The 15th was on a weekend this month. I was excited to capture more of our story with Greg in it. It was one of those weekend days with nothing planned and nothing that absolutely had to get done. They are rare, but oh so nice.
Here’s what Saturday, August 15th, 2015 looked like in our little world…
Paige has a cold and isn’t sleeping well. Sometime around 2am I give up trying to feed and/or rock her to sleep and just brought her in bed with us. She woke up ready to start the day at 7, her usual cheerful and babbling self.
We’ve turned out to be crunchier parents than we would have thought. Everyone getting sleep is much higher on our priority list than everyone sleeping where they are “supposed to”. We’re learning as we go, that’s for sure. Greg changes Paige’s diaper. She is non stop movement these days so she gets buckled in on the changing table. The dryer is currently broken, which means we’re 100% disposable diapers. And here’s the thing: it’s awesome. You can now take away my previously awarded crunchy mama label. I’m not sure I’m going to go back to cloth once the dryer is fixed.
A big part of the story of the last six months has been my milk supply and feeding Paige. First stop every morning is to my crazy pharmacy of supplements and drugs that keep me at about 75% of what P needs to eat. I take something at 8am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm, 8pm, and 2am every day. I constantly wonder if it’s worth it (yes) and how long I’ll keep it up (I don’t know). But for today, I take my 8am pills and move on.
Weekend breakfast is always more fun than weekday. While Greg plays with Paige and reviews our monthly finances, I get to work making a sausage and sweet potato hash topped with fried eggs.
We shouldn’t even both to use blankets anymore. Paige immediately rolls off them (or up in them like a burrito) to explore anything more interesting than the toys we’ve set out. Right now she’s obsessed with anything hanging off of an object, like straps, tags, or laces. This was a big morning – Paige’s first time with food other than breast milk! We started with soft boiled egg yolk. The spoons we had turned out to be too large so I fed her with my pinky. She seemed confused at first but then enjoyed a few bites.Egg face! (And, while not pictured, for the first time ever Alfred showed real interest in Paige. We knew it would happen when food was involved and he didn’t let us down.)All week I’ve been telling Greg about how great Paige has been napping. And then she makes a liar of me. We try the usual crib nap and get no where. Plan B, the swing nap. Nope, not having any of this, Mom. We give up on nap time and go downstairs to get dressed for the day and fold clothes. These cuties take selfies while I finish up the folding. And then we have nap success! We use a DropCam as our monitor so it’s easy to pop it up on an iPad or phone and see how she’s doing.
Yes, we still have a dog. He is not neglected but I’m sure he could use a little more love. We try.After nap time, Paige nurses then we top her off with extra milk. We’re getting near the end of our donor milk stash and I haven’t been able to find anymore, so we’ll see what the next step is. One day at a time.
We start to walk to our local pub for lunch but are thwarted with a flat tire on the stroller. Our air pump isn’t working so it’s time for our second plan B of the day.
Paige agrees that you can never go wrong with Mexican. In fact, it’s offensive to call it plan B. What these pictures don’t show you is how snippy Greg and I were getting with each other before lunch. We have started eating breakfast much earlier (thanks to that cute little 12 pounder), but forget to move lunch earlier too. Can you tell we were both hangry? Back at home Greg breaks out his father’s day gift, a giant Simpsons Lego set. It has over 2000 pieces! I’ve never played with Lego (that I remember), so I decide to join in the fun. I have to stop teasing Greg about his revived childhood hobby because it’s fun. It’s a type A’s dream – a little instruction booklet where you follow all the rules. I thought we couldn’t be nerdier than we are, but we’ve outdone ourselves.
We take a break from relaxation to clean the kitchen, change laundry, and clean all the cardboard and old paint out of the garage. Then we hop right back into relaxation mode. We are finishing up season 2 of the Americans – so good! Also, another currently: our living room is half decorated. I replaced almost all of the furniture then stalled on progress so there is nothing on the walls or any decorations really. (That chair is also just there temporarily to make room at the table for our Lego project.)We decide to be good dog parents and take Alfred for a walk. He immediately starts running like a crazy man when we get outside. Whoops, probably should have gone on a walk sooner. On the walk we stop in at our local toy shop and pick up a birthday gift for our nephew. It’s time to eat again! (No, I do not cook much on weekends.) I’ve been wanting sushi for a while and we call into our local place and pick up. We’re not going to push our luck taking Paige to a restaurant twice in one day.
Something I love about this photo is our sauce selection. Greg has something normal that I’ve twisted just a bit but he probably has no idea (tamari versus soy sauce) and I’m using something weird (coconut aminos). Pretty much how food typically works in our family.Alfred was needing some love as we ate dinner and squeezed himself between the couch and Greg. Oh buddy, we are trying so hard. Just remember, it gets easier every day for all of us.
After dinner we take Paige down to bed. I love her bedtime routine. We play, change into pajamas, and read a book. She usually managed a few minutes of naked time before the PJs go on. But the real highlight is the book. She squeals and lays down next to whomever is reading the book that night. It’s just the best.
Greg straightens up the house and does the dishes while I feed Paige and put her to sleep. Then we collapse on the couch, settling in to relax. You may have noticed that P never took another nap. 45 minutes total today, which is crazy low and very exhausting for all parties involved, or so you would think…
Someone wakes up every twenty minutes. This cold is slowly killing us all. After an hour and a half of trying to get her to sleep for any decent amount of time I decide to just go to bed and take her with me.
Any day that ends with snuggling twelve pounds of sunshine is a good one in my book.
(If you noticed that Greg and I both wore gray Slalom shirt all day, Greg would like you to know that he got dressed first. I would like you to know that I’m still in a very awkward stage of having nothing to wear, so I go with what’s clean.)