Friday 14 November 2014

Day In The Life - Picture Perfect


Having read a few Day In The Life blogs and thoroughly enjoying them I thought I'd attempt my own DITL blog post.

(Warning: the kettle being put on for a cup of coffee will feature a lot. This is NOT a typo, I do live on coffee. Yes I know caffeine is probably not the best thing to fuel my days with... but I'm Rachel & I'm a coffee addict. Nice to meet you.)

6.10am Can hear what sounds like a baby stirring. Ask myself why on earth he's waking so early.
Wait a minute or two, silence! Thank you sleep gods.

7.40am Hubby goes downstairs to finish getting ready and leave for work. Tell myself in my half asleep state that a good wife would get up and make him a cuppa. Decide I am not a good wife, applaud myself for my honesty and go back to sleep.

8.20am Wake up with a sickening feeling that the house is too quiet for 8.20am. Think the world is about to end. *excited shriek heard on baby monitor*. Begin to wish I hadn't questioned the silence. Then feel guilty for thinking that.
Trudge into nursery and put on the biggest pre coffee smile I can manage. Baby boy gives me a huge grin and suddenly smiling is not such an effort after all. Gorgeous boy.
Get baby out of cot and change first nappy of the day. I made that sound far too easy, realistically I pulled his feet out of his mouth 8/9 times. Picked the wet wipes off the floor half a dozen times. Changed his nappy and then tried to do all the poppers on his sleepsuit while he grabbed my arm in some sort of wearing clothes protest. I eventually redress him and we head downstairs.

8.30am Baby is in the bouncer, the music B.I.N.G.O. is playing for the fourth time already today. Kettle is on. Already debating if it would be cruel to have my coffee before he has his bottle. Decide I will make my coffee as his bottle cools and by the time he's done with breakfast it should be 'just right'. Start putting 8 scoops of formula in to a bottle. Add the gaviscon. Add hot water, question if I remembered the gaviscon. Open the bin, there's a gaviscon wrapper on top, yay I remembered! Put bottle to cool and make a coffee.

8.40am Take bottle in to living room and get comfy on the sofa. Take baby from bouncer and within seconds bottle has been snatched from me and feeding time has commenced.

8.55am Wind the baby and place him back in bouncer. Cries of protest ensue. Switch on the music and crying stops. Grunts, shrieks and giggles. Can't help but smile at what appears to being a very emotive discussion with a plastic lion hanging from his bouncers toy bar. Leave the two of them to work it out. Make him some banana porridge and quickly drink my coffee.

9am Put baby in high chair. Give him porridge and water. Quickly tidy up the kitchen, brush my teeth and wash my face and then take Mr man upstairs.

9.30am Take forever picking out 'the perfect outfit' Today he's having some photos taken in town so want him to look nice. Does that look right? Is that t-shirt going to be ok? Shall I put a long sleeved body suit underneath? Are these socks matching? 
Decide that it will have to do. Now to undress and redress him. Undressing as usual happens easily enough. He clocks the bodysuit heading his way and gives me a cheeky tongue poke. I can't help but laugh while battling his arms in to sleeves and pulling poppers, sleeves and feet out of his mouth. Eventually the monkey is dressed.
Baby placed on playmat. Go to my wardrobe. Do a quick scan of the trouser shelf, leggings will do (again). Chest of drawers opened, do a lucky dip and pull out a vest top and jumper. Yeah that'll do. (I'm not joking, that is the level of effort that goes in to outfits these days.)
Brush my hair back in to an all too familiar ponytail. Attempt to apply some make-up with quick glances at the mirror and a lot of "there's a good boy. Is that fun?" Decide winged eyeliner is a good idea today. Eye 1 perfect! Second eye... disaster. Look like I've been thumped. Wipe all my make up off and decide I'm done with make up today. Something doesn't smell good. Pretty sure it's not me! Take little man back to the nursery for a nappy change - the dress & undress battle is won by Mummy eventually.

10.20am Take the little man downstairs with 'George' his Giraffe. Sit him in the bouncer and grab a quick coffee. Natter away with the baby. Hear a strange beeping noise and can't work out what it is. Tell the little man 'mummy will be back in a second'. He shows no signs of being at all bothered by the noise or me going to the kitchen.
Walk in kitchen and realise the washing machine is beeping. Can't even remember putting the washing on. Go in for a closer look... oh I see. Leant against the buttons again didn't I? Switch machine off and head back to living room to explain to baby what I did. He looks at me laughs and sticks his tongue out.
Put little man on sofa next to me and chat/play for a while.

