Over the last 11 months, this blog has kinda turned into Emma’s baby book. Yes, I plan to fill out her actual baby book one of these days, but for now, this works really well and forces me to stay up-to-date.
As my peanut nears the 1-year mark (sniff, sniff), I wanted to get a few logistical items in here before I write her letter, which I want to be more poetic than informational. I’ll try to stay away from too many bullet points so I don’t bore you to death, but I also want Emma to know as much detail as possible.
One of the hardest things for me to figure out the first few months of Emma’s life was the whole “schedule” thing. I tried to find a happy medium between my anal retentive self and throwing caution to the wind, but Emma wasn’t really adjusting to my “plan” so well. That meant many frustrated meltdowns and calls to my mom, but also many lessons learned. Everyone kept telling me, “Read your baby, Lisa. Forget the books.” Yes, yes, I know, but how the heck am I supposed to know what she is saying? It’s not like she’s talking people!
But as the days and weeks turned into months, I started to get it and POW! We arrived at a schedule. It was so great. I was in heaven… for a week, until the next “schedule” kicked in. Always keeping me on my toes, Emma knew exactly when my mommy ego was getting a bit too big and quickly put me in my place with a minor change here and there. Eventually, I got used to that too and was excited to see how she was developing in everything from sleep habits (thank God!!) to eating.
Right now, I have to say we have a pretty good thing going. I try not to be a hyper scheduler, but honestly, Emma responds to schedules really well and seems to be happier when we are organized.
So here is a normal day in the life of Emma (at least for now):
6am: Wakes up in her crib, chatting to herself and her stuffed animals until she finally lets out a “num num” for her bottle. Sometimes I can get her to cuddle in bed with me for a few minutes, but not for very long.
6:30am: First dose of Prevacid (1 oz) and a 6-oz bottle
8:00am: Breakfast time! Some organic oatmeal and fruit (either chunks of banana or a jar of pears). If she’s still hungry, some Cheerios.
8:45am: Morning nap (usually 1hr and 15 min, although once in a while it’s only 45 min)
10:00am: Wake up chatting again and greets me with a huge grin.
11:30am: Lunch time! Some veggies (either a jar of squash, sweet potatoes, peas & rice or grn beans & rice -or- the same foods cooked and cut up), some carbs (pieces of whole wheat bread or organic pasta), and a 5- or 6-oz bottle, depending on how hungry she is. Once in a while she gets some fruit too, but I usually save that for dinner.
12:45pm: Afternoon nap (usually about 2 hrs)
3:00pm: Snack (watered down pear juice and some Gerber sweet potato veggie puffs or Cheerios)
4:30pm: Second dose of Prevacid
5:00pm: Dinner time! Same as lunch, but usually a fruit too. We save the bottle for a little later.
6:00pm: 7-oz bottle
6:30pm: bath time, books and singing
7:00pm: bed time