a day in the life: 5 month edition

September 13, 2012
disclaimer:  not every day looks like the one below!  some days — like today — i end up eating a freezer-burned bagel for dinner and skipping my workout.  but this is my general blueprint of what things are like lately.  



anywhere from 5:45 – 7:00 [but usually around 6:00] — annabel wakes up.  she is my alarm clock most days!  this is a pretty major change from 2 months ago when i would get up at 5:00 or earlier, either to feed a hungry baby or to attempt to pump/work out before she emerged from dreamland.  why the change?  it got frustrating trying to pump/start running, only to have her wake up moments later.  the evening became a much more predictable time.  and well — i got tired.

she eats [nurses] as soon as she wakes up [meal #1], and then we head to the kitchen where i prepare my breakfast.  she is still content to hang out in her bouncer while i eat, as long as i talk to her and provide some sort of entertainment.  if she’s up on the early side, we sneak in some playtime before i have to get down to morning routine business.

from this AM.  today was an early one . . .

7:15 pump #1 — and then i have to start thinking about prep to get out the door.  i shower [if i hadn’t the night before], grab pump parts/lunch, and prep a’s bottles.  if there’s time, i even unload the dishwasher so i don’t have to later.  now that i’m used to this routine, it doesn’t take quite as long as it did a couple of months ago.  but it’s still tedious!

8:15 [earlier on clinic days, sometimes a little later on lab days] we’re out the door.  if she ate super early, i give her a 5-10 minute ‘top-off’ nursing session before we leave.

8:25 day care drop off.  this process is also streamlined compared to in the past — i’m a day care mommy veteran now.  thankfully, i still love the caregivers in a’s room and have been really happy with her experience there thus far.  the only thing that bothers me is that i wish she’d nap better there, but that’s a story for a different day.

side note: though this is about my day, i’ll note that annabel takes 3 x 5 oz bottles in day care — usually spaced every three hours, so around 9:30, 12:30, and 3:30, for meals #2, #3, and #4.  her naps are all over the place, and some days are really lame [20 minutes — does that even count!?].

around 9:00 [earlier on clinic days] i arrive at work.  this part hasn’t changed much, although it was quite a busy august/september in terms of running experiments.  october i’ll be back on the wards, which will be another experience altogether.

12:00 pump #2 + lunch.  as i write this, i wish i could space this closer to pump #1.  but this is generally how things work out.

12:45 back to work . . .

4:00 pump #3.  then back to work, but just usually to wrap things up/prep for the next day

5:00 head to daycare.  i’m usually suffering from a significant case of annabel withdrawal by this point and i have to stop myself from speeding too much down the durham freeway [seriously] to get to her.

5:20 happy moment!  we are reunited.  we drive home [5 minutes].  this often happens:

day care is tiring.
[she usually wakes up within a few minutes of getting in the door]

5:45 playtime — until she becomes too fussy to stand it any longer.  sadly, this often happens very quickly.

6:00 dinner!

it is absolutely amazing to me how good she is at taking food with a spoon after just a week’s practice. honestly, sometimes it’s hard to give her enough fast enough to please her, and she isn’t even that messy somehow!  so far, she’s had:

— rice cereal [with breastmilk]
— sweet potatoes [from a jar]
— butternut squash purée [that i made, thinned with a little bmilk]

6:15 bathtime.  she continues to love this ritual, and therefore so do i.  followed by pajamas/sleep sack, lotion and a book [if she’ll tolerate it — which usually she won’t]

6:30 nurse to sleep [meal #5, not counting her solids].  she typically stirs a bit when i transfer her to the crib, but then passes out

i actually just tiptoed into her room and took this shot.  
blurry but i wasn’t going to risk waking her up with the flash again!

7:00 the baby-free portion of the evening begins.  lately, i’ve been going straight to my planned workout to just get it done [except for tonight, because i’m tired and slacking, as i mentioned above].  afterwards, i shower and start to load the dishwasher with the bottles/pump parts that accumulated in my bags from the day.

and then — it’s time to make or heat up dinner.  i’ve been trying to plan dinners so that on nights that i run, i don’t have much to do — lots of leftovers and frozen pizzas and the like.  on rest days [or quick shred workout days], i’ll throw together something pretty easy, in the 20 minute range.  if josh is home, he will often help with this while i’m finishing running [or afterwards with me].  oh, and lately i’ve been enjoying some wine or beer while i cook.  it’s sort of a bribe to get me to do it, but whatever works, right?  and after going nearly a year without [i was too paranoid to drink much those first few months when i never knew when a would eat], it feels kind of nice and special.


last week.  long run on monday was labor day — not my usual pattern.

