Ever since joining snapchat, I feel like I share a lot of our day to day lives, but since I love looking back at our day in the life posts to see how quickly time flies by, I wanted to share another one- this time a Friday!
My day started at 5:30 am. I got up and went straight to the computer. I wrote my post, answered some emails, then switched to reading the news. More heartbreak. As proud as I am to be an American, I can’t for the life of me understand why we are so divided right now. Black versus white, gay versus straight, rich versus poor– it’s so terribly sad. So much hate. So much focusing on differences instead of commonalities. So much a lack of humanity. I don’t have the solution, but I hope that doing all I can to teach my girls to lead with love, be kind, and use their strengths to help others is a step in the right direction. Children are incredible in their acceptance and ability to love. I hope to do my best to foster that compassion and pray that the next generation is able to take steps in the right direction to make us once again a strong, benevolent, hard working nation.
::steps off soapbox and apologizes for the tangent::
At 7:10 I heard Kaitlyn saying Maaama. Maaaam. Maaama. Calling for me is a relatively new development and makes me laugh.
I walked in to her telling me that her baby doll bit her arm and she put her in time out. (Baybee bye ahm. time ouu.) I scoop her up as I hear Hailey open her door. We all meet up to head to the kitchen.
The girls ask for yogurt and fruit for breakfast, but as soon as I take my first bite of egg and avocado toast, Hailey begs for one too.
We are too slow to make it to the 8:00 bootcamp, so I load the girls into the stroller and we walk the 3/4 mile over to our friend’s house. Halfway there the sunny sky starts pouring out of nowhere and we get drenched. Love summer rain storms!
We arrive and the girls run off to play while Alison and I sit and chat. She’s been so busy with the exciting opening of her juice bar that I feel like we haven’t had time to hang out in months. We spend all morning catching up and it’s wonderful.
We’re back at home by lunch. I scramble to get peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the girls’ plates before shutting down the kitchen and sending them to their rooms for quiet time.
I chatted with my friend Carrie over the 4th about the concept of shutting down the kitchen in the afternoon and I’m totally on board with the idea. Something about cleaning everything up and wiping everything down after lunch, not to be touched again until dinner, makes the whole house feel more calm and pulled together.
Oh did you notice I didn’t notice nursing? At 2 years and almost 2 months Kaitlyn is weaned!
I hop into bed and start answering emails. I get about 30 minutes in before I fall asleep myself. A 20 minute power nap treats me right. I hear Hailey get up at 2:00 (she’s allowed to come out when she sees the 2 on the clock). I check on Kaitlyn and realize she never fell asleep (naps are hit or miss lately), so we’re all up by 2:30.
Hailey is really into these reusable sticker pads lately.
I thought about running out with the girls to get some stuff done, but opted to settle in for a quiet afternoon instead.
Nothing exciting to show you- the girls did stickers, made race tracks for their cars, and played with their bike/scooter while I did laundry.
Since David and I had a date night planned, I took a shower and made a cup of coffee to have with my Adora. #thisis32
Our sitter came and by 6:00, David and I were wandering the streets of Davidson.
My dress is a hand-me-down from my friend Kristin, but I want this maxi dress in every color- they even have it in petite!
Our first stop was at The Upper Crust Bar and Social Club.
The wine hit the spot, though the Mexican ceviche kind of freaked me out. It had full calamari in there, with tentacles and all, and well, it was just a bit too much for me.
We moved on to my love, Kindred, where we scored an outside table. It was a little warmer than I anticipated, but a little sweat never hurt anyone.
The tartare with fried stinging nettles (who knew?!) was our favorite dish of the night.
Though the chanterelle mushroom ravioli with black truffle shavings was pretty wonderful as well.
As we were digging into our second plate, a storm sneaked up on us out of nowhere. We were ushered inside and downstairs to their chef’s table in the kitchen area.
I was on cloud nine! I love seeing the action. We stayed and chatted with our table mates over another cocktail for longer than we anticipated. We were home just before 11 and crashed hard.
We haven’t had a date night in forever, so we really went all out Friday night. We balanced it out with a quiet weekend at home cleaning out closets, playing in the yard, and just relaxing in general.
Whew, these day in the life posts are long… I’ll start working on brevity,
Tell me about your weekend!
John J. says
Loved this post – values message, dress on you, kids pics, shared dinner with David = wholesome and wonderful! Living the “good life”!
