A day in the life...

I decided to record the events of a 24-hour day at 7 weeks of age for anyone who might be interested in how our days are spent and also for comparison’s sake a few months from now, as surely the structure of our days will be changing as Caleb grows. The day begins at 12 am midnight, because he’s still feeding around the clock.

12:30 am: Caleb is unusually alert for this time of day. He has just been given his bottle of formula for the day (after acting like he was starving, even after nursing) and is wide-awake, smiling and making eye contact. I find myself abandoning the article I’m reading on the computer for some communication with my son.

1 am: I decide that it’s time to settle down and go to bed, since he is normally asleep by now and I don’t want to upset his (somewhat loose) routine. I am also getting sleepy. So I head upstairs with him wide-awake, realizing that this may take a while tonight! Ron is already sleeping, so I try to keep Caleb as quiet as possible.

1:10 am: We are lying in bed, trying to fall asleep. I am not having any trouble nodding off, that is, but my dear son keeps squirming and fighting sleep. I alternately try holding the pacifier and my pinkie in his mouth, scooping him up in the bed and rocking him.

1:30ish am: He finally falls asleep while I hold the pacifier in his mouth. I don’t remember this exactly, because I am asleep myself.

4:30-5:00ish am: He stirs and I let him breastfeed. We both pass out after a very short time.

5:40 am: I hear Ron saying bye as he leaves for work.

7:00 am: Caleb wakes up again, hungry (he didn’t have much the last time). I nurse him and we nod back to sleep.

8:00ish am: Caleb is nursing again, but is very restless (he gets like this every morning; it’s a combination of being hungry but also half-asleep, so he can’t nurse effectively). So I decide it’s time to end his wrestling and get up for a good feeding (although I’m still sleepy - this has not been a great night of sleep). I breastfeed in his room on the glider, where I have my books set up for some morning reading/quiet time.

8:30 am: We come downstairs, I make coffee and sit down to read e-mail/news at the computer. Caleb continues to alternately sleep/breastfeed. I respond to a job request and get the job. (It’s an interesting one, requiring me to research Hungarian geopolitical terms.) I start working on it.

10:30 am: I decide to put a sleeping Caleb in his bouncy seat so I can get some things done. However, he does not stay asleep, as I had hoped. So I turn on the TV and place him in front of it in his bouncy seat (I know this is horrible – my 7 week old watching TV - but lately he’s been mesmerized by it). A Baby Story is on and I’m hoping for a good 15 minutes of time. I get about 10 before he starts fussing, just enough to fix myself a breakfast of eggs and toast and sterilize the artificial nipples.

10:55 am: He seems very hungry as I sit down to eat my breakfast and we eat together. He nurses vigorously. I answer some e-mails and do some work. I’ve made the mistake of not getting myself something to drink. Now I’m stuck. After nursing for almost an hour, he falls asleep.

12:00 pm: I carry him upstairs and decide to try laying him down in his crib while I shower. For the first time ever, he naps in his crib (so far, he’s only had a couple of “crib training” sessions of about 5-10 minutes when I’d put him in there awake, with me in the room, to get him used to the space). I run to get a shower and check on him. He’s still asleep. I throw in a load of laundry, and then check on him. He’s still asleep. I sort and put away a load of laundry. He’s still asleep! I get bold. I start cleaning his room, organizing his closet, bringing in the mail. I get ready to break out our baby monitor when I hear him waking. Oh well, I had a good run. :)

1:05 pm: We come downstairs and Caleb breastfeeds. I notice his nails are really long again. However, I do not have the baby nail clippers nearby, so cutting them will have to wait.

1:24 pm: He’s finished. I put him in the sling and we go out for a walk around the neighborhood. On the way back, I see our neighbor who’s just had a baby girl and congratulate them on their baby. They do the same.

2:01 pm: We get home. He is asleep in the sling. I make myself a quick lunch and sit down to eat.

2:20 pm: Caleb awakens and wants to nurse. He nurses for 20 minutes.

2:40 pm: Playtime with mommy (Caleb imitates my facial expressions, listens to me sing, and smiles a lot), tummy time for exercising his neck and arm muscles, and bouncy seat time, where he occupies himself for about 20 minutes (he’s been enjoying his bouncy seat in the past week; I think he has finally grown into it).

4:20 pm: Breastfeeds for an hour, falling asleep at the end. He awakens after 30 minutes. We watch some TV and I check my end of the workday e-mails, responding to anything pertinent.

6:30ish: Ron gets home from work. We sit and talk for a while and decide on what we want to cook for dinner. Ron spends some time with an alert Caleb.

7:30ish: Ron runs to the store while I give Caleb his bottle of formula as he lies in the sling while I do the dishes (talk about multitasking!).

8:15: Ron gets back from the store and starts cooking (Garlic-Parmesan Penne with Shrimp and Scallops). I nurse Caleb while reading a book.

8:45: Caleb and I join Ron in the kitchen, where we dance Caleb to sleep in the sling to the music of Sinatra. We call Ron’s parents and finish cooking dinner.

9:30ish: Ron and I sit down to eat our candlelit dinner. Caleb wakes up and finishes his bottle.

11:00ish: We finish our dinner and go to bed. Caleb is asleep.