Friday, January 14, 2011

A Day in the Life

There's a great reason why I've neglected my blog. The thing is, I actively parent 12-13 hours a day, plus an hour or so in the evening. Here's our regular-ish routine:

6-7am -- Tyler wakes. (Sometimes happens as early as 5:30, often happens closer to 6:15. Occasionally has happened as late as 7:30. Love the 7:30 wake-ups!!! For the sake of this post, we will say he wakes at 6am) I fight to get him to nurse. (anywhere from 20-40 minutes, depending on his interest. He often wants to look at every single thing before going back to the boob. It's on and off until eventually, I give up, and we get up to play.)

6:30 -- Play. Look at everything in the house. *I* know that it's the same, but he doesn't! Make faces at daddy. Sometimes this is when I shower and Scott takes over. Most of the time we play for 30 minutes or so and then I make his oatmeal.

7:00 -- Eat breakfast. Usually both of us. This means that I have to manage to get his breastmilk/oatmeal/fruit concoction into his mouth fast enough to sneak in a bite of cereal myself, then give him another bite. He really enjoys eating solid foods, so he whines in between every bite. It is so cute. But also a little bit difficult! If he finishes his oatmeal and I still have cereal, I have to try to shove it into my mouth as quickly as possible without him noticing or he will continue to beg. We haven't gotten to the point that he refuses food, so I am thinking if I kept giving it to him he would continue to eat. But I don't.

7:30 -- Play. Sing ABC's, Jingle Bells, and any other song I can think of (or make up). Roll all over the floor (both of us). Tyler puts everything in his mouth. Toys, toy box (his favorite), hands, bib, feet, my hair, my hands, his feet again, the remote if I would let him... etc.) This lasts for about an hour. Often I beg for him to poop while Scott is still home because let's face it: it's no pretty sight.

8:15 -- Begin to get fussy. Whining, throwing head into my chest, and shrieking are his favorite displays of fussiness.

8:17 -- Nurse in our bed. Where we stay until he goes to sleep then wakes from his nap. Yep, that's right, both of us. The thing is, when I hold him he sleeps for sometimes 2 hours (often closer to 90 minutes). When I leave him in our bed, he sleeps for 15 minutes, max. When I put him in his crib, he sleeps for zero minutes. You read that right, ZERO.

10:00 (ish -- this is where it gets tricky) -- Tyler wakes. I nurse him if he'll have it. We repeat all activities. Look around the house, play with toys, eat solids. If we are going to do anything out of the house for the day, this is the best time. The morning nap is the most restful, and he's usually not very fussy at this time.

12:00 -- Nurse and nap again. This usually only lasts for 45-60 minutes, total. This nap sucks. Always. I really think it's because he wants to nurse the entire time and he's not able to fall into a deep sleep. It sucks. Again, I hold him. For this nap, he won't sleep at all unless he's held.

12:45 -- Wake. Try to find stuff to do that we haven't done. Try to remember that Tyler doesn't mind doing the same thing over and over again, even though it's not super exciting for me. Ah, the love we have for our children!

2:30 -- Nurse and nap again. This nap rarely lasts longer than 30 minutes. He's so overtired at this point, so this is rarely a successful nap. If he didn't act so fussy at this time, I'd skip it... but he can't skip it. Without screaming and crying for an hour or more.

3:00 -- Do anything I can to entertain Tyler until 5pm. This often includes Scott's help.

5:00 -- Walk. This is the only part of our day that's consistent. Scott and I take Tyler in the stroller for 30 minutes around the neighborhood. As soon as he was able to sit upright in the stroller (3 months), this became the fussy cure.

5:30 -- Bath with daddy. Scott bathes Tyler and I get his PJs ready. This is my "me" time. I often use it to get on the computer and delete the mass amounts of junk mail I receive daily.

5:50 -- PJ's and lotion. Tyler is so exhausted by this point that he fusses a bit while Scott tries to dress him. I set up in the bed and wait for Scott to bring Tyler to me.

6:00 -- Nurse. For an hour. I realize that he gets all of the milk he "needs" in about 20 minutes, but he's a big comfort nurser. Seriously. If he could park himself at the boob all day, he would pop on and off every ten minutes, just to "check in" and see what Mom's doing!

7:00 -- Hand Tyler off to Scott who kisses all over him and places him in bed. Tyler pulls a ninja move and flips on his belly before we even have time to shut the door. It takes him much more time to roll back to belly during the day when he's wide awake, but at night he has a super flipping power.

At this point, Scott and I often cook dinner, eat together, and then try to spend quality time for a few minutes. I pump for about 20 minutes and then we go to bed around 9:15 to read (yes, I do that sometimes, even now!) By 10, I am struggling to go to sleep, but am not usually successful until around 10:30.

Tyler wakes anywhere between 2-4am to nurse, nurses for about 30 minutes, then goes back to his bed. It usually takes me another 30 minutes to get back to sleep myself.

So there you have it! This blog is not the only thing that's neglected. Now that Tyler will play for 3-4 minutes alone in his room, I am able to pull out the Dyson and swing it around the carpet in the living room. If I attempt this while Tyler is in the living room it results in tears. An overtired baby is startled easily!

For the most part, he's happy, though. When I have tried to get him to nap by himself he's skipped naps completely and he's NOT happy. If he could just play all day, I'd skip the naps! He can't, though... he melts down and then his nighttime sleep is horrible.

So this is where we are. Not perfect or ideal, but drastically improved!

Sorry to neglect you, blogger!

3 comments:

Sara S. said...

Wow Laura sounds like you're a SAHM at this time! It's alot of work, huh? Luckily, I got to go back to work PT while Alyssa is watched by my hubby's parents. So that's a nice little break. But, I also realize that bc of that breakup in the week, we have no set schedule. I can't believe you have such a strict schedule! Wow. I wish I could get Alyssa in bed at 7pm! That's just crazy to me! What's nice is though that she has been sleeping through the night... in her crib! That was an accomplishment in itself! I'm grateful she's such a good sleeper. Also, I'm not nursing so that may have something to do with it.

Unknown said...

Sara, don't be fooled. It's more of a routine than a schedule. If he wakes up an hour early, we start an hour early... which basically means we can never plan to be anywhere. BUT he does go to bed :)

Andie said...

Sounds so much like my day with my #1 as well. Things changed when #2 and #3 arrived together though. Hang in there it does get easier. Although I do on occasion find myself in bed with 2 or 3 children even still.