a day in the life during maternity leave

The life-saving activity mat of glory.

The morning still-in-bed cuddle.

One of the amazing dinners brought to us.

Sweet, sweet bath time.

Another nap time.

You take a lot of selfies.

I've been incredibly blessed and lucky to enjoy 12 glorious weeks off of work and devoted to TJ. Maternity Leave was everything I thought it would be and also nothing I expected all at the same time. Here's what our average day looks like now that TJ is two months old:

7am: Good morning! Baby is awake and can't wait to be changed AND eat. Dad takes care of this changing and then hands off your sweet crying baby to be fed.

7:30am: One of two things happens after baby eats. You both fall back asleep for a glorious morning nap and cuddle OR you get up for another changing. Eventually, baby will (hopefully) fall back asleep.

8am: Dad leaves for work! He takes his time because Mom and baby look so cute cuddled up in bed.

9:30am: Baby is awake and hungry again! Change his diaper first and get comfy in front of the TV to breastfeed. The best and worst TV programming happens during the weekdays. So, you can either find a marathon of Law & Order: SVU or head over to Netflix (which by week 10, you've exhausted every episode of Chopped and Fixer Upper).

10am: Keep baby busy in his safari activity mat while you make a cup of coffee and quickly eat a bagel or banana. Feel slightly guilty, but he's smiling and kicking so you convince yourself it's totally fine. 

10:20am: He's over the activity mat and either wants his diaper changed or to be held. Or both.

10:45am: Baby is hopefully asleep. Reheat your coffee from earlier because it's cold now. Maybe start some laundry or fold what was left in the dryer from the day before. Or shower. Or nap. Or even get some work done.*
*I did lots of freelance graphic design work during Leave.

11:30am: Contemplate eating lunch now while you can, but don't. Instead you watch TV or travel down a Pinterest rabbit hole.

12:30pm: Baby wakes up and now you're starving. Oops. Feed him and change him. Give him a bunch of kisses and laugh at his little goofy faces.

1pm: Try and get him to nap. Fail. He falls asleep for about 20 minutes and wakes up. 

1:20pm: Feed him. Maybe change him if he's really fussy. Cuddle him. Read him a book.

1:45pm: Score! He's asleep. Time to eat. Or maybe make a phone call that you've been putting off. Respond to emails. Oops! You forgot to eat again.

2:30pm: Short little nap, but he just wants to eat a little bit and fall right back to sleep.

3:30pm: FINALLY eat. Contemplate going for a walk with baby, but it's Summer in South Texas and literally 100​° outside. Hear baby stir.

3:45pm: Baby is up again and wants to be changed and play. Stick him in the safari activity mat until he wants to be fed.

4pm: Countdown is officially on for Dad to get home. Mom is ready to have a grown up interaction and conversation again! Baby is eating but stays awake so we cuddle and read another book.

4:30pm: Rock baby in his Rock n Play, because the batteries have already run down for the vibrating function. Wonder if you're allowed to take these to daycare. 

5pm: Make a list of questions to ask daycare. Baby falls asleep.

6pm: Dad is on his way home! Baby wakes up with a dirty diaper and then gets fed. Maybe, JUST MAYBE, start dinner (hahahaha).

6:30pm: Dad is home and plays with baby if he hasn't fallen back asleep. Make a quick dinner or enjoy one brought by lovely friends that are visiting you and baby. Sometime in the next hour, feed and change baby's diaper (notice a trend?).

7:30pm: Baby takes his last nap of the day! Also known as mom's favorite time of the day. Both her boys are home and happy and healthy.

8:30pm: Baby wakes up and gets changed and fed!

9pm: Bath time! Dad gets the baby tub ready in our bathroom, lays out the baby wash, baby's hairbrush, and washcloth. Sing while scrubbing your sweet baby clean.

9:30pm: Get baby into a new diaper and night time onesie. Time for a quiet feeding with limited lights. Another favorite time of day.

10pm: Swaddle baby and lay him down into bassinet next to our bed. Brush teeth and shower if you didn't earlier. Or don't.

10:30pm: Obsessively check that baby is breathing. Go to bed!

4am: Wake up to feed baby and change him if he doesn't fall asleep while eating.

Then do it all again!

And yes, as of right now, TJ only wakes up once in the night. I could sob I'm so happy about that. Besides feeling stir crazy, I'm going to miss these one-on-one days with my sweet boy.

​I wouldn't trade this time for anything in the world.