A Day in the Life – 3 Months (+ a 5 Year Old)

We are in a completely different place than we were a month ago, and life with two feels so much better and more manageable now!

The 4th trimester has ended, which is typically when babies outgrow their fussiness and adapt to life outside the warm, cozy, no-stimulant conditions that the womb provided for the prior 9 months. This is the case for Bjorn as he is no longer colicky and a much happier, more content baby! I mean, look at that smile.

As much as we thought the acid reflux medicine might be working–or he might be allergic to dairy–it was really just getting him to grow out of his colic. Now he only fusses if he is tired or hungry, and the witching hour (4p.m. until he goes to bed) even seems to be disappearing as well.

This post is coming a few days late as Bjorn turned 3 months last Friday, but with the holidays and Craig being home, I am waiting until today (Monday) to do a post since today was a better representation of life at home with two kids by myself during the day.

Sunday, December 29, 2019

8:50 p.m. Bjorn goes down for the night. This is a little later than usual as I was at a work party with the boys, so bedtime got pushed back a little later than usual.

Monday, December 30, 2019

5:15 a.m. My alarm goes off. I turn it off and think twice about getting up to go running since I didn’t get to bed very early and only got about 6.5 hours of sleep. I know it is my only opportunity to run today, so I convince myself to get up. Bjorn didn’t wake up at all during the night, so I pump, get my running clothes on, and let Craig know I’m leaving.

5:55 a.m. Run 4 easy miles. I just ran 7 miles yesterday, which is the most I’ve done postpartum, so I keep this run on the shorter side.

6:30 a.m. I return home, and Craig said Bjorn woke up, drank most of the bottle, and went back down again. Hallelujah! Craig leaves for work.

6:40 a.m. I make myself a cup of (decaf) coffee and snack on a couple of Cashew Chocolate Lactation Bites, I also start a load of laundry, empty the dishwasher, foam roll, work on an Instagram post, and pump again.

7:30 a.m. I hear Bjorn on the monitor. I wait to see if he’ll go back down, but he doesn’t so I go and feed him. This doesn’t surprise me as he probably didn’t eat as much from the bottle as he would have if I had nursed him. He is still tired, so I lay him back down in his bassinet.

8:00 a.m. I take a shower and get ready for the day.

8:40 a.m. I go downstairs and get more to eat for breakfast now that my hunger has kicked in. I have a piece of cinnamon-raisin bread and some trail mix.

9:00 a.m. Cullen hasn’t come out of his room, so I go into his bedroom to wake him up, but he’s actually awake. I tell him to get dressed right away so he can have a sticker on his sticker chart.

9:10 a.m. Cullen and I go downstairs and hang out. I like having this one-on-one time with Cullen.

9:55 a.m. Bjorn finally wakes up. I had to Google if there was a 3 month growth spurt, and there definitely is, which probably explains why he slept so late. I feed him again, change his diaper and clothes, and we hang out “talking” to each other.

10:20 a.m. Cullen comes upstairs with a new toy that I help him put together, and the three of us hang out for a while.

10:40 a.m. I make the beds upstairs, and then we go downstairs to clean up the kitchen. I also put the washed clothes in the dryer and hand wash a few items.

11:00 a.m. Almost to the minute, Bjorn is showing signs of being tired. I would say his wake windows are still about an hour, but some of them are stretching closer to 75 minutes.

11:05 a.m. I take Bjorn upstairs, check his diaper, and then feed him again. I try to give him a full feeding right after he wakes up, but he doesn’t always nurse on both sides right away. Often he will split his feeding into two feedings about 20-30 minutes apart. If he does fall asleep while nursing, I just make sure to wake him up before laying him down in his bassinet.

11:15 a.m. I turn the lights off in our bedroom (Bjorn is still sleeping in this bassinet next to Craig and my bed.), close the curtains, turn the sound machine on, swaddle him, give him his pacifier, and then lay him in his bassinet still awake. Within just a few minutes he is sleeping. (This is where all of my hard work to sleep train him has finally paid off, and I can’t express how much easier it is now! It was incredibly difficult for two months, but we are reaping the rewards now.)

11:20 a.m. Since I’ve been up for 6 hours already, I’m ready for lunch, so I heat up some leftovers and make some rice to go with it. I also get some lunch together for Cullen, help him with some activities in one of his pre-school books, and get a box ready to be mailed for an item I sold on Poshmark.

11:40 a.m. Cullen and I eat lunch. This probably looks like the most disgusting meal ever, but I promise it is good! It is this Chicken and Lentil Rice Bowl in the Instant Pot. Go look at her pictures because they are much better.

12:05 p.m. Just as I expected, Bjorn wakes up after napping for 45 minutes. Ideally he naps 60-90 minutes, but I also don’t stress because I know that this is a good nap and naps don’t regulate until babies are 5 months old.

