Happy Tuesday! In the last week, I’ve started to keep track of our days at least two times and then gotten distracted and not finished writing the day out. But yesterday, I did. I’ll note that bedtime was actually easy yesterday, but it hasn’t been over the last week or more. There have been several nights where Jack and I have had to go resettle C a combined six times over two or more hours. But we got lucky yesterday!
12:07am – I go up to bed. I fell asleep on the couch at 8:45 while waiting to see if C would need resettling for a third time. (She didn’t.) Bedtime has been tough for the last couple weeks.
2:30am – I wake up to a short cry from C and sit up, scoop her out of her bassinet, and feed her. It’s only about 10 minutes before she’s back to sleep.
5:30am – I wake up in anticipation of feeding C again, but she doesn’t get up, so I just toss and turn till it’s actually time to get up. Oops.
6:15am – My first alarm goes off to feed the dogs. I keep laying in bed because I’m sleepy.
6:25am – My second alarm goes off to feed the dogs. I lay in bed for a few more minutes because C is stirring and I want to see if she will settle. When I think she has, I get up, put my contacts in, brush my teeth, and head downstairs.
6:37am – Jack is feeding the boys, so I make coffee. I wait to add water to the machine because Jack is getting water for Ben, but immediately forget I did that and start the machine without water. I have no clue how to stop the gurgling the machine is making, so I unplug it and add water, then plug it back in to brew.
6:45am – Realize I forgot my workout clothes upstairs, so I sneak into our room to grab them, and then go downstairs and change.
6:55am – Head to the (garage) gym to start Expecting & Empowered lower body day from week 10 of the postpartum program. I get through the flexibility and pelvic floor sections, as well as one round of the main workout, while listening to this week’s EconTalk before Jack comes out and says C is up and hungry.
7:22am – Come in and feed C, talk about our schedule with Jack. It’s his first day back to work after paternity leave, so it’s going to be different than we’re used to.
7:45am – C is done nursing, so I run out to the garage to finish the last two rounds of my workout before 8am when Jack wants to shower. I rush a little, but get it done. Toward the end of my pregnancy, I was doing my workouts whenever. I often split it between first thing in the morning and lunchtime, and sometimes after work. When I first started working out again postpartum, I’d just squeeze workouts in sometime. But I’ve found in the last couple weeks that having my workout done first thing really does make me feel better and more productive.
So, even though I love love love being the one to get C up (she is so fun in the morning!), and also would love to prioritize showering early, with J going back to work, this is the best we can do right now. Unless I want to get up even earlier. And some days I do, but definitely not every day. I’ve been extra tired the last week or so. So, for now I mostly plan to shower while she naps. I’m more willing to cut getting ready short than working out.
8:01am – I finish putting the weights back and come inside, and trade off with Jack. He goes to shower and I play with C. I read her the first part of The Morning Dispatch before she starts to show signs of being sleepy, so I check her diaper and then swaddle her for a nap.
8:17am – We head up to the nursery, lullabies playing. I walk her around her nursery for about 5 minutes and she’s out; it was apparently the perfect moment for a nap. I carefully set her down and then run downstairs to get water, coffee, and breakfast, and pump. I pump my slacker side for 10 minutes and eat a banana and cottage cheese.
8:37am – Give Ben the cottage cheese container to lick clean. He knows it’s coming and has been begging like crazy since I started eating.
8:42am – I take the container away because Ben has started to go in on the plastic, and that’s no good. I consider going to shower right then, but prioritize finishing my coffee and waiting for Jack to come downstairs to see if he needs anything before he logs into work.
9:10am – I hear a squawk from the monitor and decide to wait a few more minutes before going to shower just in case C is about to get up. Naps longer than an hour are pretty rare right now. We’re getting pretty close to that point and I don’t want to get into the shower only to hear her immediately.
9:18am – Talk to Jack about the meeting he just had with his manager. Jack got a new job and will be starting at a different company in early April. He came back from paternity leave a couple weeks early to give two weeks’ notice. His manager wishes him luck at the new job and says he’ll advocate for Jack to just take the last 2 weeks of his leave. So, maybe J isn’t really going back to work today.
9:23am – C is up, so I go get her, change her, and offer more milk.
9:55am – After I feed her, I set her down in the bassinet for a minute so I can run to the bathroom. I come back to a crazy blowout, which is the second one in about 14 hours. So, even though they’re supposedly manufactured at the same place as the Huggies ones that work for C, I make the call that the Kirkland diapers do not work for her. Jack cleans her up and I go clean up the clothes.
10:15am – I put C in a new outfit and then set her up in the bouncy seat so I can unload/reload the dishwasher and clean up the kitchen.
She now has just enough power to bounce herself a little when she kicks. We smile and chat at each other while I work, and she’s had about enough right as I finish.
10:33am – Start prepping her for a nap. I check her diaper, swaddle her, and turn on some lullabies as we head up to the nursery.
