Monday 24 August 2015

A Wednesday in Summer

I've wanted to write an updated Day in the Life post for a while. Finally, with the help of a new iPhone (yes, the dumbPhone has been retired) I have managed it without giving up in the middle. Since life is going to change again soon, I thought it would be nice to have a snapshot of a Summer Day when AJ was 9 months old. This entry feels like history already: as I edit it I'm seeing everything in sepia with nostalgic music playing in the background.

A Wednesday In Summer 

9:30: AJ and I wake up. I'm up first today. While she is still drowsy I make the bed, brush my teeth etc. When I go in to check on her she is smiling and excited to see me, which means she's well rested. We had a pretty good night. She didn't settle easily so wasn't asleep till 10pm. She woke up and wanted to feed at about 12:00am. Then woke up at around 2:00 and I figured she did not need to feed again. I put on the sleep sheep, picked her up, and paced up and down the room a couple of times - and she was asleep. OK then. Next woke up at around 5:20am, and I fed her. Mr. Turtle left at about 7.

We slept in a little late today, but I feel so much better rested than yesterday.

Change a diaper. Take AJ to the living room where she plays on the floor while I figure out what's for breakfast.  I chop up the last peach: it looks ripe and juicy so I put AJ in her high chair and give her a slice. She loves it! She picks it up with one hand and eats it, chewing the fruit off the peeling. I also give her a couple of blueberries and she eats one.

I decide I'll try banana and egg pancakes again. I do OK, but they still stick to my greased non-stick frying pan, so I end up with several pieces of pancake.  Maybe there's a trick to this I'm not getting.

After I get my breakfast together (cottage cheese with blueberries and raspberries, instant coffee, and the peach I'm sharing) I roll AJ over to the dining room table. (side note: I love having a high chair with wheels. Best thing ever!) I offer AJ a bit of pancake and she seems to like it, so I leave some on her table. She feeds herself several bites of pancakes and about 3 more slices of peach.



10:30, I change AJ out of her now very dirty PJs, wipe her down and dress her in the tie-dyed jumpsuit that always makes me wish I had one too. I sit her in the crib with some toys and throw in a load of laundry, and then have a shower.

At 11:30 I feel like right boob is a bit too full, and AJ is fussing a bit, so she has some boob milk.

For the next two hours we play, cuddle and putter around the house. I do more laundry, and pack for the trip we are taking on Friday to my parents' vacation home. I worry that I haven't heard back from the daycare for September and wonder if our child care plans are going to fall through.  (Update: AJ does have a daycare spot - I found out as our plane was getting ready to taxi hahaha.)

I remember that we need to buy a zip up diaper bag for the trip. I email Mr. Turtle suggesting we do that this evening, then decide that I should make sure that I have dinner ready early. It's also time for lunch so I tackle both at once.

AJ sits in her highchair and I give her some chunks of watermelon, which she happily shoves into her mouth. I decide to make a tuna casserole. After AJ finishes her watermelon I spoon feed her yoghurt and prune puree while making cheese sauce, boiling the macaroni, and making every dish in the house dirty, or so it feels. When the casserole is ready I set it aside (it will go in the oven later) and throw some frozen veg and leftover chicken into the microwave for myself.

Meanwhile I offer AJ sips of water and then let her pick up her glass. She doesn't manage to drink any water on her own today, but spills most of it on her table, down her lap, etc. She screeches and growls the whole time. The cup finally ends up on the floor, where I leave it. AJ proceeds to entertain herself by slapping her hands on her tray and splashing water all over the kitchen. My lunch is ready so I sashay over to the microwave, using one foot and a rag to wipe the water off the floor. I saved a couple tablespoons of cheese sauce, which I pour over the chicken and vegetables: good to go! I take one last glance around the kitchen: just an Average Mess, nothing to worry about.

AJ and I sit at the table. She is interested in my food (of course) so I feed her bits of corn and carrots with a spoon. When we are done, at about 3:00, I take her back to the nursery to investigate. She is not too dirty but very wet from pouring water on herself. I wipe her down and change her into a dry onesie (s'long cute outfit.) I put AJ in the crib, where she seems happy for the moment, so I go to see what I can do about the Average Mess. Barely have time to look at it when I hear urgent crying! Investigation reveals large poop, leading to another change. I hear thunder, and figure we've probably missed our chance to take a walk. Oh well. Seems like a good time for a nap, and AJ is fussing again, so she is probably tired.

3:10, breastfeed. Ten minutes later AJ is comfort sucking so I gently take her off the breast, place her in the crib. She rolls onto her side, as she always does, and falls asleep.

A downpour with thunder and lightning hits. I decide to ignore the Average Mess a bit longer and write this blog. I need validation that way I guess.

4:00, crying! Crying after waking up usually means AJ is still tired. I pick her up and bounce her gently on the ball chair for about 5 minutes. She blinks and yawns several times and then closes her eyes. Place her in crib, hover with hand on her while she opens and closes eyes, and finally dozes off. Back to blog.

4:25: all caught up with writing; guess I'll check out the Average Mess again.  But first I look up a couple of blogs on the Archipelago.  Oh look it's 4:40 now.  (This happens a lot.) I heat up the oven and put the casserole in, then start washing dishes.

4:55 I hear squeaks from the nursery. AJ is awake again, but not cranky this time. I put a blanket on the kitchen floor and sit her down with some Tupperware. She happily plays with this and the fringe on the blanket. (Fringe!)



