Each day starts about the same... slowly.  I'm not a morning person, and I never wake up "chipper" and ready to take on the world.  My boys will crawl into bed with me and often we can be found in a grumpy pile - my oldest lays his head on my bare stomach (his happy place) and my youngest, almost 3, will nurse for a little bit.

Breakfast was served and my son, Everett, invited his beloved dinosaurs (rawr-rawr's) to the table.

I try to get the dishes done and have a nice empty sink, and start a load of laundry before ever logging on to my laptop and doing my morning work. I work from home managing my website, Dirty Diaper Laundry, my searchable cloth diaper database, Cloth Diaper Finder, and the various social media outlets those entail. I also do freelance video editing. It isn't exactly what I thought I'd be doing with a history degree but it is the job I've created that lets me also stay at home with my young children. A vanilla latte is a must to get going. (a video, for your pleasure.)

While I do my early morning work the boys normally find a way to entertain themselves. This morning Everett worked on his favorite "rawr-rawr" puzzle and Fletcher did some building with Duplos.

I entered a few cloth diapers into the database and approved reviews that morning.  Then I started animating an intro to a video (you can see it here).

Apparently, while I was working, my youngest son had an accident on the floor. In the words of Ted, "is that a Sh!t on my floor?!" Yes, yes it is. And this was his "I'm sorry" face. How could I be upset with that face?

I make sure we play outside, either going swimming or playing on our street, every day before lunch. Even though it was a very hot day in sunny Florida we decided to skip the pool and play on our street in the Power Wheels

and swing in the ol' tire swing! (video) It was time for lunch next. We played too long and we were all starving by then so it was a very fast lunch of ham, crackers, cheese, grapes, carrots, and a juice box.

Re-energized and cooled down, the boys spent some time playing. Everett discovered a cardboard box and drove it around like a car, then hid inside like a dinosaur. Sensing a theme here?

My plan is always to tire the boys out in the morning (and have fun) so that they will take a decent nap. I get almost all of my work done during their naps and when they sleep at night so this time is crucial. I tucked them in and decided it was time to (finally) get a shower. I needed to do some filming for a video so I had to look less like a mom in pajamas and more presentable. It's amazing how good a shower can make you feel.

I began filming my video on wool dryer balls in my laundry room for an event coming up next week. It is always a rush to get this type of work done in my "time slot."

Funny thing though... my day of work was interrupted when two little boys came to see what I was doing. They decided to take a nap strike. On days when naps aren't an option I request that they play quietly in their room, "read" books, do puzzles, and so on. It gives me that break I crave or time to work. Translation? Destroy the bedrooms. Sigh.

After my filming was finished I was hot and exhausted. I decided it was time to turn on the TV and relax with the boys on the couch. They needed a break as well and both boys crave cuddle time with me. I'm not one to pass on those cuddles because I know that soon enough, they won't want to cuddle with me anymore.

We stayed like that for some time... and I know I nodded off for a little bit and so did Everett. Fletcher had other plans... and I woke to find that he had transported cups of water from the bathroom to create a "pool" for his mini figs.

Is it already 6:30? The time of day when Daddy gets home from work is full of noise and excitement. My boys love hiding from him every day when they hear the sounds of his loud V8 Mustang engine pull in. Then they attack him and a fun wrestling session happens. It's the best.

Being that I spent the latter part of the day being very tired, very lazy, and very not prepared, it was a "take-out" kind of night. Chinese food was ordered and we dined like kings.

That night I asked my husband to get the boys ready for bed. Instead, he let them sleep in their clothes from that day and only brushed their teeth. He read them their stories and all the while I did more work preparing a newsletter to be sent out the following day to my subscribers, and getting a blog post ready to publish that morning. I still went in to tuck them in and my youngest nursed before bed as well. It is our special cuddle time where he still feels like my "baby," and he still is. That night Fletcher decided to sleep in a pool float that came in the mail that day. Some arguments aren't worth having, so I let it go, and he went to bed without any protesting.

Everett was a little less easy going that evening and I laid next to him until he fell asleep, after singing him a few requested lullabies and cuddling him. Finally, he was at rest and I was able to keep working until after midnight. Everett woke up at around 3 am and I crawled into bed with him, and we slept together until morning.

The following day I had the pleasure of catching up on the crazy messy house left over from the day before. The cycle of life...