A few days ago, I shared A Day in the Life: On Paper and teased a follow-up.  Welp, here it is!  This was the first day after our family stay-cation and I was very much in “Vacation’s Over” mode and tried to do A LOT.  So much so, that by the end of the day, I was pretty sure I’d over done it.  I was wiped.  I can promise you that the next day looked very different and included an extended period of time in my pajamas.

Anyway, without further ado, here we go! Happy skimming… it’s crazy long.  I tried to shorten it, but after round 2 or so, I gave up.

A Day in the Life: In Action — Wednesday, January 16, 2013

3:20am — Cora wakes up way earlier than I’d hoped.  I know she’s old enough by some accounts that we could attempt some sleep training methods in the middle of the night, but that just doesn’t sit right with me… at least not yet.  I feed her, change her, and make a mental note that we may need to go up to size 3 diapers, at least at night.  She’s very wet.  I’m back in bed before 4:00am.

6:30am — Alarm goes off.  My sweet hubs had seen in our Baby Connect App that Cora woke up in the 3:00s.  He asks if I really need to get up yet.  I say I should so we can keep a consistent wake-up time.  I’m going back to work next week and I don’t want to play around with the routine between now and then.  I get up, brush my teeth and wash my face, because today I’m not planning to go back to sleep after this feeding like I often do.  Cora starts stirring.

6:45am — Cora nurses, not as long as I think she should (only 8 minutes), but after some nursing drama yesterday, I’ve decided to trust her on that more, at least until I have reason not to.  It’s stressful to think your child may not be eating enough or that your milk supply is waning.  Trying to relax about it.  Daddy changes her diaper and I start the coffee.

7:00am — Cora does independent playtime in her play gym, I eat some oatmeal with blueberries and watch her.  She’s gonna roll over any minute.  Hubs gets ready for work.

7:40am — Hubs leaves for work — his first day back after vacation.  It’s going to be a longer day than normal because he’s meeting with some of his volunteers after they get off of work.  A few minutes later, I settle into our sleep routine to put Cora down for her first nap.  The second I turn off the light, she knows what’s happening and she doesn’t like it.  I make a mental note — if this becomes a pattern, maybe she’s ready for a longer wake-time in the morning.  As soon as I close the door and leave, she stops crying.  She’s asleep within 10 minutes.

8:00am — I pump and watch a little of the Biggest Loser on Hulu.

8:30am — I go press the Sleep Sheep button again hopefully help her through the sleep-cycle transition and start doing some chores.

9:00am — I realize I haven’t done my Bible study yet, and so I do that.

9:20am — Probably don’t have much time.  I tidy-up a bit more.  Also, I’m already hungry again and have a snack.  Breastfeeding, huh?

9:45am — Cora’s still asleep and I’m shocked.  I decide to let her sleep until 10:00.  I start doing dishes because I don’t mind if I wake her now (our kitchen is right next to her room).

10:00am — Cora wakes up happy.  It’s so sweet when she does that! We nurse and then I feed her her second helping of cereal ever.  She seems to be getting the hang of it this time!  Then Cora gets dressed for the day.

11:00am — Cora hang in her Bumbo seat while I put on my workout clothes, and then we do “song time.”  I put on Pandora to the toddler radio station, and “we” sing for about 15 minutes, laying on the bed together.  After that, I carry her around with me for a while, tidying up and doing little thing like that.

11:25am — We start settling down for nap time.  She’s asleep in the crib in about 10 minutes.

11:35am — I’m hungry again, so I have a spoonful of peanut butter before a quick workout.  Then I shower, get dressed, and listen to a little of the Relevant podcast.

12:35pm — Surprised and pleased that the 45-minute intruder  didn’t visit. I eat lunch — tuna pasta salad.  I start thinking about when I should wake her up if needed.  1:00? After she has slept 1 1/2 hours? Or do I just wait?  I feel like she may have actually eaten some of the cereal today, so part of me wants to wait and see.  Unsure what is better at the moment — keeping consistency or seeing what happens.

12:55pm — No need!  She’s up.  We nurse.

1:30pm — Out the door to go to Babies R Us and Target!  I need some bottle stopper lids for my bottles for pumping and storing at work.  Diapers are off the list, though thanks to some sweet friends who blessed us with some size 3′s!

Cora’s not keen on the stroller today and I end up carrying her around both stores.  I hit the Starbucks at Target even though I probably shouldn’t because went yesterday.

