A Day in the Life of The Martin Family

I have seen this on another blog, and thought it would be interesting to do, so on Wednesday I logged more or less everything we did:

Wednesday 21st April 2010

I will start the day from when we first woke up, which was when James woke Mike and me up at 2.30am! He wanted to go downstairs to play "army men", but I managed to get him back to sleep again with a dose of breast milk and singing "frere jacques" for about 40 mintutes (and also after Mike had taken him to the toilet 3 times - just for him to sit on the toilet having a chat).

Woke up at a more reasonable time of 7.15am, first things first, James medication for his Epilepsy. Then Mike takes James downstairs to play and watch Peppa Pig while I shower and get dressed. *Note:- Mike being home all day makes a lot of difference and helps us a great deal, so this isnt your average day, but in saying that he used to work shifts, so more than often his was home in the morning to help*

Becky has woken up by the time I am dressed, she is feeling a bit better as she hasnt been well. Danny sleeps on.

8am - We are now all downstairs, Mike pops to the shops, puts a ticket on the car(do not have car parking space where we live). We then all have breakfast, grilled bacon egg and mushrooms, cooked by Mike.

After cleaning up the debris from breakfast (mainly created by James)Becky and Danny put their clothes away, while I do the laundry and Mike watches James.

We then all go out into the garden - now this isnt something we always do, but as we can never be sure when the next lot of rain is coming our way, we have been making the most of the sunshine and spending most of our days in the garden.

I put washing out on the line, then sort out their home ed for the morning. Becky continues with her Australian project, Danny with his project on the War. It is now 10.10am

11.30am - James has been a bit difficult, typical 2 year old, also he isnt feeling too well which doesnt help. I havnt been able to keep him interested in anything for more than two minutes, which is very frustrating. We have been gluing, cutting, drawing, playing in the sand pit, but then most of the stuff we have made he then destroys!

At last we have managed to get him interested in something - The children belong to the Wildlife Trust and their magazine has come through this morning, with different activities, one of which was to make a paper plane ladybird, so I do this with James, then Becky and Danny started to make paper boats, so we filled the paddling pool up for them to see if they would float. Mike joined in and it got a bit competetive!

12pm - More washing on the line - boat making has now been replaced with playing hide and seek, which is good because James is occupied with this.

Parcel Delivery - Tye Dye kit for Becky. James gets annoyed as it is not for him, I feel he is getting extremely tired so take him up for his nap, Mike makes lunch, puts some back for James (Chicken salad). While he is napping (3 hours today as he is unwell) I catch up on my reading and internet time, checking emails but mainly on facebook, seeing what everyone else is up to, farming and running my cafe!

Downstairs Mike is studying, Becky and Danny are reading books related to their projects, then playing out in the garden.

3.30pm - All outside again, get more washing in, Mike goes in to prepare tea (spag bol), then catches up with his job hunting (internet, paper, phone). I plant some more potatoes, spring onions and courgettes.
Have our tea, then after the clean up, James has his meds, Becky and Danny go upstairs and I sit and play with James.

After his bath, I take him to bed (I dont like to leave him on his own so I stay with him) so more reading and internet time for me, and for Becky who sits up with me. Mike and Danny watch the TV downstairs, bringing us cups of tea and hot chocolate when needed. They come up to bed about 10.30.

And that is our day.

To add - I didnt mention how many times I lost my temper with the children, felt I couldnt cope, was really fed up with doing load after load of washing, or got annoyed with Mike, or broke down in tears after reading an update on Epilepsy and got really scared and panicky, and Mike had to sit with me for ages until I calmed down. Had to intervene with ANOTHER sibling argument, tell James to get off of the plants, and eat too much chocolate!
I also havnt mentioned how much I really love being at home with my chidren, AND my husband (he has been out of work for 6 weeks and is not getting on my nerves TOO MUCH yet)and how much I LOVE to eat chocolate (think that shows!) and how I wouldnt swap my lot for the World.

Lou x