So, while I am behind on C’s 2-year post (by almost 2 months, yikes, but fortunately she’ll be 2 for a while) and Z’s 4-month post (it’ll be combined with 5 months because we’re already almost there), earlier this month, I managed to take notes on a full day of what we did. And then yesterday morning, Z slept in and gave me some time to actually write out the post.
Things have changed a little over the course of the last almost-month, but this isn’t too far off from what our days often look like.
2:00am — Wake up and realize Z is sleeping on me. I don’t remember when that happened, but I don’t think much of it and go back to sleep. This has been a huge difference in C’s and Z’s babyhood. Since Jack is in the guest room to handle C’s wake-ups (meaning there’s no one I need to inform I’m bringing a baby into the bed in the middle of the night) I’m comfortable bedsharing with Z. Somehow in the transition from one to two kids, I also became able to sleep decently with a baby on top of me, and often nursing, regularly.
5:47am — Oops, I missed my alarms. I don’t usually need them, but I’ve been sick for a few days, so I’ve been sleeping in a little. Transfer Z back to his bassinet and sneak downstairs. I note that C is in the guest bed with Jack. Another recent change is that she can sleep in bed with him. We used to have to go to her room. She crawls in to the guest room bed most nights now.
5:57am — I sit down with coffee and water and a glass of milk, and read The Alice Network. I also pump, since I’ve finally gotten Z to take some bottles for me and I took over a month off of pumping. It’s way easier to bottle feed him when I’m out solo with both kids, so I need to start building my stash again.
6:40am — Go to the basement to work out. I just do an easy mobility flow because, like I said, I’ve been sick and I mostly avoid heavy workouts when I’m sick. (It typically seems like it helps me recover faster, but I’m writing this nearly 2 weeks later and with lingering symptoms. I’m back to working out the way I usually do now.)
6:45am — Z is up. I bring him downstairs, change him, and bring him down to the basement with me. He does a combination of tummy time and time in the swing while I work out.
7:15am — Finish my workout. I come upstairs and say hi to C and Jack. I try to feed Z, too, since it’s been a little while.
7:20am — Bail on feeding Z and go shower because he was distracted by C. He’s obsessed with her. He plays on the floor while I shower and Jack gets C ready for the day.
7:44am — I do my makeup while bouncing Z.
7:55am — Eat a bowl of cereal and nurse Z. C follows Jack upstairs when he goes up to shower.
8:20am — C wanders back downstairs. I love how adept she is at going up and down stairs. Maybe all 2-year olds are, I don’t know. But it gives her a lot of independence and it’s nice not to worry (too much) about her when she’s wandering around the house. Z watches her play with a background of the Sleeping Beauty Tonie. I unload the dishwasher from last night, C comes in to feed Willis and I let him outside, and I make a snacky lunch for C.
8:40am — Remember I need to dry Z’s coat before we go outside.
9:10am — Start getting ready to go outside. Jack usually starts work around 9, and I try to get us out of the house around then so C doesn’t go into his office and try to entice him away from his desk. I gather both kids by the door, bundle everyone up, and put Z in the baby carrier.
9:20am — We get outside. C heads straight to the creek to throw rocks, and then runs through the woods and neighborhood back toward our house. Z mostly sleeps on me.
10am — Get everyone inside to get ready for Little Gym. I do diaper changes for both kids, put C’s lunch in our bag, and prep a bottle for Z.
10:15am — Head to Little Gym. Z yells in the car for a bit before quieting down.
10:35am — Little Gym! C walks on the beam, hangs on the bar, and runs around a lot. I follow her, talk to friends, and feed Z a little.
11:15am — Little Gym is over. We head to a nearby park. I’ve been trying to make that part of the routine to get us some more easy outside time and also delay our arrival back home. It’s honestly easier to be out and about (most of the time) than to convince C that Jack needs to work and we should leave him alone.
