A snapshot of my day with a four & a half year old and a one month old
Being the obsessed journalist that I am and not wanting to forget these early, fleeting memories with a newborn, I thought it would be neat to try and do a post here and there about a day in my life with two kiddos.
Emily is 4 years, 10 months old and Nolan is 1 month, 1 week old.
Just for example, here's how the day went for us Thursday:
12:40am - Nolan is finally "down for the night", which at this point in his life means he's asleep for his first long stretch of sleep, approximately four to five hours. Because we had spent the previous five hours rocking, bouncing, nursing, "shhhh"ing, and humming in an attempt to get Nolan to fall asleep, David and I were asleep soon after, feeling absolutely wrecked. So weird to go through that as we haven't had a period like that in weeks (we call it the "witching hours"). I think we got spoiled to having it easy for a few days...
4:10am - Nolan woke to nurse. David burped him and changed three poopy diapers as well as struggled to rock him back to sleep for nearly two hours before he finally went back to sleep at 5:55am. Normally, he nurses and is right back to sleep within an hour so we were starting to feel frustrated. It seems he was really struggling with gas and/or an upset stomach and was having a hard time getting comfortably back to sleep.
6:28am - The sleep didn't last long. Ugh. I was beyond exhausted (and frustrated) at this point so, once I nursed Nolan, David took him downstairs to work on getting him back to sleep. According to David, Nolan finally passed out at 7:00.
8:15am - Emily came into our bedroom to wake us all up for the day. I got out of bed, realizing David wasn't in it, and came downstairs to find Nolan asleep in his swing and David asleep on the couch. After I fed Nolan at 6:30am, I gave him to David as I always do to burp him, change his diaper, and rock/bounce him back to sleep and apparently, Nolan was still struggling with gas so, David brought him downstairs so he wouldn't wake me up (what a guy!). I got Emily dressed and her hair brushed back into a ponytail, fixed us all some breakfast, and tried to be as quiet as possible so David could sleep.
8:49am - Nolan woke up. I nursed him on one side, burped him and then, decided to give him a bath as he had spit-up crusted in his hair. Nice, right? After a nice baby lotion massage for Nolan, I nursed him on the other side, burped him, and rocked him to sleep. David got up to shower and get ready for the day.
9:45am - I put Nolan in his swing after he was asleep (about 10 minutes of holding him) and hopped in the shower. Then, I made Emily and I's lunch (I store it in the fridge until we're ready for it), packed David a lunch for work, folded a load of laundry, swept and mopped the kitchen floor, checked my email, paid bills, and pumped both breasts (for four minutes) After David got ready for work, at 9:00am, he played with Emily for two hours so I could do all of the above before he went to work at 11:00am.
12:00pm - Nolan woke up from his nap. I nursed him what I call "half a feeding" (only one breast), changed his diaper, and he fell right back asleep on my chest. Clearly he was exhausted as well. During this hour, Emily got her lunch out of the fridge as well as her canteen of water and ate at the dining room table. I sat with her once I nursed Nolan and could move around.
1:06pm - I laid Nolan in his vibrating bouncy chair after holding him 10 minutes to be sure he was asleep. Then, I cleaned up Emily's lunch, got her dressed (yes, she was still in her PJs until after lunchtime, such is our life right now), ate my lunch while Emily played in her room and then, we headed outside to play in the front yard. We played Hopscotch and drew on the sidewalk with chalk together, played catch with her beach ball, blew bubbles, watered the plants & herbs, and swept the front steps. Then, I browsed the sales ads for our local grocery stores and made our weekly meal plan and shopping list while Emily road her bike up and down the sidewalk for over an hour.
2:30pm - One of the little girls next door came over to play with Emily (they wanted to come inside to play board games in Emily's room) so, I was able to upload some photos to Facebook, chat with my mom while pumping both breasts again, return a few emails and order some clothes online, and put up this post while she was happily entertained. Hosting play dates for Emily makes my life a breeze these days... I have got to do this again soon!
3:30pm - The neighbor girl had to go home to go to swim lessons. Emily threw a tantrum. Once she came out of her room with a "better attitude", I got her settled in the living room watching My Little Pony and enjoying a Popsicle because I heard Nolan stirring.
4:15pm - Nolan woke up. I nursed him, burped him, changed his diaper and then, nursed him on the other side with Emily at my feet talking to him and trying to hold his hand. So sweet!
5:20pm - Nolan was fast asleep immediately after nursing, he barely even burped so, I held him 10 minutes and then, laid him in his swing. Emily lost all interest in My Little Pony around 4:30pm and went to her room to play something that involved a lot of galloping horses and "you're the winner!" outbursts. :) I haphazardly participated as I cleaned her room from the earlier play date and then, started dinner preparations while she played with her Tag Reader "I, Spy" book. I also steam sterilized my breast pump parts (love the Medela microwave steam bags!!!), refilled our water pitcher, opened the week's mail (I only get to it about once a week), charged my camera's battery, and caught 20 minutes of last night's So You Think You Can Dance before Nolan woke up just one hour later.
