken care of or finish odd jobs
3:00 pm - feed Esther and Ethan (breast/bottle/solids)
4:00 pm - do block games, dance or play with 'preposition monster for Lyra and Parker if they are having a hard time self entertaining, interact with Ethan and Esther.
5:00 pm - Ethan and Esther go back to bed and make dinner/clean up house
5:30 pm - DADDY COMES HOME! hugs, kisses, and (hopefully by now) dinner
6:00 pm - number counting games with Lyra and Parker with M&M's, dishes
6:30 pm - depending on the day of the week there will be a family activity FHE, Mario cart, Movie while mom has a mommy night, ice cream with Daddy for getting 10 marbles (get marbles by going potty), stuff like that.
7:00 pm - feed Esther and Ethan
7:30 pm - start getting ready for bed, coloring books upstairs then in bed, prayers as individuals and family, Daddy or Mommy reads stories in the hall and sings a few primary songs with kids as they wind down for bed
8:00 pm - if we are lucky we have bedtime done by now

8:30 pm - by now bedtime is done and we play individually with Ethan and Esther
9:00 pm - Ethan and Esther go to bed and Chris and I do a P90x workout and then do our individual projects (Chris makes awesome apps and I ... watch him make awesome apps. lots of laundry happens at this time. and dishes if they haven't happened yet)
11:00 pm - bedtime....

------------------------------------------repeat------------------------------------
and yes, that is actually exactly what we do.  every day.  unless it is the weekend.  or a dr's aptmnt.  actually writing it out... nowonder we are so tired