A Day in My Life
I've been meaning to get around to writing one of these for awhile now. Being finally pushed enough to motivate me to do it was Rosie's post, so here goes nothing. I can't promise you that you'll enjoy this, or even find it remotely interesting, but so be it...I've committed and there's no backing out now! (Especially since I already designed this fancy blog header image. Aren't you impressed? Canva.com does it again.)
6:57: I wake up to the sound of the shower turning on. Usually David's not up and about this early, but he's got a long and busy day ahead of him so he's going to work early. I know, I know - "early" is relative - but he works late into the night 4/5 days a week, so his normal start time is 8:30. I turn over and try to go back to sleep.
7:04: David kisses me goodbye, and I hear the faint sounds of Kate rustling in her crib but decide to ignore them in hopes she'll go back to sleep.
7:37: Hooray! It worked because now I wake up to the sound of her scream-talking in her crib. I go get her and bring her and a pacifier back to our bed and plop her down next to me. She mumbles a little bit and I think she might go back to sleep, so I turn over and shut my eyes.
7:49: Yeah, not happening. She decides it's time to wake up so I agree! I head to the bathroom to put my contacts in, because little miss has turned into a grabber while nursing, so there's no more of that while I still have my glasses in. I take my time because she's cooing in bed and I'm not in any hurry since we're up a little earlier than normal.
7:57: I sit down to feed her and she attacks like she always does in the morning, with arms and legs pumping as she eats as fast as baby-ily possible. Seriously, she's like a very strong puppy that can't stop wagging its tail while it eats. It's super cute - and also painful sometimes. I spend the time reading and replying to emails on my phone, and try to get through the Blessed Is She readings and devotion. Success today, which is more than I can say for most days.
8:08: We head to her room to get her changed and dressed for the day. She's still got some residual diarrhea (sorry, TMI) from the meds she was taking for her ear infection, so her diaper is especially gross this morning. Lately she won't stay still or be content with us changing her diaper unless she's got something in her hands, which has been diaper cream tubes and other diapers. Here it is in its blurry glory.
8:15: I text David about a funny-looking maybe rash on her skin. Yesterday it was on her thighs and today it's moved from there to her sides and up her back. She doesn't seem to be in any pain so I put some lotion on it and hope it goes away by the end of the day. Might mean a trip back to the doctor for us but we'll have to wait and see.
8:18: I hop in the shower with Kate set up on the floor in the bathroom with me.
After I'm dressed in my oh-so-glamorous yoga pants and sweatshirt, I come back into the bathroom to find this:
I try to ignore the mess because she's happy while I brush my teeth and put makeup on. I don't always dress like a slob, but David won't be home from work til about 11 tonight, after I'm already in my PJs, and we only have one car so I'm not going anywhere...so leggings & sweatshirt it is. Don't judge me too harshly for it.
8:42: I bring Kate upstairs to my office and put her in her exersaucer. I head downstairs to make the glamorous breakfast of yogurt with cereal for myself with a big jug of water. I go back upstairs to find her babbling away: dadadadada all the live-long day. There's an occasional "mama" thrown in when I coach her very closely, but nothing that sticks.
8:51: She starts to get a little fussy in there, so I take her out and put her on the ground behind my desk. This is how the work-at-home and watch-the-baby magic happens, people. Inundate child with toys, keep close to desk, and make barrier between space heater and child with pillows. Check often, and take lots of breaks. I go back to my computer and send some emails.
9:11: Kate's fussing on the ground, so I sit and play with her for a minute. Lately she's been wanting more attention from me when she's playing, so a good 2-minute break to set her up with new toys and reposition her so she can see me fixes it most of the time. Back to my desk I go.
9:15: Answer work emails, get started on corrections to a project, get 12 more emails that need to be answered by this afternoon. hooray.
9:30: She's fussing again - this time because she's ended up all the way at the wall scooching backwards on her stomach. Not a surprise. I reposition her and stick a pacifier in to try and push off her morning nap a little bit.
