Day in the Life - Summer 2015

It's time for another Day in the Life, summer edition! If you make it through my long, rambling day of a lot of fussy baby talk, kudos to you.

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Sunday, July 12, 2015

Carter is 7 months old (today!)

12:00am | Not surprisingly, I start this "DITL" awake, nursing a restless/teething baby. Carter's lower right incisor is just starting to break through, so we have been doing a lot of nursing at night and ice cubes during the day. I'm so ready for this tooth! I check Facebook as I think I might fall asleep in the chair if I don't do something. I chuckle at a photo that my cousin posted from our family reunion the day before...I somehow perfectly timed a photobomb while pacing in an open field putting Carter to sleep.

Carter fortunately continues to rock night-sleeping and puts himself right back to sleep, flipping from back to front in the 10 seconds it takes me to walk back to my room. My tummy-sleeper.

2:45am | Here we go again. It's exhausting, but I know the kid is in pain and am happy I can help him get through the night. 8 minutes and we're both back in our respective beds.

5:35am | Uh-oh. I hear Carter babbling to himself. I had suspected he might wake early as he barely napped yesterday afternoon and fell asleep at 5pm on our car ride home. He isn't upset, so I leave him to his babbling and I drift in and out of sleep for another 20 minutes. He starts to sound a bit agitated that no one has come to rescue him, so I stumble out of bed. I turn on a light and say "good morning!" and see a grin form on his face before we even lock eyes. We nurse, until he starts flipping and flopping all over. I set him on the floor to play while I pick up his room a bit.

We head downstairs and Carter plays in his exersaucer while I make my dual morning beverages - coffee and Shakeology. I am starting 21 Day Fix tomorrow and have started with the shakes to make sure they don't affect Carter in any negative way. Chocolate and banana for this morning - mmmmmmmm.

Of course the minute I sit down with my coffee and shake, Carter starts fussing to be picked up. Without fail. :) I grab him and settle in on his playmat with him, beverages in close reach. He's still not really happy, and I can only distract him with a new toy for approximately 25 seconds. The Lego bag turns out to be the only great form of entertainment for the morning.

I decide we should step outside for a bit of fresh air. It's quite warm out already, but there's an awesome breeze. We sit on the patio and look at flowers and trees and listen to birds (and chew on the chair handle). Carter is calm, momentarily. I keep my fingers crossed that no neighbors come outside, as I am a sight for sore eyes. Fortunately, the neighborhood is still asleep.

Back inside, and not surprisingly Carter is still super fussy, and now rubbing his eyes and crying. People say he never cries? Not for them, he doesn't. My poor Bubbers.

7:00am | (Wait, it's only 7am??) I put Carter down for his first nap of the day, which still sort of cracks me up that it's so early. But soooo necessary. I lay him down and in 15 minutes he's sound asleep. I only have to go in once to pat his back a little (he's getting good at figuring out how to self-soothe). Downstairs I start saving photos from my phone to free up space for today's capture, and start watching a video of him when he was 8 weeks old. I die.

8:00am | Carter is awake. I bring him downstairs again to play, but he is still super fussy and clinging. (I'm annoyed at the use of 'fussy' in this post already, but that's what it was). Screams the instant I put him in his exersaucer. Turns his head away at the suggestion of his favorite toys. Wants to be held, but wiggles and whines when I do. I carry him on my hip while I do a few things in the kitchen, but he reaches for everything and I end up needing both arms to hold him upright. This isn't going to fly. So I bring him back upstairs, pop in his pacifier, and he immediately closes his eyes. Thank goodness there is an easy solution to this cranky butt. While he is sound asleep again, I decide I should get ready for church, if there is any hope of getting out the door on time. I throw on some clothes, use a little dry shampoo, a dab of make-up, and voila, that's as good as it's going to get.

8:50am |  Carter wakes again, this time much happier. Hallelujah. I say hello and he immediately looks up at the camera for his monitor. I swear, he knows people are watching. (I have a lovely corner shelf that needs hanging in the corner for the camera to better perch from, but alas it has sat on the floor for two months now...someday we will hang it up).

I nurse him, which involves some acrobatics on his part, turning over onto his belly on my lap, and coming right back for another few sips. I then take the opportunity to cut his itty bitty toe nails while he is happily occupied with a book. A quick change, and he plays on our bedroom floor until we are all ready to go.

9:20am | We leave for church, right on time! Carter keeps fairly content playing with a few toys and the buckles in his car seat during the service. One teether finds its way two rows up on the floor, which is eventually handed back to us. I have to step out to the crying room only for the last part of the sermon as Carter decides he wants to chime in.

Afterwards, we stop at Starbucks where I really want something but reluctantly pass. There's something about starting 21 Day Fix the next day that deters me from consuming 500 calories right now. And let's be honest, that's the only drink that I really want. I don't intend to be super strict on the nutrition part of 21 Day Fix as I will require a few more calories and a slower weight loss than this regimen is known for as I am still nursing (and not willing to disrupt my milk supply for any weight loss). But, every step towards better nutrition I take will be worthwhile, so no Caramel Frappuccino for me. Carter cracks us up on the drive home with his talking and shrieking and ear-to-ear smiles.

11:00am |  Once home, Carter plays a bit with Daddy until it is clearly obvious that he needs sleep pronto. 

I nurse him and put him down, where he talks and fusses a little until he’s fast asleep. I pull out all my 21 Day Fix papers and decide to write down all of my starting measurements and take photos (ick - no one on earth will be seeing those), since tomorrow night will be busy enough. I also decide to check out the yoga (Sunday) workout, and it reminds me of my prenatal yoga days.  I then shower and try on approximately 5 shirts before I find one that I’m okay with.

