A day in the life...

I have a little over 2 months left of my awesome, temporary lifestyle as a SAHWM (stay at home working mom!) so I thought I would document what a typical day has been like for me and Ben.  I know I will look back on this time and remember how great it was to be with the little guy all day long!




7:00 am - Ben starts to stir.  It usually begins with a series of grunts as he tries to break out of his swaddle wrap.  I grab him from his bed and bring him into bed with me.  We both stretch and attempt to wake up for the next 30 minutes to 1 hour.

8:00 am - Diaper Change





8:05 am: Ben eats while I watch The Today Show (on our super old color tube TV in the nursery).

8:10 am: Ben hangs out in his crib for a bit while mama gets herself ready for the day.

9:00 am - Trip to the Starbucks drive thru!  Sometimes this is the only time I leave the house, so I don't feel guilty at all about my daily americano habit!

9:30 am - Diaper...and outfit change (if you know what I mean).



10:00 am  - Ben plays on his activity mat while finish up a report for work.  Multi-tasking - woot!

10:30 am - A little snuggling...and hair pulling.

10:45: Ben eats again, and I read a book on my Kindle....or if I'm being totally honest, watch bad daytime TV while playing Words With Friends on my iPhone.

11:00: Burp Ben...which then leads to more snuggling, and eventually him falling asleep.

11:15 am - Put Ben down in his crib for a nap

11:20 am- False alarm...apparently it was not nap time after all!

12:30 pm - Ben eats again.

1:15 pm - With his arms secure in his swaddle wrap now, Ben is protected from the spontaneous limb flailing that will always wake him up!  He is back down for attempt #2 at his nap.

* Had today been a day where I had left the house to run an errand or meet up with a friend, Ben's early afternoon nap would take place in his car seat and/or stroller.  The kid falls asleep in that thing almost instantly once the car is moving when our errands coincide with nap time.

1:30 pm - 3 pm - Today I eat lunch, catch up on emails, blog, do a load of laundry, do a load of dishes, sweep/mop the kitchen floor, vacuum, send Greg a picture of Ben to hold him over until tonight, and make Greg's lunch for the next day (all in the span of an hour an a half - I've gotten VERY accustomed to doing a lot in a short amount of time).  Since I'm not much of a cook, I have insisted upon doing at least one "wifely" duty for him since he is working and I'm at home snuggling Ben all day ;)

I'm definitely NOT watching episodes of "A Baby Story" while I do all of this...

I hope that in the upcoming months I will start doing a consistent yoga practice during Ben's nap.  I am still dealing with some mild back pain from my car accident (we think) so until I have finished with Physical Therapy, I am not back up to speed with yoga.  Things seem to be improving greatly though!  Baby steps...


3:15 pm - Check in on Ben via monitor - still sleeping!

3:20 pm - Today I feel ambitious, so I'm going through my closet and gathering up old clothes to donate to Goodwill.  This seems like a good time to get rid of stuff; If I didn't wear it last Winter/Spring due to pregnancy and I'm not super excited that I can fit into it again this Fall/Winter/Spring, then it's time to give it to someone who can use and appreciate it.

4:15 pm - I hear Ben grunting, (and I miss him), so I decide to scoop him up from his nap.

Let me out of this swaddle!

Freedom!

4:20 pm - Ben eats/I actually do read on my Kindle this time :)  He rewards me with an adorable smile after he is done.

4:45 pm - Diaper change

5:00 pm - Tummy time!  (Maxwell supervises).

5:15 pm - Greg calls on his way home from work.  We debate what to have for dinner (Taco Bell). 

5:30 pm - Diaper and outfit change (again).  Spit up this time...

5:45 pm - More activity mat action!  This time I join him on the floor and blab away about everything I did during his nap.

6:00 pm - Play with a toy/stare at each other.

6:05 pm - Greg/Dad is home!

6:20 pm - Ben eats.

6:45 pm - We eat.

7:10 pm - Diaper change.

7:15 pm - Bath time with dad!

8:00 pm - Ben eats

8:30 - 9:00 pm -  I swaddle Ben up and we hit the rocking chair.  I'm working hard to (hopefully) not create any bad habits in the sleeping department.  (I don't want him relying on being rocked in order to fall asleep...but this is what we do every night).  We have our "routine" at bed time.  I will either "shhhhh" him, as he most definitely will cry when he is first put in the swaddle, or I will sing "Paparazzi" to him.  (I'm not kidding).  I've found that most pop, boy/girl love song lyrics can actually apply quite nicely to a mother/son scenario.  (Most, definitely not all). 

