Where did I leave off?  Oh yes – Henry was jumping around, and I was publishing the Day in the Life Part I post.

10:20 AM – I change another diaper, and then I pump my third bottle of the day. Henry is starting to look very sleepy, so I take him upstairs to his nursery and read him a book.  He passes out in my arms for nap #2 and I place him oh-so-gently in his big boy bed.

10:38 AM – I start a frantic chore spree.  When Henry goes down, I get as much stuff done as possible.  I prep a Crock Pot’s worth of veggies for tonight’s dinner, do some laundry, answer emails, and tidy up the house.  I also send a bunch of forms over to our potential new clinic landlord.

11:01 AM – I hear Henry through the monitor.  He is not crying but fussing.  I am trying to help him learn how to self-soothe and take longer naps but it’s an uphill battle.  To facilitate this, I do not rush to him immediately when he awakes up unless he is hysterical.  I take a pause and finish whatever I am doing.  Sometimes, he can put himself  back to sleep.  But three minutes later, I watch on the monitor as he rolls over, gets stuck on his stomach, and begins to wail, so I go get him. 

11:10 AM – We play together in his jumper.  Henry is so energetic and active… He is obsessed with this darn jumper. 

11:20 AM – The dogs look antsy so I leash everyone up, and we go for a short walk.

11:40 AM – We are just heading back to the house when Henry starts to have a meltdown.  Nap #2 was far too short, and he really needs to go back to bed.   Generally, I try not to keep him up for more than two hours at a time and get him to nap for at least 45 minutes.  Yes, this means that it is very hard to do anything outside of the house, but honestly, it is worth it because a rested baby is a happy baby.  And a happy baby means a happy mommy.  Anyway, we come home from our walk and head back into the nursery.  I try to soothe him into sleeping in his crib, but now he is overtired (the arch nemesis of naptime), so we go downstairs and he sits in the swing (which is like overtired kryptonite).

It takes a few minutes but he eventually passes out at 12:06 PM.  I stay in the room with him a little bit longer to make sure he is really asleep.  I go get the monitor from upstairs and plug it in front of the swing. 

12:15 PM – I eat chocolate and write the first half of this post!  As I’m writing, I remember how, before I had Henry, I would read moms’ Day in the Life posts and think, “Holy hell, their entire day is focused on the most mundane things, and it all revolves around their kids.”  It is true.  A lot of the tasks are very repetitive (diaper-eat-play-sleep-and-repeat).   But, honestly, it is usually not as boring as it looks to an outsider.  It’s a lot more interesting when it’s your kid, and Henry’s needs are so constant that I never feel like I don’t have something I could be doing (even if the something isn’t very thought-provoking!).  But this is one of the reasons that I’m glad I exercise regularly and write for fun – these activities are ‘me time.’  Although I don’t necessarily get to spend a lot of time engaging in my hobbies on a daily basis, being involved in something besides Henry helps feel me sane and happy. 

12:30 PM – Henner’s eyes are open.  I resume my spot in front of the swing.  This is the opposite of ‘self-soothe’ – to stare at his momma while he swings – but I’ve realized that I have to choose my battles with Henry’s naps.  Either I do everything in my power to make him nap when he is overtired, or he has a huge meltdown and the day is miserable for him.  I read blogs on my iPhone to pass the time (giving him direct eye contact is no good).  I also proofread a direct mailer for the clinic.  We recently hired someone to do our marketing, and I’m overseeing his work for the time being.  For the one millionth time, I wonder how moms functioned before the invention of smart phones.

12:50 PM – Henry’s eyes are open but I’m pretty sure he’s actually asleep (it’s weird, I know).  I slink away.

12:55 PM – I make and eat lunch, which is a pretty random mish-mash.

Behind-the-scenes peek at my photography studio.  Classy, I know.

While I am eating, DadHTP stops by and we talk politics for a while.  He hangs out for a bit to see if Henry will wake up so they can play, but no dice.

1:30 PM – I write the last bit of this post, proofread, and hit publish again!