2:45pm — Heading home.  Cora is fussy because she’s tired.  Babies R Us is far enough away that it meant not being able to be home in time for her normal nap time, but you do what you gotta do.  She zonks out in the car and transfers to the crib without any trouble.

3:45pm — All settled in and bags unloaded.  I’m hungry again.  Starting to see a theme here.  I’m tired and considering just watching some TV until Cora wakes ups.  We’re definitely running a little later than normal on the routine.  Normally a 2 1/2 hour cycle has snuck in by now.

4:00pm — Hubs texts me and try to rummage through our files to find an old document… definitely need to reorganize these things!

4:15 — Cora had another good nap!  We nurse and do a little tummy time.  She’s still not eating that long in my opinion, but I’m trying to let it go.  She certainly hasn’t been hungry any earlier than usual.

4:50pm — I have no idea what we should do now.  Dinner is left-0vers, so I don’t need to cook.  I kinda want to watch TV, but I try not to do that when Cora’s awake.  I lay her on my bed to observe the world around her and start typing notes for the babysitter on the days I go to work.  I try to sift the important details from the non-important details, because clearly, I could write a whole book if I wanted to.

5:15pm — That doesn’t last too long.  Cora gets very fussy and doesn’t seem to want to do anything I try. I decide maybe she’s tired.  I bounce and sing and she finally settles down when I actually put her in the crib.  She plays by herself a bit and I go back to my notes while keeping the monitor on.

5:45pm — She’s still not asleep and now she’s crying a bit, like a whiney cry.  Not sure what to do.  I observe for a moment in the monitor.  She sounds hungry!  I go pick her up and observe in person.  I really think she is hungry, even though it’s a little early.  I feed her.

6:10pm –Now I really don’t know what to do about our routine.  I change her diaper, lotion her up, and put her in her PJs.  She giggles and seems very awake.  I bring her back to my room to sit and “chat.”  She soon starts rubbing her face, so I got settle her in to sleep again.  At first she whines when she realizes what’s going on, but soon relaxes and coos.  I’m hoping this can be a little cat nap so we can keep some semblance of our evening routine and so Daddy can play with ehr some when eh gets home from his long day.

6:25pm — Back to my babysitter notes.  I’m sleepy and headache-y.  I watch Cora in the monitor.  She’s talking to herself and trying to roll over.

6:35pm — My mom calls and we chat.  I keep watching the monitor.  Cora’s nearly asleep and then revs up again, so I hang up with my mom.  It’s like she’s going through a “witching hour” or something.  I don’t think our errands could have made her this overtired.

6:50pm.  She will not calm down.  She doesn’t like anything.  She’s not feverish, I think her tummy is okay… teething? growth spurt?  Somewhere about this time, my concerns about keeping the routine are long gone.  I nurse her out of desperation, although I don’t really think she’s hungry.  She takes it and calms down.  I know it’s a very “un-Babywise” thing to do, but Cora won’t really take a pacifier and I only do it in times like these.  She falls asleep.  I try to unlatch her and rock her.  That works for about 45 seconds and she’s screaming again.  She’s been up for about 3 hours now.

7:15pm — Husband comes home.  He’s a saint and takes her almost immediately.  She falls asleep on him almost immediately.  I’m exhausted.  Hubs and I chat.

7:40pm — Dinner and mindless TV, which is AWESOME after the afternoon we’ve had.  We watch Shark Tank, talk, play on our phones… I make tea… A whole lotta glorious nothing.

10:05pm — Just as my tea is steeping… Cora wakes up.  Hubs tries a little to put her back down (I’d rather feed her later, if she’ll oblige), but we don’t force the issue.  We start nursing before she gets too upset.  3 minutes in, she goes CRAY-CRAY.  Screaming.  Wiggling.  I get her latched and she’s fine for a second, and then she’s not.  It is really rough when this happens. I think that sometimes when you have breastfeeding issues, it’s hard not to take it personally, because it’s you. My theory when this happens is that the milk let-down isn’t fast enough for her… and it’s hard to relax when she goes BANANAS.  The hubs takes her, calms her down, and I take some deep breaths.

10:20pm — She’s calmly eating now.  Falls right to sleep when she’s through.

10:45pm — I finish my tea and get ready for bed.  I’m definitely feeling the effects of not taking a nap and of the challenging evening.

11:20pm — Under the covers, ready to sleep.  Praying she sleeps longer than normal because I’m wiped. In hindsight, I don’t think I allowed enough rest time today.  Time to rest-up as much as I can for tomorrow!