Carrie says
Way to shut down the kitchen! Thrilled to have contributed a nugget of knowledge!!
Brittany Dixon says
Life changing, my friend! It feels SO good to cut the light off and breathe a heavy exhale. Thanks for your nugget of wisdom 🙂
Kate says
Your date-night food looks delicious – although my favorite of the entire post would probably be your egg-avocado-toast for breakfast. 🙂
My son started calling for me when he wakes up in the morning a couple of months ago and it’s adorable. That Maaaamaaaa Maaaaamaaa makes my day every single day.
Have a great week!
Brittany Dixon says
Don’t you want to record it?! Kaitlyn borders between calling me mom and calling me mama. I want to make sure I catch the “mamas” on video so I can replay them over and over when she’s 14 and doesn’t think I’m cool anymore 😉
Lauren @ Oh Hey! I Like That! says
Sounds like your days are jam-packed but you fill them so meaningfully!
Elizabeth says
That’s the cutest dress! We’re so in need of a date night! I say this all the time but the title of the post exactly spells out why we lead parallel lives. I can’t believe how quickly the time is passing!
Brittany Dixon says
I love watching your snaps because yes, our lives our so similar it’s hilarious!
Therese says
I love that my son and Kaitlyn are like 2 weeks apart. Since he’s my first, I have learned a lot about what’s normal from your posts like these. Thanks! We are also weaning… Down to one pre-nap session per day. Any advice on pulling the plug? Also, when she doesn’t nap, how long do you let her hang out in her crib?
Brittany Dixon says
It took us forever to wean, but I was fine with the slow process. We were down to the once-before-nap schedule too and I started just making it shorter and shorter. I knew I had barely any milk, so it was just comfort. Once I had it down to about a 5 minute total time, I tried to start offering alternatives. Some days she would go for a book and song and others she would cry, wanting to nurse. Slowly she was more fine with the books and didn’t mention nursing. One day last week I told her (not sure if she got it, but it was good for me) that this was the last time. She said ok and nursed and hadn’t asked for it again. Today she was superrrr tired and cried and asked for mama milk, but I rocked her and put her down (crying) and she was asleep within a minute. Tugs on my heart strings, but I feel amazing that we lasted this long and feel like this is a good time for us to be done.
That was probably a wayyyyy longer answer than you were looking for 😉 Good luck with your weaning journey!
Oh! And if Kaitlyn doesn’t nap, I’ll let her hang out for 1.5-2 hours.
Julie says
Ha ha sounds like getting rained on on Fri. was the common theme! Sounds like a great day nonetheless. 😉 Loved the dress!
Caroline says
Hi! Do you set up anything in particular for Hailey to use during her quiet time? Is it in her room? How did you know when to drop the nap and transition to the hour of quiet time? Thanks!
Brittany Dixon says
She generally has 1 hour of quiet time (1-2) unless she is cranky and I tell her she can come out when she sees a 3. She napped for a long while, until about 4 when it started getting hit or miss. We used to have a minimum of 2 hours of quiet time, but as she is easier to occupy and be with, I’ve shortened it to 1 hour. She is allowed to rest in her room, read books, write/color, or play with her dolls. I sometimes allow her to go in the playroom, as long as she picks a quiet activity. I plan on having quiet hour in my house for years to come, even after both girls are done with naps. Maybe it will morph into reading hour eventually, but for now, some down time after lunch makes for a better afternoon for all of us!
Christina says
i love her bed head!! and you look so great in that maxi!
Christine says
Great post! I love the idea of shutting down the kitchen! I try to do that at night so in the morning before I’m off to work I see a clean kitchen, makes me feel better when I come home and the craziness begins!
I’m also envious of your date night! I actually just found a sitter (and finally felt comfortable getting one) for our 20 month old so we are hoping to get some date nights (as well as nights out with other adults!) in this summer and I cannot wait!
We actually used the babysitter for the first time this past Saturday while I got my hair done (buh bye roots!) and my husband ran errands. All went well so I’m optimistic! Other than that we had a pretty quiet weekend!
Chantal says
What double stroller do you have? I know I’ve read about it before on this blog but I have no clue where to look!
Brittany Dixon says
We have the Bumbleride Indie Twin- overall we really like it! http://www.ahealthysliceoflife.com/bumbleride-indie-twin-review/