Saturday, July 30, 2011

Week in the Life- Wednesday

 5:20am:  Our day actually started about 5:05am today.  Instead of getting Lily up immediately, we decided to try a different tactic to start the day.  We unswaddled her, turned on her light and left her in her crib to "play" and look at her tree hoping that this would keep her entertained for awhile while mom and dad snoozed a little bit longer.  No such luck!  This was the view when I entered her room to officially start our day.

Here is the sweet face who greeted me.  Her smiles are the best!

7:20am: It was a rather pleasant morning, so Lily and I decided to go for an early walk at the park.  We used to do this every day, but since the heat wave began, we have been cooped up inside with no park visits.  So this felt like a special treat.

ready for our walk...

seen along the path...it was a beautiful morning!

7:50: Looking kind of drowsy after a few laps around the park...


8:05am:  After one final lap...ready to go home and take a nap!

8:15am:  Made a quick stop at the Starbucks drive thru for a decaf coffee on the way home...Lily was dozing in the backseat...


 9am: Lily down for her morning nap.  I fixed myself some breakfast, enjoyed my coffee and tried to quietly pick up the kitchen.

9:20am: Catching up on some of the blogs I read.  I do not have regular time to do this, so I am always trying to cover a lot of beautiful blogs in a short period of time!

9:40am: Worked on making a little menu for us for the rest of the week as well as a grocery list..we needed to go to the store!

12:15pm:  We headed off to the grocery store with our list in hand around 11:15am.  I did not take my camera in with me because I knew it was going to be a fast and furious trip to get it all accomplished before Lily's naptime in less than an hour.  I had to seize the window!  However, there was one scene in the store where I wished I had my camera- picture Lily in her carseat, in the shopping cart and food stacked up all around her and she is just looking around taking it all in.  People did not even realize I had a baby in my cart until she started screaming and crying letting me know she was done with shopping!  Whew!  When this picture was taken Lily was down for her nap...just in the nick of time.

12:40pm:  I made my lunch- a PB and banana sandwich...and while I was eating this, Lily woke up from her nap.  This was not a good sign of things to come...

2:20pm:  After several attempts to help Lily to stay asleep, I know I'm doomed when I walked into her room and saw this scene!  In previous weeks, she has been sleeping on average 4+ hours every afternoon, and this week was averaging about 40 minutes in the afternoon!  Not good!  So I decided to just get her up and play with her in hopes that she would become sleepy again later.  This figuring out baby napping and helping Lily get the sleep she needs is tricky and I'm learning that nothing is predictable!!

2:30pm: Chilling in the kitchen while I try to have a conversation with our lender about pre-approval for a mortgage...she did not stay this quiet for too long...

3pm:  I was able to do a few loads of laundry in between Lily's crying and wanting to be held all the time.  

3:05pm: Poor little gal!  I could tell she was tired, but she just could not stay asleep after dozing off!  After this final attempt, I gave up on any hopes of a nap altogether.

3:15pm: another self portrait...Lily, all alert and ready to go!

3:20pm: Tummy time






This is the Baby Einstein CD of sing along songs...it is very upbeat and cheerful music.  Lily loves it and we listened to it non-stop for a couple of hours.  Sometimes it helped to overshadow her crying jags.... poor Lily!  She was really having a tough day today.  I could tell she was exhausted, but just unable to sleep.  

4:05pm: After walking around the house several times and looking in every mirror and singing along and dancing to the music, we decided to play in our gym.  She loves this dangly butterfly and is now an old pro at grabbing it and kicking her legs like crazy.  Just a week ago, she had never grabbed the butterfly!



5:10pm: Into the home stretch of the day.  It was gross outside today with the heat and humidity.  Aside from our walk in the early morning, we have not left the house.  

5:20pm:  Folding laundry with Lily's help.  While I was doing this, Lily had her longest stretch of the day without crying.  She put her little Sophie the Giraffe right there by her face and then grabbed her rattle and just carried on.  I think she likes folding laundry...it always to calm her down.

6:45pm:  Lily has been down for the night since 6pm.  Joe arrived home just as she was going to sleep.  We then made a Turkey Enchilada Pie for dinner.  It was delicious and I was exhausted.

