Day in the life- Halloween

I know the internet is divided with love/hate over "Day in the Life" posts, but I enjoyed reading the ones about life with a baby while pregnant. I still like to, I just realize now that not only is every baby completely different, but at this age, every day is pretty different. I mean, they all contain the same elements (eating, sleeping, diapers, "playing", crying, cuteness), but at different times and in different orders.

I'm enjoying them less now because I'm finding it amazing how some bloggers turn something factual into sounding so angry. Like, ZOMG, who knew that a day in the life after having a baby would include so much of the baby? So I'm writing my own (hopefully) non-resentful one. Just be glad I didn't subject you to my monthly letters to Dalton, I'm keeping those private.
 

A few notes:

• It was actually much harder than I thought it would be to keep track of what we did all day.
• I have some really exact times because I use an app (Sprout) to time feedings, the rest are more approximates.
• I didn't include all diaper changes because there's no need, just don't think I change my baby only 3 times a day and just let his bum rot the rest of the time. 
• I think it's gross when people say babies "had dinner" or inexplicably even worse "a snack" so I will just be referring to "feedings".  
• The day we are discussing was Halloween and Dalton is five weeks old.
• After rereading, I feel like I do talk about a lot of fussy times for Dalton, but I'm not trying to make him look bad, we all have our good and not so good days.

 

1:30 am: Wake up and pump - we had this idea that since Eric is a night owl he could do this feeding so I could stay asleep, but the girls weren't on board with that. We're working on revamping things.

4am: Eric gives Dalton a bottle (I stayed asleep) - he's often up earlier, closer to the time I pump, but not that night I guess! Babies do their own thing.

6:03am: I feed Dalton and he goes right back to sleep, which is a major win because that's my plan too.
 

7:27am: Dalton wakes up crying. I move the party out to the living room and feed Dalton briefly and he falls asleep, so I think he was just lonely, not hungry. I'm still learning! I watch the Today show and drink coffee and cuddle while he sleeps.

I've been practically peeing my pants with excitement over the Halloween costume reveal. Every year I miss it because of work and I finally got to watch. It was all I hoped it would be and more. I need to have a fall baby every year from now on. (I usually try to pump at some point after a morning feeding to add to my freezer stash but I got too swept up in the SNLToday excitement and forgot.)
 

9:25am: I reluctantly put Dalton down in his bouncer so I can eat breakfast.
 

9:35am: Dalton wakes up and wants to eat for real (breakfast is long done, I've learned to eat fast!). He's still sleepy so I have to keep him awake to eat by stroking his cheek and jaw. Side note - autocorrect changed "stroking" to "striking" in that sentence so good thing I caught it. I also unswaddle him and change his diaper. And this happens: 

10-11am: - We hang out, sing, "play" (he's a little too young to really play yet so it's more me making a fool of myself and pretending he's participating, mainly through voiceovers), have some tummy time, attempt to read a book (he's not a fan yet).

 

See, I swear he's having fun with me!

 

We are trying to get him used to his crib (so he will eventually sleep there) by doing some tummy time/hangout awake time in it each day. No idea if his memory is long enough to make this effective whatsoever, and google wasn't sure either, but it probably can't hurt. About a hour of happy awake time is his limit, so he's fussy and yawning by 11.

 

11:00: Time to calm things down and get him back to sleep. I'm not terribly successful.

 

11:15: I try to put him in the ergo (baby wearing thing) to cheer him up, realize he's hungry, so I feed him instead. Obviously.

11:50: A diaper change leaves him exhausted but wide awake and quite displeased with those feelings. Those diaper changes always do that. I soothe him with The Happiest Baby on the Block methods.

12:00pm: He's drowsy, so I put him in the Mamaroo to try to put himself to sleep. The pediatrician and the nurse at my mom's group recommended putting him down sleepy but awake to get him used to putting himself to sleep. It's hit or miss, this time is a miss.

 

12:20: I put him back in the Ergo, which usually cheers him up, and we head outside for a walk. On our way out, we run into a neighbor, who asks me when I'm due. I point to Dalton and say "he's right here". Maybe she doesn't understand how pregnancy works?

 

12:30-1:00pm: 30 min walk, Dalton is happy (I assume) and goes right to sleep.

The baby strapped to your body means he's already been born.

1-1:30: I keep Dalton on and make chili in the crockpot for dinner while listening to halloween station on Pandora. It was quite disappointing. I'm not sure what I expected, but it should just be Monster Mash and Thriller on repeat.

 

I had a picture of me browning the ground beef because most people never thought they would see the day, but that's gross and no one wants to see it. The finished product isn't beautiful either but we all know chili is delicious.

1:30: I feed Dalton, change his diaper and give him a water dunk in his bathtub (the pediatrician said to soak his lower half in water twice a day), and try to cheer him up when he gets a little cranky.

 

2:35: I hand Dalton over to Eric to try his luck soothing him and go take a shower. (He's not a deadbeat dad, I was trying my hand at independence to prepare for him going back to work on Thursday.)

 

3:30: I eat lunch while watching Les Mis (surprisingly Eric's choice, I can never not watch it if it's on TV) and Dalton falls asleep on Eric.

4:30: Dalton wakes up to eat and get a diaper change, he falls right back asleep on me around 5 or so. We were going to put him in his costume and take him for a walk, but we missed our window! We should have done that to calm him down earlier. More new parent fails.

6:23: Dalton wakes up again and gets another diaper change and his real bath, and he finally gets his costume on! Is there a way to give an infant a bath without getting soaked yourself? If so, we're doing it wrong. 

6:46: I feed Dalton. Because like his mom, he responds poorly to hanger.

 

Exhibit A:

Before eating

 

 

Exhibit B:

After eating.

 

7:10: Halloween photo shoot while blasting Thriller. It's hilarious and adorable.

 

STOP. I can't handle it.

 

7:40: Dalton gets fussy and doesn't respond to the usual so I feed him again, and he's starved like he's been in prison camp and not just an unwilling pawn for his parents to dress up and photograph. Babies and their super tiny bellies, amiright? He falls asleep in my lap again after he eats, and I put him back in the Mamaroo.

8:30: Chili time. I wanted to make cornbread to go with it but the Halloween photo shoot took precedence. Can't do it all. We watch an episode of New Girl while we eat. 

 

9:10: I get the coffee maker set up for the morning. The most crucial part of any evening.

9:20: I was going to have wine and cookies but instead get in bed because I'm feeling a little sick and achy. I screw around on my phone for ten minutes or so then go to sleep.

10:25: I feed Dalton in bed.

 

11:00: Go back to sleep.

 

Day in the Life posts - love or hate?

How much Halloween candy did you eat and what kind was the best? We didn't buy any because we don't get trick or treaters, but we went over to our friends' house the next night and they begged us to help them out with all their leftover candy. My favorite was the Reese's peanut butter cup (not pieces).