Mommy Monday: A Day in the Life, Part 1

One day last week I decided to keep a log of how my day was occupied. I was inspired by Dr. Brazen Hussy's attempt to work at home, laughing about how many pre-baby days I had killed in a similarly semi-productive fashion. Then I thought about how frantic my days have been lately, and decided that it might be educational, for myself and others, to report on what my hours look like now. It's a rather long transcript, so I'll break it into installments. Here are the first three hours.

-----

4:52 am: Minnow is wide awake. Fish takes her into her room for a few minutes while I get some sleep.

5:05 am: Fish’s alarm clock goes off. I get Minnow and try to get her back to sleep.

5:20 am: Fish leaves for work. I nurse Minnow.

5:35 am: Minnow’s asleep in her crib. I get in shower.

6:00 am: Oatmeal, cranberry juice, strawberries, and a banana. And a newspaper. Probably the nicest breakfast I’ve had in weeks. After eating, there are general household duties – garbage, dishes, dog bowl, look for lunar eclipse, pack lunch.

6:50 am: Oh, shoot. She’s still asleep. I’m going to have to wake her up soon. Get myself completely ready to go, shoes on, car loaded.

7:02 am: Gently lift Minnow out of bed, carry to car while trying to keep her asleep. Play womb sounds from iPod on drive to daycare.

7:19 am: Arrive at daycare. Minnow just woke up. Discover that 3 oz. of precious pumped breast milk has leaked out of bottles on way to daycare – soaking her clean clothes and giving her only six ounces of milk for the day. Nurse a distracted Minnow and make sure she gets a diaper change and out of her jammies. Fill out daily sheet. She starts to cry when I leave.

7:38 am: Back in car on way to university, curse slow drivers, curse backup at parking ramp.

-----

Comments:

• Actually, this was a fairly relaxed morning compared to many I've had lately (although it did start a wee bit early). When Minnow sleeps in, I'm able to breakfast and get ready with both hands free. When she's up, I'm usually dashing back and forth between the living room and kitchen, eating my oatmeal on top of a cardboard box while she's trying to pull it over on herself.
  
• Never ever ever teach an 8 am class when you have a baby who likes to sleep until 7:15.
• Never ever ever teach an 8 am class with a baby when your partner leaves for work at 5:15 am.
• Narrow mouth Dr. Brown's bottles are leak-prone. I've started sealing them up with a regular top in transport and installing the vent-thing and nipple once I get to daycare. Wide mouth ones don't seem to be as much of a problem.