Thursday started off with more BodyStep preparation, Belle’s morning walk, and lots and lots of coffee.

Most unfortunately, the April weather was up to its usual tricks, leaving us with a gray and drizzly day. Since that meant the park was a no-go, I tried to tire Kate out with a bunch of errands.

We hit up Harris Teeter in the Tysons area because it offers covered underground parking. I like this Harris Teeter because the deli guy is super surly but always gets my order correct. Sadly, when I approached the deli counter, these three guys in suits were ordering hundreds of various deli meats and cheeses in various, nonsensical quanties in a haphazhard way.

I don’t know if it was picnic lunch at the office day or what, but whoever sent these bozos better have tripled checked their order because they had no idea what they were doing. Finally, I interjected and said I just needed two things, so could I please jump in. To their credit, they let me ahead of them. In the meantime, Kate consumed half of the cheese display and a good portion of the sliced bread samples.

After some other errands, we returned home for lunch and Kate’s nap. Again, I prayed to every god I could think of for Kate to take a good nap. And again she woke up within the hour.

And she woke up in one of the grumpiest moods of all time.

Since I couldn’t take another afternoon of crying and barking, we headed out to run errands.

First, the post office to pick up Vienna Moms mail.

And then onto Bank of American to deposit Vienna Moms money.

And then to Great Harvest Bread for a chocolate loaf, because, well, why not?

And then home to take Belle for a walk.

Oh, well, look at that, it’s time for dinner and then bed! How time flies!

Let is be known that Kate also learned a new phrase today. As I was getting her ready for bed, she said to me: “Mama, I mad at you!”

And then she laughed. Like she said the funniest thing ever.

“Mad at you, Mama! He he he.”

She said it so jolly like, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t know what that means.

But in the next breathe she said love you, mama, so I guess it cancels out.

Another sunny day. My favorite kinds of days. We got Bellle out for her morning walk, which required extra vigilance because Wednesday is trash day and Belle loves to find rotten apple cores and used paper towels to chomp on.

This morning I had my orientation for Gold’s Gym. Back in January I decided to pursue becoming a group fitness instructor, took a BodyStep training, and now I’m working towards my certification. I’ve had to do a bunch of stuff to work towards my certification and to get hired as an instructor for Gold’s, which is a post for another day, but one part of the procress required this orientation. It’s rare I get to interact with people – in person – outside of the park where I don my usual yoga pants/sweatshirt look, so I thought I’d actually get dressed today.

(Also, thanks for all the bangs love, I love them, too.)

After my orientation, I relieved my mother in law and got Kate ready for nap. I don’t know what’s been up with her recently, but girlfriend keeps saying “Kate tired” but she hasn’t been napping well. On this particular day, it took every single ounce of patience I had to get her down. She fought me at every turn – wouldn’t let me change her diaper, put her in snuggly pjs, read a book. Finally, I just shut the blinds, hugged her snuggled tight to my chest and sang every song from the The Sound of Music I could remember the lyrics to.

She fought and cried and tried to twist away, but I kept rubbing her back and singing way through raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens until she finally relaxed. For everyone wondering what a SAHM does all day, it’s this type of toddler taming. All the live long day. This is exactly why motherhood requires so much mental and physical effort.

Since I didn’t know how long my efforts would last, I got down to work right quick.

I watched her mess around in her crib on the iPad while I answered email, prepped blog posts, and worked on yet another blog redesign. Yes, another redesign. Change is good.

Sadly, Kate only lasted about an hour, so thus began the longest afternoon of my life.

First Kate got into her closet and tried to put on everything she owned, one outfit on top of the other, after I’d already organized her closet just the other day.

And then Kate and Belle decided to harrass each other, an activity they both hate and enjoy at the same time. These pictures are blurry but perfectly illustrate my afternoon.

Crying AND barking, the soundtrack of my life.

Oh, wait, now they decided to be all sweet looking and stare out the window together.

Then several delivery trucks and a mini van came by, alerting Belle with Homeland Security and resulting in the demise of my wooden mini blinds.

I called it quits and allowed Kate to eat applesauce for dinner.

Note her begruding expression.

I work hard to keep it sunny side up around these parts, but don’t think for a second I don’t have a bad day. Or two. Or three. Afternoons like Wednesday are par for the course at Casa Bagley. And I’m no Maria von Trapp, singing and dancing my way through every tantrum. I get irritable and annoyed and count down the seconds until bedtime.

After I put Kate down in her crib Wednesday night, I gave her a hug and a kiss and said let’s try a do-over tomorrow.

Tuesdays are one of my favorite days.

This morning I got up at my usual 5:30 a.m. hour to exercise. I ran through my BodyStep DVD in preparation for team teaching Saturday morning. I watch that DVD so many times to prepare for classes that the instructors on the video feel like my new best friends.

By the time I hit the cooldown track, I can hear Kate yelling for me. Since I’m up and she’s up and the dog’s up, we head out the door for our morning walk.

The Fresh Beat Band sings and dances in the background as I get ready for the day. I’m so glad to see the sun this morning. After two full days of rain, my soul can’t take one more dull day.

