These posts are so fun to write! I know the days feel like a blur, but it's nice to step back and look at what I actually do.
3:22 am: Marshall wakes up. I hope he'll put himself back to sleep, but no luck. I find him in his crib crying, so I feed him and he falls asleep on me. I move him back to his crib.
4:00 am: Back to bed for me.
4:37 am: Marshall wakes up again. Terry hears him, changes his diaper, and brings him back to bed after a spit up. I feed him and we all go back to sleep in our room.
7ish am: Terry is getting ready for work and Marshall wakes up. I let him roll around next to me while I try to open my eyes. Terry comes in to kiss us goodbye and I finally sit myself up in bed to feed the little guy. Then I change him and dress him and let him play in the living room while I make breakfast.
7:50 am: Marshall spits up all over himself and needs a diaper change again, so I change his entire outfit, including the socks (it was a bad spit up!). Then he hangs out in his high chair while I finish making breakfast.
8:15 am: Breakfast! Scrambled eggs and small pieces of pear for Marshall (he tries to shove as much of each into his mouth as possible without swallowing, which is fun for everyone), and the same for me plus toast and tea.
We finish eating and chat for a while. I take advantage of the fact that he is content in his high chair and listen to his squeals while he waves his bowl around and I finish my tea.
8:45 am: Time to clean up! Scrambled eggs, as I'm sure you know if you've flung them all over the floor and table, are particularly difficult to clean. I would MUCH rather wipe up purees than scrambled eggs, because the latter are somehow crumbly and sticky and impossible to pick up all at the same time.
By the way, have I mentioned this bib before? My friend Fay sent it, and it says, "Probably the best baby in the world." I LOVE it!
I try to convince Marshall that his toy box is much more fun than the food pieces left on the floor. He doesn't believe me and tries to continue his meal on the floor.
Finally I put M in the Exersaucer so I can get dressed and make the bed and tidy up a bit more, but he only gives me a few minutes before he in no uncertain terms announces that he is ready to be OUT. So I let him crawl around again and Scout takes the opportunity to race around the room.
At this point our seven pound cat somehow manages to knock over our very sturdy bar stool. Marshall finds this event wildly entertaining and congratulates his pal on such destruction.
9:01 am: I manage to find two socks. No, they do not match. Neither do Marshall's. In case you were thinking to yourself, "Man, Julie really seems to have her life together!" I have two responses to that thought: 1) You should never think that, because I don't, and I can't blame the baby. And 2) Here's evidence that something as basic as finding two pairs of matching socks is virtually impossible.
9:05 am: Out the door! We head to the park for some fresh air. I take Marshall to the swings for about ten minutes and we enjoy a very short (half lap) around the park before he indicates that he's quite tired. I race home, doing everything I can to keep him awake so he can sleep in his crib.
10ish am: We make it home! I change Marshall and read to him in the glider for a few minutes.
10:17 am: In the crib for a nap. I start cleaning and realize I need to empty the dishwasher, which is too noisy while Marshall is napping (that kid hears EVERYTHING!).
10:30 am: Marshall is finally asleep. I start this blog post, respond to some e-mails, chat with a friend online. It's nice to sit down for a bit! I grab a snack (Greek yogurt with honey, peanut butter, and chocolate-covered pomegranate seeds) and watch an episode of Friends.
11:20 am: Miraculously, Marshall is still asleep. Lately his morning naps have been 30 minutes at best, so I'm floored and not totally sure what to do with myself. (<--As soon as I write those words, Marshall wakes up!)
11:30 am: Feed Marshall, and immediately he falls asleep on me. I figure he's tired, and I'm not feeling especially anxious to get anything else done, so I let him sleep for another hour while checking my phone, emailing Terry, and watching Friends. Not a bad little break!
12:35 pm: Marshall's awake again, so he eats for real this time and then continues playing. I empty the dishwasher and boil some peas for his lunch, then get to those dishes.
1:00 pm: Usually I eat lunch with Marshall, but I'm surprisingly satisfied from my yogurt bowl, so I get a few more things tidied up while he eats (lunch today is peas, sweet potato fries--sliced sweet potatoes tossed in olive oil and roasted at 450 for about 25 minutes--and some leftover brown rice). Food goes everywhere and I end up cleaning the floor again.
