A day in our lives
A baby keeps you very busy round the clock.
My days are even more packed compared to when I was working and I can't even ask for a day off!
Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to look back one day and see what my typical daily schedule is like. Kinda gives me a snapshot of our lives here and now.
Compare this with our schedule from the first month.
0700 The husband's alarm clock goes off. He washes up and gets ready for work. Sean and I carry on snoozzzzing.
0730 Foops checks on the babe in his cot, watches him sleep for a bit and then kisses his grumpy wife goodbye for the day.
0800 Sean stirs and wakes up for his morning feed.
I like to play this little game with him where I make him think it is still night time by keeping the curtains drawn, not turning on the lights and not talking to him at all. He is very dopey at this time anyway so I just feed him and pop him right back to sleep.
It's peace and quiet for another few hours.
1030 Feeding time again.
This time, the 'Pretend it's Night Time' game doesn't work anymore. His eyes are always very beeeeg when I pick him up and he breaks into the goofiest grins when he sees me. Even when I tell him to save 'em smiles for later when I am more awake and responsive, he is happy as can be.
I carry him to my bed and play with him for a bit. He is all coos and happy gurgles.
1100 I leave him to stretch and entertain himself.
Sometimes I pop a CD into the player, wind up his mobile or let him play with some dangly toys in his rocker while I go get his bath ready.
1115 Bath time!
1130 All preened and smelling of baby powder, I pass him to his eagerly awaiting grandparents downstairs. I quickly clear his bath, wash up, sort out the laundry, tidy the room and pack the diaper bag for the day.
1230 Sean is always sound asleep in his Nainai's arms when I check on him. I feed him, pack everything into the car and we drive to my parents' place.
1300 Grandma (my mum) takes Sean off my hands and I have my lunch, my first meal of the day.
1400-1800 We try to get Sean to take his nap at least once every afternoon.
He is usually quite tired and cranky by this time. It is a very tiresome and thankless process getting him to sleep. Takes many, many tries. Really a battle of wills.
When he finally does go down for a nap (if he goes down, that is), I get some time to myself for a few hours (to surf the net, read the papers, etcetera) :) Even then, one of us need to be nearby to rock him back to sleep if he stirs.
Sometimes Jiu Jiu and Wai Kong, depending on whether they are home, will hang out and play with him too.
1800-1830 If the weather is fine, we bring him down for some fresh air.
Nowhere too far or adventurous because he always falls asleep when we're on the go which defeats the whole purpose of bringing him out!
1900 Dinner time for the adults. Foops comes by on some days to join us. We go out for dinner occasionally bringing baby along.
1930 If we don't go out, Grandma gives him his bath and he changes into jammies.
2000 We (baby and I) drive home and wait for Foops to return.
I let him play on his own while I take a quick shower and do some household chores.
2030-2130 Lights out. I give him his last feed.
If he is in a good enough mood, we play with him for a bit and sometimes read him a story. The key is to create a very calm and conducive environment for bedtime.
When he looks tired enough, I put him in his rocker and tell him it's time for bed.
The wonderful news is, he no longer uses me as a human pacifier (hurrah!) but the bad news, he is very attached to his rocker now and likes to be rocked to sleep.
Some nights, when he is very tired, he can actually drop off to sleep on his own. It is pure magic when it happens.
I really want to train him to sleep on his own. Still work in progress, this one.
2130-2300 Because Sean sleeps in the same room as us and we don't want to wake him, we move around like mice groping around in the dark.
We actually used to watch TV in mute (very pathetic, right) until very recently when we discovered wireless TV headphones. They are the best things ever!
2300-0800 Once he is very, very deep asleep, I move him from rocker to cot. Sean sleeps through the night only waking every three to four hours for feeds.
I try my best to make the transition from slumber to wakefulness to then back to slumber again as smooth and seamless as possible so he doesn't wake up and want to play play play! It works!
Oh, I make sure I change him at least once during the night so he doesn't stew in dirty diapers for too long.
