This past weekend was my twin mom club's semi-annual consignment sale, so I was busy shopping, then rearranging the house to fit all of my awesome finds in! I got a bunch of clothes (in sizes I don't wanna talk about) and a couple of bigger toys for the twins' first birthday (AGAIN, I don't wanna talk about it)... good as new, for 1/4 or less of retail? Score!! If you have these sales in your area and have never been, I HIGHLY recommend them! Especially buying two of everything, baby stuff gets expensive. :-) I'm picky about the quality of what I'll buy, and I still get incredible deals!
I haven't really updated on the twins much here (if you want a bit more of a play-by-play, follow my Instagram... I'm a lot better about posting life updates there.), so I thought I'd share a sample day-in-the-life post with some updates so you can get a taste of what's up in our world. :-) There are about four different kinds of days around here: blog days, normal days, errand days, Sundays.
On a day that I've decided to work on the blog...
- 8am - Ethan leaves for work. I snuggle under the covers and catch up on social media. I have no idea how I manage to miss so much over night!
- 8:30ish - I drag myself out of bed and hop in the shower, get dressed, etc.
- 9:30 - I come downstairs, let Charley out, then check to make sure that the day's post has auto-posted correctly and is formatted right. If it needs tweaked (and it almost always does), I fix it and start on my promotion rounds... I am in a couple of Facebook groups for bloggers where we can share posts with each other. If I share a link, I'm encouraged to visit five or so other links and leave comments on other posts, which is a lot of fun and lets me get to know other bloggers I may not have met before. By the time I'm done with these groups, I usually need to leave 10-15 comments for other bloggers. I make careful note of where I've left links and the specific reciprocity requirements for each place, with lots of little checkboxes.
- 10:00 - Continuing the promotion rounds, I pin my post to the Pinterest board where I keep all of the posts from my blog (or sometimes another board instead). I also "stumble" the post on stumbleupon, tweet the post, and share a related picture on my Instagram with a teaser to send people to read the post. Also around this time, Abbie and Sam are starting to chatter in their crib. Sometimes they go back to sleep, sometimes they just visit for a while.
- 10:30 - I work on developing some of the post ideas in my notebook into actual posts. If it happens to be a sunny day, it's also the perfect time to take "stock" or other blog photos. I'm trying to build a library of go-to images that I own all rights to, so sometimes I take pictures that I have no idea when or why I'll use them. I'm keeping an eye on the video monitor to see what kind of mood the twins are in so I can judge about when I'll need to make bottles and go get them up.
- 11:15 - I share the day's post on my blog's Facebook page, then usually share it to my own timeline as well. If anyone has commented on the blog, I try to reply to those comments. Then it's time to put the blog aside for a while and go get my babies.
- 11:30 or noonish - I make two bottles, grab some clean baby clothes, and head up to the nursery. I change Sam's diaper and usually his outfit (both babies tend to soak diapers until they leak) while he wriggles and giggles and sometimes scolds me for taking too long, then we snuggle into the recliner for breakfast. He still loves to cuddle at bottle time, which is perfectly fine with his Momma! When he's fed and happy, I put him in the "spare" crib (we keep blankies and toys in that one, never in the "sleeping" crib) while I repeat the process with his less-snuggly sister.
- 12;30 - When both kidlets are fed, I carry Abbie downstairs and put her on the floor in their playroom. We have it gated off and totally childproofed, so she can't get into any trouble. I run back up the stairs and grab Sam (who has usually noticed and begun voicing his displeasure that I've taken his playmate away) and carry him back down. I plop him in the playroom and make myself some brunch... usually reheated leftovers or some snacky things... and settle into my comfy playroom chair to eat.
- 1:00 - From then, I'm watching them play, clapping and cheering as Sam crawls across the room, rolling around on the floor, or playing Abbie's favorite game - Abbie Airplane. Airplaning a 20+ pound princess over my head gets quite the burn going in my arms! Sometimes someone needs a fresh diaper in the middle of playing, but not that often. We talk a lot... both babies make a lot of sounds, and occasionally a deliberate MOMMA or (much more often) Dadadadada. Charley sits in my chair or very nearby and supervises every move everyone makes.
- 3:30 - It's time for the second bottle of the day, so I whip up some yummy formula and scoop up whichever twin is closer or noisier. Usually Sam ;-) I also change them after every bottle.
- 4:00-4:30ish - Ethan usually gets home not too long after the second bottles are done, and we carry the babies in to the family room and put them in the pack-n-play. They usually play for a little while, and sleep for maybe 20 minutes while Ethan is settling in and I start working on supper. On blog days, it's always a simple, quick dinner.
- 5:00 - We feed the grown-ups, talk about our days, flirt a little ;-)
- 5:30 - We play with the babies and they show Daddy any new tricks they've learned :-)
- 6:30-7ish - We give the babies their third bottles of the day and change their diapers. By this time, they're usually pretty sleepy, especially if they didn't take that 20 minute nap in the pack-n-play.
- 7:30-8ish - Bed time! We each carry a baby up the stairs and change them one last time before tucking them in. One of us will change the sheets (usually Ethan, since I'm barely hanging on by a thread at this point), then we make sure that both parents get to kiss and snuggle both babies, and we plop them in the same crib. They still sleep together... shh each other back to sleep on the rare occasion one wake over night, and entertain each other when they wake up in the morning. I think it's awesome for their twin bonding... and for our sleep!
- 8:15 - We come back down the stairs, high-five that we survived another day, then I sit down and grab my lap top. I reply to any comments left on my blog, then make the rounds and fulfill my obligations to the promo groups I mentioned earlier, leaving 10-15 comments (and making new friends!) on other people's blogs. This takes a good long while, since I read each post carefully, try to leave thoughtful comments that contribute to the conversation, and make note of whose blogs I'm commenting on. We usually watch something on Netflix and chat/catch up while I'm doing this, too, so my focus is on several things at once. :-)
- 11:00-midnightish - We drag two very tired adults and one goofy dog up the stairs to bed. :-)
Blog days are busy, tiring days, but I love them :-) This is why I only aim for posting twice a week though... much more and I think it would be difficult to take care of my house and family the way I want to. I know there are SAHM bloggers (or bloggers who work 40+ hours outside the home!) who post every day... but those people are magical unicorns to me! I don't know how they do it, but mad props! :-) I'm thankful for a schedule that lets me be present with the kids AND make fun connections with online friends at the same time... it keeps me semi-sane and helps with the isolation that I sometimes felt before getting back into blogging after having the babies. Thanks for being part of that community!!
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