9:42: As she's still upset talking, I decide it's time for nap #1. This is probably a mistake putting her down this early, but she's obviously tired and isn't going to take no for an answer. We head downstairs, I put her in her crib and pop a pacifier in, and she looks like she immediately zonks out. Yay! Back to work.
10:10: I get a couple more projects looked at, and more emails sent, and then I hear something suspicious on the baby monitor. Uh oh. She's rustling, never a good sign only 25 minutes into her nap. I wait a few minutes, and then go down to put her pacifier back in, hoping she'll go straight back to sleep.
10:16: Still noise on the monitor.
10:28: Still talking on the monitor, but not crying so I decide to see if she'll put herself back to sleep.
10:45: Nope, still talking. I go down and find her with her pacifier in her hands, the sound machine turned back on, and a huge grin on her face. I leave her for a minute while I go to the bathroom, and come back. Turns out she had a big poop which seems to have ruined this nap for her. Great.
11:05: After a severe clean-up and rescue program, in which I really decide that today is going to have to be laundry day because that's the like 10th day in a row she's ruined at least one outfit or pair of pajamas, I debate between trying to put her back down for a nap or giving it up. I decide to try for a minute, and that is obviously a fail because she's laughing and giggling as I put her down. Oh well.
11:20: I nurse her for a little bit, although she's not too hungry so there's more flailing and less actual eating than normal.
11:29: We head back upstairs, me to start writing this blog post and her to play some more. Surprise surprise, after a large poop she's much more pleasant and herself!
Wednesdays are usually slow days for me when it comes to work - the University I work for has a department-wide meeting every Wednesday afternoon, so a lot of the rest of the day is focused on other things. Luckily that means an easy day for me almost every week in the middle of the week.
12:05: After a solid half-hour of work, Kate's clamoring for some attention. We play a few rounds of my favorite game - fake biting her cheek until she can't stop giggling - and then we take some very blurry selfies. You're welcome, Internet.
12:15: I try putting her to play by herself for a little bit, to no avail. Naptime it is - since she's basically had maybe half of a full nap so far today, I'm hoping it's not too early. Back downstairs we go. She's upset to be put in her crib (who isn't?) but then falls right to sleep.
12:20: I make myself some lunch and head back to work. I'm waiting on a few emails and feedback from editors before I keep going, so I put on an episode of Downton Abbey (Season 5 episode 2, yes, I'm finally caught up!) and eat in peace. The quiet from the monitor is the most beautiful music to my ears.
12:35: Finished eating, so I leave the episode of Downton on in the background and try to do some makeup, less time-sensitive work to fill some time. I organize some files, attempt to pare down the pile of notes on my desk, and clean out my inbox a little bit. Voila, another email pings and I'm back to editing another ebook.
2:35: Wow, she's still sleeping as I look back at my computer clock after a really productive 2 hours of work. These naps are the ones I live by. Of course as soon as I think it, I hear rustling on the monitor and somebody's awake and ready to play.
2:46: I finish up a couple more tasks while Kate babbles in her crib, and then I go down to feed her. She's pretty ecstatic to see me as usual, which is always a good feeling. We take our time eating, then changing another diaper and practicing her clapping and waving.
3:15: I decide to finally start some laundry today and throw all the dirty laundry down the laundry chute and do a quick clean-up of the house while she plays on her blanket in the living room. We misplaced Sophie (the teether) for a few weeks and she's happy to have her back - she immediately starts chomping on her head voraciously so I sneak downstairs to the washer and dryer.
3:30: I come back upstairs after starting a load and sorting the rest, to find she's turned all the way around on her butt, still sitting. This is a new skill! I'm not sure if she just scooted around slowly, or if she sat back up after falling down? Interesting development to the day. I'll have to keep an eye out.
3:33: My eyes and head are still killing me from the cold/flu that will just not leave us alone, so I lay down on the couch next to Kate playing and close my eyes for a bit.
