Day in the Life--July 3, 2015

So when I said this blog would be about the minutiae of our lives, I meant it. Many of the blogs I read have documented a day in the life at some point, and I always find it fascinating to see how other people spend their time. I'm jumping on the bandwagon. Even if this is boring to the rest of the world, I know I'll appreciate looking back on this someday when I've forgotten what life with an almost one-year-old is really like.

Also, enjoy a few selfies courtesy of yet another self-absorbed millennial, along with a few terrible phone photos. :)

Friday, July 3, 2015

Brian and Anne are both 30.
Claire will be one in ten days.
 
I am normally home with Claire on Fridays, and Brian is usually at work, but because of the holiday, we were all home together for a glorious three-day weekend. This was a pretty typical weekend day for us.

3:15 am--I'm awake. This must be a carryover from pregnancy insomnia/new baby wakings because everyone else in the house is asleep. Grace the cat is snoring, as usual. I fall back asleep at some point, but it is pretty normal for me to wake up sometime between 2 and 4.

5:45--B's alarm goes off, and we hear Claire chatting to herself. It's my morning to sleep in, so he gets up to make breakfast, feed the cats, and get Claire up. I attempt to go back to sleep to no avail, so I lie in bed and check email, Facebook, and blogs on my phone. And the weather. Always the weather.

Thanks for not being terrible, Michigan in July.

6:30--I get up and see Brian changing Claire on the floor of her room. She's usually in a good mood first thing in the morning, but diaper changes are now the wooooorst ever, and she's ticked off.

I head into the kitchen to make breakfast (a waffle with peanut butter), and end up nursing Claire, who is slightly apoplectic, even though Brian just gave her a bottle. Ohhhh babies.

those curls, though

6:45--She nursed for approximately two minutes, then goes back to playing. Brian hands me my coffee (beans from Zingerman's, so good!), and I eat my breakfast.

7:00--We play on the floor, read books, point at things, and attempt to catch the cats. And then we realize Miss Claire needs a diaper change...uh-oh.

slightly blurry, just like our lives

7:15--Diaper change of doom. Claire is losing her mind, and no amount of singing, talking, or toy distractions will prevent her meltdown. This has become a two-person job. When's naptime?

I bring C back into the living room to cuddle and calm down while Brian cleans up and gets her breakfast ready.

7:30--C eats (blueberries, applesauce mixed with yogurt), and I finish my coffee at last while Googling "one-year-old hates diaper changes." The internet tells me this is a control issue and is extremely common as little ones become more independent. They suggest singing and/or giving her a toy. Sooo helpful.

Isn't it fun to have your dining room and your living room in the SAME ROOM?! No, no it is not. Our tiny apartment is driving everyone slightly crazy.

7:50--More playing on the floor and reading books. We are deep in the mommy phase right now, and she prefers to be touching me or in my lap at all times. I know this will not always be the case, so I'm going to enjoy the cuddles as long as they last.

Got this one at the library this week. When you read the same book 47 times a day, it helps to have fresh material.

8--Brian brings Claire into her room for a nap. This is an early naptime for her, but she usually can't stay awake for longer than a couple of hours first thing in the morning.

8:15--I shower, get dressed, and actually spend a few minutes doing my hair, a rare occurrence. Brian prepares himself to go to the gym. We enjoy a few moments of quiet, and I fold and stuff the cloth diapers we washed the night before.

This is the "before" picture, but it looked better than the "after." I don't know what that says about me.

Be still my obsessive compulsive heart!

9:30--C is awake and happy, thank everything. The length of her naps will make or break our days, so we are always grateful when she sleeps for a nice long while.

Cute, happy girl

She has yet another dirty diaper, so I change it and there is much less freaking out this time.

9:45--Brian heads off to the gym. I unpack the wipes and overnight diapers that arrived this week (Amazon Prime is the best.). We generally cloth diaper during the day, but the Huggies Overnights are the only diapers that will last all night long.

Claire pulls the books off her shelf and pushes around the diaper box. I drink a smoothie and talk to her. She starts fussing and pushing her face in my chest, so we nurse, then look out the window and point to the trees, bushes, birds, and swimming pool, as we do every single day.

We do this evvvvveryday

Why buy toys? Boxes are fun!

Second breakfast

Holding up her pointer finger when I ask how old she is. Just waiting for that Harvard admissions letter!

Loves to look out the window

10:30--I decide we need to get out of the house, so we head over the farmer's market. I forget that everyone has the day off, and it is INSANE. There is a line of cars waiting to get into the parking lot, so I almost give up and head home. But then after circling around the block, I miraculously find a spot!

