This is a typical day in the life of our lives now with a baby and a toddler.
Tuesday Evening
7:54 PM- Finish feeding Juliet.
8:01 PM- Place her down in her bassinet for bed. Go help Mr. Chocolate finish up bed time with Drake.
10:00 PM- Go to bed myself. Normally I would have been in bed an hour ago if not two, but this night I decide to spend some time with Mr. Chocolate, surf the web, and blog a little.
11:50PM- Juliet wakes up to eat. I am a little disappointed as this is early for her. Normally she can go up to 7 hours some nights after her last feed, but once in a while she will break it up with a shorter stint which apparently has happened tonight. Feed her and change her diaper. Sadly after her longer stretch of sleep she tends to like to be awake for a little while. She is happy and alert so I sit her in her bouncer and catch up on some emails. Once she gets fussy, I swaddle her and watch an episode of Arrested Development on Amazon Prime while rocking her to sleep.
Wednesday
12:57 AM- Place her down to sleep and go back to bed myself.
2:32 AM- Juliet wakes to eat again. Sit in the dark room barely awake myself feeding her. Luckily the middle of the night feeding is quick and she goes right down again.
2:47 AM- Back in bed
5:31 AM- Juliet wakes to eat again. After a short feed she wants to be awake now for a little while. Every day we start the day anywhere from 5:30-7 with the average being around 6 AM, so this is an earlier morning for us. I change her diaper and then alternate with playing with her, taking photos of her, placing her in the bouncer, and holding her.
7:05AM- I try placing her down as I have rocked her to sleep.
7:27 AM- She wakes up to eat again. At this time Mr. Chocolate gets up and showers before going to work. Juliet gets a second wind and wants to be up still.
8:17AM- I hear Drake on the monitor. Luckily he is happy to play in his room by himself.
8:46AM- Attempt to put Juliet down again as she has nodded off in my arms. Unsuccessful as she wakes up the moment I place her down and cries. Back up for more rocking and Arrested Development.
10:05AM- I try putting her down again but she wakes up. I give up for now and go to Drake’s room to get him up. It’s hard changing his diaper, and helping him brush his teeth, change his clothes, and wash his hands one handed, which is why I usually prefer to get him after Juliet has gone to bed. We all go downstairs. I place Juliet in her swing while I get Drake his breakfast — yogurt and a bowl of Cheerios with milk. He eats both himself as I have gone back to rocking Juliet who is fussy in the swing.
10:27AM- Change Juliet’s diaper and feed her again.
10:39AM- Juliet is done eating so we rock while sitting downstairs with Drake as he watches a Barney show.
11:32AM- Finally put Juliet down for a nap upstairs. I eat breakfast, a bowl of cereal, and check my email. Drake has a dirty diaper so I change it. Normally during this time I like to do some house cleaning but since it took me so long to get Juliet down this morning, I’m scared to make too much noise with unloading the dishwasher or vacuuming. So instead I check my emails and websites. I start a blog post as I have both hands to type. Then I do a puzzle with Drake when his show is done.
12:18PM- Juliet wakes up fussy. I rock her while I give Drake a granola bar he asks for to eat.
12:39PM- Juliet wants to eat again. I change her diaper and feed her.
1:00PM- Juliet finishes eating. I place her in the swing and unload the dishwasher.
1:15PM- Back to rocking as she is fussing. Drake wants to watch another show so I let him.
1:40PM- I give up and drink a few sips of Coke. I don’t drink coffee and some days I can make it through ok, but other days I need a little caffeine to get through the day. This is one of them.
2:19PM- Juliet finally falls asleep and I can put her down again. I change Drake’s diaper, vacuum and try to clean up the playroom a little with him.
2:37PM- Juliet wakes up again. I change her diaper and feed her upstairs. Drake comes up with me and plays with Duplos in the room.
2:51PM- Juliet finishes eating and is happy and alert. Drake is playing with Duplos so I run and take a quick shower while both are happy.
3:00PM- Come out of the shower and Juliet is starting to fuss. Get dressed and rock her.
3:19PM- I lay down with Juliet on my chest. Drake sits next to me in bed playing with my phone. I close my eyes. I wanted to take them for a walk but am simply too tired, and it also looks like it might rain anyway.
3:54PM- Drag myself out of bed. Juliet hasn’t really slept during this time, but has remained calm at least. Drake is happily playing with my phone. I look at the time and realize Drake needs to eat lunch. We go downstairs and I make him a grilled cheese. I change his diaper as well.
4:40PM- Juliet finally goes down in her bed. I tidy up a few things downstairs.
5:00PM- Mr. Chocolate comes home.
5:13PM- Juliet is awake. I change her diaper and feed her.
5:32PM- Juliet finishes eating. I try rocking her a little.
5:40PM- I pass her to Mr. Chocolate to rock. I go upstairs for a little alone time. I check some emails and surf my forums.
6:18PM- Mr. Chocolate brings Juliet back to me. He wants to make dinner. I change her diaper and watch a new show I found, The White Queen.
7:27PM- Finally get Juliet asleep. Place her down in her bed and go downstairs to have dinner with Drake and Mr. Chocolate After dinner I clear the dishes and surf my forums mindlessly. Drake plays in the playroom, Mr. Chocolate does some remote IT work and plays Minecraft.
8:11PM- We take Drake up to bed. We change him, brush his teeth, and read him stories.
