A Day in the Life – 7 Months (+ a 5 Year Old)

And here we are–Bjorn is now 7 months old. It seems like just yesterday I was writing his 6 month old update! I know a lot of people say things like that, but I rarely say how fast time goes, so when I do, it really did speed by.

Quarantine for us has been just as busy as “normal” life–maybe even more so for me since Cullen doesn’t go to preschool now. We are falling into a nice routine though, and I love that our weather is nice enough to get outside without having to put on a million layers.

Our days are pretty similar to Bjorn’s 6 month update. He still takes three naps every day around 9a.m., noon, and 3p.m., and they are usually only about 30 minutes. Sometimes once a day I get a little longer nap, but I just never know. I know I can count on 30 minutes but that’s it.

And as far as night time sleep. Bjorn can and has slept through the night several times, but he doesn’t do it consistently. I’d say he has a success rate of about 50%–some weeks are closer to 75% but lately it hasn’t seemed as good.

Here’s what our Monday looked like as that is when he was officially 7 months old!

Sunday, April 26, 2020

7:15p.m.
Bjorn goes down for the night.

8:30 p.m.
Cullen is put to bed. Who knows what time he actually falls asleep–probably close to 9:00 p.m.

9:45 p.m.
Lights out for me.

11:30p.m.
Bjorn wakes up. I give him a few minutes to put himself back to sleep, but he doesn’t, so I go in a rock him back to sleep. Unfortunately by the time I do that and fall back to sleep myself, an hour has passed. Usually I don’t have a hard time falling back to sleep, but occasionally I do.

Monday, April 27, 2020

5:00 a.m.
My alarm goes off. I get up, get dress, and have a pre-workout snack of Generation Ucan, Honey Stinger waffle, and coffee. I usually don’t have anything before running, but I have a big workout this morning, and I didn’t have much for dinner last night.

5:45 a.m.
I start my run. Normally I don’t start quite this early, but I have a big workout to do that will take me about two hours to complete. I run to the local track and do the following workout: 4 x 200m, 3 x 1000m, 2 x 400m. I then cool-down for 6 miles for a total of (almost) 13 miles for the morning.

7:50 a.m.
I return back home, and Craig has fed Cullen a bottle, but naturally Bjorn wants to nurse as well. Craig lets me know Bjorn woke up at 6:45 a.m., so I know when to put him down for his nap.

8:00 a.m.
Craig goes to work. He is still working from home and has his office set up in the garage. It sounds kind of weird, but all of our other rooms are used during the day, so it is the only space for him to work. I think he likes it though. He has been opening up the garage door during the day, so it’s almost like he’s working outside. Ha!

8:10 a.m.
I make breakfast for myself, Cullen, and Bjorn. I make some Kodiak Cakes along with a protein smoothie for myself. Cullen has a pancake, yogurt, and an apple; and Bjorn has pancake, plain yogurt, and mashed banana.

During this time I am also unloading the dishwasher and trying to tidy up the kitchen. It’s all about multi-tasking.

8:50 a.m.
Bjorn is showing signs of being tired, so I go and put him down for his first nap of the day. Our routine is: draw the curtains, change his diaper, put him in his sleep sack, read a book, and sing a song. Cullen often joins us for the book and sometimes he even read the book (from memory). It’s super cute.

9:05 a.m.
Bjorn goes down for his nap. Luckily he doesn’t even cry and falls asleep on his own. He will often go to sleep on his own for his first nap but usually cries when I put him down for his other naps.

I finish eating my breakfast, start a load of laundry, and finish cleaning up the kitchen. Cullen plays on his own during this time.

9:35 a.m.
Bjorn is up, and I hardly felt like I had a break. I am so ready for his naps to start lengthening out.

Even though it hasn’t been 2.5 hours, I feed Bjorn because it is often our routine after his naps.

9:45 a.m.
I tidy up the bedrooms, make the beds, pick up clothes, etc. Cullen and Bjorn play together, so I also do a quick Instagram post from my run that morning while foam rolling. (Like I said, it is all about the multi-tasking.)

10:15 a.m.
I finally get a chance to shower and get ready for the day.

I take a lot of breaks to play with the boys, help Cullen with various things, and respond to texts from athletes.

11:45 a.m.
I am finally ready for the day, and now it is time to eat lunch. I heat up some leftovers for myself and get some food for Cullen and Bjorn as well.

12:00 p.m.
Bjorn starts getting fussy, and I realize it has been 2.5 hours since he woke up from his nap, so it is time for his next nap. We repeat the same routine: change diaper, sleep sack, read book, rock and sing before putting him in his crib. He cries for a few minutes but luckily falls asleep on his own.

My lunch isn’t finished heating through (We have to use our oven to reheat food since we don’t have a microwave.), so I help Cullen with his school work, transfer the laundry to the dryer, and grab a few snacks in between.

12:30 p.m.
Once again I hear crying on the monitor, and Bjorn has woken up again. I got and get him and nurse him again.

12:45 p.m.
I finally eat my lunch, and then I clean up the kitchen again. (It’s a never-ending cycle.) Cullen looks at books in his room while Bjorn hangs out in his high chair.

1:30 p.m.
I try to do some computer work while Cullen does some school work. [I try to do a little something with him every day whether it is geography (looking at the globe where he has to find various countries), practicing his writing, doing a math worksheet I’ve come up with, or a few pages from a pre-school workbook.] I try to change it up every day, keep it short, and fun for him.

2:30 p.m.
I nurse Bjorn because we plan to be out-and-about the next couple of hours. I then get the boys ready to go out for an adventure.

3:00 p.m.
It has finally been nice this past week, so I decide to take the boys to Point Woronzof to go down to the “beach” and watch the airplanes take off and land.

Cullen plays in the “sand” (which is actually silt and really messy), and I try to get Bjorn to take a nap in the Ergo, but there is too much going on that he wants to look around at.

4:10 p.m.
Bjorn finally falls asleep as we are walking back to the car but immediately wakes up as soon as I put him in his car seat. I drive around for a bit in hopes he falls back asleep but no such luck. I make a stop at Starbucks for a treat for Cullen and myself. Cullen loves the pink cake pops, and I get a breakfast sandwich and iced tea because I’m starving, per usual.

4:45 p.m.
We arrive back home.

5:00 p.m.
I start making dinner. Cullen plays outside some more and Bjorn plays in his exersaucer while I work in the kitchen. Craig is off work, so he helps with dinner and taking care of the boys as well.

6:00 p.m.
Dinner is finally ready. I have no idea why it takes me twice as long to make a 30 minute meal like the recipe says. Anyway, it is now time to eat, but Bjorn is already turning into a pumpkin. I try to feed him some food, but he is just not having it, so Craig starts the bedtime routine.

6:15 p.m.
Craig gives Bjorn a bath, I heat up a bottle of milk for him, and we get him ready for bed.

Cullen and I finish eating dinner while Craig feeds Bjorn a bottle.

6:45 p.m.
Bjorn is down for the night.

7:00 p.m.
I start cleaning up the kitchen and tidy up the house while Craig takes Sadie for a walk.

Cullen cleans the table off, picks up his bedroom, gets his pajamas on, and brushes his teeth, which then awards him some screen time before bed. By the time he does all of these things, he has about 30 minutes left for screen time.

8:00 p.m.
I read a couple books to Cullen, say prayers, and then tuck him in for the night.

8:30 p.m.
I do the computer work that I never got around to during the day: go through my e-mail inbox, reply to Facebook and Instagram messages, place an Amazon order, and then finally get ready for bed.

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

The end.