a day in the life - michelle

For the record, my child turns two tomorrow.  TOMORROW!

But I'm going to pretend it isn't happening, and instead introduce you to Michelle.  I've actually known Michelle for quite some time.  We went to the same dance studio growing up.  I think I was in middle school when I really knew who she was, and I definitely thought she was awesome.  What are you, three years older than me Michelle?  She was one of the older girls, and I loved watching her dance.  Not to mention her personality can just suck you in.  She is incredibly sweet and caring, doesn't seem to take her self too seriously, and has an excellent sense of humor :o).  Plus now she has an ADORABLE baby to add to the mix.  I hope you enjoy a little peek at her day!

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 Oh. Hey.

My name is Michelle and I blog over at Cubbies & Nooks, a blog for those of you who love to hear all about my baby...so I pretty much blog for my mom.  Shout out to Debbie!

Anywho, my adorable husband Scott and I got married in 2007 and in September of last year, we welcomed Effy Genevieve into our little family.  She is so freakin' amazing...I just love her to bits.  I'm a high school business and computer teacher (please don't judge my computer skills by my blog. I teach Microsoft, not Photoshop) and so I decided to do this Day in the Life post on a day I was recently on spring break, figuring that would be more fun for you to read.  If I had chosen to document a work day, it would have looked like this: wake up Effy, drop baby off with my mom, go to work, get Effy from my mom, play with baby instead of give her a bath, put a dirty baby to bed, wake up, repeat.

Here's a look at our day together. Hold on to your hats people.  This is going to be thrilling.

7:05 - 7:20am: Effy wakes up wanting breakfast.  I feed her in her nursery and she's still sleepy and swaddled (yes...my 6 month old still sleeps swaddled. She digs it).  I lay her back down in the crib to snooze a bit longer.

7:20 - 8:00am: Effy continues to sleep, and I prepare to volunteer at a nursing home play on Pinterest.

8:00 - 8:15am: Effy wakes up and talks to herself in her crib.  She's usually happy doing this for awhile, so I use this time to bake some homemade bread for my neighbors continue to play on Pinterest.

8:15 - 8:30am: I get Effy out of her crib (which is pretty much my favorite part of any day at home with her) and change her diaper.

8:30 - 9:10am: I hop in the shower while some pervert baby just watches me.  I put a towel under her Bumbo because our floor is so dirty I didn't want her to touch it and then put her hands in her mouth.  I could have cleaned the floor, but a towel was a lot easier.

The horse's name is Seymour Butts. She has mature parents.

9:10 - 9:30am: Effy hangs out in her jumper while I try to pick up some stuff in our disaster of a house.  Any mess in the house is my fault.  Scott is very clean and Effy is not yet mobile.  As a quick example, here is how I organize my clothes versus how my husband (an engineer) organizes his.  Oops?

hers and his

9:30 - 11:25am: Effy tends to take a longer morning nap and it's usually in her swing.  I see her eyes getting droopy so I put her in the swing and she passes out without a struggle.  It's a beautiful thing.  Time for mama to eat.  I want a vehicle to get peanut butter to my mouth but all that's left is the heel of a loaf of bread that's maybe a bit stale...so I toast it to hide the fact that it was probably already hard.  I throw on some peanut butter and make some hot chocolate (my vice).  After breakfast, I do some laundry, work on Effy's 5-month blog post (which is a week and a half late), and do some dishes.

Diapers ready for washing

11:25 - 11:40am: I wake Effy up and feed her because we have to hit the road!  On days I'm home with little miss baby, I usually try to get out of the house and go somewhere, even if just on a walk.  Though I'm on spring break, I need to stop by school and meet with my principal so I can sign my supplemental contract and get paid for being the dance team sponsor.

11:40 - Noon: After Effy nurses, I change her diaper, get her dressed and head out the door.

Noon - 12:30pm: I drive up to school...it usually takes me about 20 minutes to get there, but on my spring break I decide to take a longer route that drives us through a neighborhood I like.

12:30 - 1:00pm: We hang out at school with my principal for a while.  She is a baby lover and didn't mind Effy's spit getting all over her sweatshirt.  As if I didn't love my principal enough already, she used her bare hand to wipe up baby drool.  That makes her extra great in my book.

1:00 - 1:30pm: We head out to Scott's work to pick him up for a late lunch.  Effy falls asleep in the car.

Effy in her carseat, clearly before she fell asleep.

1:30 - 2:30pm: We eat at Old Chicago.  We're big fans of their lunch combos.  I had a cheese pizza, Scott had a calzone, and Effy had a boob with a side of ranch.  {Side note: Effy did not actually eat at the restaurant...props to the ladies brave enough to breastfeed in an open, public place.  I am not that lady.}

2:30 - 3:30pm: Effy and I go to Bed, Bath, & Beyond so I can get another oven mitt because ours has just about had it (and by "had it", I mean I've just never washed it and assume it's easier to buy a new one - yay consumerism!).  We go to Buy Buy Baby (conveniently next door) because Effy just started eating some rice cereal and I wanted to get a couple of storage/freezer things for when we start making her food.  Oh, and obviously she had to have this while we were there.  Duh.