0700 It is morning again and the cycle repeats. Phew!
The little guy around which everything revolves
My days are even more packed compared to when I was working and I can't even ask for a day off!
Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to look back one day and see what my typical daily schedule is like. Kinda gives me a snapshot of our lives here and now.
Compare this with our schedule from the first month.
0700 The husband's alarm clock goes off. He washes up and gets ready for work. Sean and I carry on snoozzzzing.
0730 Foops checks on the babe in his cot, watches him sleep for a bit and then kisses his grumpy wife goodbye for the day.
0800 Sean stirs and wakes up for his morning feed.
I like to play this little game with him where I make him think it is still night time by keeping the curtains drawn, not turning on the lights and not talking to him at all. He is very dopey at this time anyway so I just feed him and pop him right back to sleep.
It's peace and quiet for another few hours.
1030 Feeding time again.
This time, the 'Pretend it's Night Time' game doesn't work anymore. His eyes are always very beeeeg when I pick him up and he breaks into the goofiest grins when he sees me. Even when I tell him to save 'em smiles for later when I am more awake and responsive, he is happy as can be.
I carry him to my bed and play with him for a bit. He is all coos and happy gurgles.
1100 I leave him to stretch and entertain himself.
Sometimes I pop a CD into the player, wind up his mobile or let him play with some dangly toys in his rocker while I go get his bath ready.
1115 Bath time!
1130 All preened and smelling of baby powder, I pass him to his eagerly awaiting grandparents downstairs. I quickly clear his bath, wash up, sort out the laundry, tidy the room and pack the diaper bag for the day.
1230 Sean is always sound asleep in his Nainai's arms when I check on him. I feed him, pack everything into the car and we drive to my parents' place.
1300 Grandma (my mum) takes Sean off my hands and I have my lunch, my first meal of the day.
1400-1800 We try to get Sean to take his nap at least once every afternoon.
He is usually quite tired and cranky by this time. It is a very tiresome and thankless process getting him to sleep. Takes many, many tries. Really a battle of wills.
When he finally does go down for a nap (if he goes down, that is), I get some time to myself for a few hours (to surf the net, read the papers, etcetera) :) Even then, one of us need to be nearby to rock him back to sleep if he stirs.
Sometimes Jiu Jiu and Wai Kong, depending on whether they are home, will hang out and play with him too.
1800-1830 If the weather is fine, we bring him down for some fresh air.
Nowhere too far or adventurous because he always falls asleep when we're on the go which defeats the whole purpose of bringing him out!
1900 Dinner time for the adults. Foops comes by on some days to join us. We go out for dinner occasionally bringing baby along.
1930 If we don't go out, Grandma gives him his bath and he changes into jammies.
2000 We (baby and I) drive home and wait for Foops to return.
I let him play on his own while I take a quick shower and do some household chores.
2030-2130 Lights out. I give him his last feed.
If he is in a good enough mood, we play with him for a bit and sometimes read him a story. The key is to create a very calm and conducive environment for bedtime.
When he looks tired enough, I put him in his rocker and tell him it's time for bed.
The wonderful news is, he no longer uses me as a human pacifier (hurrah!) but the bad news, he is very attached to his rocker now and likes to be rocked to sleep.
Some nights, when he is very tired, he can actually drop off to sleep on his own. It is pure magic when it happens.
I really want to train him to sleep on his own. Still work in progress, this one.
2130-2300 Because Sean sleeps in the same room as us and we don't want to wake him, we move around like mice groping around in the dark.
We actually used to watch TV in mute (very pathetic, right) until very recently when we discovered wireless TV headphones. They are the best things ever!
2300-0800 Once he is very, very deep asleep, I move him from rocker to cot. Sean sleeps through the night only waking every three to four hours for feeds.
I try my best to make the transition from slumber to wakefulness to then back to slumber again as smooth and seamless as possible so he doesn't wake up and want to play play play! It works!
Oh, I make sure I change him at least once during the night so he doesn't stew in dirty diapers for too long.
0700 It is morning again and the cycle repeats. Phew!
The little guy around which everything revolves