8pm:  Wednesday evenings are my nights.  Joe watches Lily while she sleeps and I can go out and run errands, do nothing, meet with friends...whatever I want!  On this particular Wednesday evening, I met my lovely pal, Faith for some fro-yo at the Green Apple.  There is just something uplifting about a friend who listens and encourages and makes you laugh.  It was a great way to end an exhausting day.

My bowl full of deliciousness...  YUM!
The end. xo

The day in Numbers:
Number of diapers: 16
Number of things crossed of the to-do list: 5
Number of minutes at grocery store: 35   *felt like 60!
Episodes of Brothers and Sisters watched: 2.5
Number of hours spent feeding Lily: 4.0
Number of hours spent blogging: 0
Number of pages read in book: 0
Number of hours napped over entire day: 1.5
Number of hours slept in a row by Lily after being put down for the night: 7.25
Number of times Lily woke up during the night: 1
Number of photos taken: 117

Observations from the day:
It is really difficult to get anything accomplished when Lily is fussy and not wanting to nap!
It is challenging to find different ways to document our days when our days are primarily the same and take place in a small space
Lily had a rough day today...could tell the poor girl was tired, but just unable to sleep.  Seemed that nothing I tried helped her!
It felt really good to get out of the house after such a long day
I'm ready for summer to be over
Walking in the cool of the morning was a great way to begin the day- especially glad since it was such a rough day for us
Feels like there is so much to do this week and Lily is not napping well therefore making it near impossible to get anything extra done

Gratitude for the day:
Early morning walks at the park
The "coolness" of a summer morning
A belly laugh with a dear friend after a long day
rainbow sprinkles

My Shot of the Day:

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Week in the Life- Tuesday

6:30am: Our little nugget wakes up after sleeping great for 5+ hours after a late night feeding.  You can tell she was excited to be awake by the blur where her legs are...she was kicking up an excited storm and was all smiles...
Several months before having Lily, Joe helped me get his old iphone all set up so I could use it.  It has often been my lifeline to the outside world since Lily has arrived.  It has my email, facebook, local news, national news, real estate websites, netflix, some of my favorite blogs, weatherbug....I am not real great at outgoing messaging from it, but the incoming messages help me to feel connected while spending quiet times with Lily late at night and in the early mornings...

7:15am: Eating breakfast really tuckered this sweet girl out! She went back to sleep for another half hour...

7:50am: One of our self portraits of the day.  I especially love this shot. Its taken in the mirror over her changing table and it is my view of Lily every time I pick her up after changing her.  I just think her little feet are the sweetest and I love knowing that those little feet are connected to a little gal who is alert and ready to go when I'm holding her like this. It is a view I never want to forget.

7:55am:  Lily's point of view from her little papasan seat in the kitchen.  She sits here in the mornings while I clean things up- put away dishes, get the coffee made, enjoy breakfast and organize our day...

8:05am:  It really seems like the simplest thing, but watching her grab her rattle and now put it into her mouth...I can see her developing right before my eyes.  Just two weeks ago, she could not even grab her rattle!  Now look at her!

8:15am: Lily's "attention span"/enjoyment of various activities is rather short, so when she grew tired of her little seat in the kitchen, we moved on to tummy time.  As mentioned before, she is not a real big fan, but she is getting so much better at it!

8:18am:  But then tummy time quickly dissolves into head down screaming.  I cannot take very much of this even though I'm trying to encourage her to keep going...

8:45am: dressed for the day and kicking around on her changing table..."winding down" for her nap...

10:10am: After Lily's 45 minute nap, it is time for her to eat.  On "off days" (aka while Netflix is turning around my West Wing DVDs) I have started watching Brothers and Sisters on Netflix streaming. (Yes, I am a Netflix junkie!)  Anyways, I have been completely entertained by the Walker family and all of their d-r-a-m-a.  I'm on episode 23 of 87...so it will be entertainment for weeks to come!

10:55am: After eating Lily was in good spirits and felt like hanging out in her boppy for a little bit...




11:15am: We loaded up to head out and meet our friend Angie for lunch.  Lily does not like being in her carseat unless the car is moving...and she lets you know!  But sometimes she is so darn cute that you just have to snap a photo...