10:47am – C is down, so I grab the monitor from downstairs and hop in the shower.
10:54am – I finish showering, and still haven’t heard from C, so I keep getting ready.
11:08am – I’ve done my hair and makeup and put on clothes, and she’s still sleeping. I go downstairs and tidy up a little bit, and then cut my nails that aren’t long, but are way too long by my standards. Ask Jack what he wants for dinner off the menu I made for the week. I’m surprised when he chooses salmon, because I burned us both out on salmon at the beginning of my pregnancy.
11:30am – C is up. I go get her and the dogs join me.
Then we go downstairs and I nurse her. We cuddle for a few minutes after, and then I get C ready to go to the grocery store. I usually order groceries off Instacart, but we had a relatively small list this week and I figure it’s something for us to do that gets us out of the house.
12:16pm – We get to the grocery store and I put C in the Colugo carrier. She is awake until we’re done in the produce section, and then she naps for the next 30 minutes or so. Once I’ve loaded all the groceries and C back into the car, I order subs for me and Jack. The store I went to didn’t have the diapers we like, so I plan to run into a different store next to Jimmy John’s while I wait for our order.
1:10pm – Score. I found the diapers, and they happened to be on sale with a bunch of coupons available.
1:15pm – C and I walk to pick up our subs, and then get back into the car and head home. She hates being put in the car seat, but usually calms down as soon as we start moving.
1:30pm – Get home and bring C and the subs inside. Jack gets her out of the car seat and changes her while I get the groceries inside. We set C in the bouncy seat while we put groceries away, and then Jack goes back to his desk while C and I sit at the table. I finish eating and nurse C.
2:18pm – C is done eating and starting to get tired, so I change her diaper, swaddle her, and take her upstairs. She fusses for a few minutes while we pace around and then she’s out.
2:26pm – And she’s up again. I go back up and pace her back to sleep.
2:34pm – I intended to take her downstairs and let her sleep on me, but she seems to be totally out, so I put her down in her crib. If she’s up again in a few minutes, I’ll try to get her to sleep on me. I go downstairs and lay down to rest/type up notes for this post.
3:03pm – C is awake, so I go get her, assuming the nap is over. By the time we get downstairs, she’s nearly asleep in my arms. So, I sit down. She wakes a little, asks to nurse, and then falls asleep on my boob. I actually love it when she sleeps on me, so I sit back and relax, write, and read.
Only downside is my water is out of reach.
5:06pm – Okay, now she’s really awake. No idea if that long nap will mess up bedtime, but we’ll see. I feed her and we play on the couch for a bit, and then I hand C to Jack while I go check on the laundry from earlier.
5:55pm – I’m super hungry and dinner is probably at least a couple hours off, so I have a slice of spice bread from my grandma that I pulled out of the freezer the other day. Then, I take C and Ben for a walk at a nearby park. Usually, Jack would go with us and we’d bring Willis, but Jack has a migraine, so he offered to stay back and prep dinner. We walk about a mile and I listen to The Love of My Life. C sleeps for maybe 15 minutes.
6:44pm – We get home and Jack feeds Ben and Willis while I change C. Then, I nurse her briefly before laying her on her play mat.
I read her about half of this essay while Jack plays with her before she starts to lose it a little bit.
7:25pm – Jack and I give C a quick bath before bedtime. Then, Jack puts on her pajamas while I go upstairs to wash my face and set up for bedtime. (We move the monitor to the nursery during the day for naps and I replace her sound machine with a charged one.) I also look for the AirPod that was mysteriously not in its case when I went on our walk earlier. It occurs to me that I woke up with an AirPod in my hand. I now have no clue where I put it. It’s annoying because I use alternate use of them at night to help tune out some of C’s sleep noises. Still can’t find it, but I’m sure it will turn up. (Note: it turned up in my hand in the middle of the night again.)
7:44pm – When I come downstairs, I try to nurse C but she is not having it. I’m pretty sure she’s hungry, though. We go upstairs to the nursery, where it’s darker and less stimulating, and she accepts my offer of milk. I pace while nursing her till she’s asleep.
7:58pm – I put her in the bassinet in our room, and hope for the best. When I get downstairs, dinner is mostly-cooked. I sent Jack the recipe for pistachio-crusted salmon earlier and said I was just planning to roast some asparagus like we usually do for a side. He did that while I put C to bed, and it was ready shortly after. It was delicious (and I was starving).
8:32pm – C squawks several times and is starting to work herself up. I go upstairs to soothe her since Jack is still finishing dinner. She’s wide awake when I enter the room, but falls asleep pretty much as soon as she’s in my arms.
8:36pm – I come back downstairs. Jack says he’ll take any additional wake-ups so I can rest, which I very much appreciate.
9:26pm – I finish up this post. C is stirring a little, so I wait 15 minutes before I head upstairs to bed.
