Hellobee

I am approaching the end of my maternity leave and thought it would be fun to document what a day looks like for me at home with the girls before I head back to work. I chose to start my 24-hour period at noon on a Thursday and conclude the next day at the same time. Lilly is 11 weeks old and Audrey is 6 weeks old.

T H U R S D A Y

12:00 PM – Audrey has just fallen asleep. I wake Lilly for a feeding. We have been instructed by our night nanny to feed the girls at least every three hours so that they get enough food during the day and can sleep better at night. I often have to wake Lilly to stay with the schedule. At this first pass, she eats about 70 percent of her bottle.

12:15 PM – Wet diaper change for Lilly. One minute later, as I try to get her to finish her bottle, she loudly fills her diaper again and we go back to the changing table.

12:35 PM – Lilly finally finishes her bottle. Try to burp her for 10 minutes and finally give up.

12:45 PM – Set Lilly down and grab her dirty bottle and start the dishwasher. Then give Lilly medicine for her thrush infection.

12:50 PM – Read three books to Lilly. Move her to her bouncer seat and sing songs.

1:15 PM – I’m feeling sleepy so I head to the kitchen to fix myself a cup of strong tea.

1:20 PM – Wake Audrey and warm her bottle.

1:25 PM – Feed Audrey while bouncing Lilly in her seat with my foot and talking nonsense to both of them.

1:35 PM – Poopy/wet diaper change for Audrey. Give Audrey medicine for her thrush infection.

1:40 PM – Put Audrey in her bouncer seat next to Lilly and read books to the girls together.

1:50 PM – Place Lilly on activity mat for tummy time. Audrey remains in bouncer because I’m afraid she will spit up if I put her on tummy so soon after she ate.

2 PM – One of the cats tips over the entire can of ginger ale that I had sitting on the table. I rush to clean up the mess with a burp rag and I’m relieved that somehow the accident missed my laptop and camera.

2:10 PM – The same cat throws up all over the couch. Luckily, I hear it coming and manage to catch most of it with a hastily placed burp rag.

2:25 PM – Audrey has fallen asleep in her bouncer seat. I move Lilly to her back on the activity mat.

2:30 PM – Get the mail. See that Mr. Starfish has received a jury summons and text him about it.

2:40 PM – Wet diaper change for Audrey. I swaddle her and put her in the Rock ‘n Play, hopeful she will nap. She does.

2:45 PM – Prepare bottle for Lilly. Start feeding.

3:00 PM – Poopy/wet diaper for Lilly. Swaddle her.

3:05 PM – Collect pump parts and connect to my breast pump. Continue to feed Lilly her bottle while pumping.

3:20 PM – I am trying to wean pumping so I stop the pump after 15 minutes. I’ve been trying to feed Lilly this whole time and she hasn’t eaten much. I give up and put her in her swing for a nap.

3:25 PM – Unload dishwasher while both babies are sleeping. Tidy up the kitchen and prepare for tomorrow morning by setting out my breakfast essentials and the girls’ medicines for the morning. Open up some mail and see insurance documents; hastily try to figure out some of the charges for Audrey’s hospital stay.

3:40 PM – Open laptop and sort through emails, both personal and work-related.

3:55 PM – Lilly wakes earlier than I expected. I let her sit in her swing while I try to finish up some logistics of a work trip I have to go on in September. She eventually soothes herself back to sleep.

4:25 PM – Wake up Audrey and heat her bottle. Start to feed Audrey. When she has finished half her bottle, I take her for a poopy/wet diaper change.

4:55 PM – Lilly wakes again but appears sleepy. Again, I let her sit in the swing and she is back asleep in a few minutes.

5:10 PM – Finish feeding Audrey her bottle. She is eating slowly like her sister, which is uncharacteristic of her.

5:15 PM – Dash to the kitchen to prepare a quick dinner for myself. Feed cats their dinner.

5:20 PM – Hold Audrey on my lap and sing songs and talk to her.

5:25 PM – Turn off Lilly’s swing to encourage her to wake. Give Audrey her probiotics for the day.

