A Day In The Life

I was a guest on my friend Ashley's blog yesterday. Here is my 'a day in the life' post.

I'm Sarah and I blog over at Little Moments Like These. My husband Derek and I met at a sports bar that he worked at with my sisters. We got married in April of 2011 and just welcomed our first baby, Collins, November 21.  I met Ashley 2 years ago at a moms group when I was a nanny for twins. We eventually ditched the moms group and just had our own weekly play dates. Her and Ryann still come visit me about once a week and I can't wait for Ryann, Collins and baby E to be best buddies!

 I was on maternity leave until Jan 3 so I am just getting into the hang of handling the daycare kids plus Collins. I watch three 1 year olds and a 4 year old. Here's a look at a weekday at my place. It varies each day how many kids I watch. This day, I had all 4 plus Collins. I change a lot of diapers so just assume I am changing someones diaper about every hour.

12:30: I hear Collins stirring and she lets out a couple little cries to warn me that I better pick her up before she gets real mad. She usually sleeps till about 2am but since she hadn't ate since 7:30pm, I figured she might get up earlier. Luckily after a quick diaper change and nurse session, she is back asleep. I usually pump after the first night time feeding cause it's usually been 4+ hours and she doesn't eat much when she wakes in the middle of the night but since I had just pumped at 9:30 before I went to bed, I decide to skip it.

5am: I hear her again and look at my phone expecting it to be 3:30am. 5?! Good girl Collins! Another quick diaper change and nurse session and she is back asleep. I should really pump but my alarm is going off at 6:30 and by the time I pump, it will be close to 6 so I choose sleep over comfort.

6:20am: Freak out that I forgot to set my alarm and I'm relieved when I realize I just woke up 10 min. before it was going to go off. I figure I might as well just get up and get in the shower then sleep another 10 min.

7:05: I am ready (I purposely slept late so I don't have time to blow dry and straighten my hair and opt to wear it curly) and the first 2 kiddos arrive. Luckily these 2 only come twice a week so usually I am just waking up. Collins is still sleeping so I bring the monitor downstairs with me and the kids. The kids are still tired so I turn on cartoons for them and go and pump.

8:15: Another one of my kiddos arrives and Collins wakes up. I change her diaper and she seems happy so I put her in her bouncy seat while I make the kids breakfast. I grab a granola bar and water for myself while they chow down on toast, apple and milk.

8:50: We are back downstairs (where my daycare is) and the kids play while I nurse Collins.  She finally doesn't take 45 min. to eat and finishes up in about 15 min. I sit on the floor with her and we all play. My daycare kids do amazing with her and the little girl I watch loves helping me with her.

 

9:40: Collins has had enough playing and is ready for a nap. I swaddle her up, let her get drowsy and then take her upstairs and lay her in her pack in play in our room. We are trying to put her down drowsy so she learns to put herself to sleep. It usually takes a couple times of her crying, me picking her up and soothing her and then laying her back down before she falls asleep.

10:05: Snack time for daycare kids. Derek calls and checks in on me. I think he wanted to make sure they hadn't killed me :)

10:20: Collins is back up. She cat naps in the morning and takes a long afternoon nap which I love. She plays a little bit before I give her a bottle. I try to do at least 1 bottle of breast milk a day so she will take one when we need her to. My 4th kiddo arrives around this time.

11:30: Lunch time! I feel like all I do is feed kids! They are great eaters though and all of them usually clean their plates (vegetables and fruit included). I put Collins in her swing and she falls asleep. Derek comes home for lunch at noon and the kids are usually just finishing up lunch. I clean them up and herd them downstairs to help pick up toys before nap.

 

12:45: Kids go down for nap and I clean up lunch, usually vacuum kitchen, start a load of laundry and then sit down and catch up on blogs and recorded shows.

3:00- Collins is up and nurses. Other kids start waking up about 3:25 so Collins goes in bouncy seat and kids come and eat a snack. After snack we go back downstairs and play until parents come.

4:05- Collins takes another cat nap and is up by 4:35

4:55- All the daycare kids just left and Collins nurses. This is usually when her fussy time starts and today is no different. Derek has something to go to after work so he won't be home at 5:20 like he usually is. We are having chicken ranch tacos tonight so I boil some chicken while I walk around trying to calm Collins.

6:00- Collins nurses again. She eats a lot in the evenings. They say its normal for babies to eat frequently in the evenings and then sleep for a long stretch at night. Luckily she usually sleeps 5+ hours after she goes to bed so I let her nurse as frequently as she wants in the evening.

6:35-She falls asleep nursing so I lay her down and finish dinner. Derek gets home about 6:45 after stopping to get taco seasoning I forgot when I did our weekly grocery run. I finish up the meat and we sit down to eat. Collins has her radar on and wakes up when we sit down to eat. Never fails. Derek holds her while I eat and then I take her so he can eat. It's bath night so into the bath she goes. She finally tolerates baths but hates when I put lotion on her. She broke out a couple days ago so I put some Aveeno eczema cream on her and get her jammies on her. She loves staring at her bows while I get her ready.

                                      
7:50- Derek spends some time with her before she is ready to nurse again. She is still fussy after she eats so we take turns trying to get her to sleep and watching our nightly shows.

9:15- She is finally asleep and we are both exhausted.  I do my nightly pump session and then crawl into bed. We are usually both asleep by 10.

1. What is the most surprising thing about being a parent? I've been babysitting since I was 12, have nannied for several families and have been doing my daycare for a year. I figured when I had my own child, I would be really laid back and know what I was doing. Wrong!! I am constantly worrying if she is ok and if we're doing everything right This little girl doesn't leave everyday and go back to her parents, she is ours to keep and we are learning just like everyone else how to raise her the best we can.

2. What advice would you give to new or soon-to-be moms?  Trust your instinct. If you think something is wrong, don't be afraid to call the doctor. If they tell you she is ok and a couple weeks later you still don't think she is, take her back in (they finally diagnosed Collins with reflux). Nobody will know your baby like you do.

3. Top 3 products?
Swaddlers and/or Aden and Anais blankets. Collins loves to be swaddled tight when she sleeps so we use the blankets during the day and the stray jacket aka swaddlers at night.
Britax B-Agile stroller. It's so easy to fold and unfold, rides really smooth and turns very easily. We love it.
Summer infant video monitor. We don't have to constantly go in the room and check on her if we aren't sure she is sleeping or not.  We can just look at her on the monitor and not disrupt her if she is in fact still sleeping.

Thanks for taking a look at my day and thank you Ashley for letting me be a guest on your blog!