It’s getting to the point when asked, “How old is your son?” I am starting to say, “Almost three.” Cullen officially turns three years old in October, which (crazily) is not that far off. He will technically be 2 years, 10 months old next week, so we’re doing this post a little early.
I can definitely tell we’re getting into the “threenager” stage. So.much.crying.over.little.things!! It is what it is, and I usually just roll with it because I know it is a stage. I still think this is better than my 18 months of sleep deprivation with multiple wake-ups every night because now at least I am getting proper sleep and feel rested, and I have the patience to deal with the roller coaster of emotions. Seriously, one minute he’s crying and the next he’s as happy as a clam.
I was hoping to get this posted yesterday at the end of the day, but Cullen didn’t go to bed until 9:30 p.m., and I knew it wouldn’t be smart to stay up another hour to work on this post since I need to be good about recovery these days. So here’s our day yesterday (Tuesday), and it was a pretty typical day in terms of a going or a run before Craig goes to work, being out and about in the morning, home in the afternoon, dinner with Craig, and then bedtime. My days seriously fly by, which I am not complaining about!
Thursday, August 15
6:15 a.m. My alarm goes off. Time to run. I get up, get dressed, and spend a few minutes foam rolling and stretching.
6:45 a.m. I leave for my run. Thankfully it was warm enough to wear a tank top because I am not ready for summer to be over! My plan called for 9 miles with 3 x 1 mile repeats at a 6:20 pace with 90 seconds of rest. I went into this workout feeling pretty optimistic since I was able to run 3 miles continuously at 6:30 pace last week. Thankfully I hit the paces with no problems.
3 mile warm-up
3 x 1 mile in 6:21, 6:21, 6:21 . . . .yes!
90 seconds of rest in between
2.5 mile cool-down
8:05 a.m. Arrive back home; Craig leaves for work.
I spend the next hour tidying up the house, folding a load of laundry, putting clean dishes away, etc. You would think this wouldn’t take an hour, but it does. I also take a picture (okay, several pictures) for an Instagram update and have a couple bites of Cullen’s Kind bar to hold me over.
9:00 a.m. Time for breakfast. I make “healthy pancakes” for Cullen, which consists of: 1 banana, 1 egg, and1/4 cup oats blended together and then cooked on the stove-top. For myself I have 2 scrambled eggs, a piece of toast with almond butter, and sauteed kale from our garden.
9:45 a.m. I clean up the kitchen, and then I take a shower and get ready to go to the gym to lift weights.
10:35 a.m. Leave for the gym with a firetruck and a bag full of toys in tow.
10:45 a.m. Arrive at the gym. I drop Cullen off at the child care, and I lift weights. I don’t follow a specific routine; I just make sure to target all of the major muscle groups and vary what activities I do each time I lift.
12:00 p.m. Pick up Cullen from the child care, and then we head to the mall to do some shopping. I made a protein shake to drink in the car after lifting, so I drink that. Going to the mall was an impulse stop. I really don’t need clothes for myself or Cullen, but seeing everyone get new back to school clothes for their kids made me feel like I needed to do the same. (insert: eye-rolling-emoji for me). I didn’t really find any amazing deals at Old Navy or Baby Gap, and I also realize that I don’t need anything, so we leave empty-handed.
1:00 p.m. I would rather head home because now I’m hungry, but I need to stop at the vet to pick up Sadie’s medicine. (She has hypothyroidism.) We get her meds and then go home.
1:30 p.m. We get back home, and I work on some lunch for Cullen and myself. I am too hungry to put a proper plate together, so I ended up eating as my food gets done. I have a turkey burger, spinach salad, tortillas chips + hummus, and a couple of Aussie bites. We sit outside and enjoy the nice sunny weather because the August rains are about to come.
2:10 p.m. My sister calls. She calls nearly every day on her drive home from work, so we chat about running (of course), the weather (of course), and other random things.
2:40 p.m. I need to ice my hamstring that’s been bothering me since the Her Tern Half. It isn’t horrible, but it isn’t 100%, so I ice and do computer work while Cullen watches Dinosaur Train on the iPad. This is usually when most kids Cullen’s age are napping, but he has given up his naps–really since he turned 2. At two years old, he took a nap about 50% of the time, and they quickly disappeared altogether shortly after that.
3:10 p.m. I set the timer for 3 more minutes so that Cullen knows when his ‘tube time’ is up. If I don’t do this, he has an even bigger melt-down. I finish cleaning up the kitchen. (I have a bad habit of leaving things out too long.), and then Cullen and I play in his play room for a bit.
4:00 p.m. Time to start thinking about dinner. Well, I already know what I am going to make: Haibut Tacos, so I get the ingredients out to make them.
4:20 p.m. I do some computer work while Cullen plays in his play room. He really is a very good independent player these days.
5:10 p.m. Craig arrives home and works on cooking the fish. I help get the table set, and get some food together for Cullen.
6:00 p.m. Dinner: Halibut Tacos caught when my sister and brother-in-law were up here visiting. This recipe was loosely based off Pinch of Yum’s Shrimp Tacos.
6:20 p.m. I think about cleaning the kitchen, but then decide I am going to start Cullen’s bedtime routine early in hopes of him going to bed early since he kind of started to melt-down around 4p.m. I start the bath water, and as usual, it takes a lot of coaxing to get him upstairs and out of his clothes.
6:30 p.m. Craig takes a bath with Cullen. I think Craig regrets volunteering to take a bath with Cullen because now every time Cullen takes a bath–and Craig is home, Cullen wants Craig to get in the bath tub with him. I use this time to do another load of laundry and start cleaning up the kitchen.
7:00 p.m. Bath time is over. I get Cullen out, dried off, pajamas on, diaper on (He only uses a diaper at nighttime.), teeth brushed, and books read. We also pick up his play room, and Cullen says he needs some coconut water. (This is starting to become a thing he does and requests every night.)
7:50 p.m. I finally walk out of his room and cross my fingers he will actually go to sleep. I go back downstairs and wash the dishes.
8:15 p.m. Cullen is fussing, so I go to see what’s wrong. (Usually he’s pretty content once I put him down.) He says he needs a certain book off his bookshelf, so I grab it for him. He likes to read books in his crib until he falls asleep. His bookshelf is right next to his crib, so he can reach some of the books through the rails of his crib, but not all of them. (We still have Cullen in his crib. He hasn’t learned to climb out of the crib, and it isn’t like we need the crib for another baby yet, so we’ve kept him in the crib. I’m not sure when we’ll transition him out of the crib–this winter??)
8:20 p.m. Back downstairs to finish washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen.
8:45 p.m. Cullen starts fussing again. This time he says he wants to sleep in our bed. We rarely let him sleep in our bed because frankly we don’t sleep well when he’s in our bed. Craig takes over with the bedtime routine because I’ve been working on it for the past hour. Cullen insists on checking the washer and dryer, so they go downstairs to push buttons on the machines. Then, of course, he needs a snack, so Craig gets him some yogurt. I use this time to get myself ready for bed.
9:15 p.m. Craig tries to put Cullen in his crib again, but he’s crying and not settling down. I go into his room, and he wants to lay down with me. I give in because it is getting really late, and I want to go to bed too, so I lay down with him on the guest bed, and within a few minutes he’s out. Craig transfers him back to his crib.
9:35 p.m. I do my pre-bedtime ritual of foam rolling and stretching while checking Instagram and Snapchat.
10:00 p.m. Lights out for me. Perfect! 8+ hours of sleep as my alarm is set for 6:45 a.m.
How you pack this in one day is amazing!!! I would be tired for a week. I am just proud that I get my runs in every day much less the thousand other things you juggle in one day. Interesting day… the food sounds good.
I think the ability to go-go-go is in my genes. My mom is the same way.