At this point in time, it starts to feel like your hard work of caring for a newborn and baby starts to pay off. They start becoming more interactive–smiling, laughing, and cooing; they can be set down for a little while to play while you get a few things done; and best of all, my sleep training efforts seem to be finally paying off as Bjorn has slept through the night for 5 nights in a row! (I’m hoping and praying I haven’t jinxed myself by writing this!)
The best part is that I never had to do any ‘crying it out!’ We implemented Taking Cara Babies sleep tactics from the beginning, which has led to Bjorn being a really decent sleeper. He still likes his 30 minute cat naps during the day, but Cara says this is normal until their nighttime sleep consolidates. Once that happens, then their morning nap starts to length out, followed by their mid-day nap, and lastly their late afternoon nap. I have started to see his morning nap turn into an hour long nap, so hopefully the others will follow suit soon.
Today our smiley boy turned 5 months old, and we are enjoying this stage with him. I can still set him down and know he’ll be there when I return. (ha!) He can roll from back to front and front to back but isn’t doing it consistently yet. He is definitely showing interest in our food, so maybe this next month is when we’ll start some solid foods with him. He also had his two bottom teeth pop through while big brother lost his first tooth on Monday. (Dad finally pulled it with his pliers.)
This is our schedule from Wednesday as it was a day I was taking care of both Cullen and Bjorn.
Tuesday, February 25
6:30 p.m. I start getting Bjorn ready for bed. I give him a bath, use this baby oil on him, put a dry diaper on, clean pajamas, and then feed him. I’ve been feeding him with a bottle of pumped milk to make sure he gets enough to eat before bed, and then I’ll nurse him as well. Often by this time of the day, I feel more empty anyhow, so I don’t feel like I have much milk to give him anyhow.
7:05 p.m. Bjorn goes down for the night.
Wednesday, February 26
3:30 a.m. I wake up because I’m too engorged to sleep anymore. (Ha! I consider this a good problem.) I get up to pump.
4:00 a.m. I go back to bed.
6:10 a.m. I was really hoping to sleep in just a little bit more, but Bjorn is up for the day. He typically is up between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.
6:15 a.m. I feed Bjorn, which I don’t hate because the pump is just not that effective, and I still feel engorged even when pumping quite a bit of milk. (Once again, a good problem.)
6:30 a.m. Bjorn is a super efficient eater and is usually done nursing within 10-15 minutes. I change his diaper and clothes for the day.
6:45 a.m. I am starving, so I go downstairs with Bjorn and get some breakfast. Craig leaves for work at this time. I grab a bowl of cereal to tie me over and put clean dishes away from the night before.
7:15 a.m. I take a shower before Bjorn has to go down for his first nap of the day. I also fix our bed and tidy up our bedroom before Bjorn will be using the room to nap.
8:00 a.m. Bjorn goes down for his first nap of the day. He goes down easily for this one, but he often still cries every time I put him down for his naps. I finish getting ready for the day.
8:30 a.m. Cullen wakes up. We talk, hang out, and I make him a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast while also preparing my breakfast of eggs with spinach, toast with butter, and a beet smoothie.
9:00 a.m. Bjorn actually sleeps a full hour! He is the king of 30 minutes naps, so anything longer feels so nice! They say once their nighttime sleep consolidates, then their daytime naps will start to consolidate, which I am looking forward to because 30 minutes goes by really fast.
9:05 a.m. I feed Bjorn since it has been 3 hours since his last feeding.
9:15 a.m. I tidy up the kitchen and start a load of laundry. I also fix Cullen’s bed and change Bjorn’s diaper again.
9:45 a.m. We get ready to leave for our play date.
10:00 a.m. We leave for our play date at The Dome where they have toddler play time, which is great for the winter months.
11:00 a.m. Bjorn is starting to get fussy, and I know it is because he needs a nap. I try to nurse him to sleep, which I don’t usually do, but I forgot the Ergo, so I have to improvise.
11:15 a.m. It doesn’t work, so I put him in his car seat and rock him in there until he falls asleep.
11:45 a.m. Like clock-work he wakes up after 30 minutes, but he’s happy and content, so we hang out with the other boys and play.
12:00 p.m. I feed Bjorn again because he didn’t eat much when he was trying to fall asleep.
12:30 p.m. We wrap up our play date at the Dome and head to the grocery store to pick up a few things.
1:15 p.m. We arrive home and get lunch. Luckily all of these things were prepped from the night before, so I throw this all in a bowl to eat.
1:25 p.m. Bjorn is starting to get fussy, so I get him ready for his nap.
1:30 p.m. Bjorn goes down for his second nap of the day, and I put this soup in the Crockpot for dinner.
2:00 p.m. Bjorn wakes up. Phew! I hardly get anything done during these short naps, but it is what it is. I was nursing him back to sleep for a while, but then I think it was causing him to wake up more at night and require nursing for him to go back down.
2:15 p.m. I feed Bjorn again.
2:30 p.m. Cullen, Bjorn, and I hang out. We get Bjorn to smile and laugh, and I take Bjorn’s 5 month picture.
3:00 p.m. I do a little work including texting a couple of athletes back, checking work messages and emails, and finishing a blog post. I take breaks to play with Bjorn and help Cullen when he needs help.
4:15 p.m. Bjorn goes down for one last nap of the day.
4:30 p.m. I mix up my Generation Ucan for my workout and get changed.
4:45 p.m. Bjorn wakes up, and I feed him one last time before my run.
5:00 p.m. Craig gets home from work. We chat about the day, and I tell him when Bjorn last ate and let him know when I’ll be back.
5:15 p.m. I run to The Dome to do my interval workout of 5 x 1000 meter repeats. They don’t go as well as I had hoped, so I’m kind of bummed but also know that I have a couple more months before the summer races begin when I want to be really fit!
7:00 p.m. I return back home. There’s no time to recover as I need to feed Bjorn one last time before bed. Craig gave him a bath already, so I feed him with a bottle then nurse him, and he goes down for the night.
7:30 p.m. I grab a little something to eat, but I’m honestly not all that hungry. Craig heads to a friend’s house for dinner.
8:00 p.m. I put Cullen to bed–pajamas on, teeth brushed, and we read a book together.
8:30 p.m. I wrap up a little computer work.
9:00 p.m. I take a shower and get ready for bed.
9:20 p.m. Lights out for me.
We are falling into a nice routine these days. Balancing my running with Craig’s hobbies takes some work and a lot of communication, but over the course of a week, we both get a good balance of everything–family time, personal time, time with friends, etc. Our days are full and busy and Craig and I do a lot of tag-teaming, but it works for us right now.
