M usually wakes up for the day somewhere between 6:30 and 7:00. I hear her sweet little murmurs and chirps of sound and groggily get out of bed to get my little sweetheart. As I crack open the door to her nursery I always see her precious little bedhead peeking over the top of her crib railing just smiling away.

I turn off her ocean waves sound machine and her angel care monitor and swoop her up to smooch her cheeks. She usually kicks her little legs, so happy to be awake and back in Mommy’s arms. She is just irresistable. I take her back to bed with me and we snuggle back in quietly without waking Daddy up quite yet. She nurses and fills her little tank up for the morning while I pet her soft hair and catch a few more minutes of relaxing while we are laying there in bed. After she’s finished I let her sit up between me and Kenny and just snuggle and play for a little while. She often pat pat’s Daddy awake and gives him the biggest grin the moment he opens his eyes up.

While Kenny takes his shower and gets ready for work my little helper girl yawns and hangs out in the kitchen with me while I make our bacon and eggs for breakfast.

M bounces and frolics away in her little jump-a-roo while Kenny and I eat our breakfast then we kiss Daddy bye bye and go watch out the front window while he drives away to work about 8:00.

We read some books until about 8:30 when it’s time for my shower. M plays away in her little exersaucer which is set up in the floor of the bathroom so she isn’t far away while I get all woken up, refreshed and clean. By the time I’m done it is just about time for Miss M’s first nap of the day.

Today she napped from 9:00 – 10:00am. As soon as she’s asleep I always get myself a huge glass of water and my laptop and get started checking e-mails and doing work for my two jobs. It’s pretty tempting to take a little while to just relax but I know if I don’t get going for the day it will all pile up even more later in the evening.

When my little cutie wakes up we nurse again and start to get ready for the day. I wash her face and we brush our teeth together. She is so cute, I always get the first turn at her four little teeth but once I’ve brushed them well I hand over her little toothbrush and she gets her own turn. Sometimes she is more interested in the wrong end of the toothbrush.

I get her changed out of her jammies and into a cute little outfit and off to the living room we head. We play with her blocks and flashcards, read books and have a good old time. I usually try to get a load of laundry going at the same time and let her play on her own for a little while.

Today she had a lot of fun pulling herself up and standing by our ottoman. I can’t believe she’s getting so big!

We were ready for a change of scenery about 11:00 so we headed into the kitchen to get some chili going in the crock pot. It’s my father-in-law’s recipe, I’ll ask if I can share it tomorrow, it’s YUM!

Kenny has a late soccer game tonight and it’s pretty cold outside so I know he will appreciate a yummy warm meal ready to eat the moment he walks in the door.

My sweet sous chef had her big spoon all ready to go.

All that cooking got me hungry so I went ahead and fixed up some lunch for myself about 11:45. I had a turkey wrap sandwich and some potato chips today. She used to nap while I ate lunch but now that she is transitioning to two naps a day she is still awake at lunch time. We are trying to get M used to sitting in her highchair during meal times so she sets with me while I eat and enjoyed some apple juice today. She also discovered that she can push her little foot out against the table and scooch her big highchair backwards. She was pretty proud of herself.

We had a fun surprise visit from Daddy just after lunch today. He had to run home during his lunch break to get some soccer equipment for the big game this evening. We were so excited to see him. M just adores her Daddy.

After Kenny headed out the door I nursed M again and got her snuggled down for her second nap of the day. She slept from 1:00 – 2:00 today (hooray for hour long naps). As soon as she was asleep I moved the laundry to the dryer and got a second load going in the washer. I took a few minutes to throw on some makeup and then back to the work grindstone (it isn’t always fun but I sure do appreciate my jobs).

Next thing I know little dolly girl is awake and ready for action. We got bundled up and took off on a quick errand to Hobby Lobby. It is fun and a nice break in the day to get out of the house sometimes. When the weather cooperates we like to go for a long walk around the neighborhood but it has been too cold for that recently.

We drove to Hobby Lobby and picked out a scentsations wax warmer that I had been eyeing for quite a while then just browsed the aisles for a little bit. M was just fascinated with all the bright lights and colors and sounds everywhere. She especially liked the mirror aisle and the big colorful artificial flowers.

Once we got home it was time for a quick snack for Momma and some refreshing sips of water for my sweet baby girl. She lapped that stuff right up. She played on a blanket in the living room floor while I folded the launry from earlier in the day then we get in another nursing session for the day.

Next I decided it would be a fun time to try out a little finger painting. I had been wanting to try this for several weeks, but today (being a long day since Kenny will be at a soccer game until late) just seemed like the right time to give it a try.

I tapped some big butcher paper over M’s highchair tray and then tapped down a piece of copy paper. Next I dolloped a little dot of red and a little dot of blue in the center of the paper. M was curiously watching me do all this strange new stuff from her little bumbo chair next to me. I put her bib on, sat her in her chair and she immediately rubbed her little hands right into the blue paint.

I was a little afraid she would instantly goosh it all over her face and into her hair but today was bath day anyway so it would have been okay to make a mess. Surprisingly she didn’t even try to get it on herself. She didn’t even head towards her mouth like I expected. Nope, she finished her masterpiece and it was on to the next adventure.

It was about 5:30 by this time and M’s little tummy was surely growling. After I wiped the paint off her tiny fingers I got her dinner ready. Today she had Apples and a side of Peas. She definitely prefers the sweet things but will pretty well tolerate vegetables too, sometimes I just mix them together and she doesn’t even notice. Sneaky, sneaky momma.

After dinner we usually start to get anxious for Daddy to get home. M plays in her jump-a-roo and watches out the window for Daddy to drive by. She is such a fun little bundle of energy. I want a giant jump-a-roo that I can play in it looks so fun! I let her play and bounce off some energy until about 6:15 when we headed to the bathroom to get her bath started.

She is so cute, she gets so excited when she hears the water start running. She was standing at the edge of the tub joyfully patting on the tub walls lifting her little foot up so ready to get in that warm bath water.

I lathered her all up and got every part squeaky clean then let her play and splash for a little while longer before we had to get out and dry off.

I can’t believe her little hair is so long and thick, she’s almost ready for some little pigtails.

After her bath I dry her off and she gets a nice little massage with her lotion. She sits so still and is just in the lap of luxury, I’m going to have to hire someone to do that for me everyday (it sounds like a good plan anyway).

I get her all dried off and moisturized and change her into fresh pajamas and by this time it is 7:00 and just about time for bed. We brush our teeth one more time then I turn on her bedtime music and get her all swaddled and we bounce to sleep. Kenny ALWAYS gets M to sleep at night, he does such a good job with her, but I was on duty tonight while he was at the soccer game.

I got to enjoy a tasty bowl of chili while she slept and then about an hour later (right on cue) she’s awake. I nurse her one last time for the night and get her settled back into bed hopefully for good this time. I usually get my work responsibilities finished up in the evening while she is asleep.

Recently it’s taking several tries at night to get her in bed for good, she’ll wake up and we’ll bounce her back to sleep then she’ll wake up and we’ll bounce and the cycle continues. It can be a little exhausting but she is so soft and small and warm in our arms it is hard to stay frustrated.

Well, Kenny just got home 9:10 on the dot and he is so excited for some chili. His soccer guys won eight to one! Cross your fingers that we get some sleep tonight, and thanks for reading my loooong ‘day in the life’, boy do we ever have FUN! I wouldn’t trade it for anything.