A Day In The Life of Elise

I am pretty proud of myself for putting the time and effort into getting Elise on a very structured schedule.  And it was time and effort.  She didn't just mold into it on her own.  We sat down, had some chats about how she and I would like to spend our days, when she'd like to nap and eat, bath time and bed time... we came to some agreements and now we have the perfect situation for the both of us.  That doesn't go without saying we occasionally have some interruptions, but for the most part our days run pretty smoothly.

Since I'm not a morning person and she sleeps between 11-12 hrs a night, she goes to bed around 9:30 and wakes up between 8:30 and 9:00am.  This agrees perfectly with my internal clock.

She immediately gets a diaper change and breakfast.  Then I get her hair fixed and get her dressed for the day.  We play, I do things around the house, get myself showered, get lunch.

She has her nap between 1pm and 1:30.  I catch up on DVR'd shows, blog, pay bills, do laundry, pick up toys, etc.

She wakes up around 2:30 or 3ish and gets something to eat.  We play or go to the park or run errands if necessary and if the weather is nice.

Around the time Jason gets home, or before, I start getting dinner made.  He plays with her some and unwinds after work.

We all sit down at the table together and eat dinner.  We try to engage in conversation with Elise and enjoy a nice meal as a family.  Sometimes in the middle of trying to eat my meal that I have just spent time cooking for my family, I have to get up and find something else for the princess to eat if she's protesting what I've already made.  The Dinosaur Chicken Nuggets are usually quick fix to that situation.  I am trying to quit giving her so many different choices to eat because I know it will only make things worse as she gets older.  I usually try to think about everything she's eaten throughout the day and decide if it would really even make a difference if I made her something else.  If she's hungry enough she'll eat what's in front her.  And she gets a full tummy before bed time anyway.

And then, in the middle of our meal, Elise makes this huge production.... bright red face, grunting, sighing, shaking, heavy breathing, excessive grunting, farting..... and we all stop so she can take her poop in the middle of dinner.  It's like her subtly way of saying "LET'S EAT!" I guess?  So, we all continue our meal as quickly as possible if the stench is unbearable.  She doesn't seem bothered by it.

She gets her bath immediately after dinner.  While she sits in her high chair, I go and run the water.  I start stripping her down and cleaning her up and plop her in the tub.  In the bath, she plays with the shampoo bottles, shaving cream cans, gets her teeth brushed - which she's positive is going to kill her, and gets bathed.  My wonderful husband cleans up the kitchen while I'm doing bath time.

After bath time, she gets lotionized, jammies, and her hair brushed.  Sometimes her daddy will make some ice cream or get some Oreos for them to share before bed time.  Elise gets a small sippy cup of milk (which she takes turns interchanging with her paci), her favorite blanket, and snuggles up on the couch with me.  She falls asleep while I hold her every night.  Occasionally she will let Jason hold her and fall asleep with him, but for the most part she sits with him until she's ready to go to sleep.  Then she gets down from his lap, drags her blanket over to me so I can pick her up to fall asleep while we lay together on the couch.

Once she's asleep I carry her to her bed and she sleeps in her room all night.  It wasn't always this way.  It took a couple of nights of her crying in her crib and some trial and error.  But, we seem to have it working for all of us right now.  I know I always feel more comfortable knowing what's coming next, having a routine.  I hope that giving Elise a structured schedule will make her more calm, confident and comfortable.  That's the goal anyway.  I know when I return to work we will all have to make some adjustments and learn to adapt to a new routine.  It will be hard in the beginning I'm sure, since I've spent so much time perfecting the one we have now.