6am - Wake up because she is flailing her arms without her swaddle. I pick her up and put her in bed with us. She stretches and yawns, then babbles and smiles at us. Pure heaven. She'll do that for 45 minutes and be perfectly happy. Throw in a few poops and extra smiles. This is DH's morning time with her.
7am - I get up and change her. DH watches her while I throw in a load of her clothes, set up our area on the couch, and hunker down for the day. Snacks and water are within arms reach, along with the laptop, phone, and remote. I take my vitamins, brush my teeth, and wash her face. Then I start rocking her to sleep.
8am - Her first nap of the day is her longest. It is also the easiest one to get her to nap. She'll sleep for about 2 hours. She always naps on me. While she sleeps, I watch Fox 11 news, check email, and check TB. If she sleeps for 2+ hours, I can get in an episode of TMZ at 10:30. I also watch her make faces in her sleep. =)
11am - She wakes up from her nap grouchy and crying. I calm her down, feed her, burp her, shush her, walk with her. Then I change her. I pray she doesn't poop or pee on me. She won't 4/5 times, but its that 1 you have to watch out for. While she's up and happy, I quickly scarf down my food before she fusses.
12pm - Time for nap #2. After an hour of smiles, babbling, and happy baby, she starts to get tired. If I don't time it right, she goes from smiling to mini meltdown. It takes a little longer to calm her down and get her to nap. Lots of bouncing, walking, shushing, and patting. We walk around the apt A LOT. I mean, A LOT!
1:30pm - I'm watching Anderson Cooper while she wakes up. Again, crying and grouchiness ensues. Feed, burp, pat, shush, walk, diaper change. When she is settled and happy, I set her down. It's a matter of priorities now. I pee, switch the laundry, throw in another load. Just in time before she starts fussing.
3:00pm - The third nap is always a tough one. It takes the longest to get her to sleep and it is always the shortest. Tons of walking, bouncing, shushing, mirror watching to get her to quiet down. Sometimes, it may require a short feeding. Often, she'll be overtired and cry herself to sleep. Big, sad, tears. =(
4:30pm - After a short half hour catnap, she'll be up. Once again, cry, feed, burp, shush, pat, etc. I put her down long enough for me to switch out the clothes. If I'm lucky, I have time to put her clothes away. Otherwise, they go on the bed until DH gets home. I hold her and pray for a quick 4th nap. No go.
5:30pm - I try everything and anything to get her to nap again. She won't. I pray that DH gets home soon. It is his evening time with her. She will be happy for only a little longer. When he gets home, I take a quick (about 7 minutes) shower and take care of the laundry. We decide on what to have for a quick dinner.
6:00pm - I scarf down my food while DH watches her. I finish up the laundry, get her things ready for bed, and pray she will go down quickly and sleep for more than three hours for her first stretch of the night. I look for sleepy cues and start dimming the lights. We say goodnight to daddy and start bedtime routine.
7:00pm - DH helps with bath time (if it is bath day). Diaper change and pj's. Take her to our room. White noise, baby massage, swaddle, and feed. Then I pray that she goes down by 8pm. Pat, burp, bounce, rock, wait til her eyes are closed, and keep waiting. With ninja like skills, I put her down. Eyes pop open, Crap.
8:00pm - Finally, success! I leave the room to clean up her room, pee, say goodnight to DH. Sneak back to the room and go on TB on my phone. She will wake up in half an hour. Always. Then we repeat shush, pat, bounce, walk, put down. Up in 15 minutes. Repeat. Throw in a feed here and there. Pray and repeat.
11:00pm - She is finally asleep. I go out to check on DH. He is asleep on the couch. I pee, wake him up, tell him its safe to come to bed. I say a little prayer that she'll STTN. No, too ambitious. Lets shoot for five hours. Well, how about four? That is more reasonable. OK, three. She's done three before. I fall asleep.
1:00am - She stirs. She squirms. She kicks. She cries. My heart beats faster and I'm praying she self soothes back to sleep. Please, please, please. She cries more. She is awake. Crap. I get up and feed her. Then I burp, pat, shush, bounce, walk, etc. You get the picture. I hold my breath as I lay her down.
1:00-5:00am - She sleeps and wakes in 45 minutes. She will grunt, stir, twist, fight her swaddle, and whimper. I go through my routine to get her back down. Repeat 100x until 5:00am. By then, I've had it and finally release her swaddle. With her arms free, she stretches and can finally settle down, right? Wrong!
5:00-6:00am - She will sleep but startle herself awake within 10 minutes. With her arms free, she just flails. Her arms with be all over the place and sometimes hit herself. She'll eventually fall asleep, only to have it happen again a few minutes after. I look at the time and calculate how much sleep I got. *sigh*
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