I'm your biggest fan
I'll follow you until you love me, Papa-paparazzi
Baby, there's no other superstar
you know that I'll be your
Papa-paparazzi
Promise I'll be kind, but I won't stop until that boy is mine
Baby you'll be famous, chase you down until you love me
Papa-paparazzi

...anyway...

Once Ben seems to be drifting off, I will carry him into his bed - a little bassinet that we keep in our room - turn on his sleep sheep (he prefers the ocean waves or raindrops) and he will hopefully fall/stay asleep!

Through the night, he will wake up once around 12-1 and again between 4-5 to eat and get changed.  We have been incredibly lucky that after another swaddle and a quick rock in the chair, he will go right back to sleep until waking for good between 7 and 8.  I have yet to experience the zombie-like state that I had been expecting to be living in during the first months (phew).

9:00 pm - Greg and I will climb into our awesome new bed (finally upgraded to a king!), snuggle up, catch up on our days and watch TV.  His new job at Aramark has him waking up pretty early these days, so I am handling the majority of the weekday night time duties. 

So that is our day!  I'm sure to some it sounds extremely boring and repetitive.  If I would have read this prior to getting pregnant (and hey, let's face it - even in the months leading up to having him) I would have felt the same way!  There is just something very, very special about taking care of your baby - meeting all of their needs and being there to see each and every thing they do throughout their day!  I will continue to savor each and every moment of my maternity leave - it truly is the BEST!



My Halloween Pumpkin!

I could barely squeeze Ben's chubby little thighs into this adorable pumpkin outfit my friend Maureen gave me at my baby shower! Who knew Ben would have packed on 3 pounds in his first month of life?


We are not doing much in the way of celebrating Halloween this year, but it's all about the pictures anyway, isn't it?

Number one Steeler fans

Happiness is...

...hearing Greg chanting "Peek-a-boo" from the other room :)

Bath time!

Smile!

Wake up, Ben

1 month old

Today Ben turned 1 whole month old!  (Insert cliche parent statement here of how shocking it is that they are this old already...it's SO TRUE THOUGH).  The past month has completely flown by and it has been the most wonderful month of our lives!  It surprising how much we aren't missing the care-free life we once lived (although pregnancy/being married to a prego definitely helps ease that transition I'm sure). 

In the past 2 days I SWEAR Ben is starting to smile in response to our smiles (it's happened a handful of times).  It could just be a coincidence that he is smiling as Greg and I cheesily beam in his face, but I'm convinced he is smiling on purpose ;) 

Ben has been showing increased interest in lifting his head up while laying on our chests.  It's so cute - he seems SO determined to press up and work that neck control. 

He has been grabbing my hair and necklace lately as well.  And speaking of my necklace, I forgot to previously mention the awesome "push present" Greg got for me.  It is so awesome - exactly what I would have picked out myself :)

We have had exactly 2 nights where Ben had some trouble sleeping at night.  Each time he woke up to eat he was incredibly fussy when we put him back down to sleep (which previously he had had no issues with).  I figured out that he was just HUNGRIER than he had been before, so we have since made sure that he is completely full before putting him back to bed.  He is back to being a self-soothing champ (for now).

This kid is so loved.  Happy 1 month, buddy!

Monitor-stalking

I am sure to have more pictures like this in the future...

Ben sleeps in a little bassinet-type thing next to our bed. Even though it is only 2 feet away from me, I still feel the need to have a video monitor set up so I can peer over and check on him throughout the night without waking him.


I thought this was a cute/funny pose I caught him in :)

3 weeks

The days and weeks are going by SO. FAST. Ben seems so much more alert now than he was last week. He now will focus on our faces and on a few of the toys we dangle in front of him. He also is awake more, which is so much fun!

Ben LOVES his dad. There have been several times that he will be fussy with me and almost the second Greg picks him up, his eyes get wide and he starts making little happy breathing noises :) We both can't wait to see him smile (on purpose). I'm told that day could be getting close!

Ben post bath

So fresh.
So clean.

How to de-fuss my 3.5 week old

Don't get me wrong, Ben is still a super chill baby. When he cries, it typically makes me laugh at how cute he looks rather than making me want to pull my hair out. (I realize I'm totally jinxing myself for the weeks/months to come by assuming this could last...)

HOWEVER, he has had at least a couple fussy periods a day for the past week or so.

I have learned the quickest way to calm him down. It involves a tight swaddle, a binkie (binky?) and a gentle jiggle. If I can do all of this in the glider, it's a bonus!

Here is how it worked tonight:

Newborn Photo Shoot

When Ben was 8 days old, my friend Brooke came over to snap some photos of Ben so we could remember what he was like when he was brand new :)  Here are some of our favorites: