A Day in the Life

I'm halfway through my maternity leave now and wondering where did all the time go. I feel like I've been so unproductive during the past 2 months but of course I've just been busy taking care of a new baby. I'm pretty sure years or even months from now I will wonder what the heck did I do with all my "free" time during mat leave, so here it is - a day in my life as a new mommy.

6am - 7am: K wakes up for her morning diaper change/feeding. This is Prentice's shift and he'll change her, give her a bottle, and play with her if she stays awake, while I try to pump milk and catch some more sleep.

7am - 8am: I hold K in bed and after about 20 min she falls back asleep for her morning nap. Since she's still in my arms and I don't want to wake her by putting her down, I end up falling asleep in a half laying down/half sitting up position. We sleep like this for up to three more hours.

10am - 11am: We wake up. My neck is sore. I feed and change K, then place her back in her crib so she can stare at her sheep mobile while I wash up, make tea, grab a bite, and get changed. She loves her sheep. I haven't fully tested how long she'll stare at them for, but I've left her there for up to 20 minutes without hearing a complaint.

11am - 1pm: Activity time - K is wide awake so we walk around the house or sit on the couch together while watching Martha Stewart and The Doctors on TV.

1pm - 4pm: An outing of some sort, whether it's a trip to Target, Babies r' Us, mall, or our weekly mother-infant group. We may also take a stroller walk to Starbucks, or Grandma comes to visit and hang out. (During the first month before I was leaving the house, it was a 3-hours Grey's Anatomy marathon on the Lifetime channel everyday. I never watched so much TV in my life.)

4pm - 6pm: Combination of napping, activity, or just plain fussing.

6pm: Daddy comes home and I'm excited to finally have my hands free.

7pm - 9pm: We take turns eating dinner while the other holds K, watch TV, and more activity time.

9pm - 10pm: Our nightly bedtime routine: bath (2-3 times/week), change into pj's/sleepsack, read a story, nurse, and rocking until she falls asleep. Some nights this routine takes 30 minutes, other nights it takes up to 2 hours.

10pm - 5am: Ideally sleeping through the night, but may still wake up once or twice for additional feedings.

Phew, what a busy 24 hours. And it repeats itself again and again and again...