5:30 PM – Lilly doesn’t want to wake so I unswaddle her.

5:40 PM – Lilly is finally awake. I warm her bottle and sing songs to the girls while we wait.

5:45 PM – Mr. Starfish arrives home. He checks out his jury summons and starts to worry about a work conflict. Before he gets too involved in that task, I ask him to please go change out of his work clothes and help out by feeding Lilly her bottle. He obliges.

5:50 PM – Mr. Starfish feeds Lilly. I am still holding Audrey on my lap and talking to her and watching her explore the room with her eyes.

5:55 PM – I put Audrey in her bouncer seat.

6:00 PM – Audrey hates being in bouncer seat and screams. I take her back onto my lap.

6:05 PM – Mr. Starfish changes a wet diaper on Lilly. Audrey is screaming loudly and I put on the carrier and settle her in, being sure to grab my earplugs because Audrey’s cry is really loud!

6:15 PM – Audrey has stopped screaming. Mr. Starfish finishes Lilly’s feeding and gives her probiotics. She’s still very fussy so I give her some gripe water.

6:25 PM – My back is killing me from holding Audrey and Mr. Starfish takes pity on me and encourages me to go take a break and have a shower. I go!

6:55 PM – Back from my shower. Audrey is now calmly sleeping on Mr. Starfish’s chest. I take Lilly to play on my lap and sing songs.

7:15 PM – Lilly has a wet/poopy diaper. Give her medication for thrush infection.

7:30 PM – Lilly is rubbing her eyes and looking tired. We decide to hold her to 8 PM for bedtime as we are trying to get into a routine.

7:35 PM – I collect my pump parts and start pumping.

7:40 PM – Mr. Starfish puts Audrey in the Rock ‘n Play in the hopes that she will sleep on her own and not on his chest.

7:43 PM – She only makes it three minutes before screaming. Mr. Starfish prepares her bottle.

7:50 PM – Lilly screams and I shut down the pump. Mr. Starfish is feeding Audrey.

7:55 PM – I take Lilly up to the nursery for bedtime. I turn on her mobile for a song, and I read her four bedtime books.

8:15 PM – I put Lilly down and she seems to fall asleep. I attempt to leave the room quietly but I see that a cat has snuck in. As I get him out, it gets noisy and Lilly starts to stir. I still leave the room, hopeful she will sleep.

8:18 PM – No luck. Lilly is crying. Back to the nursery to soothe her.

8:30 PM – Mr. Starfish comes in with Audrey and places her in her crib. By now, Lilly also appears asleep and Mr. Starfish and I leave the nursery together.

8:45 PM – Down to the kitchen to prepare for the night. The night nanny is coming tonight and I make sure she has clean bottles. I also make sure all of the girls’ dirty laundry is in the hampers for the night nanny to do.

9 PM – I head to bed. I leave Mr. Starfish in charge of any baby care until the night nanny is set to arrive at 10:30 PM.

11:15 PM – I am awoken by my pumping alarm. I am freaked out that Mr. Starfish is not in bed with me because the night nanny should have arrived by now. It is storming out, making it even more eerie. I find Mr. Starfish in the nursery (Lilly kept waking herself with flatulence!) and he tells me that the night nanny has not shown up. We text her and can’t reach her. We text her boss and she also doesn’t know what has happened.

11:25 PM – I start pumping, now worried that something has happened to the night nanny and also coming to terms with the night ahead without her.

11:40 PM – I finish pumping. The night nanny still hasn’t arrived.

11:45 PM – The night nanny arrives! Her phone had broken, and her sitter had canceled. She is embarrassed that she is so late. We are totally forgiving, just ecstatic that we suddenly got our sleep back for the night! We go to sleep.

F R I D A Y

5:30 AM – My alarm goes off to pump. Actually, it went off hours ago but I was too tired to wake up.

5:50 AM – Start to pump.

6:05 AM – Back to snoozing. The night nanny’s shift is over at 6:30 so I take advantage of 15 more minutes of glorious sleep.

6:20 AM – Drag myself out of bed and head to the kitchen to fix some oatmeal and coffee for myself. I feed the cats and portion out the breastmilk that I pumped last night into bottles for the day.