11am The tired eye rubbing has commenced. Being tired has made his teething bother him more and so hands are in mouth and he's whimpering. Stick some bonjela on his gums and decide a bottle and naptime are in order. After giving baby his bottle I put the little man in his cot, turn the lullaby on and I head back downstairs. 

11.20am Put the kettle on and make a cuppa. Drink coffee while watching YouTube videos. In between YouTube videos I potter around tidying up and get the changing bag ready to go out.

12.30pm Starting to get bored of naptime. Realise I haven't had breakfast yet. Decide it's lunch time. So have toast and a packet of crisps ... and another cup of coffee.

12.45pm Text hubby. He's on his way out for lunch with his work. Tell him I'm heading in to town but should be home before him. Still feeling slightly guilty for not getting up with him in the morning, I decide to make it up to him and send a very unattractive crazy faced snapchat. His reply shows he found it amusing. Decide maybe I am a good wife after all!
Beginning to wonder why I wanted naptime. Missing the little man.

13.15pm Hear movement. He's awake! Head up to the nursery, open the curtains and pick the little man out of the cot. Nappy change - the usual battle ensues. He throws in a few kicks for good measure. Babbling away. Find my self 'answering' him back and wonder if this is a sign of being crazy.

13.30pm Head downstairs and place the little man in his high chair. I make a bottle to take out with us. Check & recheck the changing bag. There's clearly way more stuff than I need for a quick trip to town. Start removing things. Put them straight back in the bag as decide being prepared is better. It's not too much stuff, it's being prepared. 
Grab a jacket for the baby, put it on him and then put him in his pram. He sits quite happily babbling away to himself and playing with his toy zebra. Quickly shove on a pair of boots, check I have my phone, purse and keys. Say goodbye to the cat and head out the front door.
Lock the front door.
Get half way down the hill and seriously can't remember if I locked the door. Push the pram back up the hill to the house, check the door. Yes it's locked. Walk down to the bottom of the hill and turn the corner to head towards the bus stop. Hang on, where's the bottle I made for him? Apparently I didn't check & recheck well enough. Back up the hill, back in the house, grab the bottle from the kitchen worktops and back out we go. Double check the door is locked before setting off and walk down to the bus stop.

13.50pm Bus comes, won't let me on. It's half term so the bus is jam packed. Wait for the next one.

13.55pm Next bus turns up, jump on and head in to town.

14.10pm Get in to town, get off bus and am surrounded by Devils, Vampires, Witches and Pumpkins. It's Halloween!! The baby seems highly amused and seems to think that everyone in town has dressed up just for him. Find a free bench in the bus stop, give baby his bottle, wind him and head on to the photo place. There's one baby already having photos taken, shouldn't be too long so we wait. A mother and child of about 5 turn up. The 5 year old is chatting away to the baby. Baby seems to offer the child his zebra toy, but then quickly changes his mind and shoves the toy in his mouth. 

14:30pm It's our turn to have photos done. My little man is really well behaved and still in a very good mood while posing for photos. He sits, lies, smiles, coos and basically looks cute (even if I do say so myself) After 3 poses the photographer makes the mistake of calling my son a 'Cheeky Monkey'. This appears to be the trigger phrase for his tongue to come out. The next four poses he smiles in between photos but as soon as the camera is pointed at him, his tongue shoots back out. I can't help but laugh. Photographer steps a little too close to my 'cheeky monkey' and the toy she uses to distract the children is promptly snatched out of her hands. He looks delighted with himself and starts playing with the toy. 

15.15pm We are finally heading back to the bus station. Little man starting to get tired so decide not to push my luck. Grab a cold drink (that's right, a drink that isn't coffee) from the shop and head to the bus stop. Our bus is there, but is once again jam packed. Decide to sit on the bench and wait for the next one. Send Hubby a snap chat of me and the little man waiting for the bus. Old man gives me a strange look, so I find myself saying quite loudly "Lets send Daddy a picture, as he probably has missed you all day." Old man gives a slight nod as if to say he understands. I question my sanity for feeling the need to explain myself to a) a stranger and b) my 5 month old baby.

15.35pm After a hilarious snap chat conversation with Hubby I get on the bus. My son decides that this is the perfect time to test just how loud he can shriek and what other glorious noises he can make. He goes quiet. I think he may have fallen asleep, pop my head around the pram, no he's gazing at an 18/19 year old brunette, smiling at her. He seems to be blowing kisses. I smile and laugh, but inside am annoyed at the girl for getting his kisses. Tell myself to get over it.