3:50: I must have somewhat fallen asleep because when Kate talk-cries loud enough for me to hear again, 20 minutes have passed. Doesn't seem to have made my symptoms much better, but my eyes aren't watering anymore at least.
4:05: We spend some time playing together on the floor, including patty-cake and me making voices for stuffed animals. She's not having much of it - must be the missed nap syndrome. Worst. We decide to walk around the house some more and do some light, one-handed cleaning while we're at it. She's not much of a help, but it's fun anyway. I check her diaper - nothing. Really must be tired. We play in front of the mirror attached to her changing table and then...
4:29: Nap time. She's usually not this tired under 2 hours since her last nap, but this morning messed her up bad!
4:31: I dress in my workout clothes (haha, in compared to my "regular" clothes...) and head down to our elliptical (Christmas present!) to work out. I'm not expecting anything good since I feel so crappy, but anything's better than nothing.
4:56: I finish running and debate lifting weights. I decide against it, wanting to shower before Kate gets up from her nap. I do switch the load of laundry before I head back upstairs.
5:10: I hop in the shower, trying to be as quiet as I can because our shower shares the same wall as her crib, and there's always the risk of waking her up. I go as fast as I can and hop out - yay, no crying sounds coming from her room. Good sign.
5:19: I dress back in yoga pants and a tshirt and head up to my office to do some more work - emails have been coming in since I stopped working this afternoon, so I've got more to do now. I first type up a bit of this here blog post and then set to work. (Also, I take that makeup-less selfie above, and put a filter on it because voila, instant makeup.)
6:15: Oh, there's a little rustle on the monitor. Good, that means I probably won't have to wake her up at 6:30, which is our nap cut-off point. But no noise yet, so I'll work a little longer.
6:27: Someone is awake! I go down to get her and she's happy as a clam. This is either her happiest or most-upset time of the day, depending on the weather (I have no idea what causes it actually, that's a guess) and today is happy.
6:35: I head to the basement to switch the laundry again, and bring some back upstairs while she plays happily on the carpet. I turn on NPR on my phone app and I fold while she eats Sophie like crazy again. (She also spends a lot of time in the position photographed above, fascinated by me folding. Silly little thing.)
7:15: Bedtime for Miss Kate. I fill her bathtub and her humidifer while I let her play a little longer, and then strip her down for a bath. She LOVES being naked, so she giggles and babbles like crazy whenever I do this. Looks like the rash is mostly gone - or at least, moved a little bit to the backs of her arms. Weird. It feels like dry skin, so I'm going to leave it another day or two and then decide if it's anything serious.
7:20: We're in the bath! Best thing ever.
7:37: I start nursing Kate for the last time today (boy how I love not feeding her at night) and she's instantly ready for bed - sleepy but still hungry. We read a story together when she's done, I sing her lullaby, and then turn the sound machine on and put her in the crib and she's out.
7:59: I stand in the kitchen and try to decide what to have for dinner. I decide on spinach pasta with chicken and cheese, so I whip that up quick.
8:19: I take dinner upstairs, answer another email, and then eat and finish another episode of Downton Abbey. David calls and says he'll be home sooner than expected - 9:15! - which is very exciting since we both thought it'd be around 11:00.
8:35: I do some embroidery after I finish eating while I watch some more Downton (I'm obsessed, obviously). Kate coughs once on the monitor but then falls right back to sleep.
9:15: David walks in the door as I come downstairs, and we talk for awhile while he starts on dinner for him. (If I had known he was going to be home early, I would have made enough for both of us. Whoops.)
10:17: After an episode of New Girl and a piece of pizza for me (and 7/8 of a pizza for David), we head to bed. My cold/flu is flaring up again so I take some NyQuil and hope that I don't have more coughing fits like I've had the past couple nights.
10:49: I'm off my phone and turning the light off by 10:49 - pretty good time for me.
Whew, if you made it to the end of that extremely boring day I am impressed. I barely made it through writing it myself, and it's my own (boring) life I'm writing about!
But I do love Day-in-the-Life posts, so now it's your turn. How does your day differ? Write a post up of your day and I'll definitely be reading it!