More thunder and lightning, and a hailstorm hits. I quickly finish the dishes. Last year, Mr. Turtle was washing the dishes and lighting struck the house, or somewhere close. He saw an arc of lightning come out of the faucet. Luckily he wasn't touching it at the time. Lightning finds this family in more ways than one. Since then we avoid doing dishes during a thunderstorm.

AJ seems happy on the floor so instead of moving her I look for more things to do in the kitchen. I boil the bottles and breast pump parts. I need to produce a bottle of milk for AJ to drink on the plane on Friday, hopefully during take off. Pumping is a slow tedious business so I really should have started earlier in the week, but I didn't. I won't get to it today either. Thursday. I set the table and clean some more. Thanks to AJ even the floor got mopped.

5:30, Mr. Turtle is home. AJ peeks around the corner of the kitchen to see him with a big grin on her face. She plays peekabo while he takes off his shoes. We greet each other, give updates on our day, etc. A few minutes later we all sit down to dinner together.

Mr. Turtle and I have casserole and salad, and I give AJ some squished blueberries to start. Today she loves them and pops them into her mouth one after the other. She also eats about half of a lentil and vegetable puree serving which I pre-prepared and froze. (We haven't yet worked up the nerve to offer AJ fish. My brother has a severe fish allergy and every time we make a fish dish, we end up looking at each other and asking: "Do we feel like rushing to emergency today? Nooooo." ) Mr. Turtle always feeds her dinner when he is home.

Since we need to make it to the crunchy baby store before 8, we hustle a bit to get ready. Mr. Turtle wipes down AJ and does some clean up while I pack the diaper bag. It's rainy and chilly outside so we put socks on AJ, but they don't stay on longer than 2 seconds.

At 6:30 we all get in the car; Mr. Turtle driving.  It is raining when we get to the store. Mr. Turtle wears AJ in the mei tai. He has done this a few times and I find it so sweet. At the store we find everything we need, and happen to notice sock-ons, which claim to keep socks on baby's feet. I buy a pair. (Edit: the sock-ons do keep socks on AJ's feet longer, but she can still pull them off if she makes her mind to do so.) We leave leave the store by 7:20.

At about 7:50 Mr. Turtle offers AJ the rest of her dinner, while I do a few chores.  She gobbles it up.  I hear him laughing and cheering. AJ has grabbed her cup in both hands and is drinking out of it. This is the first time Mr. Turtle has seen her do this and he is delighted. The minute I walk over however she pours it down her front and claps her hands. Mr. Turtle comments that he is so in love with everything AJ does. Sweet family moments.

Mr. Turtle cleans AJ up again and changes her into pyjamas. They hang out in the basement while I finish tidying up.

8:40, AJ is in her sleep sack and Mr. Turtle tells her a bedtime story. He makes these up and the only thing they have in common is that they are all extremely silly.  Today's story is about lightning and thunder. At 8:45, I put on sleep sheep and breastfeed. AJ is asleep by 9:20. And awake by 9:45. I rock and cuddle her. I don't plan on feeding her more but she gets hiccups so I offer her the breast again to help stop them. She stays asleep this time.



I didn't take notes on the night, but I think it was pretty typical: One more night feeding, and then a couple of wake ups that I soothed her through.

Good times. I loved our first summer together as a family.

12 comments:

  1. I can't help but feel very fulfilled reading this. It's so familiar, but different enough that it was interesting to get another perspective. There's something so beautiful about the mundane we're living these days, something so deeply satisfying that has something to do with infertility but not totally. I don't know. I enjoyed this, though. AJ sounds like such a treat!

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    1. Thanks! I agree, the mundane is soothing! And I think I know what you mean: that sense of rightness that permeates everything with a child in one's life. Since we are sort of trying for #2, I occasionally have flashbacks to the times before AJ, and it makes me feel uneasy (that's another story). But living in the present with her - that is so fulfilling. I had similar feelings reading your DITL - I will be back to comment.

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  2. Love these DIL posts I really need to get around to doing one! Sounds like you guys are doing great I look forward to your updates.

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    1. thanks! I'll try to keep up with them. It's been harder the past few weeks.

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  3. I love this! AJ seems like such a sweet heart. Sounds very similar to my days, minus the dogs doing crazy antics. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. thanks! Most days we don't do anything really exciting, so I sometimes wonder if we are just boring, but it's nice to hear that people relate to the peaceful, ordinary days. Well, relatively peaceful lol. Dogs would definitely add more antics!

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  4. Sounds like a beautiful day! AJ is so gorgeous!

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    1. thank you! I'm so behind on photo organizing and sharing, it's become a task I'm now avoiding lol. But now that I have the phone I am getting even more cute pictures.

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    1. Thank you! she is, it is a privilege to share the day with her.

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  6. I can totally relate to this day. So full and busy and yet nothing out of the ordinary. Sometimes I think we're boring but I guess it is common at this phase to not get much done other than eating, napping, cleaning and playing. Aj's sleep patterns sound quite similar to Zelly's, which is quite comforting since several of my close friends have the miracle sleeping babies that sleep 10 hours and nap 2-3 hours. So much changing here too, maybe I'll do a day in the life post tomorrow before everything really changed with daycare next week. I love that pic of AJ! More please!

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    1. Thank you! I'm glad we're not the only "boring" ones :-). I know, I'm so behind on pictures. It's now become a task I am avoiding :-( I think AJ's sleep has been weird because she is in a developmental stage. She is a very active happy baby when awake, and just doesn't want to waste time sleeping lol. I try to keep her on schedule during the day but before bedtime I just let her play till she tires herself out, because that's better than trying to nurse or rock or soothe her to sleep when she's howling and squirming like some demented squid. Daycare soon for you too, here with both go. :-) Good luck.

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