flying solo
i was on my own today — josh is in louisiana preparing to take his oral boards, which just makes me thankful that pediatric endocrinology does not have a similar requirement. so, i thought i’d share a day-in-the-life of a completely uneventful saturday.
i just read laura vanderkam‘s short e-book, what the most successful people do on the weekends, and found it a fun quick read. however, it also made me feel a little bit inadequate. she suggests five — FIVE! — anchor events to fill up the weekend’s 60 hours. for example, something like:
friday night — barbecue with friends
saturday day — children’s museum
saturday night — movie night
sunday day — apple picking
sunday night — picnic dinner in a park
and she’s not suggesting skipping things like workouts or home maintenance, though she does suggest trying to do more day-to-day chores on weeknights, such as grocery shopping and laundry.
i have to admit that i’m just not ready for THIS much weekend action. but i did start to think that at least a daily anchor event wouldn’t be such a bad thing. and my nighttime events could be “work on photo book” or “read in bed” — just because they’re not so glamorous or active doesn’t mean they don’t count.
anyway, so here was our day!
a day in the life: weekend, annabel age 9 1/2 months [closer to 10]
6:15 am hear annabel making cute little sounds in her room. roll over in bed lazily listening to the cute sounds.
6:30 am feeling more awake — time to get the muffin! she is sitting up happily in her crib. she has been really good about waking up at a reasonable hour lately, and i’m so grateful. we have our AM breastfeeding session and then it’s off to the kitchen.
she would probably prefer to roam free, but she still cooperates and sits in this seat fairly patiently while i make coffee/breakfast for me.
i usually eat before she does – she isn’t super hungry immediately after b-feeding in the AM. i eat oatmeal and drink coffee while she plays. and occasionally i HAVE to snap a photo or two.
[of note, i’m trying to be really good about NOT using my phone when i’m with annabel other than to a) talk to people/FaceTime or b) take pictures. i was successful today.]
“mommy . . . umm, a little help?”
8:00 am: time for her breakfast! a new food: mini whole wheat waffles with sun butter, and banana pieces. she loved it. we head back to her room to play — after taking some glamour shots for her dad. a this american life podcast was in the background, which was kind of fun.
9:15 am: fussiness is starting — i can tell it’s close to her AM nap time. she takes a ~6 oz bottle of formula, and then at 9:30 am is down for the count.
9:30 – 11 am: NAP. i think she is overtired after being in day care all week, because she sleeps really well on weekends lately. usually i use this time to run, but i decided to take one last day of rest on account of the cold i’m getting over. so, i read and generally lazed around. nothing earth shattering. it was nice.
11 am: she’s up! she ‘helps’ me do some laundry, and then i finally put her in some real clothes. since i had decided our anchor event would be — wait for it — a trip to the mall, we played for just a little while and then i gave her lunch on the early side. at around 11:30, she had a lovely jar of veg medley and some yogurt. for what it’s worth, i had a glorified organic amy’s hot pocket and some hot chocolate.
12 pm – 2 pm: mall trip! i got something i reallydidn’tneedbutreallywanted at the apple store, and mint green skinny jeans at the gap because — well, just because. by the way, i remember reading an adage once that warned never to wear a trend if you’re old enough to remember it the first time around. this purchase definitely breaks this rule, as i had my share of colored denim in the 7th grade [i even had the most awesome green PLAID pair]. hopefully this rule isn’t true anymore!
2:15 pm: we miraculously made it home without annabel passing out in the car, so she’s fussy and ready for naptime pretty quickly. she gets bottle #2 and proceeds to take another fairly epic nap from 2:30 – 4 pm. during this time, i do some more laundry, read some more, and play with my new toy from the apple store.
4 pm: up again. lots of playtime, which currently consists of pulling to stand on every available surface, opening every drawer, and generally getting into anything that looks remotely interesting [which is everything, particularly everything dangerous and/or fragile]. we also had a taylor swift dance party — and yes, annabel dances. she kind of wiggles around and starts clapping and it is the BEST.
5:30 pm: bottle #3 and lots of FaceTime [the camera on annabel] with my sister
6:15 pm: dinner for her. a multi course banquet, including:
— steamed carrot pieces
— a few cheddar-broccoli puffs
— hard boiled egg yolk
— jar of chicken/sweet potato mix
— jar of pears
7:00 pm: bathtime – which she sorely needed after the above feast. followed by 2 books + her PM nursing session.
7:30 pm: asleep. i just had dinner [homemade egg salad on whole wheat sourdough + carrots and cucumbers], cleaned up the kitchen, and um, wrote this post. and that’s going to be about it, because i’m planning on my long run in the AM — the early AM — and need to get to bed!
i feel like perhaps i may not have lived up to the standards in the ebook above, but it was still a satisfying and relaxing day. lots of quiet, some rest, and quality time with miss a. i’ll take it.
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