Tuesday, July 24, 2001
Midnight Su and Eric have been sleeping since 10 p.m. or so.
2:40 a.m. Eric eats 5 oz. Wet diaper is changed. Back to sleep.
6:20 a.m. Eric eats 3 1/2 oz. Wet diaper is changed. Back to sleep.
9:10 a.m. Eric eats 4 oz. Wet diaper is changed. Wet outfit is replaced with clean outfit. Eric remains happily awake. Su eats breakfast, loads dishwasher, washes hand dishes, cleans microwave.
10:30 a.m. Eric dozes off in bouncy chair on kitchen floor. Su feeds, waters dogs, begins working on her in-box, paying bills, and entering money stuff on computer.
11:00 a.m. Eric wakes, cheerful. Su and Eric play. Eric dozes off in Su's arms about 11:20 after a little fussing. Su and Eric doze in chair.
Noon Eric eats 5 oz. Wet diaper is changed.
12:20 Su puts kitchen laundry in wash. Eric in bouncy seat, sleepy. Su continues work on money and in-box stuff.
12:30 Su eats lunch.
12:45 Eric in sling. Su files, enters $ stuff in computer, does e-mail, visits a few bulletin boards, chats with David by Instant Message.
1:40 Kitchen laundry into dryer.
1:50 Eric wakes. Wet diaper is changed. Eric eats 2 oz, goes into milk coma (we call a little meal like this a "topper," as in "he just needed topping off." I used to think when he ate only a little that I had fed him when he really wanted something else, but I'm pretty confident now that he just likes to have a little snack sometimes.)
Su and Eric nap on couch until 3:45.
3:45 Su showers. Eric sleeping in bouncy seat on bathroom floor.
4:00 Eric awake. Wet diaper is changed. Eric's laundry into wash, kitchen laundry out of dryer.
4:10-4:30 Eric eats 4 leisurely ounces.
4:30 Poopy diaper. Formula-stained outfit changed for clean.
4:40 Eric spits up on clean outfit. Eric's trash taken out. Second rinse on Eric's laundry started. Eric awake in bouncy seat. Su gives up on getting to library today.
4:45 Su decides, damn it, we're going to the library.
5:50 Home from Toys R Us and library. Toys R Us did not have the nipples Su was shopping for (one advantage of breastfeeding: the nipples don't flow too fast, flow too slow, or get misplaced). Eric slept through all errands in car seat and sling. Dogs released into yard. Su fills dog water buckets and bird bath.
6:00 Eric eats 3 ounces.
6:15 Leaky diaper. Clean diaper and outfit.
6:20 Eric playing in bouncy chair, very happy and alert. Su reading trashy novel from library and chatting with baby.
6:25 Su and Eric playing.
6:30 Eric spits up dramatically on Su's t-shirt. Eats a little more to make up the loss.
6:40 David and Scott arrive home from work. David takes baby. Cat Oscar runs by with pacifier in mouth.
6:45 We order dinner from Famous Taco. Su folds Eric's laundry and puts it away, fills thermos of baby-bottom washing water.
7:00 Cockatoo Stevie has his treat and is put to bed. Eric awake and cheerful, kicking in his cradle.
7:10-7:50 Dinner arrives and is eaten. Eric a little fussy then drops off in bouncy seat.
7:50 Whole family leaves for Dairy Queen. Eric fusses in car--hungry. Also being squished in car seat. In the Dairy Queen parking lot, we adjust car seat, moving the restraining straps to the higher position to accommodate our larger baby.
8:30 Back from DQ. David feeds Eric 5 oz. Su makes up bottles of formula and settles the dogs. Some lounging happens.
9:10 David changes very wet diaper.
9:15 Su assembles automatic swing while David cares for a slightly fussy Eric.
9:45 Eric in swing--enjoys. Stares up at crossbar, fascinated. Eyelids droop.
10:00 Su takes Eric up to bed. Eric fusses. They come back down. Eric is happy in his swing. Su reads trashy novel from library to stay awake.
11:00 Eric has a topper: 1 1/2 ounces. Wet diaper is changed. Goes to sleep for good at 11:30.
A pretty typical day. Perhaps we slept more than normal (some days I don't take a nap at all, and I almost never take 2!) because it was the first day of my period and I was extra-tired. You notice I never did my relaxation or took a walk, and that the kitchen laundry never got folded and put away (I did it Wednesday morning). Also, I'm pretty sure I did give the dogs dinner at some point, even though I seem to have failed to write it down.We also generally get to sleep well before 11:30 p.m. Keeping the log was fun but surprisingly hard to fit into the day. I was glad when I could stop.
You notice also that Eric has not read the part in the baby books where it says he should be down to 6, or even 5, feedings a day by now.
The swing is great! Eric really likes it. Last night we managed his fussy period with practically no fussing thanks to the swing and a long happy bath.
I keep getting Explanation of Benefits forms on Eric's doctor care. Nothing has been paid for, because for the first month of his life, he was covered on both my insurance and David's. Both insurance companies say the same thing on all the EOBs: "No payment can be made at this time because our records show the patient is covered by other insurance which is primary." Somebody is wrong about that.
Posted by Su Penn at July 24, 2003 02:07 PM | TrackBack