Nine months is three-quarters of the way to a year – wow! It’s funny, nine months in and I still find it hard to believe sometimes that I’m a mom 🙂 Ellie is such a blessing though … our lives have changed and we don’t mind one bit!
I am bummed that I didn’t write a blog at the 6-month mark … it was November so the holidays were approaching and work was just crazy busy. But as time goes on, I have started to feel more and more like I’ve got the hang of things. It helps that we’ve established a consistent routine and schedule. I am such a firm believer that babies thrive on routine … well, at least MY baby does! Since Ellie was a newborn, I’ve utilized feeding and sleeping theories from the books The Baby Whisperer and On Becoming Babywise which have worked really well for us. She typically sleeps about 10 hours at night and about 4-5 hours during the day. The most recent transition, going from 5 feedings to 4 and from 3 naps to 2, has been the most difficult. These days she usually does two 2-hour naps … but some days she still needs a little catnap in the evening around 6. It’s so great for me, though, to know about what to expect throughout the day, especially since I get most of my work done while she naps.
Nine months old.
So here is what a “typical” day consists of for us…
Chris and I get up at the same time – he gets ready for work while I get Ellie up and feed her. As far as I can tell, she wakes up around 6:30am most days. Sometimes I hear her quite a bit earlier but she just barely makes a noise and then she is quiet again until later when I am up so I assume she falls back asleep. She does not cry in the morning when she wakes up. How amazing is that?! It’s actually very rare that she cries when she wakes up … or before she falls asleep for that matter. Most days, she doesn’t cry at all, which is really, really great. Anyway, I get upstairs to her room with her bottle usually at about 6:50am. She’s able to get up on her hands and knees now and lift her head to see out of the crib. When she sees me, she smiles. It’s at this point every day that I stop being annoyed that I have to get out of bed before 7. After a diaper change and a bottle, we go downstairs to the kitchen and she eats some soft cereal mixed with fruit from her highchair (she’s been eating oat cereal and tomorrow we start wheat).
Our experience with feeding her “solids” has been so much better than both breastfeeding and bottle feeding. She is a very good eater! Other than the cereal, we make all of her food (mostly Chris does). She has had liver, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, asparagus, brussels sprouts, pears, apples, banana, avocado, winter squash, sweet potato, summer squash, blueberries and peas. We’ve tried some finger foods too but she mostly just plays with them for now.
After she eats her breakfast, she hangs out in her walker while I get my breakfast and help get Chris out the door. He leaves at about 7:40. If Ellie gets bored in her walker, I move her to her bouncer while I finish my breakfast and clean up the kitchen. Then, she hangs out in the bedroom with me while I get dressed and put my contacts in. I usually sit her on the floor with a couple of stuffed animals or toys. I fully realize that this tactic is not going to work much longer … oh well, when it’s time, I’ll figure out something else!
Next we go upstairs to the playroom/laundry room/office where she plays and I work on laundry. Sometimes I lay on the floor and do some stretching while she plays. Soon it’s time to put her down for her first nap, around 9:00.
I try to get everything done that needs to get done around the house while she is awake so I can focus on work while she is napping. I have pared down to just 3 clients (with other projects here and there) because I’m maxed out at about 3 hours of work a day. I thought about trying to figure out a childcare option so I could keep taking on as much work as I could find and I just thought, “why work more just so I can pay someone to take care of her when I enjoy taking care of her??” I am very pro-childcare and I would definitely go that route if I needed to. But I am thankful that it’s working well for now without the need for childcare.
She eats again around 11 … sometimes she wakes up a bit early and just plays in her crib until I go get her. Sometimes I have to wake her up. Often she just wakes up right at the 2-hour mark. Again, I usually get a smile when I go in to get her. After a diaper change and the bottle, she’s back in the high chair for the daily selection of veggies and fruit. Today it was broccoli (which she loves) and blueberry-banana smoothie. After she eats, she goes in her walker or the bouncer while I get my lunch. Then we get ready to leave the house. Many days we just go to the grocery store … but it’s good for both of us to get a chance to go somewhere and see other people. She seems to really enjoy a change of scenery.
Some days she falls asleep in the car on the way home from our errand and some days she doesn’t. If she does, I take her out of her carseat as gently as possible, sing her bedtime lullaby as I carry her up the stairs, and immediately put her in her crib. She always wakes up but falls back asleep easily. If she hasn’t fallen asleep, we maybe do some playtime, a diaper change, read a book or two and then it’s naptime (1:30-3:30 at the earliest and 2:15-4:15 at the latest) and I go back to work.
Feeding time comes again at about 4pm. Sometimes after this feeding, I do a workout on the Wii in the living room while she bounces (her bouncer hangs from the doorway between the living room and the kitchen). If the weather is nice enough, I take her out in the stroller for a walk or a jog. Sometimes we go run another errand… or we may run an errand at this time instead of after lunch. I often unload and reload the dishwasher while she follows me around in her walker so that the kitchen is ready for preparing dinner when Chris gets home.
Daddy gets home from work between 5:30 and 6:00. He is usually the one who makes dinner (yep, I scored!!) and we usually eat around 7:00. Ellie is often content in her bouncer but if she isn’t, she likes to sit in her highchair near us at the table and either chew on a toy or play with finger food. Bedtime starts around 7:30, with a bath every other night. Daddy gives her a bottle and puts her to bed at about 8:00. Then we have about 2-3 hours before we go to sleep … we usually spend that time doing dishes, taking care of laundry, working … sometimes we watch some TV and give the dogs some “couch time.” Tonight I am using the time to write a blog (finally).
Of course there is some variation here and there, especially on the weekend, but her schedule is very consistent. It can feel somewhat limiting, I’d say about 3% of the time, but mostly it keeps me sane and her happy. Weekends are great because Daddy is around more and he is just awesome with Ellie – sometimes when she is restless and fussy, he plays guitar and sings for her … she likes that a lot! He gets to sleep in on Saturdays, then Mommy gets a turn to sleep in on Sundays. Of course, “sleeping in” means 8:00 or 8:30 … oh how my 20-something self would laugh at that!
I’m going to stop here for now and write another blog as soon as I can about our baby’s adorable personality which emerges more and more each day… thanks for reading!!