a day in the life - bri

Another Wednesday, another day in the life. Today I am happy to introduce you to Bri. Honestly, I can't remember how I stumbled upon her blog, the webblog, but I love it. She has great style, and I'm jealous of her crafty skills. Since Rilo was born I have really enjoyed watching her grow. She is too cute!!

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Hi everyone! I guess I should start by introducing myself. My name is Bri, which should rhyme with "hi" when you say it. Here I am throwing you for a loop and it's only my third sentence! My husband Adam and I have been married for a little over two years. Our little girl, Rilo Jane, is 4.5 months old and we love her to pieces. My husband's job entails traveling to a new city each summer so we are currently in a suburb of Chicago. He works hard during the summer, but then has it nice and easy when it's over. When it's not summertime, we live in a 100 year old house in Utah that we love to fix up. It's full of hardwood floors and lots of little quirks that make it charming. I have several hobbies and interests, none of which I profess to be a master at, but I love to do them nonetheless. Currently, I like decorating, graphic design, photography and sewing. I used to love eating raw brownie/cookie dough baking, but Rilo is allergic to dairy and soy so that hobby has been put on the back burner. Probably for the better anyway...I think my waist appreciates the break!

{Me, with my sweet Rilo Jane}

Alright alright, enough about me. Well, okay, more about me...but on to what this guest post is supposed to be about! I'm actually really glad Ashley asked me to do this because I often wonder where on earth my day went. And now I know! This is a pretty typical summer day:

7:00 AM: I wake up to the babble of a little baby next to my bed. Some days I don't hear those coos until 8:00, but most days she's bright-eyed and smiley by 7:00. I scoop her up and plop her in between Adam and myself. She is content for awhile playing with our faces and holding our hands. It's always funny to wake back up to a finger in your eye!

{Holding onto her Daddy's hand while he sleeps}

7:30 AM: Adam takes Rilo and spends some time with her. This means I get an hour more of sleep. Rilo does not sleep through the night yet. Not. even. close. We're talking 4-5 times of waking up still! So I don't feel too bad when I catch up on some extra zzzz's.

8:30 AM-NOON: During this time we get ready for the day! Adam doesn't start work until noon so this is our family time. Sometimes we run errands, sometimes we work on projects, but most of the time we just hang out together. Rilo takes an hour nap around 10:00 AM. I try and get in a shower and get dressed. Something about summertime makes me feel like I don't need to blow dry my hair, so wavy hair it is. Plus, Rilo is usually up from her nap before I even have a chance to finish my hair. I like to take some time to check my email, make sure my posts went up for the day and check out some of my favorite blogs during this time too.

{Hanging out with Daddy}

NOON-1:00 PM: Rilo plays on her playmat while I make lunch for Adam. He heads off to start his work day. Rilo and I read stories, sing songs and play with her toys until she starts getting sleepy.

1:00-4:00 PM: Nap time! This is when I get to do "me" things. I work on sewing projects, edit photos, pick up around the house, work on blog headers/invitations and surf the blog world. Yes, I consider myself extremely lucky that she sleeps for about 3 hours in the afternoon. I like to think it makes up for the poor sleep at night!

{Screenshot of my desktop and a vintage pillowcase dress I made during nap time}

4:00 PM: Sawyer, our little Yorkie-Poodle dog, is generally whining for me to take him on a walk by this point in the day. If you've met my dog, you'll know that when I say "whining" I really mean making strange monkey noises! We get the stroller ready or I put on my Moby wrap and head out. Rilo and Sawyer love to be outside. Walks are a real crowd pleaser in the Webb household!

{Sawyer and Rilo heading out for a walk}

4:30 PM: Photo time! Rilo has her own little space on the world wide web. Since our families are spread across the country, I take photos of Rilo almost every day and upload them to her own blog, five days a week. This way, friends and family can watch her grow day-to-day. It works so well that sometimes my family **ahem, dad! ;)** will forget to call me for a week because they feel like they know all about what's going in our lives. We normally spend at least a half hour taking photos each day. I think Rilo probably thinks my camera is an extension of my face. I plan on turning her blog into a book for her at the end of each year.

{A recent outdoor photo shoot}

5:00 PM: This is when we often head over to our friend's place. There are several other couples out here with us in Chicago and so the wives like to get together and hang out. We chat and play card games. Rilo hangs out with us at the table while we play and talk. She also gets to play with Josie, who is 18 months old. Josie adores Rilo! It's nice to get some adult time in before the day is over.

