What I Do All Day

Its 9am on a Tuesday and I am still in my PJ’s. Last night was rough- Davis is not a great sleeper and it is really starting to wear me down. I’m planning on writing another post sometime on that issue, so I won’t expound on it here. I am constantly wondering what the heck happened to my day, so I thought I would go over it here. This should be good insight for those of you, like my bro, who wonder what on Earth I could be doing at home all day. I’ll start with the first feeding of the morning yesterday.

5am- Seriously, he couldn’t possibly be up again. But he is and he is hungry- Tim brings him to me. I choose to feed him in our bed and I fall asleep with him in my arms. I love to fall asleep with him in my arms and I am not currently accepting opinions from other as to whether that’s a bad thing or good thing. Even in my sleep deprived state I treasure those moments, and in the word of Mr. T, “I pity the fool” that tries to take them away from me.

7:30am- Tim just got back from taking the dogs on their morning walk. He is moving to the shower. Davis is up and hungry again, so I feed him and flip on Good Morning America. Note that if it has been a really bad night, Tim will sometimes give Davis a bottle and put him in his bouncy seat so I can get a few more minutes of sleep.

8:15 am- Tim is headed out the door as Davis and I hobble to the front of the house. I’ve been having some early morning joint pain lately that is probably due to my muscles tightening back up. Apparently they go loose when you are pregnant because of a certain pregnancy hormone. Tim has usually already made a pot of coffee and I love him for that. I try to put Davis in his swing and check my email and my Ebay bids. I am so into Ebay and this one company that is based in Gainesville. I can’t say anymore about that company because I fear that I have already told too many people about them and I think that my friends are starting to outbid me. I did snag this amazing giant ultra-kitschy fork and spoon on there the other day. It’s so perfect for our house- I love the juxtaposition of our beautiful antique Bavarian Marriage armoire next to the couldn’t-be-tackier fork and spoon. It’s the metaphor of our life.

9am- As I hear Ty Treadway announce, “Welcome to Merv Griffin’s Crosswords” I’m usually on my second cup of coffee and Davis is taking a nap. I write a posting to this blog (in Word bc my poor spelling has proven to be too much for the blogger spell check) or my Junior League Miracle on Main Street blog http://www.jlgmoms.blogspot.com/. Today I am writing this posting, but tomorrow I will focus on a writing exercise about how I make big decisions in my life, a recommendation from my coach. Yes, I have a great business/life coach Wade Arnold who I’ve been working with to make the transition from the working world to stay at home mom. I am trying to find more time to do my sculpture work. I had a hard time making the decision to stay at home after Davis was born, even though I had always thought I would be a stay at home mom. Working with Wade really helped me be confident about my choice and I work with him to try to keep sculpture a priority in my life and work towards what I really want in life for myself and my family. If you want more information about coaching you can visit his website at http://www.wadearnold.net/. I can’t say enough great things about it- it has been so helpful, especially during this big transition. No, you don’t have to do a bunch of writing. I chose to do that because I wanted to keep up my writing skills. You set goals with the coach and discuss your progress. It helps to keep me focused on what is really important to me and helps me to work towards my long term goals while balancing my new role as mom.

10am- Davis is usually awake again, ready to get out of his PJ’s and of course to eat again. If I was wise, I took a quick shower while he was asleep, but if not, I park him in his bouncy seat right outside the shower door so I can keep an eye on him while washing my hair. He is not so crazy about this scenario, but he does seem to enjoy the hair drier that comes next. He loves white noise which is why you will see my rolling all over town blasting the AM station static.

11am- If it’s Monday, I’m headed to Mom Pool Day. A few of us that had babies at the beginning of the year started this great pool party club that meets every Monday at 11:30 at different neighborhood pools. We really look forward to it- Davis LOVES the water and it’s a great time chat it up about mom stuff. We chill there until around 2 when the other moms get their babies back home for a nap.

