mercados in real life

I've been thinking lately how mundane our lives have become.  We eat at home every night, look forward to going to sleep at 10pm, and love relaxing weekends without too many social outings.  We'd rather have people over for dinner, games, and conversation, than go out to a restaurant, movie, concert or on a spontaneous day-trip   Our time is more planned.   And nap time at home is almost sacred.   Wow, how different our lives looked a year, even six months ago.  A twenty-something, Katherine would look at my present life and think: "Oh my gosh (OMG didn't exist then), how boring!!!!"  However, 35-year-old Katherine is totally digging the ordinary, coupled with a little bit of the craziness of early morning feedings, wiping off spit-up, figuring out which baby carrying device works best for the days errands, and the fix dinner/eat dinner/feed baby/bathe baby/put baby to bed all in one hour hour.  

My friend Connie, who got the idea from another friend,  just did a post on what real life looked like for her today.  What she said is true, we don't often post about the tough stuff or the ugly stuff, maybe in effort to not seem like we're complaining.  We often put up a cute photo or a funny quote from a cute kid.  I LOVE these and they often brighten my day, but reading about the tough stuff she faced today alongside the sweet snuggles her girl gave her seemed so much more like real life, and a lot like my life.  

So here's my real-life day: 
Started with a 3:30am feeding and not being able to go back to sleep afterwards.  Started thinking about and getting angry over a present financial issue.  Finally went back to sleep at some point.  Woke and fed G at 7:30am.  Baby and I went back to sleep for about 45 minutes.  Got some sweet texts from Gene asking for forgiveness for harsh words the night before.  Shared my 4am struggles with Gene and he asked me to think of what I was grateful for in the midst of our situation.  Cried 'cause I know Gene's right, but I'm not ready to be grateful just yet.  Fed, played with G and got her dressed in a cute outfit that I never want her to grow out of.  Went and hung out on the bed with Leslie who's visiting.  Helped her edit her resume.  Sang Jesus loves me to G.  Then introduced her to The Beatles, "Hey Jude", thinking Nah, nah, nah, na-na-na-naaaah will be easy for her to sing once she starts to.  She LOVED it and smiled and smiled  as I waved her little arms in the air.  Put G down for a nap.  Warmed a leftover Lou's sandwich for "breakfast", decided I needed a shower, cleaned the toilet, read emails, ate cold sandwich.  Tummy time and more play time with G.  Folded clothes, actually put away clothes, made the bed.  Fed G and chatted with Leslie.  Found out from an email from an expert in her field that I gave her bad resume advice.   Read G a new book: "This is San Francisco".  Told her all about being born here and living here.  Put her down for a nap.  Helped Leslie figure out where to go exploring today.  Felt guilty that I couldn't just hop in the car and go with her.  Logged in two hours of work.  Fed G and gave her some playtime on her playmat.  Made blondies for small group.  Started straightening up for small group by hiding baby gear behind couch.  Put G down for a early evening catnap.  Got texts from Gene saying no one could make it to small group tonight.  Ate a blondie.  Made salad dressing for dinner.  Went on a walk with Gene and G.  Grabbed another blondie for the road so I wouldn't get hungry.  Talked about Gene's day at work and followed up on how I was doing with earlier struggles.  G starts crying during walk.  She's hungry.  Hurry home to feed her.  Gene plays with her while I make dinner and eat another blondie.  Eat dinner trying to keep salad bowl out of reach of G.  Dress G for bed.  Sing her favorite bedtime songs and watch her face light up with smiles.  Feed her and check FB/Instagram/Google Reader while she falls asleep in my arms and Gene falls asleep beside me at 7:30pm.  Swaddle and put G to bed.  Leave Gene snoring and write blog post while watching Grey's and eating another blondie!!! (that's four).  And now time to try and catch up on last night's lost sleep.  Can you actually do that?  

And here's a real life photo of Gabriella being put into the baby carrier for our walk today.  She can't stand the process, but loves it once she gets there.