Tuesday, October 7, 2014

A Day in the Life: Maternity Leave Edition

Back when I was blogging regularly I did a "day in the life" post. When I go back and look at it, that is still what my working life pretty much looked like. Erika just did a day in the life maternity leave edition and I knew it was something that I wanted to do as well. (P.S. go check out Erika's blog and her new little one!) Just like I can look back at my old day in the life post, I want to be able to look back at this time in my life and know what we did all day!

1:20 am Someone is ready to eat. Here's a hint, it's not me.
5:20 Gracie is up wanting a diaper change and a snack but she goes back to sleep after both. I also go back to sleep.
7:15 I hear Grace in the monitor. She isn't crying, more like yelling "why isn't anyone paying attention to me?" Craig goes and changes her diaper and I come in to nurse her. Craig leaves for work around 7:30. Grace is done eating, and she does her morning poop right as Craig walks out the front door. After I change her we come out to the living room and play on one of her many quilts. I am trying to practice rolling over with her. She has fun with it, but she is more interested in grabbing her feet than rolling on her own. We do a bit of tummy time, that makes her yell some more. Then a story on childhood cancer comes on the Today show and I am sitting there crying and holding her a little too tight, and she yells again "Gosh Mom! Let me grab my feet!"

8:40 Grace starts to rub her eyes so I give her a pacifier and put her in her swing for her morning nap. During her nap I take a shower, start her laundry and empty and load the dishwasher.

9:45 And she's up! After a diaper change, I get her dressed for the day and then she eats. We practice standing and then she plays on her play mat for a bit while I put her laundry in the dryer.
11:05 She is worn out from playing and is getting fussy. I nurse her again and then she falls asleep on my lap. After about 20 minutes, when I know she is down for good, I slowly move her off my lap and onto the couch next to me. This creates a small problem. Now that she moves around quite a bit, I can't leave her alone on the couch so I am also stuck here. (At least nap #1 was productive!) I do manage to sneak into the kitchen and make a quick lunch. Other than that, I read a few blogs, play on the internet etc.


1:15 She wakes up in a pretty good mood so I know there is only one thing that we need to do: baby craft time! I get all the supplies ready, get Grace down to her diaper and get started with part one of our newest Halloween decoration.

After Gracie gets a little foot/leg bath in the sink and I finish cleaning up. She is now pretty fussy so I nurse her and then get her dressed again. We go outside and get the mail and take a small walk around the yard, but its too sunny and bright out to spend to much time with out a hat. We just started using the exersaucer yesterday. I put her in it and go grab her laundry out of the dryer. This gives me just enough time to get her laundry folded and put away before she is over it.

2:30 She starts rubbing her eyes so I give her a pacifier and put her in her swing. I put away the quilt and her toys and wash her one bottle and my pump supplies. I call a friend of mine and chat for a bit about poop. (Her kid's poop, not mine)
3:00 This was a quick nap because she is awake and no one is changing her mind about that. She nurses again and then we head into her room and play in there until Craig gets home from work.
4:05 Craig walks in the door. He's later than usual. I like to go to Zumba on Mondays and Wednesdays but unfortunately I won't have time today. Boo. He take Gracie so I can go run a couple errands. (I have been using Vinted to clean out my closet and I sold another piece so I am off to the post office. Plus we need milk and a few other things from the grocery store.)
When I get back Grace is ready for another snack.
5:00 she goes into her swing for another nap and I make an easy dinner and we are able to both eat at the same time (pasta and bread sticks.)
6:00 She's awake again. Craig feeds her a bottle of pumped milk that we had defrosted for our vacation and didn't use. I go and pump, because momma can't miss a feeding. When she's done, Craig gives her back to me and we hang out until its time to start our bedtime routine.
7:15 We head to Grace's room where she gets a diaper change and into her night gown. We read a couple of good night books, she nurses one last time and then I swaddle her legs (girlfriend loves to have her arms by her head when she sleeps), she gets her paci and I turn on her sound machine. (Ocean noises it what is currently playing.)

For the rest of the night Craig and I hang out. It's Monday so I watch The Voice and eventually do my nightly pumping session before I turn off the lights around 10 ish.

If you made it through that whole thing congrats! If you just looked at the cute baby pictures, I don't blame you! What does your typical day look like? Have you ever done one of these posts?

4 comments:

Jen said...

She is such a cutie!!! :)

Angi said...

Your baby is one of the cutest babies I have ever seen. Your day sounds exhausting...but fun. I would much rather do that right now than be sitting at my desk at work. ;)

Erika said...

Love it!! Are you going to be going back to work??

Becky Dougherty said...

I made it! I loved reading about your day! :) I also started using Vinted over the summer. I still have two garbage bags worth of clothes that I need to take pictures of and get listed.