8:25PM- We leave Drake’s room and go downstairs. Mr. Chocolate and I chat a little while surfing on our laptops.
8:47PM- I can’t keep my eyes open so decide to go to bed early. I normally go to bed about an hour after Juliet does to maximize my sleep. I hope tonight she does a longer stretch of sleep for me.
11:58PM- Juliet wakes to eat again.
apricot / 346 posts
Thanks for sharing! I would love to write down everything we do for a day!
grapefruit / 4400 posts
OH. MY. GAH. Just reading this made me exhausted. Kudos to you, mama!
pineapple / 12053 posts
busy momma! thanks for sharing your craziness!
pomegranate / 3768 posts
Wow. Just wow. I’m only 8 months pp and I forgot how much work it was in the early days. I think I blocked it out! Haha! Kudos to you for taking care of two! Wow.
apricot / 377 posts
You are a total ROCKSTAR. Remember this when you get tired. Reading this made me want to rock YOU to sleep. How about that White Queen? I’m loving it.
persimmon / 1396 posts
I am exhausted for you! Its amazing how quickly we forget the needy newborn phase!
blogger / pomelo / 5361 posts
Busy mama! I hope you got more sleep the rest of that night!
blogger / pomelo / 5400 posts
Oh man. This is me in a couple months … Now I need a nap.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
LOVE The White Queen!!!
Also you’re making me rethink having another baby so soon…
guest
I am going through the same “routine” right now. I love that you wrote that Juliet was “finally” down several times, only to have her awake minutes later.
hostess / eggplant / 11068 posts
I’m going to take a nap now.
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
@MrsMed: I just finished the White Queen (lots of time to watch when nursing) as I watched the British version instead of the American one thats just starting and I loved it. I love Philippa Gregory and read the books that its based on and saw her speak when The White Queen came out years ago. Max Irons is one amazing King Edward, I admit I developed a crush heehee
@Mrs. Blue: I read your Day in a Life a while ago and wanted to die so really hats off to you mama
@Mrs. Yoyo: Yes it might be rough but youll get through it, some days are harder (this was one) than others I cant wait to see the new little Yoyo
@Adira: Yes the White Queen was awesome I finished the series but I loved the books. Max Irons is my new love lol
apricot / 377 posts
@Mrs. Chocolate: Must find the British version on Amazon? My friend just sent me the books. Can’t wait to read them. I better get in all my reading now before I deliver in October, cuz it seems unlikely I’ll be reading with a newborn.
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
@MrsMed: The British version came out in June so you can find it downloaded places online, I wont lie I know nothing about this kind of stuff hubby found it for me. The British version has less nudity I heard which I personally prefer. And yeah I havent read a book in months between end stage pregnancy and now a newborn, also Drake broke my Kindle back in April
I miss reading I love it
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
oh my goodness I’m so tired reading that and so thankful I won’t be doing the newborn phase for awhile…
So Drake contentedly plays in his bed for nearly two hours?! that’s so long. My kid would never do that. I am really surprised reading through this as how independent he seems for his age! That must be so helpful when dealing with a newborn.
You have such adorable kids!
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
@Mrs. Pen: We just convertedDrake to a toddler bed but before he was in a crib so he had to stay put so I feared once we switched he would be all over. He can open the doors so I figured once he woke up he would leave his room eventually and then come into ours but surprisingly he stays in his bed though he can get out now! He stays in there doing his thing until I come in then he hops out himself. Its so strange but I guess he is conditioned into it by now so I dont argue it saves me in the morning or if I need to put him in his room for a little to do stuff or just get a break somedays
grapefruit / 4819 posts
Oh my…. I am suddenly starting to panic about this being my life in a few months. Yikes!!! I’m exhausted just reading that and am seriously wondering how we’re going to cope. DH works 12 hr days 6 days per week so it will be a lot of me just doing it on my own! Ok, deep breaths, five months until you have to worry about this….
You are a rock star momma though – I can’t believe you were even able to keep track for a 24 hr period. I’d have given up after about hour two! Thanks for sharing!
pineapple / 12566 posts
This is what I’m in for in a few months. It’s nice to get such a concise viewpoint!
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
@Ree723: Yeah my DH works long hours too and so it can be hard. I actually tried recording it for several days and either forgot or passed out before I could record it so it took several tries and I did have to translate my own chicken scratch at the end when I put it together as those early morning jots were kinda messy
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
@lamariniere: Its hard and some days are certainly more exhausting than others I just tell myself it wont last forever and as she gets older it ought to get easier…this is what I say at least so I dont lose my mind some days
grapefruit / 4923 posts
you are superwoman.
your previous post on siblings convinced me that we should have another LO. i am now rethinking this hasty decision. jk–i know short-term work vs. long-term gains…right? right??
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
@edelweiss: Yes its rough now and some days are a little easier, this particular day was harder than most, but babies grow up and they are children and adults for much longer than babies. You know what they say the days are long the years are short. Itll be ok I dont regret it I just wish for more sleep this all
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
thank you for curing me of any flashes of baby fever i’ve had. SUPERMAMA. i am not ready for lo #2
pomegranate / 3053 posts
Awww…thanks for sharing your day. It does get better. Get some rest, mama.
guest
I know this is an old post but it’s exactly where I am right now and so appreciated your perspective! Life with a two month old and a toddler is exhausting! Some days I feel bad for not getting more done but this post captures reality so well ….. It’s hard!!