11:25am — We get to the park, and C eats lunch and plays a lot. We run across the green space, play in the woods, make music, climb the playground equipment, go for a walk, and swing a lot.
I keep making up arbitrary “we should leave” times because carrying a baby and chasing a toddler is tiring, but eventually realize it’s beautiful out and both kids are mostly happy, so we stay a while.
1:15pm — Leave the park. C doesn’t especially want to leave, but I can tell she’s really tired and needs a break. Z screams a lot in the car, but C somehow falls asleep somewhere. I drive for a bit and Z also falls asleep. C gets 30-40 min nap. Her naps are mostly car naps these days, and we keep them pretty short because we value nighttime sleep more than naps. Napping typically delays her bedtime, and then she doesn’t make up for it in the morning.
2:30pm — We get home and say hi to Jack. C has some milk while I nurse Z. We watch a few minutes of Frozen and a few of The Aristocats because it’s hard to decide what you want to watch.
3:00pm — Since she napped in the car, C doesn’t need a whole lot of quiet time. She asks to go down to the basement to play. It’s been a while since I posted anything, so I haven’t talked about our basement play area. C’s big Christmas present was a Little Gym-esque area in the basement. We have rings, a swing, a trampoline, and some climbing stuff. She loves it a whole lot.
3:50pm — We go back outside to play with stomp rockets.
4:22pm — After a detour to the creek, I tell C we need to go inside and wash her hands before she goes to dinner with Jack. (On a typical day, this is about when I’d go in to start dinner if I didn’t work on it during quiet time. C would wander in and out of the kitchen, helping and snacking on ingredients, bringing me books, playing with Z, and occasionally stopping to watch TV or going into Jack’s office to see if he’s done yet, which he wouldn’t be until 5 or so. Z would be intermittently upset unless he happened to be napping.)
4:32pm — Jack and C leave for daddy-daughter date night at Chick-Fil-A. I get Z down for a nap.
4:40pm — I take Willis out back for a few minutes. He plays with our neighbor’s dog, and then we head back inside.
4:50pm — I eat a bowl of cereal and then most of a pint of ice cream. It’s rare that I don’t have a small child to feed a proper dinner, so I take advantage.
5:25pm — Z wakes up mad. I go upstairs and we put laundry away together, and then I bring him downstairs to feed him and tidy up.
6:30pm — Jack and C get home and tell me about their dinner, which sounds like a very cute experience. Chick-Fil-A was all decorated for Valentine’s Day, and there was a limo (party bus) ride around the area, where C was pretty excited to not need to be buckled in. She’s always been amenable to sitting still and eating at home, but when we’re out at restaurants, there are a lot more distractions and she wants to run around. We’ve been practicing some casual dining out with her, and she’s getting pretty good at it.
6:35pm — I get Z ready for bed.
6:52pm — Give Z to Jack so I can wash my face and get changed. I set up the sound machines for bedtime, and then come back downstairs.
7:03pm — I take Z up to bed and read while he nurses and falls asleep.
7:24pm — Put him down in the bassinet and then stay to read. Sometimes I feel like bedtime sticks better if I stay for a few minutes after I put him down. Almost as if he stirs a little, sees I’m still there, and then settles back down. It’s probably not true, but allow me my superstitions around bedtime.
7:35pm — Go downstairs to tidy up and look for the Sleeping Beauty Tonie that I didn’t see when I was putting things away earlier. Jack leaves C’s room at the same time. Bedtime sticks for Z, so Jack and I just hang out and read.
9:28pm — I finish my book, and I’m about to go to bed, but remember Jack needs a new passport for an upcoming work trip. We think I might join, so we set about trying to make our appointments. Fail because I’m pretty sure the verification codes don’t send after business hours. (Also, it turns out that we didn’t need appointments and that due to the timing I’m not going to join him.)
9:49pm — I actually go up to bed. Brush my teeth and slip into bed and pick a new book.
10:05pm — Fall asleep.
