Monday: 15.04.2024 The One Where the Living Room Lamp is Murdered

Today was a good day.

I was up later than I should have been (I had set my alarm for 7 am but hit snooze until 7.45) and had to rush getting dressed, washing my face and drinking some coffee before teaching a private lesson at 8 am. After the lesson, I worked on some things until about noon, while Rui spent time with the girls. I assigned some homework, uploaded some worksheets to Google classroom, scheduled a driving lesson and a dentist appointment, updated my planner and just took care of some online errands.

I joined my husband and the kids in the living room, had Nutella toast for lunch (please someone call the police, this meal should be illegal) and then started my endless cycle of daily laundry and tidying up. I made our bed, vacuumed both bedrooms, put on a load of Olívia’s clothes, then a load of Dalila’s bedding, then a load of delicate laundry. I folded a load of Dalila’s laundry I had washed yesterday put it away, as well as a load of darks.

We all moved to the kitchen for lunch and Rui and I talked while I wrote down a list of things we need to get done before his paternity leave ends. He cooked and managed Dalila’s lunch and tidied the kitchen while I moved to the living room to put Olívia down for her nap. Lunchtime was a little dramatic and tantrum filled because Dalila was bitten by a mosquito (why is there no word for “melga” in English) last night and was scratching her mosquito bites nonstop. We kept trying to get her to stop because she had actually drawn blood on her face but she just wouldn’t stop scratching. I had the brilliant (as usual) idea of trying to put a bandaid on it and she absolutely lost it. Honestly, you haven’t known stress if you’ve never parented a toddler. Eventually, she stopped scratching her face because it was starting to hurt and she figured it would probably be best to leave it alone.

After lunch and cleaning up, Rui took her to our bedroom and tried to get her down for her afternoon nap but she definitely wasn’t having it today. Meanwhile I took a shower while Olívia happily watched from her swing, which I placed near the shower. It’s funny how different my girls are. Dalila used to scream like a banshee if I so much as looked in a different direction but Olívia is content as long as she can see me.

After an unsuccessful nap attempt, Rui went for a run (after we sat for half an hour debating where we’d go for dinner) while I stayed with the babies. Olívia napped in Dalila’s crib while I tidied up the living room and cleaned behind the couch. At some point I looked away for two seconds and Dalila managed to pull a glass lamp from a side table and it broke. It wasn’t a big deal because nobody got hurt and we moved to their bedroom so I could prevent her from getting into the glass shards on the floor. We played while Olívia napped and daddy cleaned up the broken lamp when he came home from his run. He then showered and gave Dalila a bath while I fed and changed Olívia. We all got dressed and went to dinner at this Japanese/Chinese buffet. Olívia slept the entire time and Dalila ate her weight in noodles, crab legs and strawberries.

After dinner, we stopped by the pharmacy to get something for Dalila’s bug bites, fully knowing she wasn’t going to let us actually apply anything to her face. I’m now writing this after getting Olívia down for the night while my husband is putting Dalila to bed (we alternate putting them to bed).

I’m very tired but still have a few things to do before bed and I’d like to read a little and maybe spend some time with my husband. Hopefully, I won’t be too sleepy to do my skincare routine.

Love,

Cheila