day in the life: 5.9.12

May 10, 2012
2:22 am  the day began early — annabel was up + hungry.  not too shabby, since she fell asleep just after 9! i fed her and then pumped [ugh — so not fun at 3 in the morning, but it’s a necessity if i want to build up my frozen milk collection, which i do].  she fussed for a little while, but eventually settled back to sleep.  i ate a snack [never before have i had 3 am hunger like this!] and went back to bed.
[somewhere around 5 am –> josh is out the door for work.  i’m on my own . . .]
8 am  up for real!  feed #2, and afterwards she hung out while i ate breakfast.  i rocked her and talked to her while she sits there.  as usual, it was a very happy time for her!
we played until she showed signs of sleepiness — this happened at about 9 am.
9:00 am i rocked her, put her down, pumped again, and attempted to get a run in . . . [please ignore the crutches.  josh is fully mobile and i’m not sure why they are still there.]  
unfortunately, 2/3 of the way through my 10-minute intervals, someone was already awake . . and it seemed she was hungry.  uh oh.  not a great situation since i had just pumped but . . . we made do [feed #3].  one sweaty feeding session later, and i hopped up to finish the last 10 minutes of my workout while she watched happily.
11:00 am more playtime — and then our cleaners arrived!  [we’ve been having them come every other week ever since josh got injured and honestly i have no desire to ever stop.  i am so happy with this decision!].  i like to get out of the house so that we’re not in the way, plus i’d rather annabel not breathe in lots of cleaning fluids at once.  so, we headed out on a short walk.
12:00 pm we walked around a bit and then i did some browsing at parker & otis right down the street.  as usual, annabel eventually fell asleep in the stroller.  
back home, i attempted to eat lunch — but someone else was even hungrier.  feed #4 happened, and then
annabel was showing signs of fatigue again [made sense, since she went quite a long time awake with just a fitful stroller nap in the middle].   she ended up passing out for almost 3 hours!!
during that time, i was able to tackle some laundry, thank-you notes, a blog post, and some emails.  i ended up lounging around thumbing through my new cookbook, just waiting for her to wake up . . .
4:30 pm finally!!  i was starting to get a little worried.  feed #5, and then more playtime:

6 pm someone started getting a little crankier.  i started to wish josh would get home already!  i made several nap attempts, but none of them stuck.  what can i say — i ended up on the couch watching glee with a. in my arms, and i found solace in some cheese . . . the original babybel 🙂  feed #6 happened somewhere in here.

7:45 pm just after feed #7, josh came home [14 1/2 hours is actually a pretty good day for him.  yeah . . .].   as usual, he was excited to take over annabel duty for a little while.  i prepped an easy dinner while these two played.
since she still wasn’t showing any signs of sleepiness, we took turns eating while the other one held nd soothed annabel [she was getting fussy].

we watched mad men while she played on our laps.

9:30 pm hunger strikes again for annabel.  when josh is home, she gets a pumped bottle so that we can ensure she is okay with receiving milk on her own — a necessity since she will be going to daycare in just 7 weeks [arggghghghgh].  for feed #8, she took about 4 oz — a new high for her.  i just hope supply can keep up with demand, but so far i think we’re doing okay.

10:00 pm josh passed out, i pumped and attempted to put annabel to bed.  it took several tries but eventually happened, at about 10:45 pm.  
so there you have it – just another average day with a 5-week old!  it will be so interesting [well, to me . . .] to see how things evolve with time, so i’ll plan on doing a similar post monthly.  off to take annabel on a lunch outing today — we’ll see how this goes!

16 Comments

  • Reply Carolyn March 10, 2019 at 7:42 pm

    Thanks for keeping it real so I know what I’m in for in 4 months!

    A couple questions:
    1. That is a rock and play in the first pic, right? Does A sleep in that at night or just for naps?
    2. Should I register for a rock and play AND a pack and play?
    3. Your Chicco Keyfit in Midori – is the fabric too hot? I want the keyfit in the orange color to match the orange BOB, but the material is different than some of the other colors (the orange and midori seem to be the same material).

    THANKS!!!

