I was sick yesterday. Made Geoff come home from work. I don’t do that often. But hey, I’m 6 months pregnant and have wedding to shoot on Saturday. No playing games.

Claire is nearly 2. She talks. She talks and talks. Some more = more some. It’s pretty excellent. Our days currently look a little like: Geoff getting up in the morning when Claire does and they play and make us all coffee/baby chinos. She loves it. I love it. I think Geoff loves it. When he leaves she pesters me enough for ‘bubbles’ (cereal) or porridge to get me out of bed. We eat breakfast and I attempt to deal with the kitchen while she does. She likes to steal my toast. Then we play/read/clean etc. The independant play thing is slowly happening. She likes me involved and I try to give her good attention in the mornings because a) I should b) she sleeps better c) she’s generally a quality time girl so it’s super important. Around 10am’ish we have a drink of milk (she does) and read a story and she goes down for a nap. 1-2hrs. I work mostly when she naps, sometimes I relax. I always make a cup of tea, sometimes I remember to drink it.

She wakes up happy. We potter around and eat lunch. The afternoons are fair game – sometimes we stay home sometimes we go out. Naps are also fair game and rarely happen and if she has one she usually wakes up grumpy. By 3.30-4pm I’m done, done, done and I hang out for 4.30pm Playschool time. I love Playschool. Playschool = sanity. She gets to watch that (if anything), Giggle and Hoot and Peppa Pig and if we pushing everything some Bananas In Pyjamas – which usually holds her attention for about five minutes. Geoff comes home. We deal with dinner. We eat early. Claire has a bath, books and goes to bed 6.30-7pm. The bedtime routine works almost without fail. It’s magic. Collapse.

At night there is: TV, conversation (if we aren’t too tired), work and general electronic distraction eg. Pinterest. Sometimes we watch a series together.

This is how we spend our days.

I am attempting to build some more routine into my weeks around cleaning – because it’s falling a bit flat at the moment and I have a semi inspired list of all the things I’d like to prioritize – one day I’ll find the energy. Small steps. Day to day. Currently am grocery shopping and cooking meals to freeze on Mondays. That’s working well.

Things I do with Claire who is almost 2:

• Read lots of books
• Minimize TV time. We do not watch tv during the day. Ever. Not until the 4.30pm slot.
• One on one play. Drawing/Little People/Animals/Tea parties etc.
• Cleaning – I let her help where possible, involve her in this so I’m not cleaning while she sleeps.
• Grocery shopping

Things I should do more of

• Walks
• Trips to the park
• Trips to the library
• Being outside generally
• Get a babysitter more

Geoff says I say ‘should’ too much. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I need to.