Life is Bliss, Life is Weird

Behold a Day in the Life of Me

6-6:30 a.m.- Story has her first morning feeding, falls back asleep
7:00 a.m.- Wake up, have breakfast, shower and pump while Tim watches Story.
7:30 a.m.- Tim wakes up. I wrap up whatever "Me Time" activity I'm engaged in and get ready for the work day.
8:30 a.m.- Tim leaves for work. Story and I settle in for our day together.
8:30-11:30 a.m.- Thus starts Story's main eating block, so we hunker down for some TV and "one handed blogging" time. TV usually consists of: What Not to Wear, CSI, Food Network, TLC Baby Shows, Jon and Kate Plus 8, Dexter, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and anything else I find on TV that amuses me. During this time, I am also juggling feeding Story at least 2 times if not more, making sure I have healthy snacks handy, drinking tons of water, pumping when I can and changing tons of diapers. Also, Story has a "Morning Coos/Gurgles of Happiness Rock Block" of fifteen minutes or so that occurs at some point in this time.
11:30ish- Have One Handed Lunch. Usually soup, pre-mixed salad, leftovers, a sandwich... pretty much whatever I can wrangle with Story in a sling. Try to convince Story that her musical Rainforst Swing is the best thing ever and that she should hang out in it for 10-15 minutes before freaking out so I can have lunch unfettered. Sometimes it works (thanks so so much Jess! She's finally taking to it.)
Noon-1:30ish: Feed Story again and surf the intarwebz until Story starts to yawn/show sleep signs.
1:30-2:30/3p.m.- Story and I nap in bed with the kitties. They always look vaguely put-off to see us come up and join them in their quiet sanctuary.
3 p.m.-4 p.m.- Walkies/exercise/outings to the store.
4 p.m.-6:30 p.m.- "Unhappy Hour" starts, aka a fussy time of day for Story. I wait desperately for Tim to come home so I can pass her off and clean/make dinner/get a bath/go to Yoga/Whatever the heck I can do to get a moment to myself.
7:00 p.m.- Dinner. Usually consisting of either me feeding Story while eating or Tim feeding her while eating.
8:00 p.m.- CooFest, starring Story. She has really taken to talking a bunch to me at this time each night and smiling like crazy. I live for 8 p.m.
8:30 p.m.- 10:30 p.m.- Tim, Story and I watch a movie, or talk and hang out, or do chores, or watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer until we're all sleepy.
10:30 p.m.- Tim swaddles Story (he's the best at it.) Story and I go upstairs to bed, where I read her a fabulous bedtime story (either Entertainment Weekly, The Book of Vice: Very Naught Things and How to Do Them or The Giving Tree) while she eats and falls asleep.
11 p.m.- 6:30 a.m.- Sleep fitfully on our badly busted bed (caving in the middle, but no fear! We have a new one being delivered Saturday. THANK GOODNESS for amazing Grandma Wesemeyer and her generous Christmas gift!), with Story waking anywhere from 1-3 times for feeding, depending on whether she's growth spurting or not.

rinse, repeat. No, it's not really as structured as it sounds, either, as there's always room for a little spontaneity on either Story/my part. Sometimes, we completely throw off all sanity and go out for social calls with Grandma Suze, Nana or have lovely callers stop by to do lunch or hangouts.

It's really a lovely life, if not a bit hectic. Whoever thinks that being a SAHM (stay at home mom) isn't a full time job, consider this: at least working professionals get breaks to eat, go to the bathroom alone and can leave after approximately 8.5 hours or so. Still, I get the benefit of having an awesome coworker who enjoys a good mid-day nap as much as I do.

Which brings me to another thought...

I realized while at an awesome cookie party on Sunday that a lot of this blog makes it sound like I am constantly stressed out/freaked out about being a mom. While that is definitely a truth part of the time, for the most part it's not. I really think that having Story has been the single awesomest thing that has ever happened to me. And spending my days with her lately has been a welcome challenge and an amazing blessing.

I think I post a lot of my struggles and trepidations because I feel like it's important for me to vent about them and seek solace in other moms I know. It is, in some funny way, my tapping into the Mommy Brain Trust out there and checking out some wisdom to help with the hard parts. I also post about the rough times because I hope some of the solutions I've gone through could help other moms I'm friends with, or at least give them comfort in knowing they're not alone. In some of my darkest moments, it helped to have other moms out there that I knew who blogged and were honest about their own struggles, as it helped me not to feel like the Worst Mom Ever 2008. So I hope my honesty helps pay some of that good karma back.

Ok, enough for now. Time to go spend the last few minutes before bed buying Tim his last present. Story, that lucky gal, is getting... wait for it... MORE CLOTH DIAPERS! YAY! Seriously though, I'm going to wrap some of them up so she has something to open :)