I put Claire in the Ergo, and we walk the length of the market to check things out. It is super busy and crowded, but there is a lot of great stuff there, too. Unfortunately, I didn't bring much cash with me, but I buy some blueberries and a loaf of raisin bread.

Love being able to kiss her head while she's in the Ergo

11:15--We head to the car, and there is somebody waiting for my spot. It takes forever to get Claire out of the Ergo and snapped in the carseat, but whatever.

11:30--We're home, and so is Brian. Claire thinks she wants to nurse again, so I give her a sippy cup of milk, which seems to keep her content for a minute. I get started on lunch for all of us. I try to soft boil some eggs, but they end up overcooking. The runny yolk is what makes them delicious, so this is sad.

Maybe this means one day we can bottle-wean...

For Claire, I prepare leftover roasted asparagus and brussels sprouts, halved chickpeas, quinoa, and feta cheese. I have no idea if she'll eat or like any of this, but we'll try it. She is not yet to the stage where she openly refuses green vegetables, so we'll take advantage.

Baby feast! Food photographer I am not.

Grown-up feast with sad eggs. This is what we fondly call a "bowl of food" at our house.

12--The three of us sit down to eat at the same time, which is pretty rare. C gobbles up all her food, takes a few tiny sips of milk, then throws the cup on the floor. Brian cleans her up and they sit on the floor and read books while I finish eating.

Kitty kisses

Pointing

More pointing!

"I am tired, Mother!"

12:50--It's naptime again, so I bring C into her room to change her diaper and rock for a few minutes. I turn on her white noise machine, close her blinds, and put her in her sleep sack, then we sit in the rocking chair while she puts her head on my shoulder. This is one of my favorite times of day.

1--I put her in her crib, and she rolls over and goes right to sleep. I get started on making a cake for our friends' 4th of July party (this one: http://www.shutterbean.com/2008/magnolia-bakery-chocolate-wafer-icebox-cake/), which is super easy and looks delicious. I stick it in the fridge to chill overnight.

Why did I ever buy whipped cream before? This is so easy.

These cookies were impossible to find because they were in the candy aisle, not the cookie aisle. Why, Meijer??

1:20--I sit down and send some emails, then talk to Brian about our plans for the rest of the weekend. In extremely exciting news, we decide to order take out for dinner and rent a movie, so we discuss both of those very important items (hashtag date night!).

1:50--Claire is awake. A short nap, but 2.5 hours of napping over the course of the day is fine by me. She nurses, then we play on the floor and read books (again).

Cutest baby toes ever

2:15--We decide to go for a walk and run some errands. There's a nice trail about 15 minutes north of us in Rockford, so we drive up there. It is a beautiful day--warm with a light breeze. We stop at a little playground along the trail so Claire can swing (the best ever!) and chat with the other people there, pushing their kiddos on the swings. We attempt to continue walking, but C is not having the stroller today, so we go back to the park and sit in the grass. A mobile baby means we have to chase her everywhere so she doesn't eat anything. She offers us leaves and clumps of grass.

This was before we had to turn around to change her diaper out of an abundance of caution.

Iced coffee. Always.

She could swing all day.

Handing blades of grass back and forth

studying the trees with Dada

4:00--We pack it up and head to Lowe's to look at paint. We're moving later this summer (more on that later!), and are planning to repaint Claire's new room, which is currently a light pink. It is impossible to decide on a color when you are looking at a million tiny squares of various shades, but we find a couple we might like and take home a few samples.

blowing kisses/playing the "wawa" game

5:00--We arrive home, and Brian gets Claire's dinner ready. Tonight's menu features a cheese quesadilla, rigatoni pasta with tomato sauce, and broccoli. She likes all of these things. Brian says she likes carbs and cheese, just like her mom, which I'm going to assume is a compliment?



5:30--We have reached the time of day when Brian and I are both worn out and ready to fall asleep. Claire, thankfully, entertains herself for a little while. Brian supervises. I empty the dishwasher.

this is about as close as Grace will tolerate

too bad this is blurry, but she's started resting on the floor when she's tired

oh, cheeks!

6--Bathtime! Brian lays out her pajamas and diaper, then brings her in the bathroom. 90% of the time she loves taking a bath, so this is normally a happy part of the day. I order dinner and clean up the aftermath of Hurricane Claire.

6:20--Similar to diaper-changing, getting Claire ready for bed is now a two-person job, so we tag team the pajamas. She doesn't get too upset, thankfully, and Brian carries her into her room for storytime + nursing. He reads a book, I feed her, then he leaves, and she waves to him. It is adorable.

Brian leaves to go pick up our food, a movie, and beer. It's not exactly a glamorous Friday night, but I'm still looking forward to it.

6:30--Claire is asleep. I sit down and call my dad, then sit on the couch for a few minutes. I am so hungry and excited for Brian to return with dinner.

7:30--We eat, at last! Palak paneer is so delicious. He rented Mockingjay Part I, which I honestly don't even remember being in the theaters (we're a little out of touch these days).

palak paneer, aloo tikki, and naan

9:40--The movie is over. It was okay, but not my favorite. Simultaneously a little boring and very dark. I almost gave up on it halfway through. I am impressed with myself for not falling asleep (not a commentary on the movie...I'm just notorious for passing out during night-time TV watching).

Brian cleans the litterbox, and I put the dinner dishes away. I brush my teeth and take out my contacts, check on C on the monitor, then climb into bed. I don't have the energy to read my book, so I mindlessly scroll through Instagram.

10--So tired. I turn off the light and fall asleep in thirty seconds.

always have 400 books and magazines on my nightstand

11 months!

And here we are again, celebrating another month in the life of our girl. We've started gathering supplies for her first birthday, and it's hard to believe we're just weeks away from the big O-N-E.

she's always so happy when she wakes up in the morning

the signature cheesy smile

Girlfriend is on the move. She is curious about everything and pretty much never stops. Our apartment doesn't lend itself well to baby gates, so we've constructed a fortress of chairs, pillows, and our trusty Pack and Play in our living room to keep her contained. She is generally okay with this arrangement, but gets frustrated if we leave her in there by herself. We also have to do a lot of reassuring due to her bonking her head 10 zillion times a day. ;) She is so, so funny and cracks us up all the time. She now has six teeth (with, it appears, three more about to make their appearance) and loooooves to show them off. Singing and dancing are her favorite activities, and she will now enthusiastically participate in all action songs, clapping along to "If You're Happy and You Know It" and throwing her hands up in the air when we get to "hurray!"

clapping with Daddy

She started babbling a few weeks ago, and now says "dadadadada" all day long, preferring to practice it quietly to herself before breaking out at full volume. Her little baby voice is the cutest ever. No real words yet, but we're looking forward to those soon. Also, kiddo, a "mama" every now and again would be nice!

The monthly rundown:

SLEEP

She is still a great sleeper, although naps went a little off the rails this month. We figure the combination of teething, new milestones, and increasing separation anxiety are to blame. She (and we) are happiest when she gets her two naps in per day, but she skipped one nap a lot of days this month---sometimes in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon. Things seem to have leveled off the past few days, so here's hoping we're back on track soon. She'll go down to one nap eventually, I hear, but we're going to try to hold off on that for as long as we can.

Night sleep is still really good, and ohhhh how much better life is now that we're all well-rested. She puts in 11.5-12 hours overnight, so Brian and I have our glorious, glorious evenings together, and, if I get up early enough, I can sneak in a few minutes to myself to eat breakfast before she gets up. A few nights this month, she started hysterically crying about 45 minutes after we put her to bed. One of us would go in if she hadn't settled after a few minutes, and she would snuggle up, rest her head on our shoulder, and suck her thumb. During these days of chasing her all over the place, it's nice to know she still wants some cuddles.


EATING

Still nursing, usually four times per day, but sometimes more. She now knows exactly how to tell me she wants to nurse by pulling down my shirt, which is not my favorite, but at least she's communicating. ;) I am both looking forward and not looking forward to weaning and am trying to read as much as I can about it in preparation, to make it as easy on both of us as possible.

She's eating three meals of solid foods a day, although how much she eats per meal varies wildly. Her old standby of yogurt for breakfast continues to be a favorite, and she's now really into blueberries, too. Lunch is usually leftovers of whatever we had for dinner the night before. She also likes tortillas with cheese, pasta with tomato sauce, broccoli florets, asparagus, and beans. Purees are less and less interesting for her, and she'd much prefer to feed herself. Consequently, meals are always a giant mess.


MILESTONES

As I said earlier, she crawls everywhere, and she is FAST. She pulls herself up sometimes and is thinking about cruising along the furniture, but she prefers to kneel. She waves, claps, and gives kisses. She dances whenever music comes on and "sings" to indicate she wants to hear a song. She loves to look at books and flips through the pages of her favorites to keep herself busy.

sweet little curls

blowing raspberries

LIKES:

Chasing the cats; riding on Daddy's shoulders; hanging upside down; singing songs, particularly ones with motions; splashing in the tub

loves this, also hanging down his back by her feet

our cute little reader

DISLIKES:

Half the time we're not sure what she's upset about because her mood will change on a dime, but she consistently hates getting dressed.

