flea | Entries tagged with 24 hours

Remember when I used to do "24 hours in my life" posts when they were babies? OMG the non-sleeping. They (mostly - Dillo had a night terror 2 nights ago at midnight) sleep through the night now, but we are still always exhausted. Here's why:

6 am: I get up and make coffee.
6:10-6:15 am: I wake up everyone else in the house. Note: it is pitch dark.
6:15-6:30: mr. flea and kids eat breakfast at the table. Casper drinks cafe latte and eats dry cheerios; Dillo has bran flakes (for the iron) with milk. I make my lunch and get dressed and stuff.
6:30: Casper gets dressed and packs her backpack. Lunches are made the night before. Check before leaving the house: books and homework, lunch, keys, phone.
6:40-6:45: Casper and I leave the house, walk to the bus stop. Still pitch dark. Currently nice view of Jupiter and Venus.
6:55: Casper's bus comes. I go home again. Meanwhile mr. flea had probably yelled "Just brush your teeth" at least 5 times at Dillo.
7:10: Dillo, mr. flea and I all leave to walk to Dillo's bus stop.
7:20: Dillo's bus comes. I walk to my bus stop. mr. flea goes home.
7:30: Casper is at school in math class. I catch my bus.
8:00: I am at work. Dillo arrives at school, which starts at 8:15.
8:30: I am not positive, but my guess is mr. flea does not leave for work until about this time. He is not a morning person. If he doesn't have Dad chauffeur jobs in the afternoon, he often walks. It's 1.2 miles, residential.
2:30: Casper's school lets out. Most days she comes straight home on the bus, getting home around 3:10. She does some homework and lazes around.
2:45: Dillo's school lets out. He takes the but to the Rec Center around the corner from us, arriving about 3:30.
5:00: I leave work.
5:40: I get to the Rec Center and pick up Dillo.
5:50: Everyone but mr. flea is home, and dinner is underway, as well as homework and such.
6:15: mr. flea is usually home by now. We eat dinner.
6:30-8:00: homework and stuff. Then at at, have snack, pack lunches, start getting to bed routine. Goal is to be in bed reading by 8:30 (both kids).
9:00: lights out for kids. I usually go to sleep by 9:30 and mr. flea is often up until 11.

This fall, Tuesdays Casper takes the bus to the university for dance class at 4:45, and I get off my bus early and meet here there, and we go home on the bus together after dance, at 6:45. Meanwhile, mr. flea picks up Dillo, feeds him, and gets him to soccer practice very far away by 6:30. They get home at 8. Homework is a nightmare on Tuesdays. Wednesdays I work late so mr. flea does all the evening stuff solo. Thursdays Dillo has soccer practice but Casper is free. Fridays Casper has dance, and Dillo and I have piano lessons, from 6:45-7:45 at the university. mr. flea usually drops us all off and picks us up.

So basically, I am gone from home 6:40am-5:50pm. That's a long time.

But BACKWARDS!

Currently 8:50pm; I am at work and will be until 10pm. I've been on the desk since 6, and have been fairly busy at times (3 simultaneous chats, one of which was a person looking for a sound recording of a Spanish radio play produced in 1973, oy) and also spoken to my family twice on the phone, including once singing a bedtime song to an overtired little boy whose sister stepped on his toe. I also looked at Jezebel and Go Fug Yourself and emailed with my father about genealogy.

I got to work at 12:45. I did the desk schedule for next week and circulated it and put it on the web, looked at stats on my academic blog, dealt with a few work emails, emailed about Girl Scouts, picked the yarn I want for the hat my coworker is knitting me, got all the Bassetts into the genealogy web site and uploaded the pictures my father sent me to Flickr, spent 2-3 pm on the desk with no activity at all, read the Times, and ate dinner. My tooth with the temporary crown was hurting so I took some tylenol and I think I need more.

Left home about 12:15 - it had cleared up and was rather too warm for my outfit as I walked in. It's about 2 miles.

Got home from the kids' school at 10am. Advanced the laundry, emptied the dishwasher and refilled it, prepped the coffee machine for tomorrow, emailed about Girl Scouts, listened to The Commonwealth Club of California on NPR, polished 6 drawer pulls with brasso (they actually have no brass left on them, but at least they now look like pewter, sort of) and reattached them to Casper's dresser, took out the compost, folded and put away the clean laundry, caught up on internets, packed dinner, ate lunch, kept cats from fighting too much.

