day: the last

Day 7 of 7.

I debated whether or not to write this post tonight because I'm in quite a negative mood from a work issue that came up. But maybe it will be therapeutic to do something I can (almost) completely control, as long as my anger doesn't taint the writing too much.

7am. Alarm goes off early today b/c I have a to-do list that needs to start before Genghis does. Get up miraculously 10 minutes later and start in on scripture study. Afterwards, check in on some emails, shower, get ready for the day.

8am-1pm. Genghis gets up. We play with legos in his room for a while, then venture out the main room for breakfast. Oatmeal, toast, and bananas. During breakfast I write out the ingredients I need for some freezer meals I'll be making in bulk with a few friends later in the week. Part of my baby prep plan.

Genghis and I play around the house after lunch. I reorganize my office space, and he helpfully empties some drawers for me. I also inventory our pantry food supply in preparation for a trip to Aldi's later in the day, where I shop for bulk pantry goods.

We take a long route to the car in the late morning to enjoy beautiful outdoor weather. Genghis expresses interest in running into the half-frozen pond by our house and I exert my parental authority to prevent him. We drive to the home of a woman from our church for visiting teaching (see an explanation here). Genghis's quietest moments during the visit are spent spinning around in an office chair in her living room.

Back at home, we have lunch, Genghis stacks some balls up on the couch, gets extremely frustrated when they don't look just so, and I round him and his grief up for nap time.

1-3pm. Good nap today. I plan out an extensive shopping list for the afternoon's trip to the store. I also put some time into work and general email catching up. Does anyone else notice that "checking email" is the biggest time sink in the world?

3-6:45pm. Soon after Genghis wakes up, we head out to the grocery store. Genghis is close to angelic as I pile more and more goods into the cart, almost supplanting him with a sack of potatoes towards the end. It may have helped that I was feeding him white fudge gingerbread cookies during the trip. I am not above food bribes in the grocery store.

I can't get everything on my list because it won't all fit in the cart. This is probably okay, since I just spent an entire month's food budget in one trip. But our deep cupboards will be stocked for the next two months. Abe told me later that he heard a report about the cost of living increasing, mostly in food bills. That made me feel (slightly) better.

When we get home, Genghis watches from his car seat while I haul load after load from the trunk of the car to our front porch. He starts to get antsy, perhaps when he sees me carrying away the bananas. Once I'm done and get him unloaded to the porch, he hunts through the bags until he finds the bananas and brings them to his high chair. I acquiesce, hoping to buy enough time to make dinner. 90 seconds later, Genghis has finished the banana and is requesting more. I set him down and request his help in unloading the rest of the groceries. He complies, though him dumping bags on the floor turns out to be not quite as helpful as I originally imagined.

Abe comes home a bit early, and entertains Genghis with vacuuming, while I finish stocking the pantries and getting dinner ready. I collapse at the table while they finish up and join me for dinner. I have never felt more grateful for bath time with Daddy after dinner. I sit on the couch and read, not moving a muscle.

We do a quick family home evening, where I share a lesson about the importance of families as taught in The Family: A Proclamation to the World. We play tag for an activity and suddenly it's bedtime for Genghis.

6:45-11:15pm. Abe and I spend some time trying to think of names for our baby girl. Until now, we've just waited for the name to come to us; now we're doing due diligence. After, I continue to spend a good while reading on the couch, while Abe rows, talks to his brother, and cleans up dinner. I also get involved in the frustrating work issue that I mentioned at the beginning of the post, and spend the rest of the evening trying to get over it. I think I'm almost there. I'm at least to the point where I want to stop letting it bother me because I want to move on with happier, more productive things in life. Abe and I play a round of Agricola, and now head to bed.