Day in the Life – 7.5 Months

Here was our day yesterday – it was an interesting one….

We’ve fallen into a general pattern of staying home (apart from walks) about one day a week, running errands a couple of days, and doing things just for fun a couple of days.  This was a just for fun day.

James slept really well last night (or so I thought…), waking up at 4:30 to eat, but otherwise sleeping soundly.  I used to always get up for the day if he woke up around 4-5 to eat, but I’ve been really tired and decided to go back to bed.  I get up for real just before 6.

I eat oatmeal and drink coffee (delicious cold brew from Trader Joe’s – this stuff is SO good) while working on blog posts.  James wakes up at 6:45 and I go get him at 7:00.  I find him playing in front of his mirror when I go in.

I change his diaper, nurse him, and put his toys on his shelf so that he can play.  I’ve started putting his toys up at night to minimize distractions from sleep since he can now easily get out of his floor bed.

I thought James slept well, but he is pretty grumpy and seems tired this morning so I suspect he was quietly awake for a while, just not fussing or making noise.

He started army crawling last week and zips around his room.  He crawls back into bed for the first time this morning – I’m glad to know he can do this now since he’s been able to get out of bed, but not back in, for a while now.

At around 7:30, we go in to see his Dad – always a happy time.  I take a shower and make James’s breakfast while he plays with his Dad.

James eats baby oatmeal mixed with applesauce, coconut oil, cinnamon, chia and hemp seeds, and wild blueberries.  I used to think he didn’t really like breakfast until I started giving him this concoction, which he LOVES.

He usually finishes it, but is still seeming tired and is not that into it this morning.

James plays on a blanket nearby while I clean up his breakfast and then we go play outside in the backyard.  Now that the days are getting hot (already!), I’m trying to get outside with him in the mornings more when it’s still pleasant out.

Being outside seems to calm him down and he plays and explores quietly until it’s time to go inside and get ready for a nap.

We read The Runaway Bunny and I sing him a song and put him in his bed for nap time around 9:00 AM.  He gets out of his bed twice and I go in to put him back without any words or eye contact.  He then settles down and goes to sleep.

I get dressed, get a second cup of coffee, work on this post, steam some green beans for James, and load the dishwasher while he naps.

James woke up a little before ten after sleeping for around 40 minutes.  I know this is not enough sleep for him considering how tired he was all morning, so I try to help him fall back to sleep.  This works sometimes, but not today!

I change his diaper and nurse him and we get ready to go meet some friends at the Wildflower Center.  This is where things got interesting…

We were in the car ready to go, but the car wouldn’t start.  It just made a bunch if clicking noises and flashed a bunch of lights.  Change of plans.

This was disappointing, but luckily my husband was working from home today, so he could take a look at it (I know nothing about cars).  Even though he was home, we share a car since he bikes to work, so we were still stranded.

James played in his room for a bit, still tired and grumpy, but holding it together.  I then made him lunch.  Today he had green beans, whole wheat pita bread with olive oil, and red lentils cooked with ginger, red onion, and coconut milk.  These are all things he likes, but he didn’t eat too much today.  I knew this might happen since he was tired, but thought I’d at least try.

After lunch, we went for a stroller walk around the neighborhood.   As you can see, he was thrilled 😉

I listened to Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child on Audible, but soon realized it was making me feel really depressed that James has been napping so poorly, so I turned it off and listened to Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman instead.  I mostly kept thinking about naps though and now have no clue what is going in the book.

After we got home, one of my husband’s friends came and jumped our car.  My husband then took it to an auto shop and it turned out it needed a new battery.  I’m glad it was an easy fix.

James played a little more and then I read him a story and sang him a song and put him in bed for nap # 2.  He doesn’t get out of bed at all this time and passes out almost immediately.

While James naps, I work on this post and eat lunch – leftovers of this delicious pasta salad (we used half chickpea pasta, goat cheese instead of feta, and added chicken and basil – so good!) and some cherries.  Then I waited anxiously to see if James would take a good nap….(spoiler alert: no, no he would not).

James woke up right at 1:30.  Honestly, this was really discouraging, but I tried to rally and enjoy more play time with him.  He was actually in a surprisingly good mood, but was still tired, and took another nap at 3:00.

I prepped his dinner and did stuff around the house while he slept.  He slept a record 24 minutes….

I sat outside with James for a little bit and then gave him an early dinner.

He ate ground beef with onions and tomatoes, avocado slices rolled in hemp seeds (to make them less slippery), green beans, and pear slices.

He ate surprisingly well considering how over-tired he was by this point.

He had a little more play time, then a bath, and a super early bedtime.  Hopefully this extra sleep will help him be more rested tomorrow!

I’m so happy my husband got the car fixed earlier today because I had dinner plans with a good friend I hadn’t seen in a while.  This was actually the first time I went out to dinner without the little guy since he was born.  It may be time to find a babysitter!

It was a great, much needed end to a kind of rough day.  On days like this though, I try to remember that even the hardest days with James are so good and so worth it.  Here’s to a better tomorrow!

What was the best part of your day yesterday?

What was the hardest part?