6:20pm - Short evening nap for Nolan. I changed his diaper, nursed him, burped him, nursed him again and handed him off to David who walked through the door at 7:10pm. This time of the evening is Nolan's usual awake period so, we pass him back and forth, bouncing & rocking him, talking to him, massaging him, letting him look around out the windows, at light fixtures overhead, and lay him down on Emily's bed to allow him to be part of evening play time with Emily.
7:40pm - Nolan dozed off in David's arms so, I started dinner (used leftover grilled chicken breasts to make Chicken club sandwiches with fruit & spinach salad), giving Emily hers first so she could sit and eat it in the living room where David was rocking Nolan. I set ours aside to eat after she was in bed. Then, I started a load of dark colored laundry, refilled the diapers & wipes, cleaned up the dinner dishes, and got Emily in the tub.
8:15pm - Nolan woke up from one of his frequent, normal evening cat naps, wanting to nurse so, while I nursed him, burped him, and changed him, David bathed Emily and helped her brush her teeth, get her PJs on, and clean her room, then, read her books.
9:00pm - With Emily in bed, David and I ate dinner in shifts, taking turns holding Nolan.
9:20pm - We gave Nolan a bath and lotion massage. He loves bath time and we want to start a bed time routine early with him as we did with Emily to further help him distinguish day from night.
9:40pm - Nolan fell asleep again for an hour in his swing. I took a shower, checked email, and came back to this blog entry while David cleaned the cat's litter box, took out the household trash, refilled the bathroom toilet paper and finished the load of dark colored laundry.
10:45pm - Nolan was up from his last cat nap of the evening. I nursed him and handed him off to David to burp, change his diaper and rock to sleep, David's favorite part of it all. :) I took my Boppy breast feeding pillow, a clean burp cloth, a change of clothes for Nolan, and a glass of water for myself upstairs to get set for the night. Nolan sleeps in his bassinet next to our bed and we have a changing station set up on our dresser for night time changes.
12:50am - David laid Nolan in his bassinet where he slept for five hours. We were fast asleep before 1:00am.
P.S. I started this post on Thursday and returned to it for a few minutes each time Nolan napped through today, Saturday!
Emily is 4 years, 10 months old and Nolan is 1 month, 1 week old.
Just for example, here's how the day went for us Thursday:
12:40am - Nolan is finally "down for the night", which at this point in his life means he's asleep for his first long stretch of sleep, approximately four to five hours. Because we had spent the previous five hours rocking, bouncing, nursing, "shhhh"ing, and humming in an attempt to get Nolan to fall asleep, David and I were asleep soon after, feeling absolutely wrecked. So weird to go through that as we haven't had a period like that in weeks (we call it the "witching hours"). I think we got spoiled to having it easy for a few days...
4:10am - Nolan woke to nurse. David burped him and changed three poopy diapers as well as struggled to rock him back to sleep for nearly two hours before he finally went back to sleep at 5:55am. Normally, he nurses and is right back to sleep within an hour so we were starting to feel frustrated. It seems he was really struggling with gas and/or an upset stomach and was having a hard time getting comfortably back to sleep.
6:28am - The sleep didn't last long. Ugh. I was beyond exhausted (and frustrated) at this point so, once I nursed Nolan, David took him downstairs to work on getting him back to sleep. According to David, Nolan finally passed out at 7:00.
8:15am - Emily came into our bedroom to wake us all up for the day. I got out of bed, realizing David wasn't in it, and came downstairs to find Nolan asleep in his swing and David asleep on the couch. After I fed Nolan at 6:30am, I gave him to David as I always do to burp him, change his diaper, and rock/bounce him back to sleep and apparently, Nolan was still struggling with gas so, David brought him downstairs so he wouldn't wake me up (what a guy!). I got Emily dressed and her hair brushed back into a ponytail, fixed us all some breakfast, and tried to be as quiet as possible so David could sleep.
8:49am - Nolan woke up. I nursed him on one side, burped him and then, decided to give him a bath as he had spit-up crusted in his hair. Nice, right? After a nice baby lotion massage for Nolan, I nursed him on the other side, burped him, and rocked him to sleep. David got up to shower and get ready for the day.
9:45am - I put Nolan in his swing after he was asleep (about 10 minutes of holding him) and hopped in the shower. Then, I made Emily and I's lunch (I store it in the fridge until we're ready for it), packed David a lunch for work, folded a load of laundry, swept and mopped the kitchen floor, checked my email, paid bills, and pumped both breasts (for four minutes) After David got ready for work, at 9:00am, he played with Emily for two hours so I could do all of the above before he went to work at 11:00am.
12:00pm - Nolan woke up from his nap. I nursed him what I call "half a feeding" (only one breast), changed his diaper, and he fell right back asleep on my chest. Clearly he was exhausted as well. During this hour, Emily got her lunch out of the fridge as well as her canteen of water and ate at the dining room table. I sat with her once I nursed Nolan and could move around.