3:30 - 4:15pm: We drive home and unload the car and Effy enjoys an afternoon cereal snack.  By this time, Scott is home too.  He goes in to work early so he can get home around 4 most days.  It's great!

4:15 - 4:45pm: The weather this week has been ridiculously amazing, so we go on a walk (like we've been able to do every day this week - holla!).  There's a new park that was built a block from our house just a month after Effy was born, so it's a perfect destination for a walk.  Normally we play there for a bit and then stroll through the neighborhood and look at houses.  Effy has decided she likes the swings at the park which is super fun!

4:45 - 5:45pm: Scott and I get dinner ready while Effy plays in her jumper.  She starts to get a little fussy/bored because she's jumped for quite a while.  While Scott continues dinner, Effy and I go sit on our front steps and watch cars drive by (one of her current favorite things to do which is excellent because we live on a through street and have quite a few to watch).  I know it's important to always talk to Effy to help her vocabulary develop.  So I don't run out of things to say about cars, I play a game where every 3 cars, I tell her which one I would want and why.  {Fun fact: The car that I drove in high school is now the car I drive my baby in.  Her name is Lucy [the car, not the baby].}

I think this pic is actually from the morning. DEAL WITH IT.

5:45 - 6:05pm: Effy is ready to eat!  I play Draw Something on my iPhone while she nurses.  I'm a multi-tasker!

6:05 - 6:25pm: Effy hasn't fully drained the girls (aka my boobs...I talk about them a lot), so I put her in the swing so I can pump.  She gets bottles while I'm at work, so anything extra I can add to the stash will definitely get used!  I can't usually pump when no one else is around to watch her.  It's very hard to tend to a baby when you're strapped to a milking machine.  Scott comes in every so often to give her a pacifier or get her blanket off her face and then continues dinner.

6:25 - 7:00pm: Dinnertime for mom and dad!  For dinner is this recipe and this recipe.  We eat a lot of our meals on the couch because I think it's comfy.  Effy usually sits on the couch in her Bumbo and watches each bite we take but tonight she needed a little more TLC.  I play with her while Scott eats and then he puts her to bed while I eat.  Normally we put Effy to bed together, but tonight was just one of those nights!

7:00 - 10:30pm: Scott and I are early birds and are usually upstairs getting ready for bed by 8:30 or 9.  Tonight, however, one of my dear friends is in town with only one free evening, so I'm super excited to hang out with her and also to see one of my lovely friends who lives here in town.  We enjoy dessert and laugh at inappropriate things at a hotel lounge.  I love them.

10:30 - 10:45pm: Effy is ready to eat again when I'm home, so I nurse her and put her to bed for the night!  I'd like to tell you that she won't eat again until the morning, but she's not quite there yet.  She'll probably eat one more time during the night.  I love those moments, as tired as I am.  She's just so precious!

1) What is the most surprising things about being a mom? I'm surprised how comfortable I am with this much responsibility.  At first, I was totally overwhelmed and had some melt down moments.  Effy was the first baby I'd been around and I just had no clue what to do!  Now?  I feel so much more comfortable.  I know this probably sounds crazy, but I love doing all the little things required to care for her - changing her diaper, doing her laundry, washing her pacifiers...I just love it.

2) What advice would you give to new or soon-to-be moms? Nursing is something that Scott and I very much wanted to do.  If you're a soon-to-be mom and you plan to breastfeed, take a class on it.  You'd think it would come so naturally but it can be really tough!  There are things your partner can do to help, especially those first couple of weeks when things are pretty uncomfortable.  Scott would massage my shoulders to relax me and would also burp the baby afterward just so I didn't feel like the entire feeding process was on my shoulders (or boobs).  Even though we're much better at breastfeeding now, Scott is still a huge help.  He will bring me water or a blanket or just sit with me during night feedings sometimes so I don't feel alone.  Also, he scouts out nursing spots when we're out and about and we think Effy is going to get hungry.

3) What are your top three baby products?

• We love these velcro swaddlers.  Effy still sleeps in one even though she's almost 6 months.
• Our swing has been a lifesaver.  She's taken countless naps in it and really enjoys playing in it while she's awake.
• Scott and I could not have survived those first few weeks without the tips from the DVD Happiest Baby on the Block, which we checked out from our library.

There's a ton more products I could mention...I love buying things for Effy, I will admit it.

Thanks for letting me be part of the A Day in the Life series, Ashley.  Tell Ryann to tell Juan and Jamal hi for me!

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Ha.  I'll definitely make sure Ryann tells them :o).  Thanks for sharing your day with us Michelle!  And we need another playdate soon.  I mean, Effy is totally ready to hit the slides at the park with Ryann now, right?