A Day In the Life

I thought it would be interesting to do a "day in the life" post about what Ryan and my day normally consists of, at 12 months anyway.  So, the other day, I took pictures off and on all day so that you could get a glimpse into our life.

Josh is up and gone by 4:45am and usually kisses me goodbye before he leaves.  Ryan typically wakes around 6:00am.  I nurse her and probably at least five times a week, she goes back to sleep for another hour or more.  Sometimes longer if I'm lucky!  I typically try to stay up, as long as it hasn't been a rough night, since I've already gotten up to nurse her.  I look forward to this quiet time in the morning.  I make my first cup of coffee and sip it in peace on the couch or sometimes in bed while browsing Facebook and Instagram, blogging, or looking at the latest Baby Gap sales.

Between 7 and 7:30am, Ryan starts to stir.  She usually sits or stands up in her crib and lets me know she's ready to get up for the day.  I nurse her again and change her diaper.  Then we head out to the couch where I get my best cuddles for the day and we tune in to watch Mickey Mouse Club.

By 8am, this girl is ready for breakfast.  And Ryan is too! :) Some days she has oatmeal, other days fruit and a cereal bar, and if she's really lucky, she gets chocolate chip pancakes.  I attempt to scarf something down in the midst of making her breakfast.  Usually, I just eat toast with peanut butter, cereal, or oatmeal.

After breakfast, and the inevitable breakfast clean-up, I let her have at it in the living room.  If she's had any type of sugar for breakfast, you can bet my living room looks something like this within 10 minutes of Tornado Ryan being let loose.

After a bit of playtime, we get dressed and get ready to leave the house for our morning run/walk with the girls at the Rail Trail in West Boylston.  Ryan now asserts her independence so she insists on walking herself out the door to the car, which means I need to give myself an extra 10 minutes to allow for the time it takes us to get there.

By 9:30am, we've made it to the 6 mile trail and spend a little over an hour getting our workout on.  It times up perfectly with Ryan's 10am nap and so she usually sleeps through most of it, which is great because she gets her nap in and Mama burns some calories.

By 11am, we are on our way home and feeling very accomplished for the day!  We get home and usually play some more before lunch.  We'll typically head to Ryan's room to let in the sunlight, read some books, and play with her stuffed animals.

At 12:30pm, it's lunch time!  Ryan's lunches typically consist of a quesadilla or grilled cheese, some fruit, a little deli turkey or hotdog, some crackers, and maybe an animal cracker cookie.  She is a pretty picky eater, so honestly, it just depends on the day as far as what she may or may not eat.

We are usually done with lunch by 1pm and so we have a couple hours to kill before her afternoon nap.  We typically have a play date planned for the afternoon.  This might be fun at a friends house or a trip to the park or it could just be running errands like grocery shopping or going to the post office.

By three o'clock, Ryan is just about begging for her afternoon nap and I try to make a point to always be home for her second nap of the day.  I feed her a bottle and she goes down easily, usually for at least an hour sometimes more.

During this time, I do some sewing, catch up on emails, sort laundry, clean-up the mess that is my living room.  You know, really fun and exciting stuff.  Oh and most importantly, drink my second third fourth cup of coffee.  No judging.  This. Is. Motherhood.

By 4:30pm, Ryan is typically awake.  I would say this is usually the roughest part of the day.  By this time, I am more than ready for Dad to be home and yet he usually doesn't get home until at least 6:30pm.   I attempt to entertain Ryan while trying to get dinner ready, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I usually just turn on my DVR of Mickey Mouse Club and let that entertain her.  We also take a little trip to get the mail around 5:30 which inevitably leads to a walk outside, followed by the VERY grand entertainment that is to be had by playing with rocks and watching ants crawl on the ground.  Whatever works people!

Six is dinner time.  I try to cook at least three times a week (leftovers twice) and a free-for-all once a a week.  Ryan rarely eats what I make but we're working on it.

Josh gets home between 6:30 and 7pm, just in time for Ryan to be ready for her bath, except he's usually starving so eats while I bath her.  He'll get to spend a bit of time playing with her when she's all clean and in her pajamas and I'll take those 20 minutes to warm up her night time bottle and attempt to clean up the mess in the kitchen.

Bedtime is at 7:30pm and by that time I am MORE than ready for my break.  I feed Ryan her bottle and she's asleep by 7:45pm.  Freedom!  I will typically stay up until about 10pm.  During this time, I straighten the house, wash bottles, sew, catch up with Josh about our days as well as try to get in some hubby snuggle time.  Then it's lights out till the next day.

Now, our days don't always go like this.  Throw in a messed up nap, sickness, rainy day, or a random outing and our whole day might change, but we try to stick to a schedule somewhat like this for the most part.  I'm going to attempt to a "day in the life" post again in a few months just to see what's changed!