1:06pm - I laid Nolan in his vibrating bouncy chair after holding him 10 minutes to be sure he was asleep. Then, I cleaned up Emily's lunch, got her dressed (yes, she was still in her PJs until after lunchtime, such is our life right now), ate my lunch while Emily played in her room and then, we headed outside to play in the front yard. We played Hopscotch and drew on the sidewalk with chalk together, played catch with her beach ball, blew bubbles, watered the plants & herbs, and swept the front steps. Then, I browsed the sales ads for our local grocery stores and made our weekly meal plan and shopping list while Emily road her bike up and down the sidewalk for over an hour.
2:30pm - One of the little girls next door came over to play with Emily (they wanted to come inside to play board games in Emily's room) so, I was able to upload some photos to Facebook, chat with my mom while pumping both breasts again, return a few emails and order some clothes online, and put up this post while she was happily entertained. Hosting play dates for Emily makes my life a breeze these days... I have got to do this again soon!
3:30pm - The neighbor girl had to go home to go to swim lessons. Emily threw a tantrum. Once she came out of her room with a "better attitude", I got her settled in the living room watching My Little Pony and enjoying a Popsicle because I heard Nolan stirring.
4:15pm - Nolan woke up. I nursed him, burped him, changed his diaper and then, nursed him on the other side with Emily at my feet talking to him and trying to hold his hand. So sweet!
5:20pm - Nolan was fast asleep immediately after nursing, he barely even burped so, I held him 10 minutes and then, laid him in his swing. Emily lost all interest in My Little Pony around 4:30pm and went to her room to play something that involved a lot of galloping horses and "you're the winner!" outbursts. :) I haphazardly participated as I cleaned her room from the earlier play date and then, started dinner preparations while she played with her Tag Reader "I, Spy" book. I also steam sterilized my breast pump parts (love the Medela microwave steam bags!!!), refilled our water pitcher, opened the week's mail (I only get to it about once a week), charged my camera's battery, and caught 20 minutes of last night's So You Think You Can Dance before Nolan woke up just one hour later.
6:20pm - Short evening nap for Nolan. I changed his diaper, nursed him, burped him, nursed him again and handed him off to David who walked through the door at 7:10pm. This time of the evening is Nolan's usual awake period so, we pass him back and forth, bouncing & rocking him, talking to him, massaging him, letting him look around out the windows, at light fixtures overhead, and lay him down on Emily's bed to allow him to be part of evening play time with Emily.
7:40pm - Nolan dozed off in David's arms so, I started dinner (used leftover grilled chicken breasts to make Chicken club sandwiches with fruit & spinach salad), giving Emily hers first so she could sit and eat it in the living room where David was rocking Nolan. I set ours aside to eat after she was in bed. Then, I started a load of dark colored laundry, refilled the diapers & wipes, cleaned up the dinner dishes, and got Emily in the tub.
8:15pm - Nolan woke up from one of his frequent, normal evening cat naps, wanting to nurse so, while I nursed him, burped him, and changed him, David bathed Emily and helped her brush her teeth, get her PJs on, and clean her room, then, read her books.
9:00pm - With Emily in bed, David and I ate dinner in shifts, taking turns holding Nolan.
9:20pm - We gave Nolan a bath and lotion massage. He loves bath time and we want to start a bed time routine early with him as we did with Emily to further help him distinguish day from night.
9:40pm - Nolan fell asleep again for an hour in his swing. I took a shower, checked email, and came back to this blog entry while David cleaned the cat's litter box, took out the household trash, refilled the bathroom toilet paper and finished the load of dark colored laundry.
10:45pm - Nolan was up from his last cat nap of the evening. I nursed him and handed him off to David to burp, change his diaper and rock to sleep, David's favorite part of it all. :) I took my Boppy breast feeding pillow, a clean burp cloth, a change of clothes for Nolan, and a glass of water for myself upstairs to get set for the night. Nolan sleeps in his bassinet next to our bed and we have a changing station set up on our dresser for night time changes.
12:50am - David laid Nolan in his bassinet where he slept for five hours. We were fast asleep before 1:00am.
P.S. I started this post on Thursday and returned to it for a few minutes each time Nolan napped through today, Saturday!
Loved reading this post, although I must admit it also makes me nervous to go through the same thing come November! What did you end up doing for nighttime nursing? Do you sit up in bed? In a chair? I have to decide what I'll try doing for this baby. I'm thinking I want a good chair right in our bedroom.
ReplyDeleteAwww, totally normal to be nervous, I was nervous, but it's truly wonderful and it has helped tremendously that my family and David have been here on/off to help for six weeks. :)
ReplyDeleteSo, night time nursing: I prop up in bed with the decorative shams on our bed and have my Boppy upstairs. It works pretty great! Laying down has been a huge epic fail with our very soft, memory foam mattress.
I actually have NOT found a chair for upstairs yet but have found something from Pier 1 that looks great: just a wide wicker chair with plush seat & back cushions. Just need to go try it out one day! ;) I have the really nice glider/ottoman from Emily's nursery downstairs as I am nursing 5-7 times a day during the day and like having the chair in the living room so I can watch TV and be closer to Emily.