6:30 AM – The night nanny brings Lilly downstairs because she is up for the day. The night nanny leaves.

6:45 AM – I yell upstairs to Mr. Starfish to make sure he is awake for work. He wasn’t. I hear Audrey stirring on the monitor so I go to get her bottle warmed.

6:50 AM – Check Lilly’s diaper because she’s doing a lot of gas-related groaning. Nothing in the diaper. Place her in the bouncer.

6:55 AM – Read Lilly some books. Again, hear Audrey stirring on the monitor but she falls back asleep again.

7:10 AM – Mr. Starfish comes downstairs and uses the Nose Frida to clear out Lilly’s nose. He eats breakfast before work and we turn on the news. I hear Audrey again and go up to get her from the nursery. I feed her as I read Lilly some books and sing songs to both of them. Lilly is falling asleep in her bouncer chair.

7:15 AM – Mr. Starfish leaves for work.

7:35 AM – Lilly gets the hiccups and it wakes her up. I change Audrey’s poopy/wet diaper. She pees during the diaper change and I have to clean the changing pad.

7:45 AM – Audrey finishes her bottle. I burp her.

7:50 AM – I give thrush medication to both girls. I get Lilly’s bottle ready and put Audrey in her bouncer seat. I reheat my coffee because I’ve had no time to drink it and it has gotten cold. I read books to both girls in their bouncer seats.

8 AM – Head up to the nursery to pick up last night’s mess.

8:05 AM – Back downstairs for a couple more books to the girls.

8:10 AM – Start to feed Lilly. Audrey starts fussing in her seat and I move her to the swing.

8:20 AM – A smell tells me that Lilly needs a diaper change. As I pick her up, I see that she has soiled her outfit through the side somehow. We head over to the changing station for a clean up and a full outfit change. I swaddle her. Meanwhile, Audrey is screaming from the swing.

8:30 AM – By the time I’m finished with Lilly’s change, Audrey has calmed down. I resume Lilly’s feeding.

8:35 AM – I finish feeding Lilly and attempt to burp her (no luck). Audrey starts screaming again. I move Audrey out of the swing, putting Lilly in the swing. Wet diaper change for Audrey and a swaddle, then I put her in the Rock ‘n Play.

8:40 AM – I am going back and forth between the girls replacing pacifiers and trying to soothe them to sleep. When I have a minute, I retrieve Lilly’s morning outfit that she soiled and place it in a bowl of water to soak.

9:05 AM – Both babies fall asleep. I head upstairs and brush my teeth and change out of my pajamas.

9:15 AM – Back to the kitchen to cut up some watermelon (my favorite summer treat!)

9:30 AM – Both babies are stirring; I replace pacifiers. I check emails on my phone.

9:40 AM – My breasts hurt and I realize that I need to pump. I start pumping, reading a news magazine while doing so.

9:45 AM – Lilly cries. I have to unhook myself from the pump to soothe her. She falls back asleep.

9:55 AM – Finish pumping. Fix bottles and clean pump. Warm Audrey’s bottle.

10:10 AM – Unswaddle Audrey and start her feeding.

10:20 AM – Check Audrey’s diaper. It’s clear.

10:21 AM – Lilly is awake and crying. I unswaddle her and change her wet diaper.

10:25 AM – I put Lilly in her bouncer while I resume Audrey’s feeding.

10:30 AM – I put Lilly down for tummy time but she’s not having it. I put her back in her bouncer. Audrey is back asleep.

10:40 AM – I do some research for birthday gift ideas for Mr. Starfish on my phone.

11:10 AM – Warm a bottle and feed Lilly.

11:30 AM – After putting Lilly in her swing, I hastily eat lunch.

11:35 AM – Audrey is awake and crying. I change her wet diaper. She is very upset and so I give her gripe water. She calms down when I hold her to my chest.

11:55 AM – I put Audrey on to my lap for a tummy time of sorts. She likes it and is making cute noises. I take a video so I can share it with friends/family.

12 PM – Change Audrey’s poopy diaper.