6:00 PM: Rilo gets so excited over bath time! She is content to play and splash (and wiggle!) in her whale tub. After drying her off, it's time for a little lotion massage.

{Loving the tub!}

6:30 PM: Rilo is at her silliest at this time. She is full of giggles right before bed. We tickle and play for a few minutes. This is probably one of my favorite times of the day. Her new favorite thing is to give me wet, slobbery kisses on the cheek. She thinks it's hilarious!

7:00 PM: Storytime! We read through several of her little board books. I use the term "read" loosely...I read as she tries to grab and eat the books.

{Rilo "reading"}

7:20 PM: One last feed before bed! She is normally out like a light by 7:30...for a few hours anyway.

7:30 PM: I tidy up the house, throw in a couple loads of laundry and get dinner going. Adam gets home around 9:00 PM so I have an hour of downtime. I usually hop back on the internet if the house is (mostly) picked up.

9:00 PM: Adam gets home and we eat a late dinner. We talk about our day and Adam entertains me with funny stories. We might watch a show or play some Wii. We have an endless supply of Law and Order's on our DVR when it's not a SYTYCD night. Yes, my husband is awesome and happily watches SYTYCD with me!

10:30 PM: The lights on the video monitor flare and Rilo is up. It's time for me to feed her again. Luckily she goes back down right away.

11:00 PM: I make sure both blog posts are scheduled for the morning. Due to an annoying Blogger glitch however, just because it's scheduled doesn't mean it will actually post on time. It's worth a shot anyway!

Midnight: We head up to bed. I close my eyes but know it's just a matter of minutes until Peanut awakes again. I drift off to sleep...

Oh you thought that was the end? Nope, 1:00 AM, 3:00 AM, and 5:00 AM I get some extra snuggling in with the babe while she eats. I try to cherish these little snuggles, in my half awake state. Yes, it will be nice to sleep through the night again, but that just means 8 hours without holding my sweet little girl and it makes me a teeny bit sad.

Morning light peers in and then it starts all over again!

I skipped over a few things though you might be wondering about. She feeds on demand so these days it's about every 2-3 hours. Diaper changes are several times throughout the day (hope that's obvious!). Factor in about 200 times of me wiping up spit-up or changing outfits (both for me and her) all day long! I find time to eat a couple small meals, usually with Rilo on my lap trying to grab it from me. And naturally, the schedule varies day-to-day. Fridays we go out to lunch with the girls out here. Some days we'll venture into downtown Chicago while other days we'll hit up the park or a craft store, to spice things up a bit!

If you've made it this far, congrats! Hope I didn't bore you to death!

Lastly, here are the answers to Ashley's questions:

1. What is the most surprising thing to you about being a mother?

You know how people always tell you "it goes by so fast", "they'll be in college before you know it", "it's over in the blink of an eye"...IT'S TRUE!!! After years of eye rolls at those comments, I now know the truth in those statements. They grow up before you know it...I mean, I know she's only approaching 5 months, but those 5 months have been some of the fastest in my life!!

2. What are some tips you would give to new moms, or soon to be mommas?

Make sure to give yourself some "me" time! Keep your old hobbies or find some new ones. I think having some time for myself helps me love the moments that aren't all about me anymore! Along the same lines, find some "us" time with your spouse or significant other. We try and go on dates weekly and even if we can't "go" on a date, we'll still do dinner and a movie...just at our place. One thing we've found that has been great is the drive-ins! Two movies for the price of one and no babysitter needed. We bring her along and she just sleeps the whole time!

3. What are your top three baby products?

A swaddle sack, bouncer and a musical stuffed animal. I may be stating the obvious here with these items, but we could not have lived without these things! Rilo still can't sleep without being swaddled...those hands go directly to her face which in turn wakes her right up! We didn't originally buy a bouncer. I thought with a swing and all of the other baby "stuff" we already had, we wouldn't need one. When Rilo was 2 weeks, we ordered the Woodlands bouncer from Target and it was a lifesaver!! Rilo slept in the bouncer for the first couple months. We went to California to visit family when she was 3.5 weeks and instead of bringing the pack n' play, we brought her bouncer. It was magical the way it knocked her out! I still use it when I hop in the shower. We also have a couple musical stuffed animals that are great to entertain and also soothe Rilo. Our favorite on-the-go musical toy is this one.

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I apologize if anyone has been reading this while I've been messing with it. For some reason me and the formatting of this post weren't getting along. Hopefully it looks ok now!

Thanks so much for sharing Bri!