12:35pm:  Lunch with Angie!  We went to Adrians and I had a delicious turkey club and spinach salad.   I had to take my salad to go because Lily wanted out of her carseat and then wanted to be held while I was standing...she is a good sport, but it is kind of tricky to wrangle her and have a conversation with a friend you have not seen for awhile!  Luckily Angie loves babies and Lily loved her!

12:45pm:  On our way home.  Its way past naptime and I'm feeling guilty for not getting Lily home sooner.  We are trying to figure out this whole napping thing....  Our little baby mirror is all messed up and we have not gotten around to repositioning it yet, so whenever I drive anywhere, this is my view of Miss Lily...her sweet little foot.  If her toes are wiggly, I know she is awake. If they are still, I know she is sleeping....It's a good thing I can't reach all the way back there because I would be seriously tempted to drive with one hand on the wheel and another on that sweet little foot...or trying to hold her sweet little hand...I cant help myself!

1:10pm:  A super sleepy baby girl is finally home and ready for her nap!

1:30pm: Lily is asleep in her crib.  I tackle blogging Monday's post (trying to!)...

2:20pm: I did some ironing for Joe...

2:45pm:  The two books I'm reading the most this week...when I can that is...

3:50pm:  Lily is up from her nap and our pal Amy stopped by with some Sonic Happy Hour for mom and to visit Lily.  Lily is a big fan!

4:50pm: Feeding Lily.  She has always done this great little pose with her feet while she eats- ever since she was born.  I don't know if all babies do this or not, but I love it.  Every.Single.Time.  Its another little subtle thing she does that I always want to remember.

5:02pm:  Hot.

5:08pm:  For me, this is the home stretch part of the day.  I know Joe will be home soon and Lily has been fed, so we usually just play together until Dad gets home.  Its one of my most favorite times of the day.  I love this shot...blurriness and all.

5:14pm: this fun ball has been a new discovery for Lily.  She stares at it, picks it up, tries to eat it...it is great fun to watch...


5:18pm:  We are in the middle of a terrible heat wave in this part of the country.  It is gross outside with heat and humidity.  With the heat index, the temperature has been averaging at 105+ degrees outside.  Waaay too hot to take a sweet little baby outside in for any period of time, so we have spent a LOT of days cooped up inside our little house.  It is fine most of the time, but every now and again, I feel pretty cabin feverish...

5:30pm: More tummy time...

Where we spend a lot of our afternoons...

6:05pm:  Hooray! Dad is home!  Lily is ready for bed! After some time with dad, she was swaddled and fed again and then put down to sleep at 6:25pm.  

7:05pm:  Enjoying a nice meal of baked ziti (from our freezer!), salad, bread and good adult conversation together...

8:20pm: Finished Monday's blog post and worked on wrapping up my notes from today's activities so I could remember them tomorrow.  If I dont write it down, I will forget in a heartbeat!  Joe and I turned in for the day around 11pm...and I slept for one glorious hour until Lily woke up for a late night feeding...

The Day in Numbers:
Number of diaper changes: 12
Episodes of Brothers and Sisters watched: 2
Number of outfits worn by Lily today: 6
Number of bibs: 0 (hellooo mom!)
Number of pages read: 1
Number of hours spent feeding Lily: 3.5
Number of times Lily woke up during the night: 1
Longest stretch of hours slept overnight by Lily: 5
Number of hours spent blogging: 3
Number of things crossed off to-do list: 3
Number of photos taken: 227

Observations from today:
I was reminded again today what wonderful friends I have
Seemed like Lily was off her game a little bit and did not nap as long as she usually does...
It was so hot today that even with the AC on, had to strip Lily down to her diaper for her nap so she would be comfy...
My life feels chaotic while I'm working on this project...all free time is spent on this and not keeping up with usual life things...
this project is shaking my confidence with my photography skills...it is so, so difficult to capture the moments as they happen in life- am developing a HUGE appreciation for real photographers
I just have so much to learn in my life- as a mom, wife, friend, photographer and writer...so. much.

Gratitude for the day:
Joe's unwavering encouragement and support of me as I work on this little project
when I go in to check on Lily and discover that she is awake in her crib just looking at her cherry blossom tree
Friends that bring you Sonic Happy Hour when you are home bound due to naptime
Netflix streaming

My Shot of the Day: