The New Normal

Around 5am: Wake up.
James is hungry. We moved his crib into our bedroom when he started sleeping more regularly. Before that, one of us slept in his room so the other person could get uninterrupted sleep. It worked really well, but now that he's sleeping longer, more regular stretches, he's in our room so there's no split sleeping.

James drinks a little milk from bottle, oftentimes without opening his eyes. He falls back to sleep easily on my chest or right next to me. I love this snuggly morning baby. I rest, but don't fall back to sleep entirely (slightly terrified of smothering a baby).

6:30am: I hand James to Bob for his snuggly baby fix so I can get ready for work. I pump, pack, feed the dogs, make sure there's enough milk for James for the day, dress, and head out the door by around 8am.

Around 8:30am: James finally gets up all the way. Yup, he'll snuggle for 3ish hours every morning. He might take a nap or two throughout the day, he might not.

5pm: I head home. I coo over my wonderful baby boy and Bob heads to the gym. Oftentimes James is a bit crabby by this point if he hasn't slept much throughout the day, so I frequently put him in the baby carrier and he settles down... IF I'm moving. So, I usually poke around in the garden and then make dinner. Constantly moving equals a happy happy baby. We'll turn on Pandora and listen to the Beatles station. If I sing, he usually falls asleep... I think that's a good thing... either that or my voice is so bad or boring that sleep is a better option for James.

6:30pm: Bob is home, we eat dinner. We're thinking of changing out our dining room table so we can have an easier spot to sit and eat than our giant picnic-style bench table. I usually pump around 7:30 and then around 10:30, that way I'm good to go until 6:30am. So far, going this long night stretch works very well for me and it's not reducing my supply.

8:30-10:30pm: James gets put in his snuggly sleeper or bag sleeper. He'll get a bath if he needs one. There's usually a lot of singing and happy talking since he's starting to coo and smile. I'll read a few books to him if we didn't read books while Bob was at the gym. We try to not do anything too stimulating since this is a wind-down period of the day.

10:30/11pm: James is asleep. We don't tiptoe around-- the bedroom door usually stays open and he sleeps through the dogs and us talking and everything. I hope this ability to drown out noises stays with us a long time with him. Bob and I will talk and take care of anything that needs taking care of at this time and then we'll head to sleep around 11. Usually, James will sleep through until 5 (yes, we know we're lucky).

As he gets older and can sleep longer stretches, we'll start moving up his bedtime to an earlier time. But, with 6-7 hours being the max his little milk tummy can handle right now, this works for us so we can sleep when he sleeps.

And then the next day, this starts all over again.

My, how we love this sweet, sweet boy.