This morning we head over to MoBu kids for Kate’s music and movement class. Kate is crazy for this class. My friend, Corrine, and her sweet son, Josh, introduced us to MoBu at the end of last summer, and we’ve been taking the Tuesday morning class together ever since. Kate is head over heels for Josh and Miss Monica, and she has the best time singing and dancing. I think the class is designed so that the kids sit with their moms and sing and dance together. But Kate prefers to sing and dance solo, in the center of the circle, and pretend I’m not there.

Miss Independent, that one.

After class, we head over to Pizzeria Orso for some margarita pizzas. Dining with the kids is always an adventure. The ratio of pizza into toddler mouths versus pizza all over the place is about 50:50.

After class Kate usually takes a nap for the record books. But not this time. I waited a few minutes and crossed my fingers, hoping she’d go back to sleep. But when the whines escalated to full on screams, I knew my alone time was now over. Since the sun was shining, I decided to take advantage of the situation and take Kate outside to play in the backyard.

Poor, Belle. She couldn’t stand being left out. So Kate and I took her for her afternoon walk around the neighborhood.

Kate always travels with snacks.

After our walk, I realized I still haven’t found a hard copy of my Washington Parent article, so Kate and I set off to find my name in print.

After our afternoon adventures, I tried to take the trash out and clean up the kitchen while Kate and Belle got under my legs and vied for my attention. I gave up around 6:45 p.m., tossed Kate in the tub, and tricked her into reading books I like.

When Dan travels and works long days and I’m on my own, my favorite part of the day is after I put Kate to bed and I lay down on the couch and close my eyes and just breathe. Toddlers require emotional and physical endurance to get through the day, so when I have a few moments to sit quietly, I soak in it so I can recharge because tomorrow’s a new day.

When I checked the weather forecast for the week Sunday evening, I cringed. Rain. 100% chance rain for Monday.

Anyone who has ever spent any length of time with a toddler knows that a day stuck inside results in certain death. Kate requires some sort of outside the house entertainment.

So I brainstormed stuff to do while squatting and bicep curling and lunging in BodyPump this morning. On my way home I decided obviously Kate and I needed a shopping trip.

After our daily dose of The Fresh Beat Band and daily morning walk with Belle, we headed to Tysons Corner in pursuit of a new swimsuit for Kate. I chased Kate through LL Bean and the Apple Store before ending up at Old Navy. Kate started disrobing immediately once she saw the racks and racks of ruffled swimsuits and butterfly t-shirts. Convincing her to keep her clothes on took much negotiation and the promise of a new hat. And a new pair of shoes.

She wanted to wear her new clothes right away, so I explained first mama had to buy it. Since Kate’s now into her “parroting stage” she followed me around the store chanting “mama buy it, mama buy it!”

After Mama bought all the things from Old Navy, we made our way home for lunch while Kate told me repeatedly that it was a gross day. “Mama, it’s gross day. Gross day, Mama. MAMA! It’s GROSS DAY!”

Kate, your language skills are starting to scare me. Also, I heard you the first 17 times.

After lunch, Kate napped while I sat down to enjoy some Blissdom At Home. Since I didn’t get to see the photography session with Me Ra Koh when I was at Blissdom, I couldn’t wait to see what she had to say. I found her talk inspiring; I couldn’t believe she didn’t pick up a camera until she was 30, and now, look where she is. Photography superstar. Me Ra’s talk made me feel like there’s still time for me to develop and hone my passions.

Later in the afternoon we hung out with one of my best mommy friends and her two sweet girls, took Belle out for her second walk, and I cleaned up the kitchen while Kate dipped pizza bagels into her applesauce.

Dan’s got a heavy work schedule this week, so I’m single-parenting it. So I did bath and story time and night night. And of course presented her with her “guys.”

I like to wait until after Kate’s in bed before I make my dinner so that I can actual taste the food. Earlier that morning I made a crockpot full of my favorite chicken taco soup, and it finished cooking just as I closed the door to Kate’s room. So I settled down on the couch with my soup, handful of Tostitos Chipotle flavored chips, and started making my way through my DVR.

After dinner I unloaded the day’s photos off my iPhone and camera. Inspired by the Me Ra talk earlier, I tried experimenting with differenting settings on my camera. And they were blurry. Or overexposed. Or underexposed. Or yellow.

Wah.

I wanted to get discouraged, throw my camera back in auto for the week, and forget about it. But then I figured I shouldn’t let a handful of blurry photos ruin my week. I’d just try again Tuesday. And again Wednesday. And every day after that.

Not all my photos will turn out. And some of my days might be boring. But there’s always tomorrow.

I decided to participate in Ali Edward’s Week in the Life project on a whim last year. But it ended up being one of my most favorite set of posts.

To me, my life can seem boring. I go to the same park several times a week, I’m a creature of habit, I eat the same oatmeal day in and day out. And sometimes life can see like one tip toe forward, two giant steps back.

But when I documented a week in my life last year, each night as I downloaded my pictures to my computer, I couldn’t believe all I accomplished each day.

Not only that, but documenting my life all day, each day, for a week sparked my creative fire. I worked to catch the same aspects of my life – meals, Kate playing, the dog sleeping – in new ways each day. I do do a lot of boring stuff each day just to keep life running. But last year’s week in the life showed me that those mundane tasks don’t define me. My life is full of meaningful stuff, too. And I can’t wait to document both the mundane and the meaningful.