one nap schedule

I am a very firm believer that schedules and routines are important for young children. You can read from others who agree with me here, here and here. Basically, “When a child knows what to expect, their world is more comfortable, it makes sense.” I’m sure there are others who say routines and schedules aren’t important and don’t matter, but that goes against everything I’ve learned prior to becoming a parent and everything that has been reinforced in my short time being a parent.  I’m not saying things don’t come up and you have to fly by the seat of your pants, of course that happens. But, in general and for the most part, having a plan of action for your (and your child’s) day is important.

Let’s face it, as adults we have schedules too, we wake at the same time, eat at the same times, go to work at the same time and go to sleep at the same time. You know, for the most part. For me, when my “schedule” is messed up I can be…less than pleasant. I had a job once where they scheduled my lunch at 10:30am…wtf? I just ate breakfast at 8:00am. But I digress…

Mile’s “schedule” has changed several times now (obviously). I implemented his first schedule around four months when he began solids. It looked something like this (I think):

7:00 AM Wake up and Bottle (4 ounces Breast Milk)

9:00 AM Puree

10:00 AM Bottle and nap (4 ounces Breast Milk)

12:00 PM Bottle (4 ounces Breast Milk)

1:00 PM Puree

2:00 PM Nap

3:00 PM Bottle (4 ounces Breast Milk)

4:00 PM Nap

5:00 PM Bottle (4 ounces Breast Milk)

6:00 PM Puree

8:00 PM Bottle and Bedtime (4 ounces Breast Milk)

           

Around eight months his schedule looked like this:

7:00 AM  – 8:00 AM Wake up and Bottle (6 ounces Breast Milk)

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM Breakfast

10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Bottle and Nap (6 ounces Breast Milk)

12:30 PM Lunch

2:00 PM – 4:00 PM Bottle and Nap (6 ounces Breast Milk)

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM Dinner

8:00 PM Bottle and Bedtime (6 ounces Breast Milk)

His schedule has stayed about the same for a while now. Although we dropped from four to three bottles a day, and then down to just two bottles (morning and night). I really wanted to separate milk from naps. I did not want that association to stay for an extended period of time.

Within the last two weeks he has decided that two naps are for…well…babies. The transition to one nap wasn’t what I expected. I assumed he would naturally start to get tired later in the morning and sleep longer and then just not be tired in the afternoon. WRONG. He still was falling asleep around the same time 10-10:30am and then just straight up refusing the afternoon nap, even though he was clearly tired. Clearly.

I started asking around and looking online to see what other “one nap” schedules were like for other parents and I decided on this generic schedule. Yes, times are listed. No, they are not definite. Especially not right now with this new transition. As you can see we also have moved the last bottle away from the bedtime routine and are attempting to move his morning milk to coincide with breakfast. Both of those choices are presenting their own challenges.

Last night was the second evening where we gave Miles his milk downstairs. We then went upstairs, took a bath, brushed teeth, changed into PJs and then attempted to snuggle in the rocker. Miles…wasn’t having it. He wanted to run around and get into everything in his room. I decided to opt out of snuggles and put him in his crib. He snuggled in and fell asleep fairly quickly. In the past we would go from PJs to the chair with milk, snuggles and then bed. He rarely would squirm away and want to explore. We just have to focus now on altering his expectations to the new routine. I’m sure it may take some time, but we are sticking with this new change.

Here is the new rundown of Miles’s day:

I print these out and hang them on the fridge. Why? I’m glad you ask. Yes, we have a nanny and she should be fairly aware of Miles’s schedule and what to do and when. However, this week she has a family emergency and Miles is going to have a different “caregiver” each day. Monday – nanny, Tuesday – backup sitter  (in our home), Wednesday, backup sitter 1 (in her home), Thursday – Daddy, and Friday – Mommy. I find that having a schedule printed and in an obvious spot eliminates the “what time should Miles nap/eat/have milk” texts and phone calls during the day from anyone who is watching him, especially if there is a last minute change. The times are generic and listed on the hour where they “should” occur based on what I have learned and picked up from Miles. If these times don’t work, we will adapt and on the spot or day if need be. The schedule is flexible in the sense that these events occur in this order but obviously I’m not going to force him to noon for a nap if he’s clearly exhausted at 10:30 in the morning and if he doesn’t want lunch before a nap then he can have it when he wakes up.

Thoughts? Am I alone in the crazy routine/schedule? Hit me up in the comments.

food for the mind: 2015 book challenge

While wasting time researching on Pinterest I found this 2015 reading challenge posted on popsugar.com. My husband and I had already committed to our our reading challenge for this year. I was to recommend 5 books to him that I had read and enjoyed and then 5 books I've never read that we would read together and vice versa, for a total of 15 book plus 5 of our own choice. So tack on another 30 books, sure why not? 

The dilemma of this least is that, for the most part, any book would fit within at least one category with many fitting several categories. So my husband made an excel file for me to help sort everything out and once I've read some more and added more titles to the list he will write the formula to sort out which categories have been filled with unique books and which haven't. Send me a message if you would like this excel file to help sort your books. 

I am welcoming any and all suggestions for books to read this year. I will keep up posted with my monthly list, sadly January will only have one book attributed to it, unless I can knock out a book within the next day. 

