Channa Norman lives in Valley Ranch with her husband of nine years, J.R., a high school football and wrestling coach and teacher, and 1-year-old daughter, Hamilton. She works from home for a network marketing company and is the creator of the blog Life as a Coach’s Wife.
7:35AM It’s game day. J.R.’s alarm keeps going off. He forgot to turn off snooze, so I go over to his side, turn it off and lay back down until Hamilton wakes up.
7:45AM J.R. tells me goodbye and leaves for work.
7:50AM Hamilton is awake. I slowly make my way to her room. She loves to play in her crib, so I pretend like I’m going to get in and she squeals. After several minutes of doing this, I get her out of her crib and we play in her room for about 20 minutes. I read to her while she destroys her toys.
8:15AM I change her diaper and we take Ava, the dog, out to go potty. We come in and I put Hamilton in her highchair and give her a cereal bar while I make her an egg and feed Ava. I pour myself a cup of coffee. Hamilton throws down her cup for the hundredth time, and I notice this time it’s cracked, so I pour out what water is left in it and throw it away. I clean up the mess she created and get her a new cup. While she’s eating, I put away the clean dishes and put back together her bottle machine.
8:45AM She’s done with breakfast, so I clean her up and take her to the living room to play. I turn on Disney Jr. and go back to the dining room and kitchen to clean up her breakfast mess.
9AM I decide I’ll make myself a bowl of cereal; I'm too tired to make a real breakfast.
10AM We start getting ready for morning nap. I spill her leftover bottle from the night before, so I throw a towel over it, make her a new one and we go into her room. I straighten up her crib, turn on music, close the blinds and we sit down in the rocker to eat. She eats and then we rock for a long time. I swear I’ll still be rocking her to sleep when she’s 17.
10:40AM She’s finally out. I put her in her crib and go clean up the bottle I spilled on the stove. I’m exhausted and have a little bit of a headache, so I lay down. I send my husband an SOS text, hoping to bribe him to come home for an hour before the game.
11:50AM She’s up. I don't want to get out of bed, but I’m up and heading to her room to get her and change her diaper. We’re headed to the kitchen to make lunch.
12PM I put her in her highchair and give her half a banana. This will keep her occupied while I make her lunch: two slices of lunch meat, half a cheese stick and some veggie straws. I grab a handful of veggie straws for myself (pretending that they’re French fries) and sit down next to Hamilton at the table to do what I should have done during nap time: work. I am currently collaborating with a popular online card company for an upcoming post.
12:30PM Hamilton is done with lunch, so we go into the living room to play while I write my Football Friday blog post.
1PM We get dressed and run to Sprouts. I end up picking up stuff for dinner while there: a rotisserie turkey and a chicken corn dog for Hamilton. I stop at Sonic on my way home to get some much-needed caffeine — my Friday treat.
2PM We get home. I turn on Doc McStuffins for Hamilton and try to fix myself lunch. Hamilton would rather be in the kitchen with me, so I let her play in the fridge while I make my salad.
2:15PM I get a text from J.R. saying he’s on his way home. Yay, I guess my bribe worked! (I told him Hamilton had been calling for him all day, which she had.) We sit down, and I try to eat lunch and talk to a customer about an order, neither of which are easy with Hamilton thinking all phone calls and food are for her.
2:50PM J.R. walks in the door. Everyone’s happy he’s home. He plays with Hamilton for a few minutes before her afternoon nap.
3PM We start trying to put Hamilton down. I need her to take a long nap today, since we’re going to the football game tonight.
3:30PM J.R. lays down for a quick nap before he has to head to the stadium.
4:25PM J.R.’s alarm goes off, so we’re up. He gets dressed for the game and heads to the stadium. I start to get ready for the game and catch up on a little DVR.
5:30PM Hamilton wakes up from her nap.
6PM I make Hamilton a bottle, trying to prolong dinner so that she can make it through the game. We watch the end of Meet the Robinsons. Once she’s done, I let her play for about 30 minutes.
6:30PM We take Ava out to go potty, then I start everyone’s dinner. I give Hamilton an applesauce pouch, which she uses to “clean” the dining room table. I feed Ava and warm up and cut Hamilton’s dinner: pears, broccoli and a chicken corn dog. Once Hamilton has all her food, I make my dinner. I sit down next to Hamilton at the table and try, with failure, to get her to stop throwing her dinner on the floor for the dog. I scarf down my food because Hamilton is done and wants out of her highchair. I’m able to keep her happy for a few minutes by tickling her. Oops, too much fun. Hamilton gets a little sick from a full belly and laughing. Now I’m really done.
7:30PM I pick up the living room and we get dressed for the game. The game is starting now, but I learned last week Hamilton cannot handle being there the whole time, so we go late.
7:55PM We’re finally in the car. I text my friend, whose husband coaches for the team we’re playing against, to meet us after the game, and then we’re off.
8:20PM We finally make it. The game is packed, so it takes me awhile to find a parking space.
10:15PM We win 21-12.
10:40PM We’re finally leaving the stadium and heading home. I’m pleased that, for only my second game by myself with Hamilton, we survived with only a busted lip.
11:10PM We arrive home and quickly let Ava go potty, then we start getting ready for bed. At super speed, I try to make Hamilton’s bottle, give her some Tylenol for her lip, get her pajamas on and get her fed and in bed. She eats her entire bottle and falls asleep pretty quickly.
11:40PM I hop in bed with some chips and salsa. I catch up on a show on DVR and social media while waiting for J.R. to call and let me know he’s on his way home.
12:15AM He’s finally on his way, so I hop in the shower.
12:40AM J.R. is home.
12:45AM I start getting the house picked up so that I can go to bed. But then I turn on a show and I’m highly unmotivated to move. J.R. takes his shower and we talk about the game and play catch-up on life.
1:26AM I finally decide to get out of the bed and dry my hair, so that I can go to sleep … scratch that.
1:33AM I finally decide to get out of bed, so that I can finish getting ready for bed.
1:42AM I’m finally getting into bed! Goodnight.
Published May 2015
