Thursday, December 18, 2014

A Day in the Life

I don't get a lot of "what do you do all day" questions. But, let's assume you did ask me what I do all day. I'll tell you. In fact, here's a little day in the life:

4:00 a.m.  - My day starts. I get up, do quiet chores, personal things, and work.

4:00 - 6:00 a.m. - Thomas fusses. Depending on the time, I feed him, just hold him, put his pacifier back in, whatev.

5:00 - 6:30: Thomas wakes up for the day! Depending on the time, I nurse him or just change his diaper. Then we read or I'll take him to cuddle with Matt if Matt is still in bed.

6:30 - Out for our morning walk!! If it's cold out, I may wait a few hours but I like to go as early as I can while still being sensible.

7:30 - back home. I attend to personal things while Thomas plays beside me or in his bouncer. Lately, I can turn the Roomba on and he'll watch it for a good 15 minutes before he gets tired and ready to do something else. Thank you, Roomba!

8:00 - Read, play, work on crawling, some chores or work if I can. This morning, I cooked a butternut squash to make into baby food.

8:30 - nap number 1!! I work on whatever I can in the house or for money.

9:15 - Thomas is up. I change his diaper and his clothes so he's dressed for the day.

9:30 - feed Thomas, then play, read, I'll usually take a quick shower here while Thomas plays in the rock and play.

10:30 - play, read, work.

11:30 - Nap number 2! I work, try to eat something, whatever I can get done.

12:30 - Thomas is up by now. If he didn't sleep well in his first nap, this nap may go long. I just feed him when he wakes up.

1:00 - work on crawling, have a little naked dance party while getting his diaper changed, read, swing outside, terrorize Giselle.

2:30 - nap number 3 and final of the day. I work, maybe start supper if I've thought that far ahead.

3:30 - feed Thomas, play, read, chores, etc.

6:30 - feed THomas again, then work on feeding him baby good. Tonight, he's getting butternut squash for the first time.

6:45 - bath if it's bath day, read the advent verses if we haven't already, put him in his pajamas and maybe read him a bedtime book or something quiet.

7:00 - feed THomas again, wrap him up real tight because he still wants to be swaddled, and sing to him until he goes to sleep.

7:20 - have supper with Matt if we haven't already, work

8:00 p.m. - Ideally, go to bed. Tonight though, I've got WAY to much to do so I'll probably stay up a bit later.

10:30 p.m. - Thomas wakes up, so I go feed him, go back to bed.

1:30 a.m. - feed Thomas, go back to bed.

2:45 a.m. - pick up Thomas, rock him gently in my arms, and help him go back to sleep. I go back to bed.

3:30 a.m. - put Thomas's pacifier back in and turn his sound machine back on. Think about whether to go back to bed for thirty minutes or just stay up. Go back to bed....

I never, ever, ever thought that I'd be a stay-at-home-mom. Ever. But here I am. I never thought that I'd have the option to work full-time from home for money, either, but I've been doing it for over a year now. It ain't perfect and I have days that are less than ideal but for the most part, we're doing okay. Being able to stay home with Thomas for this first part of his life has been such a blessing. I'm exhausted, but I wouldn't do anything differently. Though, T-baby will likely start a Mother's Day Out program in the new year. I would like to work differently (in large blocks of time) and he needs to be around other babies. While every day is similar now, I'm sure it will be much different all too soon.

And.. he's awake. Back to work!

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Seven months!

We made it to SEVEN months without a call to CPS!!! I consider that a HUGE accomplishment. It's not that we're bad parents, it's that we have no clue what we are doing. Thomas: we did it!!!

In his 6 month of life, T-baby has been crazy busy. He came back from San Diego, got his 6-month shots, learned how to sit up on his own, had his first Thanksgiving, started learning to use a sippy cup, loved and hated his high chair, and decided that sleep really is for the weak.

He weighs about 17 1/2 pounds, wears size 3 diapers, and 9-month (what!?) pants. He can still wear six month tops, but man, those 6-month pants are just too short. He's a tall one, my baby.

Now here's a bunch of pictures. No captions because I'm SSOOO busy!