2pm- Since Davis prefers not to sleep, we just head home or sometimes over the mom and dad’s for more pool time, or maybe even a nap for me. Don’t start with the napping/sleeping advice. We were accepting advice but had to stop because we have now tried everything and none of it really worked. My new approach is to do what I want and at least I won’t be all stressed that I’m not “doing it right”. I’m done with doing it right- I rarely do other things the “right way”, so why start now. I appreciate your concern and I know you just want to help, but we are simply too tired to listen right now. I have found that when you are new mom, people know it can be hard at times and they just want to help. But you get to a point where you just want to figure it out on your own and I think we are there.

4pm- We are back at home and I think, “Oh man, what magic trick will I be able to pull off for dinner?”. Davis is eating again while I check to see what Oprah is up to. It’s more of her usual new age junk, so I flip over to the food network for inspiration. Some days Davis finishes up and I get into my running clothes, pile up in the Bob Stroller for a jog to Publix to pick up ingredients for whatever spectacular feast (sense the sarcasm here) I have planned to whip up. But today, Davis does the Afternoon Freak-Out routine where he wants to eat for about 2 hours.

4:30- Its one of those Freak-Out days, and I call Tim demanding to know the exact second I can expect to see him pop through the kitchen door. Thank heavens it’s a 5:45 day. I move to the bedroom to feed Davis in the hopes he will fall asleep before I do.

6pm- Davis falls asleep just about the time Tim rolls in, just so Tim wonders what the heck the big rush was. I've included photos of Davis sleeping to document the rare occasion. By then I’m too tired to run and I will go to the store and pick up the ingredients I needed from the store via the car.

7pm- Back at home and cooking. Davis wakes up and Tim takes the lead giving him a bottle. Tim plays with Davis as I get dinner wrapped up.

8pm- Bath time for Davis. We have completely stopped using the baby bath and instead, either Tim or I will get in the big pink bathtub in the Miami Vice bathroom with Davis. It’s usually me- Tim is always afraid that Davis will have the big one while he is in there. I have conquered many natural disasters from Davis and I am not afraid, although thankfully I have never had to face one while he has been in the tub. (Note: Thanks to my friend Amanda we now refer to Davis’s natural disasters as “a@#plosions”). Tim doesn’t want to eat alone so he joins us briefly to talk about his day while Davis splashes and giggles in the water with me. I hand the dripping wet boy off to Tim for drying.

8:30- Tim gets Davis’s PJ’s on while I get mine on. He has time to read a quick Curious George Story while I get the cuisine out of the oven.

9pm- Tim hands Davis off to me for one last feeding. Davis falls asleep in the middle and I put him to bed. Tim and I manage to eat dinner together without Davis waking up and we hope that tonight will be better than last night.

So being a stay at home mom is really fun, even if you are totally sleep deprived. I can say with confidence that I have not been bored a single moment. I love it, even though some days are rough. And I just can’t believe how fast each day goes by. There are some days where Davis actually does fall asleep when we are at home. When this happens I have the following antibordom options.

- Fart around on the Internet. I can’t get enough of Best of Craigslist and GraphJam. I actually had two friends email me this one from Craigslist

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/540076210.html
Let me tell you, when you have two different friends email you that clip you have to really start to wonder about how other people perceive you.

- Clean the house (Boo)

- Laundry (Boo)

- Give Napoleon a haircut- I did this one last week. Davis woke up in the middle of it so I parked him in his Bumbo seat next to me to enjoy the show. It was bad- really bad. Apparently sculpting skills are NOT helpful in poodle grooming. He actually looks worse than the photos show. Tim couldn’t stop laughing at him when he got home.

- Call Mom/Kathy/Holly/ or another friend who I can count on for an hour+ of conversation

- Take a nap- this is a guaranteed way of getting Davis to wake up.

- I’ve started baking bread again. I have included photos of my first braided loaf and of the rustic baguette that I made the other day. Tim was impressed by skills and has considered making an outdoor wood burning oven our next big project- after the remodel of the Miami Vice bathroom, of course.

Thanks to Cindy Fraser for the super cute Chicks Dig Me shirt for Davis. Thanks also to Uncle Jim and Aunt Janice for the too cute 4th of July outfit that will appear in my next posting.

Jenn