I've seen other bloggers do "a day in the life" posts & thought it would be interesting to document a typical day for me. As I near the end of my maternity leave, each and every second is growing more and more precious. I figured this would be a fun way to look back and see what we did on October 23, 2013.
First, this was definitely not a typical day. Usually R is much more easygoing. And I usually spend more time holding & cuddling him (especially as we get closer to my return to work). Also, I don't think I ever get this much housework done on an average day, but I took advantage of J being off and put him on R duty a lot more than usual. And Josh is usually working. Even when he's off he's almost always in the office working on his website, making calls to clients, or editing photos (& sometimes playing on Facebook too).
First, this was definitely not a typical day. Usually R is much more easygoing. And I usually spend more time holding & cuddling him (especially as we get closer to my return to work). Also, I don't think I ever get this much housework done on an average day, but I took advantage of J being off and put him on R duty a lot more than usual. And Josh is usually working. Even when he's off he's almost always in the office working on his website, making calls to clients, or editing photos (& sometimes playing on Facebook too).
I also had lots of plans for today. J&I talked about going on a walk or going to the library & I have a Target gift card from my Aunt that's burning a hole in my pocket. But, we didn't get to do any of those things. And that's ok. I'm realizing how little time I have left to just stay home & spend all day with Baby R... so I'm trying to soak up every minute I can.
I spend most of the day in my head, so I tried to document thought process as well.
5:30 am- R is finished with his bottle & I lay him in his crib. He's awake but drowsy, which is what I'm trying to incorporate this week. He needs to learn to put himself to sleep & we've been having some major issues with that so far. After he's in his crib, I get the crazy idea to start the day. I imagine taking a shower that lasts longer than 5 minutes, drinking coffee that's still warm, folding laundry, & doing dishes all before it's time for R to start the day. We typically start the day between 7-8 am; so if I move fast I can get all of this accomplished.
5:35 am- Dishwasher is half loaded & R starts crying. I leave the dishes to replace his paci & try to soothe him back to sleep. He quickly informs me that we will be playing the how-long-can-I-fuss-before-mommy-gives-up-and-holds-me game.
5:35-6:55 am- I spend this hour and a half trying to get him to fall back to sleep (& drinking cold coffee). But I tell myself that if he is still awake by 7, then we start the morning routine & I get to deal with a fussy baby today. Around 6:30 I give him another bottle because he might be hungry (he's usually fine with going straight to sleep after the one bottle). Turns out he is. R eats 3 more ounces & drifts off right before 7 am. I hate this because we try to start the day around this time (between 7 & 8 am), but decide to compromise & let him sleep until 8.
7:00 am- R is in his crib & I take a shower. Since he's asleep & J is off today, I decide not to rush the shower. It runs a little longer than I expected.
7:30 am- Freshly showered & dressed, I decide to go ahead & pump. I start writing this entry instead of getting on Pinterest for my typical "pin & pump" session. (I started doing this when I realized how miserable pumping is. Now I play on Pinterest while pumping & only while pumping. It makes pumping just a little less terrible.)
7:50 am- Finished pumping. Feel bad that my supply is so low. Contemplate giving up altogether. Is it really worth this misery to give R one ounce of breast milk each day? I know I could pump more often to increase my supply, but I plan to move to exclusive formula feeding in a bit so that seems like a waste of time/energy to me. R wakes up. Perfect timing. I get him up & change his diaper & get him dressed for the day. He only gets a small bottle (1-2 ounces) this time since he ate almost an entire bottle an hour ago. While he eats I enter his wake up/diaper/bottle info into our baby app.
8:05- We cuddle & I sneak in some tummy time by laying him on my chest. He isn't too happy. I think we're in for a rough day.
8:20 am- More cuddling, which is my favorite. He's fussy & gassy.
8:35 am- R has playtime on his mat while I finish dishes, clean kitchen, start some laundry. Decide to make 2nd cup of coffee since we're in for a long morning & I'm weaning myself off naps.
9:05 am- R is unsurprisingly fussy, I quit cleaning the kitchen & we have a quick dance party & walk around the house looking at everything. J wakes up.
9:20 am- Guess who's fussy again? Time to rock. 9-10ish is typically when I try to start his first nap. I finish my 2nd coffee. He's drifting off to sleep. I make notes for this entry.
9:40 am- R is asleep & I put him in his rock & play (r&p). R wakes up when I put him down. J rocks the r&p. I finish cleaning kitchen & put away the laundry that J folded last night.
9:50 am- J gives up rocking R (who will not go to sleep) & changes his diaper & takes him outside for a minute. Then R has playtime on the mat while J checks his phone. I'm still cleaning & doing today's laundry.
10:15 am- R is fussy. J is doing his best & decides to try a bottle (which R eats pretty well). I try to sort through coupons to throw out the expired ones.
