How We're Living: November

Everett & Cori

6 months

Rawr

Time flies.  It has been a little rockier in terms of sleep for our household this month, but Everett is still a joyful bebe. We seem to be going through more phases than we used to, but we're still doing pretty well. Some days it's great, others it's OK.  It's never terrible, but we certainly go through periods where it kinda blows.  We thought it might be teething, then maybe not, then probably not, then just baby being baby.  Did you hear I had a baby and he's all babylike and stuff?  I sound wishy washy because I am.  Every day is different, but this is a typical one:

5:30am- Everett wakes up to nurse.  Oh wait.  He doesn't nurse AT ALL anymore!  FML!  I get up and grab him a pumped bottle.  He drifts back to sleep.  I wake up for the day.  Maybe.  I pump and then spend a little time to myself before everyone wakes up.

7:30 - Household awakens.  Bran feeds Everett a bottle while I tool around or we all cuddle in bed.  He then hands the baby off to me while he gets ready for the day.

9:00-  Everett goes down for a nap.  He sleeps for an hour.  This is when I get ready, shower, clean, start laundry... try to get the annoying crap out the way.  Or I fart around on the Internet depending on how I'm feeling.

10:00 - He wakes up and eats SOLIDS (after baba)!  Bananas, and yams, and winter squash.... OH MY!  We hang and play or run errands or ...? 

12:30- He probably is napping at this point, but his schedule is in the midst of a change.  Usually he'll nap for 45-1 hour minutes midday, but has been known to steal a 3 hour nap if the mood strikes.  He's pretty regimented usually, though.

1:30 - We walk and talk and play and hang.

4:30 - Usually, another 45 minutes to an hour nap.  Sometimes we'll walk at this time, before the sun sets, and he'll nap in the stroller.

5:30 - Wake up before daddy gets home.  I will usually feed him MORE SOLIDS.  My kid loves to eat.  More activity after he gets a food.

6:30 - Bran walks in and he gets babby!  Play time and change the clothes/diaper.  We hang out in the kitchen while I cook.  Everett will want to go to sleep around 7:30ish.  I will finish up dinner while Bran does the nighttime routine - bottle, rock, songs, sleep.

8pm- Hubby and wifey eat dinner, watch TV, hang out.

9:30 - My last pump of the day (other pumps are 6am, 11am, 4pm, roughly).  Everett is really changing things up for us, but usually the earliest he'll wake up is 3:30am (after 11pm dream feed - crosses fingers and toes).   He doesn't even want to eat, he'll just be disgruntled.  This is part of a phase, I think.  I just shhhh him back to sleep, or give him Mylicon, or sometimes rock if he's particularly upset.  He usually wakes again at 5:30ish to eat a little something.  But it changes daily and you never know what to expect. I expect the worst and go to bed thinking I'll get 5 hours of sleep in a row with several other pieced together, so then everything good after that is the cherry on top. 

Georgia & Natty

We're almost to the five month mark and life has become a bit more predicable than it was just a month ago.

7 a.m. - Everybody wakes up. I nurse the baby in bed, then Georgia plays between us while Patrick and I have our morning coffee. It's easily my favorite part of the day. Reluctantly, we get up and start our days-- Patrick gets ready for work, I fire up the laptop and start emailing with students, and Georgia plays with her toys.

8:30/9 a.m. - Georgia takes her first nap. This tends to be her big nap of the day, so I use the time to have breakfast, shower, and get as much work as possible done. Sometimes she nurses before she lays down, but she's often more sleepy than hungry at this point.

11 a.m. - Georgia wakes up and she nurses. Generally, I've left her in her jammies from then night before, so now is the time for a bath and getting dressed. If it's nice out, we'll often go for a walk but the air has been awful lately, so she's more likely to play on her play mat until she's ready to nurse and nap again.

12:30/1 p.m - Nap #2. I grab some lunch and get back to work.

2:30/3 p.m. - Georgia wakes up and lots of times, we nurse, then head out and do some errands. She's sitting in the seat of the shopping cart now, so errands are a LOT more fun for her and I can get out with more than a little handbasket of food. Winners, all around!

4:30/5 p.m. - Usually, she takes one final, quick nap around this time but it's a tough one. It seems like lots of things come up at this time, or she only sleep for 10-15 minutes and doesn't really rest and the rest of the evening gets very tough. I never realized how much time and energy I would put towards protecting my child's naps! If all goes well, she sleep for 45 minute to an hour and she's fresh and happy when Patrick comes home.

5:30/6 p.m. - Georgia is up and once daddy is home, she's his best friend. I volley between wrapping up my work and getting some dinner together. We bounce between eating dinner, nursing, getting little miss ready for bed, relaxing and reconnecting.

7:30/8 p.m. - I take Georgia into her bedroom for a final nurse before bed. Putting her to bed used to be the most stressful part of our day but it is slowly getting better. It takes about 30 minutes of rocking and nursing to help her drift off but after that, I can usually lay her down and she'll sleep until 1 or 2 in the morning. Sometimes, she wakes up again at 5 or so, but there have been a few times where she hasn't gotten up until 7 the next morning, which you can imagine feels AMAZING.