    • Reply theSHUbox March 10, 2019 at 7:43 pm

      yes, she sleeps in it!! at night as well. i wasn’t sure about it either, but a good friend with 4 kids said it worked fabulously for her — and it has for us too so far.

      we don’t have a pack ‘n’ play, so i can’t answer that – but so far we haven’t needed it. we do have a small playmat for her to do tummy time on.

      so far re: the midori color scheme, it hasn’t been a problem as you can shade most of the parts that touch the baby (and the parts the touch are the green, not the black). but i’ll let you know come july/august!

  • Reply liz March 10, 2019 at 7:18 pm

    Great post! My son is one week younger than Annabel and it is so fun to keep track of your progress. Plus I learn a ton from the comments on your posts. As the previous commentor asked- does she sleep in her rock and play all night? Do you swaddle her in it? You are so lucky she sleeps as much as she does- mine is up every 2 hours… Hoping that will change with age!

    • Reply Amy March 10, 2019 at 7:42 pm

      Mine is the same age as yours and is up every 2 hours too. 🙂

  • Reply Marci March 10, 2019 at 7:18 pm

    sounds like you’re getting the hang of it! i am always flustered when my husband leaves for work before I can even put some clothes on or get my contacts in, and gosh yours leaves early! how long does she nurse each time? our current thing to figure out is why he nurses so long (45-50 minutes per session), but he is less frequent than annabel.

  • Reply Lisa March 10, 2019 at 7:18 pm

    Wow – that must be really hard for you all with Josh working such long hours! You must miss him 🙁

    Miss C wont sleep in her swing – but that is my saviour when it comes to fitting in a shower during the morning!!!

  • Reply Anne March 10, 2019 at 7:18 pm

    Question : could you ask your cleaning service to use natural clealing products ? Better for A and for you also… and more ecologic !

  • Reply Cecily March 10, 2019 at 7:18 pm

    I think the Rock N Play’s incline really helps the very little ones sleep long hours 🙂 Sounds like you are doing REALLY well – especially given Josh’s schedule! I remember being so happy when my husband came home from work (fortunately around 5pm!) during my maternity leave. Even though it’s fun to spend so much time with your little one, I found it got pretty lonely (and my maternity leave was Nov-Feb, so not as much opportunity to get outside since we live in the Boston area).

  • Reply fetebar March 10, 2019 at 7:42 pm

    I find posts like these so helpful, my cousin is preggers and it’s nice to know what she’ll be going through when she breastfeeds, and how her pregnancy is too. Thank you for sharing

  • Reply Carlee March 10, 2019 at 7:18 pm

    Great post to read. Trying to picture us there in just a few weeks!

  • Reply Amy March 10, 2019 at 7:18 pm

    Great post! I can’t believe she is sleeping so long at night but what a blessing for you with Josh working such long hours!

    Now i want to write one of these day-in-the-life posts for myself. It will be so interesting to look back on them even a few months from now!

  • Reply Susan March 10, 2019 at 7:18 pm

    I love hearing about your life as a mom…and Josh’s long hours! One of our night fellows has a young baby at home…God bless his wife since he’s NEVER home! 🙁 I’ll be interested to hear what it’s like when you go back to work. (Sorry to mention it!)

  • Reply Jill March 10, 2019 at 7:18 pm

    My Hubby gets home late too, I sometimes wish he rolled in at 530-6pm–that would be nice. 🙂 Good work over there Mama! 🙂

  • Reply Heidi March 10, 2019 at 7:18 pm

    What a precious baby girl! Your post reminds me all over again what its like to be a new mom to a new bundle of joy. After a while you forget about those late night early morning feedings and the constant nursing and pumping. Oh, how it will be interesting for me to balance another baby with a 20 month old ahh! It will be a balancing act. Love reading your stories!

  • Reply Denise March 10, 2019 at 7:18 pm

    You are doing great, Sarah! That sunggly baby time is so nice – not to mention being able to get a run in while the baby is watching you 🙂 Feeding all of the time (especially pumping) is not fun, though and you are doing so well handling it all by yourself with Josh’s crazy work schedule. Keep it up!

  • Reply Red Stethoscope March 10, 2019 at 7:19 pm

    I’d agree that a cleaning team is indispensable! Good decision! Also, Miss A has the most stylin socks I have ever seen. They make me happy 🙂

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