This past Sunday was a fun Day in the Life for me to record because it was my “Henry Day.”  The Husband and I really want to make an effort to do things alone with each kid – not just when they are little, but when they are bigger, too.  Obviously, Claire doesn’t appreciate this too much right now, but Henry sure does!  The Husband takes Henry to soccer lessons once a week; my alone time with him is more spontaneous (and harder to schedule because of Claire’s age).  Here’s what we did!

4:00 AM:

 

Claire wakes up and eats 3.5 ounces off a bottle that I pumped earlier.  I lay her down and she spits up EVERYWHERE. I frantically strip the first sheet layer off and manage to save the second sheet (pro parenting tip – double up sheet layers for moments like this!). I manage to get her back down at 4:22.  I don’t fall asleep until 5 AM.

 

6:36 AM:

 

Claire wakes up to breastfeed.

 

7:30 AM:

 

Claire wakes up AGAIN to breastfeed.

 

8:45 AM:

Claire and I get out of bed.  She is super smiley!  The Husband had gotten up with Henry; I hear them downstairs eating breakfast.  I pump off a bottle and feed Claire.

 

9:15 AM:

 

I go downstairs and eat breakfast.  I have a peanut butter-rich smoothie with strawberries and spinach mixed in.  I also have a giant coffee.  Kristien and I discuss the day – he wants to hang out with his mom while she runs errands, so we decide to split up the kids; he’ll take Claire and I’ll take Henry.

 

10:00 AM:

 

I start the process of getting ready to leave for the playground.

 

10:30 AM:

Henry and I leave.  It takes me eons to leave the house these days!  We go to the playground for a while.  Some parents are smart enough to bring towels to wipe down the wet slides – geniuses!  We have a snack at the park.

 

11:45 AM:

Go get my car washed and vacuumed.  My car was DISGUSTING and will probably be disgusting again in, oh, a week.  But for now – it’s really clean!  Yay!

 

12:15 PM:

We go to lunch at Whole Food’s.  Henry really likes picking his food out at the hot bar.  It’s wonderful to have lunch out with just the two of us!  Afterwards, we get ice cream from the gelato station.  Henry now believes that I’m the bestest, coolest mom ever.

1:00 PM:

 

Head home.  Kristien, Claire, and my in-laws get back around the same time that we do.  I say hi to everyone and chat for a bit and then I take Henry upstairs to nap at 1:20 PM.

 

1:25 PM:

 

Pump a bottle.  Unfortunately, on this day, I get “ahead” of Claire with pumping, so I end up pumping all of her feeds during the day instead of actually breastfeeding her. I prefer to breastfeed her when we’re at home and use bottles when we’re out, but sometimes that means that we get off rhythm.  Oh well!

 

1:35 PM:

 

Go downstairs and do some work.  At 2:00 PM, Kristien gives me Claire because he’s heading out to meet a friend for racquetball.  I head upstairs with her for a bit to cuddle.  I put her down for her nap after about ten minutes.  Both kids are asleep at the same time!  WAHOO!  I race downstairs and start frantically working.

 

3:35 PM:

Stop work and pick up living room.  I do a living room pick-up every day at nap time; it keeps me from going crazy over the kiddie chaos that inevitably happened in the morning.  Throw some laundry in.

 

3:50 PM:

I do 20 min of PiYo before getting nervous Claire and Henry are going to wake up.  I stop the DVD because I need to do some other things before they gets up.

 

4:15 PM:

Make a snack and eat it while pumping a bottle.  Quickly hop in the shower and rinse off.

 

4:30 PM:

 

Henry is awake in his bed and playing. He’s really awesome about just hanging out in his room, regardless of whether he’s asleep or not (he didn’t actually take a three hour nap; it took him a while to go to sleep).  I go into my room and get Claire up, too.  She has a bottle, and then we wake up Henry.  The three of us play, read books, eat snacks, and do a little cooking.

 

5:45 PM:

Kristien is home again!  We go for a walk.  Henry and I play with sticks (a favorite pastime) until one of the neighbor’s kids come outside.  They chase the dogs around for a long time – the sun goes down on us!

 

6:25 PM:

We eat dinner (I go back for seconds of everything), clean up, and then have a living room dance/singing party to Ed Sheeran, who the Husband is obsessed with.   Claire takes a cat nap in her Dad’s arms.

 

7:00 PM:

I start Henry’s bedtime routine.  He takes a bath while I pump again. Kristien brings Claire in; she sits on the side of the counter and looks insanely sleepy.  We swap kids – Kristien takes over with Henry, puts him in pajamas, and sings him football fight songs and the British national anthem.

 

7:30 PM:

I start reading this week’s Book of the Week.  Claire is CRABBY so I put her in her swing for a bit, hoping it calms her down.  She is a very easy baby overall but has fussy moments at night. 

 

7:45 PM:

 

She was okay for a bit, but now she is crying.  She wants to be bounced in my lap.  I bounce her until my biceps hurt!  I decide that it’s really time to get her on a schedule. 

 

8:00 PM:

 

I think she’s sleepy so I swaddle her and try to put her down in her bassinet.  It doesn’t work – she gets fussier and fussier. Her sleep schedule is totally off, and she’s super grumpy. Poor girl! I give her a bottle. Still doesn’t work.  The only thing that really helps is doing ‘baby bicycle legs.’ At 8:25, my patience is kind of shot so I bring her to Kristien, who is our family’s Baby Whisper (I suck at calming babies but rock at dealing with toddlers – at least we each have a useful superpower!).  He takes over pumping her legs and gets her to stop crying and fall asleep.

 

8:40 PM:

 

We put a sleeping Claire (whew!!!) in her swing and watch Parenthood (all the tears!) and Girls (I laughed so hard).

 

10:00 PM:

 

I tidy up, pump another bottle, and wash my face.  I prep the coffee maker for tomorrow AM and hit “delay brew.”

 

10:15 PM:

 

I take Claire out of her swing, dream feed her 1.5 ounces, and go to bed.  She wakes up to eat at 1:30 AM and 5:15 AM – not too shabby!   I actually don’t mind the nighttime wake-ups with Claire because it’s our special quiet time together.  <3 <3 <3