HG
January 14, 2015
7:04: David kisses me goodbye, and I hear the faint sounds of Kate rustling in her crib but decide to ignore them in hopes she'll go back to sleep.
7:37: Hooray! It worked because now I wake up to the sound of her scream-talking in her crib. I go get her and bring her and a pacifier back to our bed and plop her down next to me. She mumbles a little bit and I think she might go back to sleep, so I turn over and shut my eyes.
7:49: Yeah, not happening. She decides it's time to wake up so I agree! I head to the bathroom to put my contacts in, because little miss has turned into a grabber while nursing, so there's no more of that while I still have my glasses in. I take my time because she's cooing in bed and I'm not in any hurry since we're up a little earlier than normal.
7:57: I sit down to feed her and she attacks like she always does in the morning, with arms and legs pumping as she eats as fast as baby-ily possible. Seriously, she's like a very strong puppy that can't stop wagging its tail while it eats. It's super cute - and also painful sometimes. I spend the time reading and replying to emails on my phone, and try to get through the Blessed Is She readings and devotion. Success today, which is more than I can say for most days.
8:08: We head to her room to get her changed and dressed for the day. She's still got some residual diarrhea (sorry, TMI) from the meds she was taking for her ear infection, so her diaper is especially gross this morning. Lately she won't stay still or be content with us changing her diaper unless she's got something in her hands, which has been diaper cream tubes and other diapers. Here it is in its blurry glory.
8:15: I text David about a funny-looking maybe rash on her skin. Yesterday it was on her thighs and today it's moved from there to her sides and up her back. She doesn't seem to be in any pain so I put some lotion on it and hope it goes away by the end of the day. Might mean a trip back to the doctor for us but we'll have to wait and see.
8:18: I hop in the shower with Kate set up on the floor in the bathroom with me.
After I'm dressed in my oh-so-glamorous yoga pants and sweatshirt, I come back into the bathroom to find this:
I try to ignore the mess because she's happy while I brush my teeth and put makeup on. I don't always dress like a slob, but David won't be home from work til about 11 tonight, after I'm already in my PJs, and we only have one car so I'm not going anywhere...so leggings & sweatshirt it is. Don't judge me too harshly for it.
8:42: I bring Kate upstairs to my office and put her in her exersaucer. I head downstairs to make the glamorous breakfast of yogurt with cereal for myself with a big jug of water. I go back upstairs to find her babbling away: dadadadada all the live-long day. There's an occasional "mama" thrown in when I coach her very closely, but nothing that sticks.
8:51: She starts to get a little fussy in there, so I take her out and put her on the ground behind my desk. This is how the work-at-home and watch-the-baby magic happens, people. Inundate child with toys, keep close to desk, and make barrier between space heater and child with pillows. Check often, and take lots of breaks. I go back to my computer and send some emails.
9:11: Kate's fussing on the ground, so I sit and play with her for a minute. Lately she's been wanting more attention from me when she's playing, so a good 2-minute break to set her up with new toys and reposition her so she can see me fixes it most of the time. Back to my desk I go.
9:15: Answer work emails, get started on corrections to a project, get 12 more emails that need to be answered by this afternoon. hooray.
9:30: She's fussing again - this time because she's ended up all the way at the wall scooching backwards on her stomach. Not a surprise. I reposition her and stick a pacifier in to try and push off her morning nap a little bit.
9:42: As she's still upset talking, I decide it's time for nap #1. This is probably a mistake putting her down this early, but she's obviously tired and isn't going to take no for an answer. We head downstairs, I put her in her crib and pop a pacifier in, and she looks like she immediately zonks out. Yay! Back to work.
10:10: I get a couple more projects looked at, and more emails sent, and then I hear something suspicious on the baby monitor. Uh oh. She's rustling, never a good sign only 25 minutes into her nap. I wait a few minutes, and then go down to put her pacifier back in, hoping she'll go straight back to sleep.