15.50pm Jump off the bus and head back to the house. Get home and unload the pram. Baby goes in door bouncer, kettle goes on and I text the hubby asking him to pick me up spinach & ricotta cannelloni for dinner. "Seeing as you are eating out, I don't want to cook for just me." 

16.10pm Sit down with a cup of coffee. Something smells bad. Realise the baby is probably overdue a nappy change. Put coffee down, pick up baby and take him for a nappy change. He's rubbing his eyes, so I put him in his cot for nap #2. He falls asleep before I even leave the room.

16.15pm Ring mum and forget to drink my coffee. Tell her all about the photo shoot and just how adorable and funny the little man is. We discuss his halloween costume (Which was baby Harry Potter by the way, wrapped in a blanket with a lightening bolt on his head and an envelope addressed to the dursleys rested on top of him). Gave myself major kudos for my costume idea. Fill a bowl full of mini smarties and mars bars while confessing to Mum that I'm kind of hoping that not many people will come so I can eat the sweets!

17.00pm Baby wakes up. Tell mum "I'll have to love you and leave you now." Hang up and go and get the little man. He's all smiles as I get him. Smacking his lips to tell me he's hungry.

17.10pm Apples & baby rice given to the baby. He eats most of it, but towards the end of the bowl starts blowing raspberries at me. Wipe up the mess and make his bottle. Hubby comes home and Baby goes to Daddy for hugs and play time.

17.30pm Daddy gives baby his bottle so Mummy can have dinner and... yes you guessed it a cup of coffee. We chat about our days and then Daddy takes baby upstairs for a nappy change.

18.00pm Door bell goes and the first group of trick or treaters have arrived. Not sure if trick or treaters suddenly got cuter, or if having my own child makes me more prone to bouts of "awww". 
Watch YouTube daily vlogs and answer door as and when door bell goes.

18.45pm Call Daddy & baby downstairs. It's bath time!! Stick baby in his bath seat. Hand him the 'spare sponge' to play with so I can wash him without him taking the 'main sponge' off me. Wash him, and shampoo his hair... well his fluff. There's not much there, but I wash it anyway! Legs dangling over the edge of his chair baby boy decides to kick and splash mummy. I'm soaked.
Take him out of bath and put him on the towel on the bath mat. Take the sponge off him. He whimpers but soon gets distracted by the shiny side of the bath. Raspberries, tongue poking, kicking and hitting the bath commences. I get the baby lotion on my hands and attempt to rub it all over him as he wriggles and tries to stop me. Nappy & clothes battle... remind myself this is the last battle of the day. Once he's all dressed we have a quick cuddle.

19.00pm Daddy decides he wants to put baby to bed today, and Mummy is all for it. Hugs and kisses given to the little man before he's taken up with Daddy.
Kettle on and yes you guessed it... another cup of coffee. Listen to Daddy putting baby to bed.

19.15pm Hubby & I chat about the day. I watch YouTube while he watches telly. 

20.30pm I decide to go for a bath, put the washing machine on first, and ask Hubby to make me a coffee when I get out.

21.30pm Coffee & crime programmes. Whack the clothes in the tumble dryer. Sit on the sofa with Hubby.

11.30pm Coffee. I enjoy my final cuppa of the day and then tell Hubby that I'm off to bed. I give him strict instructions not to leave any mess. Give the cat the same instructions. Up the stairs I go. I pop my head around the door of the nursery. Baby is still asleep and looks so peaceful. I stare at him for a good five minutes. Then close the door and head to bed. I curl up in bed, text hubby to tell him how cute our boy is. Fall asleep not long after my head hits the pillow, all the caffeine never stops me falling asleep!!


Well I hope you all enjoyed my DITL. I know this is super long so well done if you made it to the end and as always thanks for reading!!! 



The Dad Network

4 comments:

  1. What a great post. Glad you linked up with us on the #bigfatlinky its so good to read and know that my day is so similar to yours! Makes everything feel normal now!

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    1. Haha I'm glad I helped make things feel more normal :) xx was a pleasure linking up ,thanks for hosting #bigfatlinky :) xx

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  2. Found it hard to read after the first few sentences and I found out you have a baby that sleeps!! How?! Thanks for linking up #bigfatlinky

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  3. Haha!! Oh dear, I'm sorry - I was just lucky. I wish I could say I did something to make him sleep... could make a fortune selling the way to make babies sleep but it's all Rhodri. He just loves his sleep bless him!! No problem thanks for hosting the #bigfatlinky :) xx

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