A Day in the Life…

A Day in the Life…

with a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and two 4 month old girls...

Happy Thursday everyone. Before I get into what our day looks like I have to fill you in on some milestones McKenzie and Mckayla have hit these past few days.

McKenzie giggled for the first time yesterday. A babies laugh is the most amazing sound. I could listen to it all day long. McKenzie had another wonderful night of sleep in her crib. Last, but not least she learned how to roll over at 5am and didn’t like it. Oh my!

McKayla hasn’t hit any new milestones yet, but I am know she isn’t far behind her sister.

I completely forgot to tell you that McKenzie’s two bottom front teeth are coming in. The doctor confirmed what we had already suspected. She seems so little to be getting teeth.

I thought I would do something different today. I love reading “A Day in the Life” posts, so I thought I would do one myself. Let me warn you, it is pretty crazy around here.

This was our Tuesday. It all began in the middle of the night. It was McKenzie’s first night in the nursery and it went amazingly well. This was also one of the days I was by myself with all four girls. It was a fabulous day, busy but oh so wonderful.

Midnight : McKayla wakes up to nurse. I feed her then we go back to sleep.

3:00am: McKayla wakes up to nurse. I feed her again and go back to sleep.

5:00am: McKenzie wakes up to nurse. She is in her own bed so I go feed her in the rocking chair in the nursery. Then I go back to my room and realize McKayla needs to eat again.

5:30am: McKayla wakes to be fed again. She doesn’t usually wake up this much at night, but maybe she is growing. I don’t know what was going on, but she wanted to eat all night long.

7:00am: Sophia and Isabella wake up for the day and call for me to come and get them. The day officially begins!!

 7:15am: The four of us go downstairs and make some yummy pumpkin protein pancakes. We love breakfast, it is our favorite meal of the day.

wiaw 52 - pumpkin pancakes

7:30am: Mckayla wakes up, I go up and get her while the girls finish eating. Of course, she needs a diaper change.

The four of us play and have some time together. I have learned my girls are much happier if I take some time and play with them first thing in the morning. I wait to clean up breakfast until after our play time.

8:00am: McKenzie wakes up, I go up get her out of bed, bring her downstairs, change her diaper, and nurse both babies.

Time to clean kitchen, throw in a load of laundry, and play with the girls. I try to play with them on and off throughout the day; this helps my girls be happy (they fight much less).

9:00am: I put McKayla down for her first nap (she is still taking her naps in the basinet; I will transition her in about a week).

9:30am: I put McKenzie down for her first nap (she is taking all her naps in her crib).

10:00am: I start my workout. I rarely get to workout without interruption and today was no exception.

10:20am: Pause workout and help big girls go potty.

10:30am: Pause again, McKenzie wakes up. She sits in bouncer while I finish working out.

11:00am: Finish workout just in time for McKayla to wake up.

Make smoothies for the girls and a protein shake for me. We all enjoy them together!

11:30am: Change both babies diapers and nurse them.

Switch the laundry. Play some more and clean the playroom at the same time. Multitasking is a must with four little ones.

12:00pm: McKenzie goes down for her second nap.

12:15pm: Make big girls lunch and make Sophia’s lunch for school the next day. I love making her lunch mid-day, one less thing to do when I am tired at night.

12:30: McKayla goes down for her second nap.

I quickly eat some lunch while sitting with Sophia and Isabella.

1:00pm: Isabella goes down for her nap.

Sophia and I work on her school project that is due the next day and we enjoy some alone time. We snuggle and watch a movie for a little bit. She needs some Mommy time and I need some Sophia time. I love spending time with my biggest girl. Some days I miss my little Sophia. I can’t believe next year she will be going to school five full days a week, I am going to miss her so much.

sophia

2:00pm: Mckayla wakes up and is ready to nurse.

2:15pm: McKenzie wakes and nurses too.

Sophia and I entertain the babies for a little bit.

3:00pm: I get Sophia and myself a snack of fruit and cereal.

3:15pm: Isabella wakes up and we snuggle for a little bit. She loves to snuggle when she first wakes up. Then, I get her some fruit too.

3:30pm: McKayla takes her third nap.

3:45pm: McKenzie takes her third nap.

