A Day in the Life: 8 Months

I decided to document a day in our life so I could remember how we spent our days during this stage in our lives. I can barely remember what I did with Nicholas on a daily basis when he was a newborn, so I'm sure this phase will become a blur at some point in the near future. This particular day (Thursday, September 27th) was a little bit busier than our average day in terms of social plans and activities, but it still gives a good flavor of what we did on a daily basis while I've been staying home with Nicholas.

1:30am: Due to poor time management the prior evening (a not uncommon occurrence), followed by anxiety about going back to work and starting Nicholas in daycare, I have probably been asleep for just 20 minutes when Nicholas starts wailing. I lie there for a few minutes. Nope, doesn't sound like he's going to stop and go back to sleep. I blearily get up, nurse him, change him, and give him some infant Advil. I'm pretty sure he's teething again.

1:48am: I climb back in bed and gratefully fall into a deep sleep. Until....

5:45am: Nicholas starts crying again. Jason rouses me, but I roll over and try to ignore the baby monitor. He quiets down after a few minutes.

6:10am: And he's crying again. I get up to nurse him and change him again.

6:30am: I put Nicholas back in his crib and tell him it's still night time. Too. Early. To. Get. Up. (The light from the kitchen and the sounds of Jason making coffee don't help my case, but I'm hoping he'll buy it.) I crawl back in my bed hoping to get a little more sleep.

7:00am: Nope, he's not buying it. He's been fussing off and on for the past 15 minutes, so I stumble out of bed again, go get him, and bring him back into our bed. Usually, this results in him crawling all over the bed and repeatedly punching me in the face or trying to poke my eyes out, but he is strangely calm and content to just lie next to me in the bed. He listens as Jason shaves and gets ready for work.

7:30am: Jason leaves for work and the house is quiet. Stroke of luck! Nicholas is dozing off in our bed. This probably hasn't happened since he was 5 months old. I seize the moment and try to doze off myself-- while remaining completely still and crouched on the edge of the bed so as not to disturb the little prince lounging in the middle of bed.

8:15am: I am asleep, but as I shift to finally get comfortable, I wake Nicholas. Oh well. All good things must come to an end. When he opens his eyes and realizes he's sleeping in the big bed next to Mommy, his expression is priceless. We play in the bed for a few minutes.

8:20am: Time to face the world. I pour myself a much needed cup of coffee and grab a yogurt. OK, first I have a piece of the brownies I baked yesterday. Then I grab my nonfat yogurt. Nicholas is crawling around the kitchen floor. I try to ignore the fact that it is absolutely filthy and brush away the bigger, choking hazard crumbs with my feet. Full disclosure here, people.

8:30am: I put Nicholas in his Sassy Seat where he bounces happily while I drink my coffee and browse Facebook and a few blogs. I try to limit my time on the computer while he's awake, but need a few minutes to warm up to the world before I can really get into my day. (As you may have already grasped, mornings aren't really my thing.)

9:00am: Time for Nicholas' breakfast! I make him some baby oatmeal cereal, get him strapped into his chair, and feed him while sipping my second cup of coffee. After he finishes his cereal, I share a few bites of my yogurt with him. It's organic and nonfat, but still has added sugar, so it's a rare treat for him. He laps up several big bites.

9:17am: I sign "all done!" and we do "washa washa"-- a silly song I made up to sing when we wash his face and hands after meals. (It bears a very strong resemblance to "brusha brusha," which we sing when I "brush" or wipe clean his teeth before he goes to bed.)

9:20am: Play time! We play on the floor of his room with his Baby Einstein treasure chest. I sneak in a few chores around his room, including emptying his Diaper Genie (ew) and folding some of his laundry. We discover he likes playing inside the laundry basket-- until he starts to pull up on it and it tips almost all the way over. And our time playing in the laundry basket ends as quickly as it started.

9:55am: Nicholas starts to get fussy, so I begin our wind down for his morning nap. I turn off the lights and we read his Dinosaur board book. Then we go to the window and say bye-bye to the tree, the leaves, the grass, the red truck, and the windowsill latch (his favorite item), and finally pull the curtains closed. I nurse him, rock him, and put him in his crib.

10:16am: And he's down. I get on the computer for a few minutes and begin writing this blog post.

10:35am: He's been moaning a little bit and talking to himself. Now he's actually asleep.

10:47am: I'm done with the computer. I briefly contemplate getting back in bed for a nap (which I should probably be embarrassed to admit I do once a week or so during his morning nap), but the coffee has kicked in and the fact that I'm documenting my day suddenly makes me want to be extra productive. I make the bed; throw in a load of laundry; sweep the kitchen, laundry room, dining room, and living room; and wet Swiffer the kitchen. I find a dead (small) roach while sweeping under the stove and am happy Nicholas' little fingers can't reach that far. We don't see them often, but we live in Texas in house built in the 1920s. Roaches are bound to appear once in a while.

11:18am: I hop into the shower. We're meeting my friend Shannon for lunch at noon, so I need to be quick. I don't have time to wash my hair, so I go for a quick rinse and then break out the dry shampoo. I figure as a soon-to-be working mom, I better get used to streamlining my beauty routine (even more than it already is.) Also, I figure maybe the fact that I haven't invested in a full wash and blow dry will serve as an incentive to squeeze in a workout later in the afternoon.

