Holy cow, we close on our new house today. I haven’t written here about moving yet (have to get through moving first), but it is very exciting and also bittersweet. The last three weeks have been an absolute whirlwind between finding our new place, selling our current place, Jack being on a work trip the week we started showing our house, and C becoming super mobile and vocal and also I think teething. It’s all very good and fun. And we are seriously hoping for some rest in the next couple weeks.
I took notes for this post last Wednesday, and even though the Little Gym schedule is about to change a bit and we don’t have to leave our house for 3 hours every day for inspections, it’s pretty representative of the pattern of our days.
1:38am – C is up. It’s the first time tonight and my goodness it is nice. The last few nights, she’s been up a bunch, and last night she was up from 2:30-4:30. I think I see two more teeth that might be bugging her. Anyway, I get up and give her Tylenol, change her, and nurse her.
1:50am – Come back to bed. Wonder if this is the start of a bunch more wakeups or if I’ll get a decent night of sleep.
5:15am – Wake up. Get up, brush my teeth, put my contacts in. Start coffee, put my portable pump together, gather my water and coffee. Eat a peanut butter banana chocolate chip oatmeal bar.
5:30am – Start pumping.
5:37am – C is up and mad. Keep pumping as I go up to feed her. Turn off the pump after a couple minutes because even though it’s supposedly quiet enough not to disturb a sleeping baby, it is definitely distracting her from going back to sleep.
5:49am – Put her back down and go downstairs to continue pumping, drinking my water and coffee, and writing. I’ve been trying to either read or write in the mornings before I work out because they’re both things I enjoy and want to practice. I recently listened to this podcast about talent. The interviewee said he always asks founders what they do to practice their craft that’s similar to how a concert pianist practices scales, as a way to gauge how they think about self-improvement.
As self-improvement goes, I have working out covered, but it’s not exactly a craft. And really, I’m not going to pretend I have much of a craft or that I’m ever going to be a founder of a company, but if I did and if I was, I’d want it to have to do with writing. So, I have the goal of writing 1000 words a day and reading for 15 minutes. I usually squeeze in more than that of one, and neither are very serious most of the time.
The books I read are generally easy and the writing I do is often self-indulgent – essays, eventual blog posts, bad fiction (because as much as I wish I were good at it, I’m just not). So, I don’t think I practice that well, but in this stage of life where time is pretty limited, practicing at all feels like a win. Long tangent.
6:50am – I got a little carried away on the writing and now I should go work out. I change into workout clothes and turn the monitor up and put it by the bed so Jack can get C if she wakes up.
7:00am – Work out (I’m working through this program – it’s one of my favorites and the last time I did it was right before gyms closed in 2020) while listening to Econtalk on economic mobility.
7:30am – Finish working out. I make myself a piece of toast with salt and butter and another with peanut butter, feed Ben, and eat as quickly as I can.
7:45am – Go upstairs to shower and talk to Jack about our plan for the day. I hear C waking up on the monitor, and Jack goes to get her.
8:15am – I feed C real quick. She usually prefers to play for an hour or so before she eats, so she’s pretty squirmy and doesn’t get a ton of milk, but it should hold her over till we get home from Little Gym.
8:25am – I load C into the car for Little Gym, a few minutes later than usual.
8:50am – We’re 5 minutes late to Little Gym. I hate being late to things, but this is a place where someone is late pretty much every week. Babies will do that. C practices standing, crawling, hanging on the rings, and somersaults, and plays with balls and bubbles.
9:30am – Little Gym is over. C cries a little when I put her into the car, but calms pretty quickly.
9:50am – We get home and C is a little cranky. I read her Barnyard Dance and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, feed her, and try to get her a nap.
10:11am – She says, “Absolutely not,” to the nap, so I let her play while I tidy up downstairs, fold laundry, clean the downstairs bathroom, and clean the kitchen. Our home inspection is this afternoon and in the 4 days since we had showing, things have gotten not-so-tidy.
10:58am – C is getting restless, so we head upstairs to try that nap again. I read her Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs and then nurse her to sleep.
11:20am – Put C down in her crib. I go clean our bathroom and grab the trashcan from the curb while Jack finishes tidying the living room.
12:01pm – I heat up lunch. We have a random combo of leftover salmon, roasted sweet potatoes, and pizza because there isn’t really enough of any one thing. I eat another peanut butter banana chocolate chip oatmeal bar.
12:35pm – C is up. I nurse her to help her wake up and then we go downstairs. She starts following me around while I vacuum, and just as I’m coming around the couch I find that she stopped following me and ended up here. I go help her get down.
She comes into the kitchen while I load the dishwasher, and then insists I sit with her while she plays. Doesn’t want me to play with her, but doesn’t want me doing anything else.
2:15pm – I try to nurse C but she’s not really having it.
2:30pm – I load C and Ben into the car to go to my parents’ while our house is getting inspected. Jack heads to a nearby coffee shop to finish out his workday.
3:15pm – We get to my parents’. I drove around a little extra because I thought C was asleep. When I see her and her swollen, tired eyes, I realize she wasn’t.
3:20pm – C watches Ben and my parents’ dog play fight and then plays with toys and books while I pay a couple bills and try to get a hospital to rebill something (for the second time) our insurance should have covered. It takes a while.
4:30pm – My mom tries to get C a short nap, but C cuddles and zones out for a bit and then refuses.
4:50pm – I type up notes for this post.
5:03pm – My parents make crab cakes for dinner and brownies for dessert. Jack works late, so it’s just the four of us. I walk around the house alternately helping C walk and carrying her, and then we play on the floor and climbs all over me.
5:45pm – We eat. C gnaws on some red pepper and cheese. I want to give her crab but I think the cakes are too crumbly for her to grab effectively. (Though as I’m publishing this a few days later, I think she’d have been fine. She’s starting to try to pinch things between her thumb and index finger.)
6:11pm – We head out on a quick walk with the dogs. C does not especially love having the sun in her face, but otherwise handles it fine.
6:22pm – Finish up the walk and go back inside. My mom lets C stretch out for a few minutes before I get her in the car seat to head home.
6:32pm – C, Ben, and I leave with brownies to-go. C cries for the first few minutes of the drive and then is quiet the rest of the way home. I cross my fingers that she’s not asleep.
7:05pm – We get home. I chat with Jack while I have a brownie and heat up some milk to supplement what I’ll give her at bedtime.
7:27pm – C and I go upstairs. I change her into pajamas and read her Time for Bed and You’re My Little Cuddle Bug.
7:37pm – I nurse C and give her the bottle I prepared.
7:57pm – Put C down and I go change into pajamas.
8:01pm – I hear that C is up and mad.
8:11pm – She’s back to sleep. I put her down, wash my face, and text our realtor about buyer questions from the inspection today.
8:25pm – Eat a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. Jack and I continue texting our realtor about buyer questions and chat about our days.
9:40pm – I brush my teeth and take my contacts out.
9:47pm – Crawl in bed and read. I’m reading Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, and while it’s fine, I’ve had it checked out from the library for 2.5 weeks. When I really like a book, I usually make it through in under a week.
10:03pm – Put my Kindle away and fall asleep super fast.
Love the little gym picks…especially the one of her holding the ball.