a day in the life - libby

**Sorry!  For some reason my scheduled post didn't go up as planned, so this is a little late.**

Happy Wednesday, time for you to meet another mama!  Enjoy a day in the life of Libby!

***

Hi all!  I'm Libby from ELF: A Family Blog.  I'm married to free-spirited chef-in-training and we have a beautiful 6 month old little boy named Thaddeus (oh and two crazy dogs).

I spend my days as a special ed teacher teaching struggling readers at one of the local high schools here in town and my nights taking care of my little man while my husband works.  My husband is in school full-time during the day, but his classes often start later than my work day begins (we start school at 7:50).  He's responsible for getting Thad ready for daycare (at his aunt's) and out the door.  Many times this is how he arrives at daycare (and sometimes even in pjs...lol).

While he's getting his first bottle of the day, I'm already in full swing dealing with high schoolers.  Each class is 90 minutes; a typical day starts with a few tardies and maybe a little bit of boyfriend/girlfriend drama.

On the weekends, I'm lucky enough to be able to spend the days hanging out with my little man.  An average Saturday morning starts with a bottle and some cuddle time.  Then on to jumping and some floor time.  While he's playing, I'm cleaning the kitchen, tossing in a load of laundry, or feeding the dogs and picking up random bottles so I can get them washed.  

Between 10:00 - 11:00, I'm finishing up my second block of kids and little man is eating his morning dose of fruit followed by a bottle.  At daycare he's given baby food, but at home we often experiment with real fruit including apples and bananas.

When I'm home, we chill for a little bit to let the food settle.  This usually includes singing silly songs, counting, and just chatting while I turn on some Food Network for background noise.  Sometimes he takes a very small catnap (less than 30 min.) and other days we just keep playing and rotating toys.  

While back at work I'm now into my plan period.  Today I was running around trying to find our school psychologist to set up a time to test one of my special ed students.  I also made a few calls to parents, scheduled two more IEP meetings, and chatted with a senior student who doesn't have class.  Oh and I'm supposed to sneak in lunch during this time, but it often doesn't happen - I usually end up picking through my lunch once my next class begins (it's ok, they don't mind). ;)

1:00 marks the end of my peer tutor class and start of Thad's nap time (too bad high schoolers don't get naps).  Why do I know this?  Every weekend it's like clockwork.  If I'm not paying attention to the time, Thad lets me know.  We head upstairs for a quick diaper change, bottle, and bed.  Depending on how he's feeling that day he'll sleep for an hour or two. This is the time I run around vacuuming, doing more laundry, paying bills, and trying to sneak in a little bit of lunch.  If the hubs is home we hang out for a bit before the little guy wakes up, many times he's at work though, so I get a little bit of down time.  I really look forward to this time to decompress just a little.  Some days though, we don't get a nap.  These are the days we've got to make a trip to the store and run some more errands.  We just switched his infant car seat to a convertible one and I really miss the fact that he could nap while we ran errands.

Once we're home (or nap time is over) we hang out, read some books, do some more tummy time - he really tries to move, but just doesn't get anywhere...lol, poor guy.  On Friday, Grandpa stopped by.  This is pretty unusual since my parents live almost three hours away.  Gramps was in town helping my sister out so he stopped by to say hi to "fat boy."

Usually around 4:00-4:30 we eat dinner (during the week I'm off by 3:30 unless I'm held up by meetings).  We eat a mixture of baby food and real food once again.  Tonight was some sweet potatoes and then some toast.  Some nights we throw in some real broccoli or another type of veggie.  We've been trying to practice drinking out of a sippy cup, but he just doesn't quite have it yet.  

After dinner we head into the living room for some more play time.  He may hop in the jumper or play on the floor.  We haven't mastered sitting to the point that I'm comfortable leaving him alone while he's sitting, but we're getting there.  

At 6:00 we head upstairs, take a bath (if it's bath night), get a new diaper, lotion up, and put on some pjs.  Then we read while he takes his last bottle.  We got him a children's bible a month or so ago, so we've been reading through that.  As soon as he finishes his bottle, he gets burped, snuggled for a minute, and put down for the night (with his burp cloth of course...lol, he loves the darn thing).  He's often awake, but drowsy when we put him down, but he's gotten really good at putting himself to sleep.  Usually within 15 minutes he's out.  I have to say, since he started eating food and not just taking bottles he's been sleeping through the night - from 6:00 to some time between 6:00-7:00.  And once in a great while, he'll even sleep until somewhere between 8:00-9:00.  Needless to say, I feel pretty lucky.

Once the little man's in bed, I'm free to eat dinner, shower, and catch up on some DVR'd shows (House, Grey's, etc. - I'm a DVR junkie).  I usually take this time to read through some blogs and check facebook (as we all know how important this is...lol).  I try to head up to bed sometime between 10:00-11:00, but it hardly ever happens.  The hubs usually gets off at 10:00 and is home by 10:30 so I wait around to chat with him.  Then I'm finally off to bed.

Questions from Ashley: 

1. What's the most surprising thing about being a Mom? How tough it can be at first.  I was struggling with breastfeeding and exhausted from my c-section.  On the other hand, it's surprising how strong being a mom can make you.  After all, moms don't get sick days.  It's also amazing how after you get through that new, rough, healing phase - you start to love your little one even more.  There is never a day that goes by that I am not thankful for and amazed by my son.  

2. What are some tips you'd give to new moms, or soon to be mamas? If you're a first time mom, don't buy everything just because it's on a suggested registry list.  We didn't and I'm very thankful for that.  Waiting to a buy a few things let us determine what we really needed and could use.  

3. What are your top 3 baby products?  Lol, I just asked the hubs and he said "Diapers, formula, wipes, bottles..."  Thanks hon.  Here are mine.

• A mobile - It doesn't really matter what kind, just one that spins and plays music.  This was a life saver those first few weeks home when I needed to pee or get ready and Thad didn't want to be put down.
• A travel formula container - After breastfeeding didn't work out, this was a lifesaver.  In case you aren't familiar with them, it's a just a little plastic container with some dividers that you can store pre-measured formula.  Makes traveling and running errands super easy.
• Ergo or Moby Wrap (or another type of carrier) - When Thad was first born and I was on maternity leave, the Ergo and the Moby Wrap helped me carrier him around while picking up the house, etc.  He went through a phase where he didn't want to be put down and I literally wouldn't have gotten anything done without it.  

So that's it, "a day in the life" with me, Libby...feel free to stop by my blog anytime and thanks to Ashley for having me today!

***

Thank you, Libby, for sharing your day with us!