12:07 p.m. I go and get Bjorn and feed him again. Sure enough he eats again since I know he’s probably going through a growth spurt. After eating, I change his clothes because he has a blowout, and I see how many smiles I can get out of him.

12:20 p.m. Craig stops by for a quick bite to eat and to say hi. We talk about a few things, he says hi to Bjorn, and then leave again.

12:45 p.m. We head downstairs, and I put Bjorn in the bouncy chair while I do a few random things around the house.

1:00 p.m. Once again almost to the minute, Bjorn starts showing signs of being tired. Mostly this is just him starting to fuss, but I also see a couple of yawns.

1:02 p.m. I pick him up and walk around the house for a while to try and extend his wake window just a bit. I also check his diaper again, have a short nursing session, and Cullen, Bjorn, and I take a few selfies. Bjorn’s face in this photo is priceless and so Bjorn.

1:15 p.m. Time to put him down for his nap. I once again turn the lights off, close the curtains, turn the sound machine on, swaddle him, give him his pacifier, and lay him in his bassinet awake.

1:17 p.m. Bjorn starts to fuss, and I know it is because he lost his pacifier, so I go back in the room, put the pacifier back in his mouth and then leave again. I have to do this one more time before he falls asleep for good.

1:20 p.m. I start this blog post and take some pictures for future Instagram posts while Cullen plays outside. I also wash some dishes and tidy up again. (I swear I spend half my day just cleaning up.)

2:30 p.m. I change my clothes for my physical therapy appointment and try to transfer Bjorn to the car seat, but of course he wakes up.

2:45 p.m. We leave for my PT appointment.

3:00 p.m. I have my PT appointment and the physical therapist works on losing up tight spots in my glutes and hamstrings. Bjorn hangs out on the blanket while Cullen works on his school book.

3:45 p.m. We wrap up my PT session, but now Bjorn is hungry as it has been nearly three hours since his last feeding, so I nurse him.

4:00 p.m. We head back home and stop at the bank and the post office on the way home.

4:30 p.m. We arrive home and Bjorn has fallen asleep. I have hopes he will take a nap in the car seat, but he inevitably wakes up within 15 minutes. I fold a load of laundry and pick up a few things before my in-laws come over for dinner.

5:00 p.m. Normally at this point in the night, Craig and I are tag-teaming to get dinner prepared. I almost always plan out our meals for the week, so whatever I have on the menu for the night is what we will make. Tonight’s an exception as my brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s last night in town is tonight, so we have them as well as my mother-in-law and father-in-law over for dinner. Craig made this chili a couple days prior, so he just had to reheat it.

5:30 p.m. Bjorn starts getting fussy, so I try to get him to fall asleep in the Ergo by pacing back and forth in the house. It isn’t really working, so I suggest going for a walk outside.

6:00 p.m. We take a walk around our neighborhood looking at Christmas lights. It isn’t that cold, so it doesn’t feel so bad walking outside.

6:30 p.m. Bjorn wakes up mid-walk, so we head back home right away since I know he’s not going to tolerate being outside anymore.

6:45 p.m. We get back home, I feed Bjorn, and we hang out for a little while longer.

7:15 p.m. Bjorn is definitely ready for bed at this point in time, so I take him upstairs a do a bath with him. Craig gets Cullen into his pajamas and teeth brushed.

7:30 p.m. I change Bjorn into his pajamas, give him a baby massage with some soothing oil, and do one last feeding before he goes to bed. While he nurses I read Meb’s book.

8:00 p.m. I do the same routine for each time Bjorn goes to sleep, so once again, I turn the lights off, turn the sound machine on, swaddle him, give him his pacifier, and lay him in his bassinet awake. I then go and read a couple of books to Cullen.

8:30 p.m. Lights out for Cullen. No way does he actually go to bed by this time. He comes out of his room a couple of times, and I have to go check on him a couple of times because I hear noises coming from his room. He is a night owl and has been since the day he was born.

8:35 p.m. I tidy up the house for the night–sweeping the floors, washing a few dishes, and picking up random things and putting them again.

9:15 p.m. I finish working on this blog post.

10:00 p.m. I get read for bed.

10:15 p.m. I publish this post and lights out for me.

Normally on the days Cullen is home with me all day (and doesn’t go to preschool), I try to get him out of the house for a fun activity whether that is going to the library, going to the park in the summer, meeting up with friends, etc. Unfortunately it didn’t happen today, which is the case usually one day a week. Luckily we have things planned for every other day this week with a play date tomorrow, family time on Wednesday since Craig will be home, Thursday I am taking Cullen downhill skiing for the first time, and Friday will probably be play time at The Dome. It’s a little trickier now when Bjorn’s naps are just dependent upon when he wakes up, but each month gets a little easier to balance two kids. Soon it will be summer time, and Bjorn will be napping less, and I’ll be able to plan activities more easily, but for now, we are doing what we can, and I am trying to give both boys what they need each day. 🙂