A Day in the Life – 4 Months Old (+ a 5 Year Old)

This past month Bjorn was baptized, got to meet his other set of grandparents (my parents), and is settling into a pretty predictable routine, which makes my type-A heart happy.

His nightly bath is still the highlight of his day along with laying on his changing table. For whatever reason, we get the most smiles and laugh while he is getting his diaper changed. He is definitely our serious child as I couldn’t get him to smile for this picture. (He was also pretty tired.) We’re pretty sure he’s going to be a replica of me whereas Cullen is a lot like Craig.

I documented our day on Monday with both boys being home. (Cullen goes to preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays.) On the days I’m home with both boys, I try to get out of the house for a fun activity for Cullen. I don’t get a lot of work done on these days, but I make up for it on the days Cullen does go to preschool. So here’s a look at our day yesterday.

Sunday, January 26

7:20p.m.
Bjorn goes down for the night.

9:30p.m.
I go to bed. I had been doing a dream feed for the first couple of months of his life, but I didn’t feel like it pushed his next feeding off that much. Plus, it was really difficult to get Bjorn to wake up to eat, and it took me an extra 30 minutes, so I was getting to bed later than I wanted, so I stopped doing it.

Monday, January 27

12:30a.m.
I hear Bjorn start fussing. I give him a little time, and he’s not quieting down on his own, so I pop the pacifier back in his mouth, and he’s out again.

3:35a.m.
I hear Bjorn start moaning and groaning again. He normally wakes up around 3/4a.m. In the past I’ve tried to get him to go back to sleep without a feeding, but it hasn’t worked yet. Plus, when I do feed him at this point in the night, he eats a lot, so pick him up within a few minutes and take him into his room (He’s still in our room in a bassinet.) to feed him.

4:05a.m.
I take him back into our room, swaddle him, and place him back in his bassinet, and he goes right back to sleep.

6:00a.m.
My alarm goes off. I get up and get ready to go to the gym.

6:15a.m.
I drive to the gym and lift for 45 minutes.

7:30a.m.
When I get back from the gym. Craig tells me that Bjorn woke up at 7:00a.m., which is pretty typical, so I feed him, change his diaper and clothes for the day.

8:00a.m.
I head downstairs to get some breakfast and put clean dishes away. I only have time to eat half of an English muffin with peanut butter and a Kid’s Clif Bar.

8:30a.m.
Cullen wakes up. He goes to the bathroom, changes his clothes, and eats the breakfast I had set out for him. At this point in time Bjorn is starting to get fussy, so I get him prepped for his first nap of the day.

8:45a.m.
I take Bjorn into our room, turn the sound machine on, swaddle him, give him his pacifier, and lay him in his bassinet. It takes a couple times of soothing him to get him to fall asleep, but within a relatively short period of time he’s sleeping. I start getting ready for the day.

9:00a.m.
Like clock-work, Bjorn wakes up after 30 minutes. I put the pacifier back in his mouth to see if he’ll fall back to sleep, but he doesn’t. I get him up, and Cullen plays with him and talks to him while I finish getting ready.

9:30a.m.
I feed Bjorn since it has been 2.5 hours. (I try to feed him every 2.5-3 hours.) Cullen packs a lunch for us while I’m doing this.

10:00a.m.
We leave for toddler play time with a friend. A rec center in town has an open gym time for the toddlers, so Cullen plays while I chat with my friend.

10:30 a.m.
Bjorn starts to get fussy, which is on the early side for a nap, so I try to push his awake time to 75 minutes.

10:45a.m.
I put him in the Ergo, and he falls asleep.

11:15a.m.
Once again like clock work he wakes up after 30 minutes. I try to get him to go back to sleep but no such luck.

11:45a.m.
I feed Bjorn since it is getting to be that time again, and I know I want to go to Costco after we are done playing.

12:00p.m.
We wrap up our time playing and head to Costco.

12:15p.m.
I get what I need at Costco: diapers, wipes, tissues, protein bars, bread, and a few other things). We also have a few samples while we are shopping to tie us over since it is lunch time. Just as we are wrapping up, Bjorn is starting to get fussy as it has been nearly two hours since he last napped.

1:15p.m.
We drive back home. Bjorn falls asleep in the car, but then as soon as I start unloading everything from the car, he wakes up. Once again I try to get him to go back down but he’s not having it. I finish unloading the groceries and try to grab a few snacks in between. I also get some lunch for Cullen.

2:00p.m.
I feed Bjorn, and he falls asleep while nursing, so I know he’s tired. Sometimes it’s a family affair during his feedings.

2:20p.m.
After he’s done eating, I bring him into our room, swaddle him, turn the sound machine on, draw the curtains, and place him in his bassinet.

2:35p.m.
He finally falls asleep after soothing him a couple of times. This means I finally get to eat lunch, which ends up being really random: a veggie burger with avocado slices, a piece of bread, and an orange.

3:05p.m.
Bjorn wakes up, so I pop the pacifier back in his mouth to see if he’ll go back to sleep. This used to work every once in a while but hasn’t been working lately. I can tell he’s not going back down, so I try to rock him by placing my hand on his chest. That doesn’t work either, so I pick him up and hold him, and instantly he falls back to sleep. I try to place him back in his bassinet after just a few minutes but he wakes up as soon as I set him down. I pick him up again, he falls asleep right away again, and I continue to hold him a bit longer this time.

3:30p.m.
Bjorn’s finally napping on his own, so I finishing putting groceries away, cleaning up the kitchen, and tidying up the house for our guests that night.

4:30p.m.
Craig gets home from work.

5:00p.m.
Bjorn is still napping shockingly, so I wake him up to feed him since it has been 3 hours.

5:30p.m.
My friend Grace arrives at my house, and we run 7 miles together before The Bachelor.

6:35p.m.
We get back from our run, and I finish Bjorn’s bedtime routine. Craig had bathed him while I was out and put his pajamas on, so I feed him one last time before putting him down. My friends start arriving to watch The Bachelor at our house.

7:00p.m.
Bjorn goes down for the night. I have to put his pacifier back in a couple times and ‘shush’ him, but for the most part he easily goes down for the night.

I “watch” The Bachelor but really I end up eating, stretching, talking to my friends, and working on this blog post during the next two hours.

9:00p.m.
The Bachelor is over, everyone leaves, and I get Cullen ready for bed, read him books, say prayers with him, and then tuck him in.

10:00p.m.
Lights out for me.

So there you have it–a day in the life with a 4 month old and 5 year old. I feel like our days are a good mix of getting Cullen (and I) out of the house while still giving Bjorn opportunities to take naps at home. Luckily Cullen is great at independent playing, so he will entertain himself while I’m feeding Bjorn or putting him down.

And I get asked often if Cullen enjoys being a big brother, so if this picture doesn’t say it, it’s a resounding yes.

I think this next month we’ll see Bjorn’s bottom two teeth pop through as they are almost already coming in, and he will start to roll over. I pretty much expect him to be about 3 weeks behind in some of these physical developments since he was 3 weeks early.