4:30pm: McKenzie is awake. I tried to get her to fall back to sleep, but she was ready to wake up. Sometimes I am successful at getting them through the 45 minute nap intruder and sometimes not so much.

5:00pm: I nurse McKenzie.

5:15pm: McKayla wakes up and nurses.

The big girls and I eat salads while dinner is cooking.

5:45pm: I make the big girls and I dinner. We enjoy a nice meal together. Steve worked a little late, so it was a girls only dinner.

6:00pm: McKenzie takes a catnap, she needs a little nap to get her to bedtime.

6:15pm: Daddy comes home with a nice treat for me. The girls are so excited to see him. They run up to Daddy and give him big hugs. Our house is nice and quiet. I really try to have a quiet house for Steve when he first gets home. I know he has had a long day. Trust me it doesn’t always happen.

6:40pm: McKayla takes a catnap.

6:45pm: McKenzie wakes up. Perfect timing I don’t want her to sleep any longer then that because it is too close to bedtime.

7:00pm: I take Sophia and Isabella up to bed. We brush teeth, go potty, read two books, pray, and give hugs and kisses. Two down, two to go!!

7:30pm: Give McKenzie and McKayla baths.

8:00pm: I take McKenzie upstairs, she nurses and goes to bed in her crib.

8:30pm: McKayla nurses and she goes to sleep in the basinet.

Our night begins again!! Ready or not here we go.

McKayla wakes up a couple times to eat throughout the night and McKenzie has been only waking up once the past few nights. We will see how it goes from here on out.

All day long I change a million diapers and clean as we go. I run up and down the stairs time and time again, but I simply think wow my legs are going to look amazing. What a great workout. Life is what you make it and I choose to make it happy.

As you can tell McKenzie and McKayla’s naps are staggered by about 15 minutes. I really like our day set up this way because I am able to have some individual snuggle time with each of them. Now, I will tell you this nice routine doesn’t happen every day. Some days McKenzie’s teeth bother her more then others. If you have twins this may not work for you, but this is what works for me.

With four little girls there is never a time there isn’t something to do. But, I always try to slow things down and enjoy my girls. I make sure to take time to play with them and be with them. I make sure I am not always doing housework. There are many days I realize that my girls need me more then my house needs me. Some days I don’t do any housework and it’s just a disaster. My girls will not be little forever but my house will always be there.

8 comments on “A Day in the Life…

  1. Oh mama, you are a saint! That sounds like a lot of hard work – much harder than just two little ones! I have my girls on basically the same schedule, although a lot of times one will sleep better than the other, one will wake up sooner, etc. But we all eat at the same time and go down for naps at relatively the same time. usually someone will get sleepy about 5-10 minutes before the other which is nice because then I can snuggle with the sleepy girl and put her down before the other one gets cranky!

    • I don’t know about that, but thank you. Yes, I love the few minutes different in the twins naps, it is so nice to snuggle them separately.

  2. Wow, what a day! You are an amazing mother! Just reading about your day made me tired! I am already starting to think about how my days will be different with two kids, but I can only imagine what it would be like with four!

  3. I think juggling my 6 wo twin girls is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, I honestly cannot imagine doing it with 2 other children. I don’t know how you do it but you are doing a great job. Hang in there- like you said, they will not be young forever but I know right now it seems as though they will.

    • I can honestly say it does get easier. Four months has truly been a big leap for us; the girls have really started to settle into a routine. Thank you!!

  4. You are awesome! I don’t know how you do it! Question about your nursing…do you nurse on one side for one baby and then pump the other side for the other baby if she is not yet hungry? Or are they both eating on both sides? I have nursed one baby on one side, then the other baby on the other side then switch babies and sides for the next feeding. It’s always a pain though when we don’t wake the other baby up and I have to pump the other side. Just curious as to how others do it…if there’s another/easier way 🙂 Keep up the good work, love your posts!

    • Thank you. Sometimes I don’t know how it all works out, but it just does. 🙂

      Each baby nurses on only one side each feeding and the other baby nurses on the opposite side. I don’t pump unless I miss a feed completely. Typically the girls nurses within 15 minutes of each other so I think it is close enough. I try to make it as easy as possible. With four kids in the house I just can’t bring myself to wake one of them up. Whenever someone is sleep it is bliss. 🙂