Just a little snippet of life in my corner of the world: quiet and unexciting, yet very full. This day wasn't fully typical, in that Lukas rarely naps that long any more, and I don't always have hours worth of design work to do. Nor do I have so many loads of laundry to tackle every day, thankfully. But this is pretty much how our schedule has been working out since early March when Joe had to go back to night shift. Seeing so little of each other is tough (even on his days off, we only get a couple more hours together), and we're counting down the days until he's able to return to evening shift - only 7.5 weeks to go!
8:44 a.m. - Lukas makes enough noise to wake me. He wakes up slow and gradual just like I do, which is great - I have time to get my eyes open, stretch, and use the bathroom before he gets too anxious for breakfast. I got 7.25 hours of sleep this time, which feels amazing since 6 hours is more typical on this schedule.
9:00 - I take load of laundry downstairs & get it started. I open the shades to let in the cloudy sunlight and take the chain off the door so Joe can get in. While water is boiling for my lactation tea, I fold yesterday's load of towels that has been air-drying around the living room (I avoid using the dryer when I can) and put it away.
9:20 - Back upstairs, Lukas is still only half awake. I help him wake more fully and we play a bit while I change his cloth diaper. He always enjoys diaper time, so I look forward to it, too. He's recently become very giggly and ticklish, punctuating the laughter with many squeals - so fun!
9:30 - Joe gets home from work - yay! He brings me my tea that I'd left downstairs because my arms were full of laundry, and we talk a bit about how his night went.
9:45 - Lukas is hungry now so I start nursing him and Joe heads into the other room to do his Power 90 exercise DVD. I pull out my iPod and do my daily Bible readings. I miss using a real Bible, but the iPod is working perfectly for this season in my life - I like the way the reading plan is integrated into the app, and the fact that I can choose to listen to the daily selections. Makes it much easier for me to get the readings done while nursing.
10:45 - Lukas is done eating so I start pumping. He plays on the bed beside me and soon falls asleep - the sound of the pump is rhythmic and relaxing. I start up the laptop and check email, Facebook, and coupon sites, while drinking my tea. It's always fun to see what deals and freebies are being posted for the day. I order a totally free Chronicles of Narnia CD from Tyndale (their reward program is great!). Ooooh, and maybe I was fast enough to win a free can of olives!
11:30 - Joe is done exercising and comes in to say "goodnight" before he heads to bed. Lukas wakes up when he hears us talking and we play with him a bit.
11:45 - I go downstairs and fix myself another cup of tea, also getting a bowl of cornbread, goat milk, and honey - a yummy, easy, healthy breakfast. I change the laundry from the washer into the dryer and lay a few pieces out to air dry.
12:00 - Lukas is ready for second breakfast, so I come upstairs and nurse him a bit while eating my breakfast and catching up on this time log. Facebook is distracting, but I try to not get sucked in.
12:30 - Time to freshen up and get dressed for the day! I'm not one to want to put much time into primping, but it really does help me feel more motivated if I'm not in PJs all day. While I'm in the bathroom I wash out a few baby bottles and leave them on the counter to dry.
12:45 - I take a couple minutes to post on FB and check email. Things for work are rolling in, so I need to get moving here! Lukas gets another diaper change and we head downstairs.
1:00
- Lukas gets some tummy time on the floor beside my desk, and I settle
in at my work computer to start sorting through emails. Yep, lots to
work on for the magazine today! Facebook gets shut down and I turn on
some music to listen to while I'm working - www.otcradio.com is cheerful and I enjoy singing along. I fire up my time-logging app and sign in.
2:30 - Lukas is getting noisy and I realize he's hungry again. I'm getting hungry, too, so I come to a stopping place and log out of my time-tracking app. I move Lukas to his bouncy seat near the kitchen and he's happy to watch me for a bit. I put some leftover chicken pot pie to warm up in the oven and pull out a container of leftover green salad. While water boils for another cup of lactation tea, I check the laundry in the dryer (needs a little more time) and do a bit of menu planning.
3:00 - My food is warmed up so I carry it upstairs and then come back down to get Lukas. It sure would be handy if I could nurse him downstairs, but since he still needs the SNS to get a proper meal I've found it easier to keep that up by the pump and just feed him there each time. He settles in nursing and I eat also, skimming through emails, FB, and some blog posts. Yay for multi-tasking!