 

 

rosy-cheeked at the zoo

I say this every month, but Claire is a joy. While we sometimes feel nostalgic about those tiny newborn days, we're mostly just excited to see who she becomes.

New York!

I was talking to my brother on the phone after returning from Indiana and filling him in on what was going on in our lives. When I told him about our upcoming trip to New York, he asked, incredulously, "you're traveling AGAIN?!" Yes, a mere five days after we returned home from Bloomington, we hopped on a plane and headed for the big city. This time, Claire stayed with Brian's parents in Kalamazoo, which of course changed the entire nature of the trip. It was the first time I had been away from her overnight, and while I was lonesome for her, it was wonderful to have a mental break and know that she was in good hands.

Brian and his twin brother Jeff turned 30 on May 13th. Months ago, Jeff's girlfriend Lauren contacted me about coordinating something special for their birthday, and we ultimately decided that Brian and I would fly out to NYC to surprise Jeff with a weekend of fun (our presence is the best present! ;)). This was originally a surprise for Brian, too, but I ended up telling him what the plan was a few weeks beforehand after he started asking a million questions.

The weekend was a whirlwind. We got in on Friday evening, sat on Jeff and Lauren's beautiful deck for a while, then went out to dinner at, like, 9. In this season of lameness, Brian and I are usually in BED by 9, so it was exciting to experience the world at that hour. We got back, hung out for a while and enjoyed some cupcakes, then went to bed after midnight. In the best news of all, Brian and I slept until 9 am, a full three hours later than normal, and were able to hang out in our PJs, drinking coffee, without anyone meowing in our faces or trying to shove things into the electrical outlets.

 

 

 

Blurry birthday candles

Water taxi-ing

The rest of the day was full of food (enormous stuffed French toast and, later, a root beer float made with Speculoos ice cream), a lot of walking, and a ride in a water taxi. Lauren was kind enough to get us a room at the Archer Hotel, where the manager sent a bottle of champagne up to us in celebration of the twins' birthday (weirdly, he was originally from Kalamazoo and knew some friends of Brian and Jeff's). After we headed our separate ways to shower and change, we hung out on the rooftop bar for a bit before making our way to our murder mystery dinner. So fun! Brian and I were reminded of the time went to Tony and Tina's Wedding back in Vegas in 2007.

Awaiting the taxi

The show was mostly funny and occasionally dramatic with a twist at the end. We headed back to the hotel, popped open the bottle of champagne, and relaxed for a couple hours until Brian and I decided to call it a night. I spent my first Mother's Day eating bagels at Laguardia, then flying on airplanes all day before at last arriving back in Grand Rapids around 4. We were so, so excited to be reunited with our girl, who, thankfully, had a great weekend with Grammy and Papa.

Pre-dinner with their "Playkill"

Check out that sweet photobomb between our heads

Slightly blurry, but cute!

Fancy drinks on the roof

the boys looking snazzy

Miss Thing, clearly not missing us at all!

10 months old

Crawling!

And yet again, another month has passed and our girl is TEN MONTHS OLD. We are quickly rounding the bend to one, which is really crazy. Is this all parents do? I feel like I have spent the past ten months wondering where all the time has gone, which is so cliche and so very parent-like.

Claire is now proudly sporting four teeth--two on top and two on bottom. She's also developed an especially cheesy grin that displays those beautiful teeth. This month has brought a sharp increase in mobility. She's now officially crawling, although she prefers to army crawl, and she looooves to look for things she isn't supposed to get into (the drawers of the TV stand, electrical outlets, any type of wire or cord, the cats' dishes). We seriously need to baby proof.

Evidence of said cheesy grin

Here's the summary of life with our little/big ten-month-old:

SLEEP

She is really, truly sleeping through the night now, every night. This generally means 6:30-6:30. We may need to invest in some blackout curtains, as this is trending earlier with the sunrise, but, hey, twelve hours is pretty great. After months and months of feeling like I was never going to get a full night's sleep again, being able to put her to bed and know that she'll snooze peacefully until the next morning is a game-changer.

Her naps are also generally pretty good, and usually last about 90 minutes twice per day. We're fairly regimented about the nap schedule. I know some parents are pretty go-with-the-flow about it, but we have a much happier baby when she gets enough sleep. The downside is that it ties us to the house for large chunks of the day. This can be a pain sometimes, especially if we're out somewhere or are in the middle of something, but it gives everybody a chance for a little downtime.

EATING

Dad was eating Cheerios, so Claire had to have some, too.

