A Day In the Life With a Six Week Old

Today I thought I would show what a day in the life with a six week old baby is like.  At least what it's like with MY six week old.  This is not how every day is, because Greg was home today, and sometimes he's not, but it's not too far off from how a lot of our days are.  This was yesterday.

2:15am- Allie cries and wakes us up.  Time for her first night feed.  I'm impressed because she made it from about 10pm til then, which is a big stretch for her.  I feed her and change her and get her back to sleep, which ends up taking almost an hour, because I have to get her out of the bassinet and settle her down again after trying unsuccessfully the first time.  Changing her usually makes her more awake and harder to get back to sleep, but we knew she had pooped (we heard it), so it was necessary.  I swaddled her arms in the second time she fussed and that seemed to help her get back to sleep.

5am (ish)-  Allie wakes up again.  I feed her and she falls back asleep pretty easily this time.  Score.

8am-  Allie is awake.  I turn off her white noise, gather her up, and head to the nursery to feed and change her.  My husband and dog continue to sleep for a while.  Greg couldn't sleep for a lot of the night, so I know he's still pretty tired.

After feeding and changing Allie we head downstairs and I put her in her boppy lounger.  She watches me while I make a batch of juice with our juicer (I've been into it lately, this is like the third time I've used it this week).  I used carrots, apples, pineapple, papaya, grapes, orange, lemon and strawberries.  I have to stop and put her pacifier back in Allie's mouth about 30 times.  I also pop a piece of banana bread in the toaster oven to heat it and smear some peanut butter on it for a quick breakfast.

8:40am-  Allie is fussy and not liking being in the boppy or being held in various positions.  We head to her play mat so I can see if she needs stimulation.  It works for about 10 minutes before she gets tired of it and cries.

9am (ish) Since I know she's been changed, doesn't want to be held, and doesn't want stimulation, I guess that she is probably still hungry so I try feeding her again on my other boob.  Success- this was why she was fussy.

After eating she drifts off in my arms, and I transfer her to the boppy again so I can get some coffee and type some of this post while chatting with my husband, petting Clyde, and watching the Today Show (multitasking!).

10am- Allie wakes up and we hear her poop.  Her poops are usually a loud squishy sound, unmistakable.  Sorry, TMI?  I change her and we decide now would be a good time to give her a bath.  We usually do baths about every other day, and I usually do them in the morning so I can put her in a clean outfit after.

10:25ish-  Bathed and changed into her outfit (Hello Kitty pants and a matching shirt), I put her in her crib for a bit while I put some of her laundry away.

10:45am-  I feed Allie again.  She seemed fussy again and I guessed that she probably hadn't eaten enough at 10 and wanted more.  Yup.

10:55am- I microwave my coffee, which I haven't really had time to drink, hold Allie, and Greg and I discuss plans for the day- lunch and a walk.

11:30am- I finally take a shower (late!), while Greg holds Allie.  We take turns holding her, putting her in the Rock N Play, and getting ready.  We also discuss logistics and plans for a trip to Hilton Head in a few weeks, which stresses me out, since I now am planning trips with a baby and have no idea how she'll do in the car for 3+ hours or how she will sleep...  The discussion gets us kind of sidetracked so we take a while to get ready.

12:50pm-  I feed Allie again right before we are ready to go so she'll be good for a while.

1:12pm- We finally leave the house and head to our destination- Rock Hill, SC.  We haven't been there in a while and want to check out the restaurant options in the downtown area.  Luckily there are a few new ones that look promising.

1:30pm- We find a pizza place called Millstone Pizza and Taphouse that looks cool and decide to eat there. We split a salad with tomato basil vinaigrette and a mushroom pizza.  Both are delicious.  We like this place! Allie sleeps through lunch as usual, confirming to me that lunch out is an easy option with her at this age.

2:20ish- We then head to Glen Cairn Gardens for a walk around the park.  It's a beautiful day and the park is scenic so we enjoy our little walk.

flowers!

The park isn't that big and we still want to walk more, so we also hit Cherry Park to do a loop there after.  Allie sleeps through both walks.

4pm (ish)- We leave the park and decide we need ice cream, so we stop for hot fudge sundaes at Steak and Shake drive thru on our way home.  Clyde wanted a Frisco melt, but we told him no (he got some whipped cream from our sundaes).

4:20pm- I quickly do dishes while Allie sleeps for a little while longer in her car seat.  She has basically been asleep since we left for lunch around 1pm so this was her long nap for the day.

4:30pm- I feed Allie.  While feeding her I hear the definite sound of her filling her diaper.  After her feeding I find that she's had a little blow out and it's time for an outfit change.  I opt for a zipper sleeper so we don't have to change her outfit for bed again tonight, since we're staying in the rest of the night.

5:15pm- I head downstairs and put Allie on the play mat for some play time.  I also play fetch with Clyde while talking to Allie and helping her bat her toys.  Greg works on our taxes.

5:30-6pm- Greg and I discuss the plans for our trip to Hilton Head more and we decide on a course of action.  I call my mom to discuss it with her.

6:10pm-  Allie gets fussy on the play mat so I hold her for a while, and then we move to the couch so I can put her in her boppy and work on this post.

7pm- I feed and change Allie again.  Allie pees on her changing pad while I have her diaper off.  Good times!

7:20- I start working on dinner- scalloped potatoes with broccoli, one of my husband's favorites.  Allie hangs out in the boppy and watches.

7:30- Greg gives Allie her daily dropper of Vitamin D, which she gets because I exclusively breastfeed and she lacks this from my milk (for those of you who don't know).

7:40-  Allie falls asleep.

7:50-  Allie is awake so I play with her for a bit while waiting for dinner to come out of the oven.

8pm-  Dinner is ready.  This is later than we normally eat, but we were kind of thrown off by late lunch and ice cream.

8:20- Change Allie's diaper.  We heard the explosion while eating, so knew it was time.

8:25- Feed Allie and put my pajamas on.

8:35- Attempt to watch an episode of Burn Notice on Netflix.  Allie falls asleep on me.

9ish- We head upstairs.  Allie sleeps in the bassinet.  Greg and I play with our IPads.

10pm- I see on Facebook that a guy I grew up with is going to be on Chef Wanted on the Food Network, and decide to watch.  Usually I go to bed at 10pm, but I am curious to see him.  (He is eliminated in the first round).

11ish- Allie fusses, so I feed her, change her, and put her back to bed.

Like I said, this isn't every day, and we were late doing most things on this day (lunch, dinner, bed), but it's not too far off from where we are at this point.