Tuesday, June 12, 2012

A Day in the Life of a Language Student/Mom


 Two years. That's how long I have been a language student.
Two years is also how long I've been wanting to do a "day in the life of," post.

I try to do them periodically, so I can look back and remember fondly (most of the time,) what each phase of life looks like.

I've written about:
A Day in the Life of an Elementary School Teacher/Newlywed
A Day in the Life of a Really Bored Blogger
A Day in the Life of a Sickie

Well, I've never said I'm not a procrastinator. Sunday was our LAST DAY of our normal language school routine! And I had yet to do a "day in the life of."

I spontaneously decided to go ahead and try for it anyways, despite my lack of planning. So, at 6:37 in the morning, 3 minutes before my alarm went off, Grace woke up for the day. I grabbed my camera and snapped the first picture of the day:

 Then, I went to Grace's room to get her up:


 She wasn't too pleased with my camera's flash going off in her pitch black room, but my sweet baby girl had a smile on her face nonetheless.

I carried her out to the family room, paci still in her mouth, and deposited her on the carpet. Ian pulled out her sippie cup of milk and a handful of cheerios. She loves her morning routine and will sit here, popping cheerio after cheerio in until she is full. She usually gets a second and sometimes a third handful and will go through 5-6 ounces of whole milk.

Ian sits at the table, reading the news and eating his breakfast while I get showered. Grace squeals with delight as she plays and is happily playing with her fridge toy in the kitchen while Ian makes our lunch and gathers her school bag when I finish:

 I get dressed and pull my hair back into a bun and read emails with my breakfast while Grace eats some more and Ian showers:
 7:35 rolls around and we really should be walking out the door. We scramble to get ourselves ready and gather all 4 bags (each of our school bags, Grace's bag for day care, and our lunch bag)

 7:50: We load up in the car and go.
 Morning traffic is light and we only have to drive through three empty roundabouts until we arrive at Grace's nursery.
 7:58 I take Grace out of her carseat and pause for a quick picture:
 before taking her inside to her daycare:
 8:07- we arrive at school 2 minutes late. Not too bad for the last week of school, if you ask me!
 First period is classical Arabic, followed by Media Arabic (9:10), and another Classical Arabic (10:15). I do my best not to doodle and to try and be engaged. Ian brought me a cup of coffee from the director's office. Usually we just make instant coffee but this morning called for the real deal:

 This was our classroom for our first and last semester of language school. I sit directly in front of the air flow as our room can get very warm because of all of the windows.
 Starting about third period, my back begins hurting so I sit on the floor for the remainder of class:

 11:05 the lunch bell rings and we pull out our PB & J's and chips.
 Our best friends were absent this day and most of our other classmates were gone, so we entertained ourselves with a game of Dots (boxes? Squares? many names for the same game) Ian won the first one and I one the second.
 Before the end of lunch we were able to say a quick goodbye to some friends of ours who are going back to the States:
 11:35 our fourth period begins- Our last class with my favorite teacher!

 12:30 and our final bell of our final normal day rings. We pack up, wash our coffee mugs in the school kitchen, and load up in the car. It was 111 degrees outside- a nice day compared to the 120 degree day we had the day before!
 I stay in the car while Ian runs in to get Grace from daycare. I laugh at the taxi parked in front of a house, he is obviously off duty and is taking his afternoon "siesta," a little bit early:

 

 Ian and Grace come out and we load up in the car. Baby girl is all smiles but obviously tired:


 We come inside and the cool air wakes Grace up. She plays for awhile, eats a cheese stick, and drinks some milk:
 1:30 rolls around and it is officially nap time. Grace goes down without a problem and I plop down into my unmade bed for a little nap:

 I wake up at 3:00 and get up to find Ian hard at work. He was organizing some computer files that had gotten messed up and was backing up all of our files (yay for saving our pictures in a second location!)
 I start a load of laundry and wash some dishes and then tackle my messy desk and chair covered with clothes that need to be hung up:
 Grace wakes up at 4 and we play and snuggle for an hour or two before I start on dinner:

 Grace finally discovered a love for her softies/lovies from her grandmas. She carried them around and snuggled them- the first time she's shown any interest in soft toys!

 6:00-We all sit down for dinner together. We've tried to make an effort to all sit down together, even though our "dining room" is a little cramped. Grace can touch the table with her feet and she ends up kicking/pushing against it the entire time, shaking the table. We can't move her chair back any more because it is against the wall, and the table is against the couch.

Also, don't let the computer fool you, this is a non laptop time, it was loading something though so it couldn't be closed.

On the menu, lemon butter chicken, baked potato, and peas:
 6:20 After dinner, I bathe Grace while Ian vacuums the house. We can't wait for the day when we have an upright vacuum cleaner again! Dragging this thing around and leaning over is really hard on your back!
6:55- Grace is bathed and dressed and ready for bed! We read her book, turn on her music, and turn off her light. We lay her down in her crib, put a paci in her mouth, and one in each hand (yes, she has 3!) We walk out and don't hear from her until 12 hours later!

 7:00- we do emails, read blogs, spend some time studying, clean up the kitchen, and finally get to cross another day off of our calendar.

9:30- I get changed for bed, snuggle in, and read a chapter of Love & Respect, do my quiet time, peruse the baby names book, and read The Three Musketeers until I am drowsy enough to fall asleep- a little before 11.

A day in the life of a language student! It was only 3 days ago, but already we're seeing our schedule change! Grace doesn't have to go to daycare for that long every day, I have time to make breakfast for my family, and Ian is able to tackle some projects that he has wanted to do for a long time!


3 comments:

Lauren said...

Grace is so stinkin' cute! Glad you guys are going to be able to have more time with her now that language school has finished!

The Barker's said...

Such a fun little blog! I should do that sometime =). Iris sleeps with at least 3 pacis too! They get lost!!! We also have the same carseat when iris outgrows her converter one. How do you like it?

Lyndsey said...

I am jealous of all the family time y'all get everyday! But not jealous of the language classes haha. That is so not up my alley and I'm glad you're finished!