A Day In The Life {June}

There are two kinds of babies in my opinion: Unicorn babies, who sleep for long stretches and nurse like a dream; and the other babies.

I make "other" babies. Sometimes, I like to call them spirited.

While I could lament the frustrations of "other" babies, I will not. I love my boys and, sometimes, I even like them. Rather, my pet peeve is that when you try to find out if your baby is normal (he's not ... because there is no normal), you are only presented with schedules and Day in the Life posts of unicorn babies.

So, for fun, I thought I'd share our day. Of course, the day I decide to do this, Silas tries to show he has unicorn potential.

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1:15 a.m.: I awaken to the grunts and moans of a gassy Silas. I turn to look at the clock and nearly cry with joy that it is 1:15. Why? It means he slept for 5 hours and I got a solid 3.5. It's a drastic change from earlier in the week when he woke up at 10:30 p.m., stayed up till midnight and was up again at 2. I grab my phone and head to his room to feed him. I could pretend that I use this one-on-one time to feel bonded to my baby but really, I check Facebook and read blogs. Otherwise, I'd fall asleep.

1:40 a.m.: Silas has finished eating and has fallen asleep. After waiting 5 minutes or so, I decide that it might be safe to put him down. I can never be sure as babies are ninjas and can go from sound asleep to "haha, I was just resting my eyes" in 2.1 miliseconds.

1:45 a.m.: Amidst the sighs and moans of a probably not sleeping Si, I hear the scamper of little feet. I look over the edge of the bed and see Miles. "I had a bad dream," he says. This is toddler code for "move over, woman. I want to sleep with you." I try to be a good mom and ask about his bad dream. He says it was monsters. I give him the option of getting in his sleeping bag on the floor of our room or I will lie with him in his bed. He picks the latter.

1:50 a.m.: Silas' farts are audible from my four-inch sliver in Miles' bed. Mark is holding and burping him but I fear I am needed. I get up, and Miles heads to his sleeping bag.

2:15 a.m.: Steal the covers back from Mark and check to make sure my alarm is set. 5:05 a.m. seems good for a run, Silas permitting.

5:02 a.m.: Silas wakes up. Not bad, kid. Not bad. We begin the game of nursing, sleeping, crib, sighing, whining, nursing, sleeping. I make it 2.5 rounds when I realize that he really is looking for comfort. I try the pacifier, a total crapshoot, and he takes it. He's down and I'm out.

5:55 a.m.: I begin my run with the goal of hitting 4 miles, a post-baby PDR. I start off strong but peter out as I hit 3 miles. Endurance takes time. Though I try to stay within a half-mile radius of the house as Mark will text me when Silas is up, I explore the flooding at my favorite park. It is insane.

6:35 a.m.: I get the the text – Silas is stirring.

6:38 a.m.: Arrive at the front door. The key jams – we need to WD-40 the lock. Miles spends 2 minutes unlocking and locking the door. It's a fun game.

6:50 a.m.: Feed Silas. Drink coffee. A huge shout-out to my husband who makes me coffee every morning and delivers it to wherever I might be camped.

7:10 a.m.: I deposit Silas into his swing and begin the work of making breakfast. As my workout is done for the day, I go for something more substantial: Egg-bacon sandwich with hashbrowns. Silas smiles and coos as I cook, occasionally laughing at his brother who works to entertain him. I keep a close eye as toddler love can be a bit rough. Like, sometimes chokeholds are mistaken for hugs.

7:30 a.m.: Eat. Drink more coffee.

7:45 a.m.: Head up to shower, shave legs and brush teeth.

8:05 a.m.: I grab Silas from Mark and try to squeeze in as many cuddles and as much breastmilk as I can before going to work. We interrupt our time occasionally to open fruit snacks for big brother and toss my lunch and snacks in a bag (Ball jar salad, peach, baby carrots, lactation cookie and popcorn). But mostly we cuddle and watch GMA.

9:10 a.m.: Leave the house and head to daycare. It's Silas' first day, and the knot in my stomach twists as we drive. He's spending most of the summer with Mark but will switch off with big bro once or twice a week. I hope he will fall asleep on the way so I won't have to look in his bright eyes when I leave.

9:15 a.m.: Get to daycare. Si is awake. The knot twists deeper.

9:35 a.m.: After some instructions to people who probably know more about babies than I do and working for some smiles, I head to work. I decide that today is a Starbucks day.

9:50 a.m.: Arrive at the office with a decaf Java Chip Light Frappuccino, ready to take on the day. When I get in, I learn that my co-worker had decided today was a donut day. I can't resist. It's a cherry cake one for me.

It's a running joke in the office that I use a Laughing Cow lunch cooler to tote around my milk.

10 a.m.: The grind begins. I work, eat, snack and pump. The goal is to pump at least three times but maybe four. I have an off-site meeting at the end of the day so it's just three sessions in the lactation room – 10:30, 1:30 and 4:15.

4:40 p.m.: Head to the meeting and listen to episode 2 of the "Undisclosed" podcast. A co-worker, who was equally obsessed with "Serial" as I had been, suggested it to me. It has no relationship with "Serial" or "This American Life" but it could be considered a companion. The show looks into many of the legal issues of the Adnan Syed case and fleshes them out. I don't love it but it's a good listen.

6:01 p.m.: A Flash Flooding Warning interrupts my podcast and commute from the meeting. It's not a surprise as strong winds made it hard to control my car on the highway and the rain was coming down in sheets.

6:15 p.m.: Arrive at my in-laws' for dinner. It's ziti and meatballs ... again. Silas is happily sitting in his car seat and Miles refuses to say hi. I'm blaming his fruit punch-stained mouth and his awareness that I would clean that face before kissing it.

7:10 p.m.: Home sweet home. Or, circus sweet circus. The bedtime hustle begins with Mark bathing Miles and me nursing Silas. We swap kids so that I can read to Miles and get a boobie break. However, I'm not super into reading this night because Miles picked some terrible books – a verbose tale about a dog at a lighthouse (I'm going to cut whoever gave this to us), a non-fiction book about sharks (that I've read 437 times) and Marvel Avengers 5-Minute stories. I secure my mother of the year nomination by skipping paragraphs and flipping two pages at a time.

7:40 p.m.: After reading, Mark usually takes Miles upstairs to read a section from his Action Bible but Miles requests me. I almost cried – since Si was born, he's grown closer to Mark and I don't get enough time with him. We head upstairs to cuddle in his bed when he discovers part of his big toenail had ripped.

7:43 p.m.: I trim the toenail amid kicking and crying.

7:45 p.m.: The crying continues with such fervor that Mark appears and asks what happened. Miles accuses me of cutting off his toe. I have to contain my laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation. Before getting yelled at for smiling, we switch kids and I take Si downstairs.

8:15 p.m.: Mark and I watch "Orange Is The New Black" with Si sleeping on my chest. I let him nurse to sleep (I know, I know) and wait till his ninja reflexes are subdued before putting him down.

9:15 p.m.: Give in and go to bed. After all, who knows what the night will bring.

Other Day in the Life posts:

June 16, 2012
November 21, 2012
January 25, 2014
October 30, 2014