Saturday, December 6, 2014

San Diego: Being There

 So I had planned on a series of three posts about San Diego, but as I looked through my pictures and thought back to our time there I realized that every day but our first day (and second day, obviously) was a repeat of the day before it. Instead of three posts, there are two. This one will be long and FULL of pictures.

Matt's conference started on Thursday so when he left early Thursday morning, Thomas and I left too! Well, after some snuggly time, that is. Our hotel was downtown and just a few blocks from San Diego Bay. T-baby and I strolled through the somewhat intimidating hotel lobby (everyone else in the lobby was in a business suit) and out the side doors, crossed the street, and joined the legions of walkers/runners of California. I've never seen so many active people in one place before without an organized event. It was crazy. And neat. I should have taken samples of sunscreen. I could just see the skin cancer forming.

Anyway.



We walked along the bay and down any open pier we came to. There were pelicans and seals!! 


The U.S.S. Midway is decommissioned and available for tour and viewing right downtown! We didn't tour it because it's pricey and not exactly stroller or baby-friendly, but I did look at it as much as I wanted from the outside. It's huge. It was an aircraft carrier from right after the end of WWII. It's so big that it can't get through the Panama Canal. Huge. 


Right beside the Midway is this statue. It's huge too. It is one of several statutes called the Unconditional Surrender. It was pretty neat discovering it. We were just strolling along and then BAM, there it was. It was so surprised at seeing it that I literally stopped walking.


Thomas slept.


To illustrate just how big the statue is, here's my shoe beside it. I should tell you that everyday but the first day, I wore tennis shoes instead of flip flops. Lesson learned. 



Just beyond the U.S. statue is a memorial to Bob Hope. They actually piped in lines from his performances. I sat by the memorial for awhile and listened. And laughed. It was pretty funny. I'm not sure if you can tell but the statues are of wounded soldiers with Bob Hope up on the platform. 


 Thomas slept.



I didn't see many overweight people in California. I decided that the reason for that is the benches. There are dividers on every single bench downtown. Basically, one cannot sit on a bench until one can fit on a bench. Obesity epidemic is solved. Also, the food is so expensive that one cannot afford much of it.... 

After we strolled away the morning, Thomas and I would go back to the hotel and cool off. We'd play in the room for awhile until I got cabin fever, then we'd go exploring again. 



 We'd sit by the pool for a couple of hours. They had these great covered areas with overhead fans and canvas walls. I just pulled the walls closed, turned on the fans, and read to T-baby. I've gotten to where I don't really care about reading in public (or singing in public, much to Matt's chagrin). Whatever it takes to keep Thomas happy.


On Saturday, one of the piers had a fresh fish market down it. Look. The fishing boat is right beside the stand. It doesn't get much fresher than that. 


This yacht/sailboat is one of the biggest in the world. I know it's hard to tell, so just take my word for it. And Matt's. He heard about it and told me where it was. I went and found it. I'm not good with estimating size so I won't even hazard a guess but it's reeeeeaaaalllllyyyyyy big. It may not be able to sail through the Panama Canal either.


One day, Matt was free for lunch so we went to the Gaslamp Quarter. Exactly what you'd think it is... We had a pretty good lunch but then we had dessert. Oh. my. goodness. Side note: our hotel was right beside a Cheesecake Factory. Two things: I had way too much cheesecake and the waitresses don't wear denim skirts with yellow vests. Bummer. 



 Thomas slept.








There is also a little shopping center close to the hotel - kind of like Perkins Rowe, actually, but smaller. There was an amazing paper shop there. I wish I had had hours to spend looking around. They had Rifle, Kate Spade, Emily Ley... It was amazing. I bought an Emily Ley planner, a card, and an anchor ornament for our Christmas tree. I could have spent way more but I didn't have much time.... The store wasn't really stroller friendly either.... 



The sun started setting about 4:30 there. As you can see, it was amazing. I made sure we were back in our room on the 36th floor for the sunset. 




 There you have it. San Diego: A city in two parts. I'd go back, but I don't think I'd want to live there. The weather was glorious. The food was just okay. The people didn't open doors for me and my stroller. Give me ol' Louisiana any day. With San Diego weather....