She now nurses four times per day, almost like clockwork. In the beginning, when I felt like she nursed literally all day long, I thought we would never reach this milestone, so it honestly feels pretty liberating to be here. She's also becoming less and less interested in nursing and would much rather look around the room, try to pet the cats, or put her finger up my nose (soooo fun). From what I've read, most babies go through this stage. I'm not sure if it'll pass or if she's just reaching the end of the breastfeeding relationship. Either way, we'll go with it. I don't plan on continuing to nurse much past a year, so we'll figure it out as we go along. Her doctor said we could begin mixing cow's milk into her bottles at the eleven-month mark (a little at a time), so I'm assuming that will ease the transition for everybody.

As far as solid foods, she now eats three meals a day. We still do a mix of purees and finger foods, and she's definitely getting more adept at picking things up with her thumb and pointer. A lot of food still ends up on the floor, but I imagine that will be part of our life for a while. ;) We're going to take advantage of her willingness to eat pretty much anything as long as it lasts. The biggest hit this week is Grammy's banana bread, which she managed to scarf down in record time.

MILESTONES

As I mentioned before, she's now crawling for real and just generally not at all interested in sitting in one place for anything length of time. She also sits up on her own and is attempting to pull up on furniture/laundry baskets/boxes but isn't quite there yet. She tends to have a cautious personality, so I think this will come quickly as she gains the confidence to go for it.


She's making a ton of sounds, but is still not doing any of the repetitive consonants that they like to see at this stage. We have an evaluation with Early On in a few weeks, so we'll see what they have to say (or maybe she'll start randomly babbling before then? let's hope). Nonetheless, she's very communicative and responsive. I can tell she understands what we're saying, and she'll give kisses, clap her hands, or throw her hands up in the air if we ask her to do so, even without us demonstrating first. We're not terribly worried or stressed about it at this point, but it'll be nice to get a professional opinion.

Sack of potatoes! She loves this game.

LIKES:
Many of the same ones from last month. Books, animal noises, Grace and Theo.

DISLIKES:
Also many of the same from last month. Riding in the car. Removing something from her hands (eg the TV remote or our phones, both of which she is obsessed with).

A belated Mother's Day shot. We had the big camera out this day, so that's why she's wearing the same outfit in every photo. :)

This is a really great stage. She is fun, happy, and easily entertained, without any of the mischievousness that I'm sure we'll start to see in the next six months or so. There is truly nothing better than watching her personality emerge and develop.

beautiful Bloomington

Last weekend, we took Claire on her first ever extended road trip to Bloomington, Indiana.

Riding in the car is so fun! (This face lasted approximately three seconds...)

Brian and I moved to Bloomington in August of 2009 so that I could start law school there and he could begin work at the business school. It was the place where we first lived together after two years of being in a long distance relationship (ie a huge leap of faith--glad that one worked out for us!), where we ultimately got married, and where we made many good friends. Most of them have moved away at this point, but our close friends Fred and Angie have thankfully stuck around.

We have deep nostalgia for Bloomington (well, I do...Brian doesn't really get nostalgic about much, although he does love it there), and we hadn't been back in two years, so it was a lot of fun to drive around town. Everything has changed! There are a million new apartment buildings, the campus has undergone some serious renovations, and our trusty old Kroger has been extremely fancified (no pictures of that, but there is a FOOD COURT along with a schedule of live music).

Brian and I used to love hiking out at Brown County State Park, which is about 30 minutes outside of Bloomington. It's a beautiful place with sprawling vistas and many (many) rolling hills. We took a little trip out there on Saturday, and Brian carried Claire in a borrowed hiking backpack. It was a fairly short and flat hike, but it's not easy to schlep a 20 pound kid on your back. They were both troopers.

Hiking is serious business

May 2015 (the sun was bright and C was over getting her picture taken)

the same-ish picture, from 2009

That night, we were able to escape for a little while to grab dinner at Upland with Fred and Angie. Upland has ALSO undergone a renovation, so it was fun to see the bigger space and enjoy a lovely evening dining al fresco.

We hadn't been out for dinner without our kid in...many months

The drive home was magically shorter than we anticipated, which was a pleasant surprise. Claire wasn't crazy about riding in her car seat all weekend, so she was DONE by the time we pulled into our apartment complex. Nonetheless, it's nice to know these trips are possible and also fun. Of course, traveling with a kid is a whole new ball game, and we spent a lot of brain space concerning ourselves with where and when she would sleep and eat, how far we could push her schedule, and if she was getting overstimulated. It all worked out fine, though. It's good for all of us to get out of our normal routine for a few days, and trips to visit friends and family are a major part of our life, so we all better get used to it.

A hard-fought nap that thankfully lasted close to two hours