[more on workout/meal/week planning on another post.  i have more to say here!]

8:30ish dinner and clean up.

9:00 crash on couch time — or i’ll blog!  often josh and i find something to watch together, but pickings have been slim lately.  i’m psyched for the return of glee and modern family.

9:45 pump #4.

10:15ish to bed.  but really i need to start expediting things a bit in the evening and getting there earlier.

1:00 [or midnight, or 2:00] whimpering — never all out crying.  i go to nurse her [meal #6] and she is typically up for 20 minutes, max.  she eats and then i put her back down with her paci, and she is very good about falling asleep.

so there you have it — the above is a pretty IDEAL day.  a is definitely more predictable than she was a few months ago, but there are still nights when she wakes up twice.  last night, for example, she was up at 12:30 and again at 5:15 and really never made it back to sleep again, which is probably why i feel pretty much like a mess right now.

still my all?
yes.  i may not sound as glowingly ecstatic about things as i did two months ago when i was just thrilled that i could SURVIVE back at work, but .  . . i still really like the current balance.  i really enjoy my time with a, who is getting more fun by the day — and i also like working.  it makes our weekends so special and i have to say that picking her up is always a highlight of my day!

if anything could be better [though i know it could be MUUUUUCH worse!], i do long for sleep a little.  i don’t think i’ve had one completely uninterrupted night of slumber yet, and i get jealous when i hear about babies who go from 7 – 7 on a regular basis.  still, i think there’s hope, especially as a’s intake of solid foods increases.

oh, and though i really like breastfeeding, i could do without the (*$&@# pump.  but things are looking good for my goal of exclusive breast milk until 6 months, and after that i’ll reassess and see where things are.

all right, considering eating an ice cream sandwich and heading to bed with happier at home [though i’ll still have to pump at 9 or so.  harumph.]  good night!

9 Comments

  • Reply oldmdgirl March 10, 2019 at 7:17 pm

    Question: Does it count as "exclusive" bfing if you start solids before 6 months? I vote yes, but I was never really sure what the "official" word on this was. (Say "yes.")

    I can’t believe your last day in the life post was 2 months ago. Time really flies!

    • Reply theSHUbox March 10, 2019 at 7:17 pm

      oh, maybe not! i didn’t think about that. i just meant no formula 🙂

  • Reply bakebikeblog March 10, 2019 at 7:17 pm

    awww she really is just so precious 🙂 It sounds like you are really finding your stride too!

  • Reply Krista March 10, 2019 at 7:17 pm

    I’m so tired that it took reading this blog post to remind me that Glee is on my DVR from last night. I was so looking forward to watching it while the kids napped (all three of them at the same time!!!) and now nap time is almost over. Mommy brain is in full effect.

  • Reply Bree March 10, 2019 at 7:17 pm

    I am jealous of your work hours 🙂 I arrive at 7 and leave at 4 on a good day. My twins are starting daycare on Monday and I am very anxious about it. (We had a nanny debacle!) My "day in the life" is going to change dramatically next week! Hoping to start lunchtime running. Any experience with it? I refuse to get up earlier than 5 like I am now, and after work there just isn’t time.

    A is so precious! I love that smile in the first picture.

  • Reply Krista March 10, 2019 at 7:19 pm

    Also, I have a question for you (since you are a doctor and might have more actual knowledge about this). My third is almost two months old and I feed him on demand. He nurses throughout the day evening and then maybe once or twice after I go to bed. Occasionally I indulge in a beer or glass of wine. I’ve read different things about when it might reach the milk and whether it even matters. I can’t time his feedings because there is no schedule. Is the beer/wine really making much impact on the milk and how long after I drink it will he? I should mention I take about two hours sometimes to finish one bottle of beer. I’ve never worried about this before and my first two children seem no worse for the wear, but I’m still curious.

  • Reply msn degree online March 10, 2019 at 7:16 pm

    We are at the six month mark today but I have had to give Aiden a few bottles of formula. I actually encouraged it though bc he is gaining weight very slowly and I was concerned that he wasn’t getting enough calories from breastmilk.

  • Reply liz March 10, 2019 at 7:17 pm

    Have you had any trouble with a rolling over at night? My little guy gets stuck on his belly and it wakes him up. It is almost as bad as when he was a newborn!

  • Reply Brittnie March 10, 2019 at 7:17 pm

    That last pumping session of the night is always the hardest for me. Usually Ive already fallen asleep on the couch and getting up to pump is the most annoying thing ever. Ha! But. . . counting my blessings that I have someone to pump for. 🙂

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