1:25 pm: Marshall continues playing, we listen to some music and dance, we talk to Scout. Marshall is getting more adventurous and starting to travel outside his little comfort radius in the living room, so now I really can't leave the room for more than about thirty seconds before he finds something he shouldn't be playing with, like the printer or the trash can stepper thing.
2:00 pm: Pack up for another little outing, this time to Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and RiteAid. Luckily they're all in the same shopping center, so we can just park once and walk everywhere. Marshall and I talk about what we're buying, look at all the bright colors of the produce, choose some new foods for him to try (mango!), and head back home.
3:15 pm: I'm finally hungry, so I whip up a little quesadilla with turkey while Marshall rolls around on the ground, looking pretty tired. I read him the rest of our book from earlier (Go, Dog. Go!), and put him to bed. He's asleep fairly quickly with minimal crying, so I call it a success.
3:52 pm: Continue writing this post, realize I've hardly had any water today, drink a few glasses, and eat some Mandarin oranges.
4:07 pm: Continue tidying up so that Marshall and I can play when he wakes up. We're having leftovers for dinner so no need to prep anything!
4:30 pm: Marshall is impeccable with his timing. I have read that babies' sleep cycles are 45 minutes in length, but I didn't realize they are exactly 45 minutes. Marshall wakes up 45 minutes precisely after falling asleep. I feed him, and we spend the next hour playing together. I love this time of day because I get to just enjoy my little guy without trying to get anything else done. We listen to music, sing, stack (me) and knock down (him) blocks, read, talk, and practice clapping and waving (Marshall has done both of these things, but with no consistency). We also try a fun new game where Marshall lays on his mat and I pull him around on the hardwood floor. Hilarious giggles ensue.
More crawling around and looking at Scout.
Plus practice with crawling up onto the step! Marshall crawled up here the other day and then took a tumble off of it, so I am a little nervous about it, but he seems unfazed by the whole thing.
5:35ish pm: I spot a spider on Marshall's laundry bag. It's huge, and I'm terrified of spiders, and it's a really big problem. I call Terry and end up in tears on the phone, completely frozen and totally terrified. I was shaking! Thankfully, Marshall was content to play by himself during my little panic attack, and Terry made it home before too long. He took care of the spider, I calmed down, and the rest of the night was able to carry on. (I know this sounds ridiculously melodramatic, and I am quite embarrassed that I reacted so strongly, but it happened, so there you go.)
6:05 pm (The next time I can remember): Marshall is back in his high chair for dinner, and Terry is off to start laundry. Marshall gets brown rice, avocado, a little bell pepper, and another sweet potato fry, plus some mango. Another huge mess, but a very happy little boy.
6:45 pm: I read a story with Marshall while Terry switches out laundry, and then he breastfeeds before getting ready for bed. Terry takes care of the bedtime routine--diaper, sleeper, story, lullabies, bed--while I get our dinner ready (we usually eat altogether as a family, but now and then Marshall eats first...usually when I don't have my act together to have our meal ready by 6).
7:30 pm: Marshall is asleep. Terry goes downstairs to grab the laundry while I plate up dinner. We eat while chatting and watching The Flash. I am actually pretty into this show! It's fun, and I love hearing Terry's nerdy comic book side come out as he explains all the characters' backgrounds.
8:45 pm: We watch a few YouTube videos from the Super Bowl (Left Shark, Mindy Kaling's commercial, the Budweiser Lost Puppy commercial, and Jimmy Kimmel's Deflategate sketch), then play a round of Gin Rummy while eating ice cream. I made a new ice cream recipe from the 100 Days of Real Food Cookbook, and we love it! Not too sweet, but still a great treat.
9:30 pm: I finish up this post while we watch Seinfeld. I plan to get in bed fairly soon after I publish this post, and I hope it'll be a good night of sleep before a busy day tomorrow!
More "A Day in the Life" posts:
- Baby Edition (Marshall was four and a half months old!)
- Two Jobs Edition
- Evening Edition
- Delta Edition
- Morning Edition
Hope you are having a great start to the week (and the month!). Tomorrow I'll be back to share our February fitness goals.
What was the best part of your day?
What's your biggest fear? Honestly, I'd say small enclosed spaces are actually a bigger fear for me than spiders, so I don't know what the hell was up with me today.
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