Day in the life

Wednesday 19th July 2017 (winter)

Nicole is 34
Josh is 37
Archie is 4
Victoria is 20 months

3:25am - Archie wakes up crying. I go into his room to settle him. He wants me to lie with him for a bit so I do. I head back to bed around 3:50am.

7:20am - Archie wakes up for the day. I tell him it's a holiday kindy day which he is excited about (no regular kindy, as its school holidays)
Josh gets in the shower to get ready for work.

I get Archie dressed and start making his breakfast when I hear Victoria stirring.

7:35am - Go in and get Victoria from her cot. She is a bit grumpy to see the camera and asks to see Archie.

I get her dressed and do her hair then make breakfast for the kids.  Both have oatmeal and blueberries.

7:45am - Josh leaves for work.
While the kids eat breakfast I make Archie's kindy lunch and chat to them.

7:55am - Get Victoria down from the highchair, Archie puts his bowl, cup and spoon in the sink. I clean the kids hands and face and then where they have been sitting.

They follow me from bedroom to bedroom where I open the curtains, turn the heaters off and make the beds.

8:05am - Clean the kids teeth in the bathroom, I brush them first then they have a turn.
I quickly check the spare clothes in Archie's kindy bag - all good! And pack his lunch, drink bottle and rain jacket.

8:10am - Archie and Victoria play in the lounge while I get dressed and do my make up.

8: 25am - Put the kids jackets and hats on and they wait by the door while I grab the diaper bag, keys, my wallet and phone.

8:30am - Put the kids in the car. Remember it's rubbish day so put the recycling bin and rubbish wheelie bin out on the footpath.

8:35am - Drive to holiday kindy. It's not as close as our regular kindy but only takes about 12 mins to drive there.

8:50am - Arrive at kindy. This is the third & final day of Archie going to this kindy so he's excited to see the kids and teachers again.

I help him choose a hook to hang his bag on, sign him in and have a chat to the head teacher. There are a few kids he recognises and he goes to the play doh table.  Victoria starts doing a puzzle inside. One of the teachers mentions to him that it's not raining or too cold so he can play outside today. He is very excited as he has been eying up the outside area, the other days he has been it's eithor been pouring with rain or too cold to play outside.

Victoria and I head outside with him for a bit. He runs around looking at everything then runs into the outdoor whare (playhouse).

9:20am - Victoria and I say goodbye to Archie and tell him that we will be back in the afternoon to pick him up.
I put Victoria in the car and head to the local mall. I forgot to put Victoria's buggy in the car but she likes walking anyway. It's good it's early & there are not many people around so she can walk freely around!

We go to the bank and the supermarket and then head home.

10:15am - We arrive home.  I put the few groceries we got away. Victoria has a play while I potter around. I put a load of washing in the machine and empty the dishwasher.

10:30am - Start to get Victoria ready for her nap. I read her a few stories, change her nappy, put her in her sleep sack and give her some milk.

10:45am - Put Victoria to bed, all snug as a bug. She's a wee bit grumpy that I want to take a photo as she just wants to sleep - she quite likes sleeping!

10:50am - While Victoria sleeps I have a few hours to myself. I go on my phone, have some brunch, watch some youtube, fold and put away 3 loads of clean washing, hang a load of washing out to dry, clean and organise the kids craft cupboard and talk to my sister on the phone.

1:05pm - Victoria wakes up from her nap. We have a few minutes snuggling in the rocking chair in her room and then she tells me she is hungry.

1:15pm - I make her a snack and sit next to her as she eats at the little table.
For the next hour we play for a bit, read books, I vacuum the kids bedrooms and tidy the kitchen while she follows me around playing in whatever room I'm in.

2:05pm - We leave to go get Archie from holiday kindy. It finishes at 2:30 but I like to get there early to join in with mat time.
Archie has had lots of fun today!

3:00pm - We are home. I need to go down to the post shop inside the dairy down the bottom of our street so I bundle the kids into outdoor clothes, put Victoria in a bike stroller and we head out for a walk.

I address and post a parcel for a friend's child inside the shop & then we head outside the shop to the post box where Archie posts my letters for me.

On the walk home Victoria decides she wants to walk so Archie hops on the bike and we start a leisurely walk home, stopping to look at plants, leaves and birds.

3:35pm - Once home both kids have a shower and get into their pajamas.

3:45pm - The kids are peckish so I make a banana smoothie for them to share, I don't want them having too much or they won't eat their dinner! They watch a bit of netflix and play for a bit.

4:20pm - I start to get dinner ready. Archie works on one of his workbooks. Tonight it's a shapes one. I talk to him about each page & set him up in between getting dinner ready. Victoria plays a Sesame Street game on the iPad.

4:45pm - Josh is home! The kids play with him while I finish up dinner.

5:05pm - Dinner time! We all sit together.

5:30pm - I clean up the dinner dishes etc while Josh plays with the kids in the lounge.

We all hang out in the lounge, talking, playing with the news on in the background.

Josh mentions icecream to Victoria & she thinks she's getting it (we never have dessert!) So he pops down the street to the dairy for a small tub for us to share.

6:20pm - The kids brush their teeth together. I get Victoria into her sleep sack and read her a story and she is asleep by 6:30.

Josh reads Archie stories in bed and they talk for a bit. He goes to sleep around 7pm.

7:00pm - Josh goes to the garage to workout.
I talk to my mum on the phone and fold another load of laundry

We watch TV for a bit together and head to bed around 10pm.

Archie turns four!

We officially have a big four year old!

Archie had kindy on his birthday, I thought about letting him miss it but he wanted to go and his session is only 8:30-12:45.
We didn't rush that morning. We opened his presents before Josh left for work - Victoria was still asleep!  He got there around 9am and then my sister and her girls arranged to meet us at his kindy around 11:30 so the cousins could play together until the end of the session.

He got to sit up the front with the teacher at mat time which he loved!
He passed out lollipops to the other children as they left and we went to a local cafe after for a hot chocolate treat.

When Josh got home from work we went out to a restaurant for dinner with my parents - so he had a lovely day!

We had his party the weekend before at our house. He had 8 kids attend & it was fun being able to play party games with them. We tried at his party last year but they were slightly too little!
Archie chose a dinosaur theme for his party this year and he helped me to decorate the cake.

After the school holidays he will be going up to the 4yr old session at kindy and will go 3 days a week 8:30-2:30pm. I am going to miss not having him at home with me as much but I know he is definitely ready for the longer and more frequent sessions and he loves kindy and his teachers there.

Archie boy I are so proud of the big 4 year old you have become. You are such a good brother and have a lot of patience with Victoria! I love your cheeky sense of humour! You love to learn and ask to sound out words together.
One of your most favourite things to do at the moment is to play with the play doh. You would play for hours each day if you could!
Love you so much Archie apple pie xxx