a day of the life mama martin
3:00-5:00am: somewhere in this time frame, Jack realizes a) his is sitting in an incredible amount of pee and b) he's thinking about eating carpet fuzz he's so hungry. I, after realizing he's been fussing for probably 5-10 minutes, drags Mike out of bed to change him.
3:00: Dad changes him as I get ready to feed while Jack screams his head off.
3:10: Feed him for around an hour, of which I am awake for 10. turn on the TV for stimulation to stay awake. Wake up to my own head bobs.
3:10: Feed him for around an hour, of which I am awake for 10. turn on the TV for stimulation to stay awake. Wake up to my own head bobs.
4:30-6:30am: Between this time, Jack decides if he will go back to sleep or pull out the torture method of staying up this wee early. Lately he's decided that 4:30 is suitable wake up call and I've been up with him. Dad sleeps before getting ready for work most days and I watch plenty of the morning news. If he does go back to sleep...it's not for long.
5:00-7:00am: repeat the cycle of 3:00-5:00am.
9:30am: Dad leaves for work...i.e. Jack has separation anxiety. He loves Daddy, which is real cute...up to hour 5 of fussing or crying for no apparent reason.
9:00am-6:00pm: repeat cycle of 3:00-5:00 am at least 4 times (without Daddy Diaper Service available). Usually this cycle continues without a nap. Or at most 15-30 minutes if I am lucky. One day, I had a full hour. It was bliss.
1:00pm: meet up with Dad for lunch. Try to throw together a sandwich between cries 1 and 2, and diaper change 2 and 3 of this cycle.
2:00-4:00pm: try to run an errand or two. Jack does great with this-loves the car, loves motion and he might even get a nap in, too! we work well on accomplishing the goals of the day this way. He's like his mother-hates being couped up in the house.
6:00pm: Dad comes home. As he walks in the door, I pass baby off to Dad and go for a run.
6:00-9:00pm: repeat eat and poop cycles above. One of us attempts to make dinner while the other plays with the baby. I am usually the one in the kitchen. Jack is obviously tired at this point in time and tries to keep his heavy eyelids open. Doesnt work well, and he crashes sometime during this point. We silently pray for a 5-8 hour stretch of sleep.
9:00-11:00pm: look at the dirty dishes and give it considerable thought about cleaning but instead watch either: the biggest loser, america's next top model, the Thursday night NBC lineup, or something on Bravo. Well...that is what I do. Mike plays WoW. Try to clean between commercials. Have an adult conversation.
11:00pm: lately Jack's been dumping this night feeding and sleeping until the 3-5am wake up call, but every once in a while, he wants to eat with Jay Leno.
repeat cycle everyday.
Well, ok, I'll confess, this was not written in 25 seconds. It was written during the course of the morning, in between cries, poops and feedings. Well...dirty diaper is calling.
3 comments:
You will make it!
So much for textbook baby, huh? The same thing happened with Parker, too. He was such an angel for like 2-3 weeks. But once he got in a cycle of not napping well, we were all suffering big time. I was clueless how to get him to nap and it took me forever to figure out his tired cues (where was the yawning? No where. He got so overtired that he would yank on his hair and that's when I knew he was in the no-return zone and we were in for a few hours of crying). I think P was a little older than Jackson when I finally caved and bought a sleep advice book recommended to me by a doctor. The book that helped me the most was Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, but I recommend reading the whole thing (at least the appropriate age range) before trying any of the methods because one chapter might say, "let him cry it out" and then the next, "don't let him cry for more than an hour"... uh, thanks! That was helpful. I was really surprised to learn that normal babies take three naps at that age. WHAT? HOW? And the theory goes that the more rest they get in the day the better they sleep at night. Anyway, I hope you all start getting some rest soon! Remember, this is all temporary and then all of a sudden you're dealing with tantrums. Lovely.
P.S. I have an award for you here!
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