Great Day

Today was a really great day.  With 2 kids 19 months apart, some days are a little overwhelming and can leave me exhausted.  But today was incredible.

I woke up to Grace opening her door at 6 am.  Normally I would be a little perturbed, but she had slept hard for 11 hours.  So I had her climb into bed with us and snuggle for an hour until Joey got up.  We played together for 2 hours and then Joey went down to sleep.  Normally Joey is a little whiney in the morning (because he really just wants to sleep and eat all the time), but today no whining.  :)

When Joey went down for naps, Grace and I read books for about 20 minutes.  She would climb into my lap with a book, sit and read it, turn pages, point at the pictures, and then when the book was done, she would run back to get another one.  I'm the first to admit we have WAY too much screen time at our house and so I'm trying harder to eliminate that.  After my sister's amazing example, we started practicing quiet time before any tv or movies come on.  Grace has to sit on the couch, her arms folded, and not talk for 2 minutes.  She has a little trouble wanting to make noise and bounce around, but she did really great today.  I'm hoping this will help with being reverent in church too.

After quiet time, we watched Angelina Ballerina, or as Grace calls it, REENA!  She loves to get up and dance just like Angelina.  I loved the books growing up (and often pretended my name WAS Angelina) so it's really fun to share that with her.  I showed her our collection of Angelina books too (we only have 3 so far but I plan to buy many many more).  I was able to put away all the clean dishes in the dishwasher while she watched so it was a win-win.

Then it was time for the chiropractor.  We LOVE our chiropractor.  He adjusted Grace and Joey and then they sat while I got adjusted.  We all feel so much better after we go.  Plus he adores the kids.  We came home for lunch and then danced for 10 minutes and it was naptime.  Both kids fell asleep really quick and then I got to work.

During naps I cleaned up all the laundry from our trip to Utah, straightened our room, and picked up around the family room.  Then I was able to chill and relax and watch some shows on Netflix.  It was a wonderful break.  I got to sit and watch both of the kids on our new video monitor too.  That is something I definitely wish I had bought earlier.  But luckily I got it 50% off at Target.  :)

Grace woke up after a good long 2 1/2 hour nap and was happy as can be.  She is loving the freedom that she has from the toddler bed.  She is doing really well at staying in it, but she wakes up so much happier and runs right into my arms when she sees me and I tell her what a big girl she is.  She loves that and it's definitely made her a happier toddler.

Joey woke up 30 minutes later and then we played.  We listened to music, played with toys, and snuggled.  After a little bit, I put both kids in their room together for sibling play time.  Joey loves crawling around after Grace and it gives me time to clean and cook dinner without them at my feet.  Plus it's fully baby proofed so I don't have to constantly redirect Joey to a good toy instead of a "don't touch."

While playing together, Joey followed Grace into their closet.  Then Grace decided it would be funny to shut Joey in the closet and turn off the light.  Joey thought it was funny at first but then she kept doing it so he started to cry.  Poor guy.  Lol.  Hopefully Grace learned her lesson, but I'm sure it's the first of many times that they push each other's buttons.  Soon Joey will be bigger than her so I'm sure he will get her back.

During their play time, I was able to get a load of dishes done, straighten and vacuum the front room, sweep and mop the kitchen, wipe down all the tables and chairs, and vacuum their room.  I love being productive.  :)

Then it was time for Joey's nap.  Like I said, this kid LOVES to sleep.  I decided it would be a lot of fun for Grace and I to do some Yoga together.  We found a couple videos on YouTube (Apple TV is awesome) and we followed along.  Grace thought it was pretty cool and loved when we would do poses together.  She ended up playing along with me for about 30 minutes.  I got a lot of good stretches in and practiced my posture so it was a win in my eyes.  :)

Then I had Grace do some more quiet time (another 2 minutes and she rocked it), then watch the rest of her "Reena" show while I got dinner ready.  We had a lot of potatoes so I decided that breakfast for dinner sounded fun.  I made hash browns by peeling potatoes, grating them in the cheese grater (because what else would I use it for?), pressing out the moisture in a towel, then cooking them in a frying pan with a little oil.  They turned out really crispy and delicious so I will probably be making more tomorrow.  :)  I made pancakes and then had apple slices with peanut butter.  Not the healthiest meal, but it was really yummy.  :)  Joey really enjoyed the apple slice and ate a lot of hash browns. :)

After dinner, we cleaned up and turned on some music.  Then DADDY came home and danced and played while I made his dinner.  Then it was time to get ready for bed.  The kids got in their PJs, we read a couple Sandra Boynton books (our very favorite author).  We read Moo, Baa, Lalala (Grace does all the animal noises), then Red Hat, Green Hat, and then 15 Animals.  Then it was off to bed.  Grace got out of bed a couple times tonight, but mostly because Joey was having a hard time falling asleep (we had a diaper mishap).  But then both babies were asleep by 7:30 and now it's quiet time for Robby and me.

We are watching Parks and Rec and it's HILARIOUS. :)  It's nice to have time together at night, even if he's working from home and I'm playing on my computer too.  Today was really a perfect day and I couldn't have asked for more.  :)