Left the house at 7:34 (VERY LATE) for the kids' school, whole family in the car. Just barely avoided a tardy. mr. flea forgot Dillo's backpack so he went back home to get it while I went to spend a few hours with Dillo's class. Went to breakfast (FAUGH disgusting), art (art teacher out - sub had them play with Kapla blocks and is not very good at managing 4 year olds), bathroom, classroom circle time and "work time" (=play stations in the room). Left 9:45. Dillo had a bad morning the previous day when his usual teacher was out at the doctor. He was angry when I left him today.

Out of bed at about 6:20 as I heard it start to rain and had laundry on the deck. Showered, got kids up, fed (Casper: coffee, Dillo, cheerios), dressed (Casper did herself and dilly-dallied with the cat; Dillo was sleepy and intractable and I left him to mr. flea). mr. flea very very slow getting ready.

I was awake on and off from 5am or so. I think I took Advil in the night - I wake up with a sore tooth most nights now. Was in bed by about 9pm; mr. flea slept on the couch (he often falls asleep while playing Ipod games and doesn't move). Dillo fell asleep on my chest at 8:40 or so after a very cranky night, overtired. Casper and I were at Girl Scouts from 6:45-7:30. Then we did a shower and homework. She read mr. flea The Golly Sisters Go West in bed while I lay with Dillo on my chest. He didn't brush his teeth, but she did.

The end.

I'm feeling really overwhelmed and like I don't have enough time to do anything right or take care of anyone properly right now. So I thought it would be interesting to do a 24 hours reconstruction of the past 24, to see if things are crazier than usual or if it's my feelings that are out of whack.

7:30am (yesterday): arrive at work. Catch up on the internets.
8:00 am: Desk. Answer Reference emails, shelve a lot of books (yesterday was "I left books all over the place" day for our patrons), take 2 phone calls from my boss from home, untangle Friday schedule issues, sort financial paperwork.
9:00 am: Brief chitchat with 9am desk shift person. Deal with a couple of work emails. Shelve serials. Have conversation with head of Access and Delivery Services about job I applied for (now not interviewing until mid July), his upcoming vacation, assorted collections issues.
9:45 mr. flea picks me up and we go to therapy.
11:00 done with therapy. Drop by bookstore for present, Whole Foods for cookies, both for "baby" shower (adoption of 4 year old from Ethiopia) for coworker later in the day.
11:30 back at work. Chat with coworker about various web 2.0 service issues, segues into managerial issues. Kick her out so I can pump before lunch date with boss at 12. Accept supply delivery.
12: Boss not here. Email about child care issues for Casper in the fall. Screw around on internets.
12:30: Boss still not here. IM coworker to complain. Break into cookies for party. Do mail run.
1pm: Boss shows up. Takes me to lunch (she had totally forgotten). We chat about work issues and her son, who has an MBA but is living with friends in Vegas trying to make a living day trading (after spending 6 months surfing.) He's my age.
1:45: Shelve serials, deal with traveling serials. Almost done with this week's truck of books.
3:30: Party for coworker. She brings husband and existing son (2, also Ethiopian, ADORABLE.)
4:30: mr. flea picks me up; we go to get kids.
5:15: get home. Play with Casper in her room with the door closed (per her wishes) without the baby for a few minutes. Then tag out child care with mr. flea, who is doing dishes. Simultaneously make hotel reservation for DC visit next month.
6:00: start to work on dinner. I feed baby, mr. flea cooks. Have fight with mr. flea. Feeling very stressed out about making phone calls about child care for Casper.
6:30: baby into bath. mr. flea is still making dinner, Casper with him.
6:45: baby slips in bath and scrapes tummy on spout of baby soap dispenser; cries. Remove baby from bath, comfort him by nursing. He falls asleep. Diaper him and leave him on bed.
7:00: Eat dinner with mr. flea and Casper (Breakfast for dinner: waffles and sausage patties, sausage from Farmer's Market.)
7:30: mr. flea decides to go to the library and work. Call people about child care; reach one, leave one message, email one.
8:00: mr. flea is back, having found Library 1 closed. We check hours of Library 2 and e leaves for there, with car. Attempt to interest Casper in watching So You Think You Can Dance and fail. Play dolls with Casper.
9:00: Get Casper glass of milk, read books.
9:30: Just as Casper is winding down, Dillo cries. Go nurse him. Return to Casper to finish last book. Relatively brief negotiation (for her) about going to sleep. Go to sleep.
10:00 Hear mr. flea come in.
11:00 Dillo cries; go in to my bedroom and stay there.
probably sometime around 1: nurse Dillo
3ish: nurse Dillo
5: Dillo very restless. Mostly awake but clearly wanting to be asleep. After 45 minutes, get him back to sleep at 5:45.
6:11 Wake up. Catch up on internets, take shower, wash bottle parts, drink tea. (Damn, forgot my meds this morning.) mr. flea gets up around 6:30 and starts making waffles.
6:40: Dillo wakes up. Get peed on due to overflowing diaper, change him, get him in high chair eating cheerios, get dressed, pack bag.
7:00: Wake Casper because if I leave without kissing her goodbye she will freak.
7:10: leave house for bus. Read Atul Gawande, Better, on the bus. Get to work at 7:30.

