A day in the life

Ashton is 3.5 months old and it's about time to start really enforcing a daytime sleep schedule/routine. Naps have been inconsistent up until this point and lately, nonexistent, as he is way more interested in the world around him than sleeping in his dark, quiet, boring crib. I admit we have a cranky, overtired baby on our hands and it's my fault because I have been busy, out doing things, having visitors, etc. Today was pretty bad, even though I had nothing to do besides devote myself to getting Ashton down. I am going to type all this out to illustrate just where my day goes and why, when I say that I don't have time for anything, I mean it. I type all this out on behalf of all moms like me who can never get anything done but can't explain it to non-moms and other people in general. It went kind of like this.


10:30 am - Jason leaves for work (everything was okay up until this point- he left while I was feeding Ashton on the couch)

10:30 -11 am: Ashton is half asleep in my arms after eating, which usually happens.

11 am-11:30 am: Ashton's in his bouncer, off and on fussing but okay as long as I am paying attention to him for the most part, I am on the phone with Comcast, on hold of course, Ashton poops like crazy. This was something I was waiting for because he did not poop at all yesterday (a big deal). 

11:30 am: Haul ass to the nursery with Ashton dangling at arm's length. Peel everything off, realize poop is pretty much everywhere. Say "GROSS" a few times, decide the entire outfit is unsalvageable. It goes in the garbage along with his diaper, a new record for wipes, and (you'd think) his dignity. I also quickly change my shirt.

11:45 am: A bath is necessary after what's just happened. First I dump olive oil on his head and let it sit for 15 minutes. Then I scrub his crusty cradle capped head, comb it out, wash him down, rinse hair and then do his shampoo and rinse that. 

12:05 pm: all three eczema lotions, new diaper, new clothes. Swaddle.

12:15 pm: Sit in rocking chair and feed him.

12:35 pm: He is asleep quickly, not really hungry and I put him in his crib. I manage to write a couple emails.

1:10 pm: Wakes up crying. I go in and try to give him his pacifier back and leave. Three times. Doesn't work, still crying. At this point, I know he is still tired - I can tell by his cry and his face. He needs to sleep more.

1:30 pm:  Pick him up, back in the rocking chair. He falls asleep in my arms till 1:55 pm. I manage to write another email on my phone with one hand.

2:00 pm: Put him in his crib, asleep.

2:05 pm: Wakes up crying, still tired.

2:05 pm - 2:15 pm: try to rub his belly, give him paci, nothing works to get him back to sleep. I am not going to pick him up again.

2:15-2:30 pm: he wails. WAILS. I sit in the kitchen staring at the wall, listening to him and thinking how much I hate my life. 

2:30 pm: Silence. I go in, he has fallen asleep with his head wedged between the teddy bear legs, the only thing in his crib. He had scooted all the way over to its corner, unbelievable! His face is covered/pressed up against it, which is obviously not safe so I have to move the bear. He wakes up and cries.

2:35 pm: Stilllllll crying. I do not go in and prepare to listen to him wail some more.

2:37 pm: Silence. Much quicker this time! He's asleep. I clean up the kitchen and make my grocery list, in hopes I will actually get there today.

3:10 pm: Wakes up crying. I decide to settle for the little fragmented naps he has taken and call it a day. I unswaddle him and feed him. While I'm feeding him I think about all the things I did wrong during the past 2.5 hours in terms of nap protocol. Nursing him to sleep for one. Continually replacing his pacifier for another. Whatever. 

3:30 pm: Time to go to the grocery store to get all of our thanksgiving stuff. Of course, I forget my list, so I wander around looking at everything trying to remember whether I was supposed to get it (and how many). I did pretty well and I would say from 3:30 - 4:15 pm was the happiest 45 minutes of the day. Ashton was awake, happy and quiet. I felt good enough to make a joke to a little old lady who stopped to look at him. Now, Ashton rides actually IN the cart in his carseat amongst all the groceries, leaving little room for the food but I don't trust propping him up on the handlebars. So the lady goes, "Oh how cute!" and I pretended to look at my cart and be shocked : "Wait! Who put THAT in there?" Ha ha. She laughed. 

4:30 pm: Home. Four trips up the stairs and baby and groceries are in. I put Ashton in the baby carrier facing forward, and proceeded to tell him everything I was unloading and where it went: "This is butter and it goes in the fridge. You can buy it salted or unsalted, in sticks or in tubs. These are sticks. It's very yummy when used in cooking and baking but generally is not believed to be heart healthy. Not many yummy things are." "These are raisins, they are shriveled up grapes and they go in the pantry." And so on and so forth. You can see how this took some time. I had a lot of groceries. Then I did it for the clean dishes in the dishwasher. "This is a knife, they are used for cutting and are very sharp. You will not get to use one of these for a very very very very long time." 

5:15 pm: Jason calls and is coming home from work early (as opposed to 9 pm). This is good news. Ashton does some tummy time, rolls over a few times and then before we know it, Jason walks through the door. I basically hand him the baby, say I'm off duty, and sit down to write this blog. My break is now over though, time to start Ashton's bedtime routine. If I'm lucky he'll be asleep in 20 minutes and then I can do fun things like laundry. And tell myself that tomorrow is a new day.