A (sort of) typical day

Last Saturday, February 19, was exactly 3 months after our first full day home from the hospital. On that first full day home from the hospital I spent most of the day feeding babies and crying.

I thought I would keep track of what I did three months later to show that I really have improved in this whole motherhood thing.

Here is what I did during 24 hours.

8:00 am I wake up to the babies crying. I get up and give them back the binkies that have fallen out of their mouths. I head back to bed hoping that I will be able to get some more sleep.

8:20 am Babies start crying again. More sleep is out of the question for the moment. I decide to go ahead and switch who is the bottle baby and who is nursing. I make a formula bottle for Lydia and bring her into bed so Brandon can feed her. I bring Charlotte into bed and nurse her while trying to fall back asleep. I start leaking.

8:45 am Charlotte is done eating and is wide awake. I change her diaper and the take her into the living room so I can entertain her while pumping milk.

9:10 am I finish pumping (4 oz) I decide today will be a good day to keep track of a typical day for my blog. I change my shirt and me and Charlotte rejoin Brandon and Lydia in bed. We all fall asleep.

10:00 am My sister Emily calls me seconds after Charlotte wakes me up. I take Charlotte and Lydia out into the living room while I talk to Emily. I eat cheerios. Charlotte cries and Brandon gets up.

10:30 am I nurse Charlotte.

11:15 am Lydia wakes up and Brandon feeds her the milk I pumped earlier.

11:30 am Charlotte falls asleep

11:45 am We have taco salad for lunch

12:00 pm Brandon gets ready for work. I pack his dinner.

12:20 pm Brandon leaves for work.

I decide that my goal for the day will be to clean the house so we don't have to worry about it on Brandon's day off on Monday. My second goal is to give the girls a bath.

I start cleaning by changing the bedding on my bed. I put on new sheets and a blanket. I go to get the new comforter, but I can't get to it because there is a small pile of stuff in the way. I put away all the stuff. Then I notice two bags full of clothes someone gave us.

1:00 pm Lydia has been playing on the floor with the toy hangy thing. She starts crying so I wrap her up. She falls asleep instantly. I go through the clothes, they are all toddler size so I box them up.

1:15 pm I decide now is a good time to pump so I go to do that. But their aren't any clean bottles. I can't wash out the bottles because the sink is full of dirty dishes so I have to empty and reload the dish washer. Then I wash the bottles.

1:30 pm I expect Charlotte to wake up at any time. She starts to wiggle. While I wait for her to fully wake up I notice that we are out of diapers so I grab another bag of 50 out of storage. I also designated a basket to hold toys. I notice I haven't finished making the bed so I go get the comforter out and make the bed.

1:45 pm I hear a baby crying and figure Charlotte has woken up. Instead it is Lydia. I give her back her binkie and she falls asleep.

1:50 pm Lydia wakes up again. I change her diaper. It's been three hours since she ate so I decide to feed her. I still haven't pumped so I mix up a formula bottle.

2:00 pm Feed Lydia. While I feed her Charlotte starts to wiggle. I silently hope that she doesn't wake up yet.

2:10 pm Lydia is done eating and she needs another diaper change.

2:20 pm Decide to pump – but first I start a load of laundry.

2:30 pm Stop pumping to wrap Lydia up because she is acting like she wants to fall asleep. She starts to cry, but quickly changes to a wimper that lasts about 20 minutes. Charlotte wiggles.

2:35 pm Charlotte finally wakes up and starts crying.

2:40 pm Nurse Charlotte while pumping other side.

3:00 pm Charlotte done nursing. I take a quick bathroom break and then pumpout the side Charlotte was on. I read “The 22 immutable laws of marketing”

3:10 pm Done pumping finally.

3:15 pm Eat lunch, change Charlotte's diaper. Play with Charlotte to wear her out so I can go take a nap.

3:35 pm Charlotte starts crying like she is tired. I wrap her up and put her in her crib. She falls asleep. Lydia starts crying. I check her diaper and then stick her in the crib too. She cries. I move first load of laundry to drier and start a second load to drown out the sound of crying.

3:40 pm Asleep on bed

4:00 pm Girls crying wakes me up. Re-wrap the girls, go to the bathroom, and then back to bed.

4:15 pm Wake up again to crying.

4:35 pm I give up on sleep again. Get up and nurse Charlotte while bottle feeding Lydia. For all her crying Lydia isn't very interested in her bottle. She takes forever to drink it.

5:10 pm Call my Dad and talk to him for a few minutes.

5:25 pm Diaper changes for both girls. I set them down with their hangy toy and play with it with them. Here is a longish video of the girls playing.

6:15 pm Girls acting tired again. Wrap them up. Lydia falls asleep right away. Charlotte takes a little bit of time.

6:45 pm Have dinner: grilled cheese sandwiches, veggies, milk and a banana.

6:55 pm Pump

7:20 pm Done pumping. Get bath stuff out for when the girls wake up. Decide to go lay down until they wake up.

8:45 pm I wake up from the nap. I can't believe it's been over an hour.

8:50 pm Charlotte wakes up. Before I feed her I make a bottle for when Lydia wakes up.

9:00 pm Start nursing Charlotte and Lydia wakes up. Give her the bottle.

9:30 pm Bath time for Lydia. Charlotte is very good while laying on the couch.

9:50 pm Give Charlotte a bath. Lydia cries but quiets down.

10:10 pm Put the girls to bed. Lydia is basically asleep but Charlotte is crying.

I sing to the girls and then pray with them. Charlotte is quiet by the time I am done.

I half expect one or the other to wake up so I straighten up the living room and kitchen while waiting. Both girls are still asleep.

10:40 pm Decide to take a shower and shave my legs. Usually I only get one or the other done before a baby wakes up.

11:05 pm Pump while I finish reading my book.

11:40 pm Blow dry my hair

11:45 pm Brush my teeth

11:55 pm Decide the girls are asleep for good and go to bed.

1:00 am Wake up when Brandon gets home from work. Quickly fall back asleep.

3:00 am Lydia wakes up. Get her bottle ready then Brandon feeds her. It only takes about 15 minutes to feed her, but I'm asleep before he is back in bed.

6:30 am Charlotte wakes up and I nurse her on the couch

7:10 am Put Charlotte back in crib and Lydia wakes up. I nurse her. Today she will be the nursing baby and Charlotte will be the bottle baby.

7:40 am Put Lydia back in crib and go back in bed with Brandon. He wakes up and we talk about our days.