I find these so interesting when other people do them. Once you get to today, you'll see why I am spamming LJ instead of doing work...

Monday:
4pm: Leave work, take bus to child care center, pick up child, take second bus with child to other campus, walk home.
4:30: Arrive home. Kiss husband who worked from home, fend off responsibility for dinner, nurse child briefly, fend off demands to watch a movie or PBS kids, enter negotiation into going to the park as it is a beautiful day and park friends we haven't seen in months due to winter are there. Casper not enthusiastic.
4:45: Go to park. Push Casper on swing and have a little chitchat.
5pm: Return home, as Casper wants to. Casper diappears into kitchen to pester mr. flea who is cooking dinner. I disappear into internet.
5:30: Eat dinner (black bean soup and rice). Casper mostly doesn't eat since she ingested assorted pistachios, peanut butter bread, and black beans during the dinner-making.
6:15: Play in living room for a while, then into study and watch some of ABC news since we are caught in the pathos of Bob Woodruff being blown up.
7pm: TV off. Casper suggests story time. We read in her room, and change into jammies.
8pm: First attempt at turning off the light and getting Casper to sleep. Since this is when we usually *start* story time, I am well aware it is doomed to fail. We have a prolonged period of studying "Mr. Paint Pig's ABCs," which we read every night right now and have already read in detail tonight.
8:30: Adults are falling asleep. Casper is rarin' to go. mr flea: "Where do you get your energy from?" Casper: "From these pigs!" Multiple attempts to get Casper to lie in bed fail.
9pm: "Come to Jesus" meeting with Casper about going to sleep. Refuse to stay with her because she has been so recalcitrant.
9:15: Casper can't open her door today, but she is twisting the knob and crying/whining for us.
9:45: I think everyone in the house is asleep.
11:35: Casper is crying. I find her in a small heap on the floor of her room. I transfer her to bed, and she is very happy to see me and falls asleep immediately. I do too, in her bed.
2:30: Casper wakes, and so do I. She wants to nurse, and I say no. After some restlessness and discussion, she falls asleep. I go back to my bed.
3:15: I am still awake, and so is mr. flea. We fall asleep again. It's raining.
6:20am: I wake up.
6:35: I get out of bed and start to get dressed. Casper wakes up and is crying for me. We nurse briefly and I change her diaper. I take her to my room and she lies on the bed while I get dressed.
6:50: Casper and I go to the kitchen and eat breakfast, and I pack lunch.
7:10: Bathroom interlude while I wash my face and Casper plays with combs. I get mr. flea to wake up.
7:15: Back to the kitchen, Casper is on a stool in a good mood and mr. flea is ambulatory and I am able to leave without anyone crying.
7:30: Arrive at work, having taken the bus and read 10 pages of I, Claudius. Deal with email, internet.
8am: Public service desk. Lots of email today, otherwise quiet.
9am: Office monthly birthday party. I forgot to bring food. Happily not a catastrophe.
9:40: Mail run, assorted errands.
10am: Two-hour seminar on managing priorities. Decent, although turns into a library gripe-fest a little.
12: Internet, show colleague the way to find the lactation room in the building, lunch at desk, email.
1pm: 1.5 hour open meeting on quality of service survey done in spring 2005. Decent, although turns into a library gripe-fest a little.
2:30: Email, internet, decide rest of day cannot be used for actual accomplishments so begin spamming LJ.
4pm: Leave work for bus to get kid.

Usually I have fewer meetings, especially not long, high-intensity ones like this, and actually accomplish some project-related work as opposed to just putting out fires and answering people's questions via email. Otherwise, this is typical life.