12:45pm | I am starving and decide to make us scrambled eggs for lunch. Jon reluctantly agrees to adding spinach, after I promise he won’t tell much of a difference. I also heat up a hotdog, which is so random, but I know I could use the added protein.

Carter wakes up a HUGE fussball. Argh. He is teething, so I know this is probably to be expected, but I was hoping another good snooze would help. He plays a little on his play mat while we scarf down lunch. He teeters on all fours a few times and does some impressive planking, but when he moves forward he falls to his belly and army crawls. Whatever works for you, little dude. I see that the Shutterfly book of Carter's first two days of life arrived (a free offer and on a whim creation) and I love paging through it. I am in awe that that baby is the same person as this big adorable fuss monster trying to crawl into my lap.

It’s time for a change of scenery, so we go back upstairs. Carter calmly plays with his train and balls, as he always does. I get ready for his 7 month photo shoot. The kid is clearly in some discomfort and starts fussing YET AGAIN, so I cave and give him some Tylenol. I am a proponent of taking over-the-counter pain medicine as a remedy for pain that won’t go away (why suffer?) but with babies and children, it’s a whole other thing. I’ve only given him Tylenol once, after he got his first shots and was screaming nonstop. But today, I do not hesitate to give him some. I know he is teething. I know he has been uncomfortable most of the day. We are all suffering. So why not? He takes it quite well, and is instantly (like instantly) calm again. Coincidental? Probably, but I’ll take it.

His photo shoot goes fairly well, and we get a few great smiley shots amidst some screaming. I can tell these are just going to get more and more difficult. He tries to rip the sticker off his onesie, climb over the side of the chair, and wiggle away from his giant teddy bear. I do get a great one of him shrieking.

2:15pm | I change Carter into another outfit for our outing later that day. Then we nurse and he’s down for another nap. He rolls around and “talks” to himself for at least 15 minutes before I go back in, pick him up, he closes his eyes and collapses into me, and I lay him back down. We need him to get a good nap in before we leave, so there’s no time for extra-long self-soothing.

I look at the photos we took and save them to my computer. Jon naps on the couch. I could have done the same, so I can’t be too salty towards him for that. But instead, I clean up the kitchen, start documenting this day, and pack the diaper bag. Then Jon puts the car seat base back in my car while I wake up Carter. Eeesh, I hate waking up babies. Fortunately, the nap seems to have been long enough as he’s in a seemingly great mood.

4:00pm | Off we go, on time again! We make a quick stop to get gas, and I make faces at Carter through the window. We arrive at our friends’ house and are pleased to see we will be hanging out indoors today, given the ridiculous, humid heat. We sit and watch the babies play and catch up. We met them in our Bradley class, and their daughter is 2 days older than Carter. So it is so much fun watching them both grow up and seeing what they are doing differently or the same. We take a few photos of the two, of course. Carter watches her so intently, and I can only wonder what he must be thinking. We have some pizza, talk about the 21 Day Fix (they are just completing it), and discuss vacations, work, and surprisingly other non-baby topics.

6:30pm | I decide we had better leave before a full-on meltdown occurs. It is his bedtime, after all. Carter has already been increasingly fussy and requiring bouncing. Quick goodbyes and we are on our way home. Carter starts to cry, so Jon turns to him and tries to entertain him in the mirror. It works until we are about 5 minutes from home, when Carter starts sobbing uncontrollably. Even our once failsafe “Twinkle twinkle” singing doesn’t work. As we approach our driveway, I proclaim, “We are hooooooome!” and Carter immediately quiets and looks out the window for the garage. Stinker. I unbuckle him as quickly as I can and we head upstairs to bed.

7:00pm | We do PJs, lotion, airplane with Daddy, bedtime stories, kisses, and then nurse. He falls asleep while nursing and I have to wake him a couple times to make sure he gets enough. I watch Netflix while he eats – currently watching Hart of Dixie. I nuzzle my cheek next to his as I burp him, and I think this is one of the best parts of my day. Not that he’s going to sleep, but that I get to cuddle him, smell him, and feel his little beating heart just collapse into me. I slightly wake him when I lay him down, so he can settle himself in nicely (according to sleep training experts, anyway). He flips to his belly and is out instantly.

I quickly finish up some dishes and join Jon on the couch to watch Big Brother. It’s our summer vice. We also watch some Tiny House Hunters, a new fave of mine. It feels sooooo good to curl up and relax. We get an invite to a birthday get-together Saturday and discuss if we should go and who might be able to babysit. I feel like snacking, but I drink a glass of water instead. (It did the trick!) I also comment to Jon that I have lost 3 pounds in the last week and a half, after making a few changes in my diet and exercise having read up on 21 Day Fix. He asks if I know where those 3 pounds came from, which I find as an odd and unfortunate question. No, I can't tell, because I have plenty more to lose and everything feels the same. I'm not sure that's a very good question to ask a woman.

9:30pm | It is time for me to head to bed. I’m lame, but with getting up at 5am, and at least 2 middle of the night wakings, I have to be in bed before 10pm. I first pull out a frozen breastmilk to mix in with my fresh for tomorrow’s bottles, and then head upstairs. I check on Carter and he's curled up on his stomach with his butt in the air. Love it. I'm in bed within minutes, with one last check of social media.

10:20pm | I hear crying, and wait to see if Jon has it under control. The crying gets harder, so I suspect Carter is not too pleased with Jon. I stumble in there, sit down, and Jon plops him in my lap. Yep, he's hungry. Or rather, wants to nurse. This feeding is the most cruel, as I had just fallen into a deep sleep. Fortunately, he's done within 5 minutes and passed out again. I turn on the light to snap a quick photo of my sleeping beauty, and then crawl back into bed.

And that was our day!