10:16: Still noise on the monitor.
10:28: Still talking on the monitor, but not crying so I decide to see if she'll put herself back to sleep.
10:45: Nope, still talking. I go down and find her with her pacifier in her hands, the sound machine turned back on, and a huge grin on her face. I leave her for a minute while I go to the bathroom, and come back. Turns out she had a big poop which seems to have ruined this nap for her. Great.
11:05: After a severe clean-up and rescue program, in which I really decide that today is going to have to be laundry day because that's the like 10th day in a row she's ruined at least one outfit or pair of pajamas, I debate between trying to put her back down for a nap or giving it up. I decide to try for a minute, and that is obviously a fail because she's laughing and giggling as I put her down. Oh well.
11:20: I nurse her for a little bit, although she's not too hungry so there's more flailing and less actual eating than normal.
11:29: We head back upstairs, me to start writing this blog post and her to play some more. Surprise surprise, after a large poop she's much more pleasant and herself!
Wednesdays are usually slow days for me when it comes to work - the University I work for has a department-wide meeting every Wednesday afternoon, so a lot of the rest of the day is focused on other things. Luckily that means an easy day for me almost every week in the middle of the week.
12:05: After a solid half-hour of work, Kate's clamoring for some attention. We play a few rounds of my favorite game - fake biting her cheek until she can't stop giggling - and then we take some very blurry selfies. You're welcome, Internet.
12:15: I try putting her to play by herself for a little bit, to no avail. Naptime it is - since she's basically had maybe half of a full nap so far today, I'm hoping it's not too early. Back downstairs we go. She's upset to be put in her crib (who isn't?) but then falls right to sleep.
12:20: I make myself some lunch and head back to work. I'm waiting on a few emails and feedback from editors before I keep going, so I put on an episode of Downton Abbey (Season 5 episode 2, yes, I'm finally caught up!) and eat in peace. The quiet from the monitor is the most beautiful music to my ears.
12:35: Finished eating, so I leave the episode of Downton on in the background and try to do some makeup, less time-sensitive work to fill some time. I organize some files, attempt to pare down the pile of notes on my desk, and clean out my inbox a little bit. Voila, another email pings and I'm back to editing another ebook.
2:35: Wow, she's still sleeping as I look back at my computer clock after a really productive 2 hours of work. These naps are the ones I live by. Of course as soon as I think it, I hear rustling on the monitor and somebody's awake and ready to play.
2:46: I finish up a couple more tasks while Kate babbles in her crib, and then I go down to feed her. She's pretty ecstatic to see me as usual, which is always a good feeling. We take our time eating, then changing another diaper and practicing her clapping and waving.
3:15: I decide to finally start some laundry today and throw all the dirty laundry down the laundry chute and do a quick clean-up of the house while she plays on her blanket in the living room. We misplaced Sophie (the teether) for a few weeks and she's happy to have her back - she immediately starts chomping on her head voraciously so I sneak downstairs to the washer and dryer.
3:30: I come back upstairs after starting a load and sorting the rest, to find she's turned all the way around on her butt, still sitting. This is a new skill! I'm not sure if she just scooted around slowly, or if she sat back up after falling down? Interesting development to the day. I'll have to keep an eye out.
3:33: My eyes and head are still killing me from the cold/flu that will just not leave us alone, so I lay down on the couch next to Kate playing and close my eyes for a bit.
3:50: I must have somewhat fallen asleep because when Kate talk-cries loud enough for me to hear again, 20 minutes have passed. Doesn't seem to have made my symptoms much better, but my eyes aren't watering anymore at least.
4:05: We spend some time playing together on the floor, including patty-cake and me making voices for stuffed animals. She's not having much of it - must be the missed nap syndrome. Worst. We decide to walk around the house some more and do some light, one-handed cleaning while we're at it. She's not much of a help, but it's fun anyway. I check her diaper - nothing. Really must be tired. We play in front of the mirror attached to her changing table and then...
4:29: Nap time. She's usually not this tired under 2 hours since her last nap, but this morning messed her up bad!