Book Challenge:

1. A book with more than 500 pages
2. A classic romance
3. A book that became a movie
4. A book published this year
5. A book with a number in the title
6. A book written by someone under 30
7. A book with nonhuman characters
8. A funny book
9. A book by a female author
10. A mystery or thriller
11. A book with a one word title
12. A book of short stories
13. A book set in a different country
14.  A nonfiction book
15. A popular authors first book
16. A book from an author you love that you haven’t read yet
17. A book a friend recommended
18. A Pulitzer Prize-winning book
19. A book your mom loves
20. A book that scares you
21. A book more than 100 years old
22. A book based entirely on its cover
23.  A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t
24. A memoir
25. A book you can finish in a day
26. A boon with antonyms in the title
27. A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit
28. A book that came out the year you were born
29. A book with bad reviews
30. A trilogy
31. A book from your childhood
32. A book with a love triangle
33. A book set in the future
34. A book set in high school
35. A book with a color in the title
36. A book that made you cry
37. A book with magic
38. A graphic novel
39. A book by an author you’ve never read before – Horns by Joe Hill
40. A book you own but have never read
41. A book that takes place in your hometown
42. A book that was originally written in a different language
43. A book set during Christmas
44. A book written by an author with your same initials
45. A play
46. A banned book
47. A booked based on or turned into a TV show
48. A book you started but never finished

a day in the life

Remember all those hats I wrote about. Well I think today I managed to wear them all, and sometimes several at once. 

BEEP BEEP BEEP.  Husband’s alarm going off at 6:45 am. Fall back asleep. Next alarm is at 7:00 am. Contemplate getting up. Fall back asleep. Wake in panic, and realize it’s only 7:06. Go pee. Get back in bed. Fall back asleep. Wake back up at 7:20 am and pester husband to get up and get going. Mumbles unintelligibly. Give up on him and get up. Contacts, teeth brushed and hair. Dig jeans from hamper and find a clean shirt. Get dressed. Contemplate getting back in bed. Check baby monitor at 7:45. Miles is now up. Go “rescue” baby from crib, change diaper and go downstairs. Pack for work, make coffee and wait for nanny. Nanny arrives just as daddy is about to leave. Watch Miles meltdown because daddy is leaving. Consider making a run while child is now distracted by Mickey Mouse (good thinking nanny). Go over any changes with nanny, give child kiss and leave living room. Meltdown number 2. Leave house while searching for car keys that are conveniently located in hand. Start driving and call sister, she doesn’t answer. Put Tay Tay on. Sister calls in middle of my new “jam”. Answer phone and continue to drive work while chatting away with sister.

Arrive at work at 8:58 am. Phew. Made it on time. Start with 9:00 am testing case. Finish around 10:30 am, take 9:45 am at 10:30 am and then the 10:45 at 11:00. Sigh. Contemplate walking out on job. Wonder if you can make it as a “hobo”. Grab 11:15 am testing case at 11:55 am. Realize you are starving. Finish testing at 12:45 pm. RUN to deli to get lunch. Inhale lunch. Take 1:00 pm testing case at 1:10 pm. Remember you still have to pee. Cross fingers you finish in a reasonable amount of time so you can leave and get home so nanny can go get her kid from school. Sigh again. Complete IQ testing in record time. On the road by 2:08 pm. Drive like a lunatic. Sing along horribly with Tay Tay. “Starbucks lovers”. Arrive home, get debriefed by nanny and take little man up for nap. Change out of work clothes and stare longingly at bed. No rest for the wicked. Head back downstairs to start on part-time job. Get distracted by gorgeous weather and camera equipment.

  

Come back in from outside and listen to Miles cry, as he has not yet fallen asleep and you didn’t put the monitor on. Whoops. Settle down at desk to finish up part-time work assignment for the month. Work for about an hour. Then do random crap, check emails, bank info, update tax BS, check Facebook, check blog stats. Stare off into space…

Realize its 5:00 pm already…rejoice that tonight is a leftover night and that you don’t have to cook. Swiznet. (I have gone psycho OCD on meal prep, more on that on a later date maybe. Check out my craziness.)

Stalk husband to see where he is. Oh look he’s in a field…jk that’s a CVS now. 

Clean up workspace. Edit blog post. Wonder what the f is taking husband so long. Contemplate a nap again. Realize baby is sleeping past allowed naptime (5:00 pm). Stare off into space. Research photography props (i.e. waste time on Pinterest). Contemplate starting Pinterest pages for blog and photography business. Use Facebook to try and market Valentine’s Daymini-session. No one has signed up yet. Cry in corner.

Yay, husband comes home. Heat up dinner and send him to fetch Miles. Eat dinner as a family. Hang out together and watch Sophia the First and Doc McStuffins. FaceTime with the fam in Ohio. “Ha-wee! Ha-wee!” (That’s Aria). Take the little man to bed. Come downstairs and watch Fallon from last Friday. Then watch New Girl and Mindy Project from who knows when. Banish husband to the upstairs. Watch Downton. Shower. Bed. Watch old episode of Modern Family. Fall asleep in 5 minutes.

What was your day like?

that moment when...

That moment when...

...you're standing in the bathroom looking for your glasses and they are on your face. 

...you're standing in the shower wondering if you've already shampooed or conditioned or neither. 

...you eat the food your toddler just spit out of his mouth...or dropped on the floor. 

...you contemplate letting your toddler eat only blackberries all day because lets face it that's what he wants anyways. 

...you put your kid down for a nap, not because he's tired, but because you want to watch Downton...again. 

...you can't remember the last time your toddler had a bath. 

...you throw a giant bag of rice you bought at Costco into your truck and it explodes (not me).

...you are wearing maternity jeans to work (again) even though you aren't pregnant and you kid is over a year old.

...you contemplate turning off the baby monitor so you can sleep in on the weekend. 

...you can't wait for the nanny to come back so you don't have to pick up toys or wash the baby's dishes.