A Day in the Life: What a typical day looks like for us (Ryan 17 Months)

I read a few blogs that periodically share these "day in the life" posts and love the idea of having a memory to look back on of what our "normal" looked like at various stages of our lives.

Right now, being at home with one baby will look so different from what our routine will look like in a few years.

And even though we keep a pretty busy schedule during the week, I honestly treasure the days where we have no real plans the most. Because somehow, 17 months with my first baby have already flown by, and I know it's only going to go faster from here.

So here's a look at our last Wednesday, which was a typical, no-set-plans day for us.

Wake up and have my morning time before Ryan wakes up: coffee, quiet time, blog

Cooking "eggies" with my little helper

Ryan played with his toys in the living room while I tackled the laundry and got a Mary Kay order ready to ship. 

These two usually hover close by or play with toys in the living room while I get a few things done

Time to brush our teeth and get ready for the day!

Post office, car wash, and open gym- here we come!

Ryan usually cat-naps in the car in the morning for about 20-30 minutes. I try to plan to be in the car during this stretch to give him some rest time and will just sit in the parking lot of wherever we are going, catching up on email or texts while he rests. Somewhere between the 20-30 minute mark, I wake him up to run our errands so that he'll still get a good solid nap in the afternoon.

Reading some of his current favorite books while we wait at the car wash

Ryan's Aunt Karen got him this book for Christmas and he LOVES it!

We go to a free open gym on Wednesdays for 45 minutes where there are only a handful of other kids who are all under 2, and Ryan loves it! Andrea and Reynolds usually meet us here, but they were out of town this day.

Heading back home for nap and still practicing his skills ;)

Home to see our favorite pup!

Snuggles with some "Coo Coo" (a song from The Sound of Music) before nap

While Ryan naps, I usually clean, organize the pantry/fridge, make grocery lists, eat a snack, fold/steam cloths, pay bills, prep dinner, etc. Currently this nap stretch is between 2-3 hours. So nice to have this built in time to get things done!

While Ryan was napping, I ran over to my next-door neighbor Lizzie's house to snuggle her new little angel baby and check on how she was doing. And before anyone freaks out or thinks I'm insane, one of the benefits of city living in tiny, close-together houses is Ryan's video monitor works in her house- I'm probably closer to his room when I'm inside her house than some of you are to your kiddos' rooms when your inside your own houses- ha! Lizzie is a rockin' mama already! Her sister was visiting too so I got to meet her and hang for a minute before heading back to our house to finish getting things done before Ryan woke up.

The current post-nap routine is reading to Mickey and Tal Tal in his rocking chair when he wakes up :)

Post nap snack- this is typically his only snack of the day. Eating breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner has worked really well for him to make sure his belly is ready for food at meal times. (I read and reviewed a book before Ryan started eating solids that encouraged this plan and it has worked great for him! You can check that post out here.)

Dinner prep! If I'm in the kitchen, Ryan wants to be helping. Here we're chopping onion and snapping asparagus. Well, Ryan also tried eating some raw asparagus, but it wasn't his favorite. ;)

Emptying the dishwasher while we wait for daddy to get home.

Playing toys in the bathroom while I get his bath ready.

We usually do bath together after Matt gets home (as in all four of us, Tal included) squeeze into our little guest bathroom each night), but tonight, I bathed Ryan before Matt got home. He likes sticking his letters on his belly in the tub which is what he's doing here. :)

Daddy's home!!!! Time for hide-and-seek and pyramids and pushups. :)

On nights when Ryan finishes dinner before us, we let him get down and play. He usually hovers right around us, brings toys in, or asks to sit in a big chair while Matt and I finish.

One more "coo coo" song before bed (and a look at the steaming/folding I didn't quite finish during nap) ;)

Getting ready to read, pray, and sing songs before bed. Tally is here for this part of the routine as well (Tally's pretty much a part of every routine if you haven't notice) and if he's not in the room, Ryan will call him to make sure he gets to give him a hug and a kiss before bed. :)

So that's our normal right now! I know I will look back at these posts one day and miss the simplicity of no real schedules and days spent playing inside with a few errands here and there. These days are sweet ones.

If you're looking for a yummy recipe to try, our dinner this night was lobster ravioli (bought from Costco) with the cream sauce from this recipe:

recipe here

and Balsamic Roasted Asparagus that is SO quick and easy

recipe here

Have a great week, friends!