4:31: I dress in my workout clothes (haha, in compared to my "regular" clothes...) and head down to our elliptical (Christmas present!) to work out. I'm not expecting anything good since I feel so crappy, but anything's better than nothing.
4:56: I finish running and debate lifting weights. I decide against it, wanting to shower before Kate gets up from her nap. I do switch the load of laundry before I head back upstairs.
5:10: I hop in the shower, trying to be as quiet as I can because our shower shares the same wall as her crib, and there's always the risk of waking her up. I go as fast as I can and hop out - yay, no crying sounds coming from her room. Good sign.
5:19: I dress back in yoga pants and a tshirt and head up to my office to do some more work - emails have been coming in since I stopped working this afternoon, so I've got more to do now. I first type up a bit of this here blog post and then set to work. (Also, I take that makeup-less selfie above, and put a filter on it because voila, instant makeup.)
6:15: Oh, there's a little rustle on the monitor. Good, that means I probably won't have to wake her up at 6:30, which is our nap cut-off point. But no noise yet, so I'll work a little longer.
6:27: Someone is awake! I go down to get her and she's happy as a clam. This is either her happiest or most-upset time of the day, depending on the weather (I have no idea what causes it actually, that's a guess) and today is happy.
6:35: I head to the basement to switch the laundry again, and bring some back upstairs while she plays happily on the carpet. I turn on NPR on my phone app and I fold while she eats Sophie like crazy again. (She also spends a lot of time in the position photographed above, fascinated by me folding. Silly little thing.)
7:15: Bedtime for Miss Kate. I fill her bathtub and her humidifer while I let her play a little longer, and then strip her down for a bath. She LOVES being naked, so she giggles and babbles like crazy whenever I do this. Looks like the rash is mostly gone - or at least, moved a little bit to the backs of her arms. Weird. It feels like dry skin, so I'm going to leave it another day or two and then decide if it's anything serious.
7:20: We're in the bath! Best thing ever.
7:37: I start nursing Kate for the last time today (boy how I love not feeding her at night) and she's instantly ready for bed - sleepy but still hungry. We read a story together when she's done, I sing her lullaby, and then turn the sound machine on and put her in the crib and she's out.
7:59: I stand in the kitchen and try to decide what to have for dinner. I decide on spinach pasta with chicken and cheese, so I whip that up quick.
8:19: I take dinner upstairs, answer another email, and then eat and finish another episode of Downton Abbey. David calls and says he'll be home sooner than expected - 9:15! - which is very exciting since we both thought it'd be around 11:00.
8:35: I do some embroidery after I finish eating while I watch some more Downton (I'm obsessed, obviously). Kate coughs once on the monitor but then falls right back to sleep.
9:15: David walks in the door as I come downstairs, and we talk for awhile while he starts on dinner for him. (If I had known he was going to be home early, I would have made enough for both of us. Whoops.)
10:17: After an episode of New Girl and a piece of pizza for me (and 7/8 of a pizza for David), we head to bed. My cold/flu is flaring up again so I take some NyQuil and hope that I don't have more coughing fits like I've had the past couple nights.
10:49: I'm off my phone and turning the light off by 10:49 - pretty good time for me.
Whew, if you made it to the end of that extremely boring day I am impressed. I barely made it through writing it myself, and it's my own (boring) life I'm writing about!
But I do love Day-in-the-Life posts, so now it's your turn. How does your day differ? Write a post up of your day and I'll definitely be reading it!
HG
You honestly do have an amazing baby!!!! She lets you get so much done! And she is adorable! I love having posts like this, as boring as they may seem to write, because even in just one year your days will be so much different, let alone 5 days, and its so hard to remember the mundane details, but they are like 90% of life!!! I did make it to the end and was glad you got to sleep before 11, its always a celebration when that happens around here!
ReplyDeleteShe seriously is amazing! I can't even imagine what it would be like to have a baby who sleeps so well... Maybe some day!
ReplyDelete