I know there will be a time in the future that I will look back and wonder how my life was different at this stage- one baby, working full-time. So I thought I would write down a typical day.
6:00am- alarm goes off, I drag myself out of bed and begin pumping. Hopefully baby is still asleep.
6:15am- Daniel gets up and gets in the shower. I'm still pumping.
6:30am- I finish pumping and take my milk up to the kitchen. By this time Elijah is usually up. Sometimes I'll go get him and bring him downstairs, sometimes Daniel goes to get him when he's done getting ready.
6:30-7am- I shower, get dressed, etc. During this time Daniel is upstairs packing my pump bag, lunch, and Elijah's bottles for school while he eats his morning bottle in the high chair.
7am- I take over the Elijah care while Daniel gathers up his things and leaves for work. I put lotion and clothes on Elijah if Daniel hasn't already, and hopefully he will play happily in the living room while I scarf down some breakfast, grab my things, and we're out the door by 7:20 or 7:30
7:45am- arrive at Elijah's school. Put him down on the play rug and put his bottles in the fridge, fill out his information sheet with the times he woke up, was diapered, and fed. Discuss any ongoing issues with his teachers (sleep concerns, spitting up, any illness, new milestones, etc.) I sit down on the floor with Elijah and play with him and the other babies while talking to his teachers
8:15am- arrive at my desk at work. Pump at 9am, 12 or 12:30pm, and 3 or 3:30pm
4pm- leave work, drive to Elijah's school, and play with him for a few minutes while getting a quick summary of his day- how did he eat (well!), did he nap well (mixed), was he generally happy or fussy (usually happy), any new milestones to report (lately, lots of drool and less spitting up- yay!)
4:15 or 4:30 until 5ish- drive home
5:00- arrive home, if Elijah fell asleep in the car (almost every day, depending on how well he napped) I try to get him inside without waking him. This is successful about 10% of the time. If he wakes up, I take him out and put him on the floor to play. Then I fill up the sink with hot soapy water, disassemble all his dirty bottles and put them in the sink, dump my 2 sets of pump parts in the sink, pour the milk I've pumped for the day into empty clean bottles and reassemble those, put the bottles I pumped into in the sink, and put any dirty clothes in the laundry. Oh and put the ice pack in my pump bag and the ice pack in Eljiah's bottle bag back in the freezer for tomorrow. Then I wash ALL of those dishes. I hate this part.
5:15ish- Daniel arrives home and rescues me. Either he picks up a fussy (overtired) Elijah, or he takes over the dishes so I can play with Elijah. We talk about our day, open the mail, tidy up the kitchen. I also try to pick out Elijah's clothes for the next day somewhere in here.
6:00- start bedtime routine. I give Elijah a bath while Daniel warms up his last bottle, picks up his toys, closes the shades in his room, fills his humidifier, etc. When I finish the bath, Daniel cleans that up as well. We let Elijah play in the bath as long as he is happy (usually about 10 minutes). Take him out, lotion, fresh diaper and jammies, and then we sit in the rocking chair and read a few books while he eats his last bottle of the day. When he finishes eating, I zip him into his blanket, turn all the lights off, turn the white noise on, and rock him for a few minutes until he settles down. Then I give him a kiss, tell him goodnight, and put him in the crib. Then I walk out and say a silent prayer that he doesn't cry. For the past week or so, he hasn't. Yay!
6:30- I pump while Daniel finishes dinner. By the time I'm done, dinner is ready and Eljiah is asleep.
7:00- eat dinner, clean up
7:30-9- talk on the phone with family, take care of any chores, laundry, or work we need to get done; sometimes we watch TV or play on the computer
9 or 9:30pm- last pump of the day, put the milk away, wash the last few dishes, prepare as much as I can for tomorrow
By 10pm at the latest- go to sleep!
3 or 4am- sometimes Elijah wakes up to eat once. Daniel uses the milk that I pumped at the end of the day to feed him (usually 3 oz), and then it's right back to bed
I remember thinking when he was 3 or 4 months old that there's no way I could write out a typical day, because there was no such thing! I'm just now realizing that this is pretty consistent now. Which I love because I love predictability :-) But in another month I'm sure this will have evolved into something new.
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