10:30 am- Realizing how hungry I am, I eat breakfast (1 egg, 1 piece of toast, glass of milk). R drifts to sleep while J is burping him. J puts R in the rock & play & rocks him. R wakes up. Notice a pattern?
10:45 am- J takes R & the r&p to the nursery to try to get R to sleep. It doesn't work & a few minutes later R is with me. J goes to work/play on the computer. I check R's diaper (nothing), swaddle him, & we settle in the recliner for a nap. He fights sleep but eventually I win (right at 11am).
11:00 am- After he's asleep I update this post, balance the checkbook, check Facebook again, catch up on reading some of my favorite blogs, message my Sisters-in-law to discuss Christmas, do a little Christmas browsing for me & R while I watch some Netflix. (Current guilty pleasure = Hart of Dixie. I don't even know why I'm watching it, but I got sucked in. I really hate the stereotypes & all but I still don't want to stop.)
12:00 pm- Put R down in the r&p. Take chicken out to thaw, wash morning dishes, fluff clothes, make 2 bottles, make & eat lunch (leftover hot dogs).
12:45 pm- Lunch is finished. Decide to call customer service about a gift card we received that wasn't activated. (Boy that was a surprise when our check came.) Updating this entry while on hold.
12:55 pm- Gift card issue resolved, had an excellent customer service experience. Fold clothes & put them away.
1:30 pm- R's awake. J picks him up & feeds him while I finish a page in the baby book.
1:50 pm- I take R. J gets ready to go to a shoot. R & I read a book on the couch. He works some magic in his diaper. So I go to change him. He finishes pooping after I take off his diaper. It's terrible & I'm gagging. This diaper change quickly becomes a team effort with J doing most of the work.
3:15 pm- He's asleep on my chest & I start the next episode of Hart of Dixie & follow up on Christmas plans/shopping, Facebook, update this entry, & finish reading blogs from this morning.
3:50 pm- My bladder is making it clear that I'm going to have to get up soon. I put R down, use the restroom, eat a snack, check the mail, & sweep the living room. I'll vacuum later. Just don't want to risk waking the baby.
4:20 pm- While I'm making the marinade for tonight's chicken dinner, R wakes up crying. He's showing hunger cues, so I go ahead and give him a full 4 ounce bottle. Maybe it's time to go ahead and graduate to a 5 ounce bottle at his feedings? That seems like a lot for a 1.5 month old. I research typical bottle sizes for this age while R eats. (And update this entry, obviously.)
4:40 pm- R gets a diaper change & I put him in his swing. I finish the marinade & wash the dishes from lunch & prep.
4:55 pm- R is content in the swing (for now). I sit to sort & read the mail & try to read some of the devotional my MIL gave me. It doesn't work out too well.
5:20 pm- I decide to start cooking. J watches R on the mat. He includes tummy time too. J makes R tough it out for awhile. It breaks my heart listening to R cry, but sometimes ya gotta let the dad be the dad. Plus, I was dealing with raw chicken at the time, so I couldn't exactly do much about it.
6:00 pm- Dinner is on the table. J puts R in his swing. R quickly passes out. We eat & clean the kitchen while R is asleep.
6:55 pm- J starts editing pictures in the office.
7:00 pm- I start setting everything up for our bedtime routine. It's much smoother if I take 10 minutes before bedtime to go ahead & put everything right where I need it. So I turn on the electric blanket to warm his bed (this comes off before I put him in it, but it helps to ease the transition from his warm momma to the cold, hard bed); set up his diaper, pj's, & swaddle blanket next to the changing table; turn the radio static on; get his bath tub out; & make his bottle & put it next to the glider so I can reach it easily. Once that's set up, I wake up R & we play & talk for a few minutes. I sneak in some more tummy time.
7:25 pm- R is getting fussy, so I start the bedtime routine a little early: bath (tonight is a rinse off only night, but the boy loves playing in his bath tub), pj's & swaddle, a 6 ounce bottle (we usually only do 4 at the most, but I'm experimenting), singing & prayers while rocking in the glider, and once he's asleep I put him in his crib & play his musical seahorse. We keep radio static going all night for some white noise.
8:15 pm- R is asleep & I give J the monitor. He usually listens out for R until he comes to bed. J is almost always awake in the office editing photos or catching up on emails/Facebook/nerd stuff until about midnight. Since he's up anyways, he gets to handle R if he should wake up. R almost always sleeps through the night until around 4 am. I make R's next bottle & turn off everything in the living room. I decide to finish packing away the last of my maternity clothes (Farewell good friends. I will miss your forgiving elastic waist bands.)
8:35 pm- I crawl into bed & edit this post. Then it's another check of Facebook/blogs/texts. Netflix is playing in the background & I usually watch it until I fall asleep around 10pm.
Disclaimer: I'm not sure what's up with the different fonts, and I don't really care enough to try to fix it. My guess is that they're different because I typed this entry from my phone & my computer.
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