3:30 - Lukas is done nursing so I lay him on the bed beside me and begin pumping. I exchange a few text messages with my sister and catch up on this log.
4:00 - I'm done pumping and Lukas is almost asleep, so it's time for me to see if I can sneak back downstairs and get some more design work accomplished. I turn on some quiet instrumental music on the laptop first, to help Lukas go back to sleep if he stirs before he's gotten enough rest.
7:00 - Whew! Getting a lot done on the magazine design, but there is more yet to do. I run upstairs to check on Lukas and see he is starting to stir around. I restart the music for him and turn on the light since it's starting to get dark. Heading back down to my work computer I finish up a few things and try to export the whole file for editing.
7:20 - I get an error message in the exporting process, and by now Lukas is calling for me (as much as a 5-month old can...he's not crying, but he's clearly feeling lonely) so I decide I'll have to finish the job later. Before heading upstairs I pour myself a mug of goat milk and blackstrap (yum!) and grab the laundry out of the dryer.
7:30 - Lukas is glad to see me and we have fun changing his diaper. He's hungry after his long nap, so I sit down to nurse him and check FB again.
8:00 - I begin pumping and my sister calls to tell me about her weekend. We talk for over an hour, and I use the time to do some surveys-for-points online as well as washing baby bottles and folding/putting away the load of laundry. I should have cleaned up the bedroom, too...
9:15 - Lukas and I head into the other bedroom to wake up Joe and chat a bit about our day. It's hot and stuffy in there, so I open up the window a crack. It's sprinkling outside but is fairly warm.
9:30 - Time to go make supper. Joe gets on his computer, and I take Lukas downstairs and set him in his bouncy chair where he can watch me working in the kitchen. I get brown and wild rice cooking in one pan and steam some asparagus in another while making a cup of lactation tea and cleaning up the kitchen. I decide to mix up a quick batch of pizza muffins (or bars, actually, since I don't like using the muffin pan) and get those in the oven - they're for our trip later this week and will make a good snack tomorrow, too. My tiny kitchen has nowhere for dirty dishes to pile up, so I do them as I go along.
10:25 - Joe comes downstairs and goes out to fetch the mail. Lukas is getting fussy so Joe plays with him while I finish up supper. Leftover chicken gravy gets mixed with the rice to make a quick casserole, cheese and butter is added to the asparagus, and I pull some leftover cranberry/apple/pineapple salad out of the fridge. Along with raspberry-peppermint herb tea, this makes a pretty decent meal and I'm thankful it was so quick to put together.
10:45 - We sit down to eat, and I nurse Lukas a bit because he's hungry too. Joe and I are both too tired to talk much, unfortunately, and he has to eat fast.
11:00 - Joe goes upstairs to shower and get ready for work, and I finish eating. Lukas doesn't want to be set down, but I manage to calm him down long enough to wait for me while I pack Joe's lunchbox, put away the food, and do up the rest of the dishes.
11:20 - I let Lukas nurse a little more while I sit at the computer and (on my own time) try to figure out why the file wouldn't export properly before. Thankfully it works great this time and I write up an email to the rest of the magazine team.
11:30 - Joe comes downstairs and gathers up his stuff. No time to pray together tonight, unfortunately. That's always the highlight of my day and I really miss it when it doesn't work out. He tells us goodbye and heads out the door. I finalize my work email and get it sent off, then bring Lukas upstairs. His diaper needs changing again, and I give him a fresh sleeper, too.
11:45 - I fold the load of diapers that was drying on a rack all day, and then sit down to give Lukas his proper bedtime meal - the "snacks" downstairs only barely tided him over and he's still pretty hungry. Time to get caught up on this log, and I skim over FB, too.
12:30 a.m. - Lukas is still nursing so I log into Netflix and watch an episode of White Collar. I feel guilty for not reading or journaling, or doing something productive, but I'm too tired to focus on anything much at this point. And I've accomplished a lot today, so it seems more easily justifiable.
1:20 - The episode is over, Lukas is asleep in his bed, and I'm done pumping. Once I have the day's last round of bottles scrubbed up I'll get ready for bed and hopefully be asleep by 2:00. :yawn: Just a few short hours, and I'll start this cycle all over again...
