A day in my life...

Because my blog is titled "A Day in the Life", I thought I would write a post about what a typical day is like for me.

I tend to think my stay-at-home mom experience is different than most other moms. I am not sure why, but in a way I feel inferior and I feel like I don't do enough every day. I guess it doesn't matter - everyone has their own life and their own ideas of what a good day looks like.

Here is my typical day -

I go to bed so late most nights since I am a night owl. I just can't seem to get out of the bad habit of going to bed late. Most nights, it is between 12 and 2 that I finally lay my head down. I wanted to preface the rest of this with that so you don't think I sleep in just because I am lazy!

Xander usually wakes up about 7:30-8. He will play a little bit in his crib before he starts whining for me to come get him and feed him. He doesn't really cry, but just starts 'talking' and whining loudly.

I feed him his bottle (we aren't at the point where he eats solids for his first feeding, though I would like to change that soon), then I change his diaper and set him back in his crib. I do this because he usually is ready for a nap pretty quickly and he plays with the few things in his crib until he falls asleep. Many times, I lay back down for an hour or so because of how late I go to bed (I would not function on 6-7 hours of sleep). After I get back up, he sometimes is still asleep and other times he is awake. If he is awake, I bring him downstairs to the family room to play with his toys down there. I then brew some coffee and get breakfast (yes, I check on him almost by the minute).

I watch my soap opera at 12 - yes I am pathetic - I admit it! :)
He eats again at 12 - a 4 oz bottle first then fruit with oatmeal, a little more oatmeal and juice. Then he plays again for about an hour until it is time for his nap. He usually lays down from about 1-3, but some days it is more like 1:30-3:30 or 4. He takes a good afternoon nap almost every day and he is usually pretty crabby if he misses it or if it is too short.

During his nap, I usually do some dishes, sometimes laundry and I surf the internet for a while. I check all the money saving blogs and print coupons and plan my grocery list - not everything I do online is worthless! Since I started my couch to 5k workouts, I usually do those while he is napping, and I try to shower before he wakes up so I can fully pay attention to him and play with him when he is up. I hate to leave him in his crib once he wakes up from a nap but sometimes I have to depending on the timing.

Once he is up, we play with toys some more until his 4 pm feeding. He then has a 5 oz bottle and then gets veggies with rice cereal and some juice. After his 4 pm feeding, he is almost always awake until he goes to bed for the night. He is almost 9 months so I think the two naps he takes a day is normal. I think once he gets closer to a year, we will see how he might do with one nap, but for now, two is the way to go. He plays and I will sometimes start making dinner while he is playing or sometimes he stays in the high chair after he eats so I can do dishes, cook or clean up the kitchen.

His last feeding is at 8 pm. He just gets an 8 oz bottle and no solids. I don't know if this is the right way to feed him on a daily basis, but he seems to be pretty content with it and doesn't act hungry in between meals so we will stick with it for now. After his bottle, we hold him for a little bit and then put him to bed. He doesn't have a long nighttime ritual - he just gets a bottle, gets a diaper change, gets his sleeper put on, gets his vitamins and a few hugs and kisses then it's off to bed! I should read to him more often - I only do it about once a week right now. He does seem to like it so I should do it more. I put him to bed while he is fully awake and he usually falls asleep within 20 minutes. Some nights it takes him a little bit longer, but most nights he does well.

After he is asleep, Todd and I usually watch some TV together, read the paper or I sometimes clip and organize coupons. I sometimes fold laundry then and clean up the dishes from dinner. I have to admit that I don't do a lot of stuff after he goes to sleep. I tend to relax in the evening and check out the internet. We don't have cable, so sometimes I will watch a movie or TV show on Netflix. I also just read a lot of articles and random things online.

I also must admit that I don't do a lot of cleaning other than laundry and dishes. I sometimes do, but it's not like I spend all day every day on my hands and knees scrubbing the toilet or bath tub or floors. Maybe I should, but I tend to do more of that stuff if we are having company. My house isn't the cleanest but I feel like I would miss out on a lot of time with Xander if all I did was clean! Plus, he is getting older everyday and the messes will always be there!

The other thing I do 2-3 days a week is go to the stores to get some awesome deals! The stores I go to the most are Walmart, Target, Walgreen's and Baker's (one of our local grocery stores). I find awesome clearance stuff all the time at Target, Walgreen's and Baker's. I usually go right after X's 12 pm feeding and then put him down for a nap when we get home. If we go to the store on Thursdays, we go after his 4 pm feeding since Todd is at work.

So that is most of it I think. I guess people might think my life is boring and it kind of is. But at least for right now, I love it. I am going to have to get a job unless some miracle happens so I am trying to enjoy each day I have with the kiddo! I would like to get better at life in general, as in, do more things, experience more and try to enjoy it more. I am just doing the best I can right now with what I have.