I thought I would write out what a typical day looks like for Archie and me. We finally kind of have settled into a schedule now that he is over 3 months. He still isn't sleeping through the night completely but we have made some big strides in the past month.
There are a lot of baby books out there with different parenting/sleep strategy ideas. I am familiar with most of them and have read quite a few. We decided to generally adhere to the Baby Wise Method. We aren't super duper strict with it, but it has provided a good framework for our family. The main premise of Baby Wise is that babies work in 3 hour cycles of sleep, eat and play...never feeding them in order for them to sleep (as they see this as a "sleep prop"). Sometimes it just works out that we feed him to sleep, but he isn't dependent on it in order to sleep which is nice.
This is what yesterday looked like for us:
• Archer woke up at 12:30 am screaming bloody murder! We have just been letting him cry to sleep at that time or Darren will get up to rock him to soothe him a bit, but last night was different. Darren got up to rock him and he was still pretty upset after a while just thrashing all over the place (he is a very strong baby!)...so Darren brought him in and was worried something was wrong with him. I didn't think anything was wrong with him, he was just really upset and really wanting to eat, something we are trying to break him of. I ended up feeding him to just get him to calm down.
•Archer woke up again at 3:30ish and I brought him into bed with me and fed him again as I have been allowing him to eat at that time...feeling like right now it's okay that he is eating once a night. I want to drop this feeding soon too, just not sure when since about every few nights he is still doing 2 feedings.
• Archer woke up again around 7 am and again I brought him in to bed with me to nurse. At this point he usually reeks of pee since we don't change him during the night! After I feed him I put him back to sleep in his crib.
• I too went back to bed at this point! Archer usually sleeps until around 9:30 or 10.
• I went and got him up and talked with him a little. He is so cute in the morning and pretty smiley :) He really likes cooing on his changing table. I take his sleep sack off and his super heavy disposable diaper (ick) and put on his cloth diaper. Then we went downstairs and I got some breakfast and put him either in his chair or new (used) Jumperoo that his grandma just got him.
• I checked my email and some of my favorite blogs and facebook as I ate and chatted with Archie.
• After he is up for an hour or so in the morning he is usually pretty tired again so I put him back to bed and then I get a little time for myself to get ready for the day!
• Yesterday I showered, got dressed, made the bed and then sat on my bed and spent some time in the Word. I have been going through Exodus. I usually ponder some of the things I read, like God talking with Moses on Mount Sinai...and think, "Man I would really like to visit Mount Sinai someday." I pray God keeps the things I have read on my heart in and in my mind throughout the day.
• Then I come downstairs, and sat outside on the porch and wrote my first blog entry.
• After a while Archer gets up and I feed him again and change his dipeys (as we call them) :)
• I put him in his seat and make lunch for myself.
• Then we go on some errands. He still cries when I put him in his carseat but he usually calms down after the car is moving for a while. We went to the bank and got gas. It was such a nice day, in the low 80's without a cloud in the sky...so I thought I would try to put him in his stroller and go on a walk near Minnehaha Falls. That only lasts about 5 mins which is a pretty discouraging thing for me lately. I would love to be able to 1.) take him outside more and 2.) get some exercise. But I totally look like a negligent mom with him screaming his head off as I stroll around (even though he is fine, just fussy).
• We get home and then I put him down for another nap
• I then decide to get dinner started and make some chilli. Archer gets up after about an hour and then Darren gets home around 5:30. We eat around 6 and Archer sits right next to us in his seat.
And that is a day in our little life right now