11:35am: Shoot. I am running behind schedule. I used to be a very punctual person. Then I had a baby. Now I am 10 minutes late wherever I go. I text Shannon to let her know. I run around trying to get the diaper bag ready and realize we have no clean bottles, so I quickly wash out a few, fill one with water, and throw a to-go formula pouch into the diaper bag.

11:45am: I have to wake Nicholas up from his nap. I hate doing this, but fortunately he wakes up easily. I change him, dress him, and strap him into the carseat. But not before we take a quick photo on the way out the door. I am wearing my snazzy new mustard yellow skinny cords. I know you want to see my yellow cords.

I so have a dazzling career in fashion blogging ahead of me, right? Right?

12:08pm: We arrive at Whole Foods. Shannon has scored us a table, so I drop off Nicholas and go forage lunch for myself. I wind up with spicy tuna rolls with brown rice and a side of steamed veggies on top of Asian style noodles. I eat and then feed Nicholas his bottle. We catch up about her recent trip to Seattle, the new house, and my new job.

1:06pm: Behind schedule again. Lunch was too short, and now we're late to Gymboree. Fortunately traffic is light and we make good time up MoPac.

1:20pm: We arrive at Gymboree only 5 minutes late, just as parent sharing time is starting. This week's topic: solid foods. Nicholas plays happily with some bells and other noise makers while I chat with another mom.

After class, we exchange contact info. She lives near our new neighborhood and we make plans to get together once we move in. I may have just made a new mom friend.

2:18pm: We head home. Nicholas is past due for his afternoon nap, so I sing about 7 verses of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" on the way home while craning my arm back into his carseat to keep him awake until we reach our house.

2:30pm: Success. We arrive and he's still awake. We head in and just a few minutes later Daddy surprises us by arriving to work from home for the afternoon. He helps to change Nicholas and we catch up for a few minutes.

2:49pm: Now Nicholas is way overdue for a nap. We skip story time and instead just say bye bye to the outside. Then I close the blinds, nurse him, rock him, and put him down in his crib.

3:03pm: He is out like a light.

3:10pm: Last night's middle of the night feeding combined with the cold I've been fighting all week prove to be too powerful a combination and I give in to the siren call of a nap.

3:45pm: Aaaaaand we're up again. How I dream of waking up from a full night's sleep or a nap of my own accord, and not due to fussing or wailing sounds from the baby monitor.

3:48pm: I go get Nicholas and take him out to bounce in his Sassy Seat. I grab a quick snack, move the wet laundry into the dryer, and open up my computer to answer a few emails and complete an online request for a moving quote.

4:25pm: Jason is taking a break from work. I show him some videos I've found of Nicholas when he was just days old. Nicholas watches with us with a very concerned and perplexed look on his face when he hears  his newborn self crying and hears my voice say his name on the video.

4:40pm: Nicholas and I head out for a walk around the neighborhood. It's close to 90 and humid, but even this is a marked improvement from just a few weeks ago when an afternoon walk would have been an impossibility. We stop at the park for 10 minutes to play on the swings-- his new favorite activity-- and then we continue on our way.

All that hard work just wipes him out!

5:45pm: We arrive home. It's dinnertime for Mr. Nicholas. Tonight's menu includes half a jar of vegetable pasta puree, followed by a full jar of banana strawberry puree. His appetite is growing by the day.

6:00pm: I hop in the shower again while Daddy finishes feeding Nicholas.

6:20pm: Bath time! I fill up the tub and set out all the supplies, and then Jason bathes Nicholas while I go finish drying my hair. We are meeting friends for dinner, so I put back on the snazzy yellow cords (otherwise I would just rinse off, leave my hair wet, and throw on some sweats.)

6:35pm: Nicholas is all fresh and sweet smelling in clean PJs. The idea is that we'll get him all ready for bed, and then hopefully he'll eventually fall asleep at the restaurant in his carseat carrier. I nurse him. Unfortunately his tummy is too full from all the banana strawberry puree and he throws up all over himself (and me.) I wipe myself off, but he requires an outfit change.

6:50pm: Finally, we're out the door!

7:00pm: We arrive at Drink.well, Austin's latest hipster gastropub. I'm not clear on whether it's technically a bar or a restaurant, but we bring Nicholas in and no one seems to mind. Fortunately, we find a quiet table in the corner.

7:08pm: Pete and Jarren arrive. We haven't seen them in months, so it's fun to catch up over an adult beverage and some tasty food. Both Jarren and I go with the ZLT (zuchini lettuce tomato, with homemade chips), the guys opt for the Kobe burger, and both couples get the homemade apple pie Twinkie. Our entrees are tasty, but we all agree the Twinkie is a disappointment. It's more like a Twinkie shaped apple muffin and there's not even any filling inside. Lame. But, Nicholas is on good behavior. We feed him a bottle, and eventually he  falls asleep as hoped. We order another round.

9:15pm: The evening comes to a close and we say our goodbyes and then head home. We change Nicholas, give him some preemptive baby Advil, and I nurse him again and then put him in his crib and say goodnight. He's asleep before I shut his door.

9:49pm: I sit down with my laptop to type out this post while Jason fires up his video games.

10:36pm: It turns out that documenting my day results in the longest post ever. Kudos if you've made it this far. I'm impressed. I finally wrap up this post and then surf Facebook and some other blogs for 10 minutes while I pump.

10:50pm: I head into the bathroom to get ready for bed. I always tell myself I'm going to go to bed by 10pm, but it never happens.

11:06pm: Lights out. It's been a fun, full day, and I am wiped out. Good night!