Yesterday Bjorn turned half of a year old!
It’s crazy to think that in 6 more months he’ll be a year old already! Most of me feels like these past six months went by really quickly, but I also vividly remember things like it was yesterday.
Life is busy but good! Despite being in the #stayhome mode for the coronavirus, we still say very busy every day! I try to get the boys outside most days and do a little school work with Cullen but don’t stress if it doesn’t happen. I’m lucky to get a little bit of work done after Bjorn goes to sleep in the evening because his 30 minute naps aren’t long enough to do anything but grab a bite to eat or tidy up the house a bit.
Despite that, I am still incredibly grateful to be able to stay at home with both of them, work from home when I have small pockets of time, and still bring in some income for my family during this time. I am no longer employed at Skinny Raven (the local running store I work at) for the time being, but luckily that income doesn’t pay for the necessities.
Here’s what our day looked like yesterday.
Thursday, March 26
6:50 p.m.
Bjorn goes down for the night.
8:30 p.m.
Cullen goes down for the night. (I’m sure forever and always Bjorn will be the early bird and Cullen will be the night owl.)
9:40 p.m.
Lights out for me.
Friday, March 27
5:45 a.m.
My alarm goes off for my run. Don’t think for a second I slept those 8 hours without waking up. Partially I think I’m still in the habit of waking up, I wake up when Craig goes to the bathroom, and sometimes I wake up for no reason at all. But Bjorn is sleeping through the night most nights. Often times he will wake up 2 or 3 hours after we put him down. Sometimes it is just a matter of putting the pacifier back in his mouth, other times I do end up nursing him again. HOWEVER, it is no where near as bad as Cullen when he was up 2-3 times every night for the first 18 months of his life.
5:50 a.m.
I get up, go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, get dressed, and pump before leaving for my run.
6:30 a.m.
I let Craig know I’m leaving for my run and leave the pumped milk with him. I run 7 miles, and I’m happy to see it is just starting to get light out when I start.
7:35 a.m.
I return from my run, and I come back to a baby who Craig says is being a ‘stage 5 clinger.’ As soon as Bjorn sees me, he immediately lights up because he knows it’s time to eat. Craig said he got up at 6:30a.m., so he must have gotten up right after I left. #classic
7:40 a.m.
Craig leaves for work, and I feed Bjorn. He’s a speed eater and eats in about 10 minutes flat.
7:50 a.m.
I’m starving, so I start making myself some breakfast.
8:10 a.m.
Cullen wakes up and comes out of his bedroom.
I have Kodiak Cakes for breakfast, and Cullen has cereal and yogurt. I also unload the dishwasher and put clean dishes away while eating breakfast.
8:30 a.m.
Bjorn goes down for his first nap of the day.
Right now he takes three naps every day consistently and they usually end up being around 9a.m., noon, and 3p.m. For the past 3 months all 3 have been 30 minutes (no more, no less). Every once in a while I would get a 1 or 2 hour nap in the car seat, but that might happen once or twice a week. Just within the last week or so he is finally starting to take one longer nap some days. They have stretched out to 1-2+ hour long, which is so nice because it allows me to actually do a few things rather than just grab a bite to eat and then have everything still be a mess.
Cullen and I finish breakfast during his nap.
9:00 a.m.
I tidy up the rest of the house while Cullen does some school work in his workbook.
9:30 a.m.
Bjorn wakes up. He always wakes crying, which I don’t like, and I look forward to the days when he wakes up happy.
9:45 a.m.
Bjorn starts getting fussy, and I know it is because he is hungry, so I feed him again.
10:00 a.m.
More tidying up the house along with some stretching and foam rolling.
10:30 a.m.
I finally have a chance to take a shower and get ready for the day. I end up staying in my running clothes longer than I would like to some days, but it is so easy to get busy doing other things.
While I get ready, Cullen plays with his toys, and Bjorn hangs out on the bed. I take a lot of breaks to interact with Bjorn, sing to him, and help Cullen.
11:15 a.m.
I make a video on a makeup tutorial for my Beautycounter – The Runner’s Plate Facebook group. It is quite the video with a camera dropping, a baby fussing in the background, and Cullen being my helper. You can watch it here if you’d like.
11:30 a.m.
Bjorn is starting to get tired again, and I know it is time for another nap.
11:35 a.m.
We go upstairs, I change his diaper, put him in his sleep sack, turn the lamp on, draw the curtains, and then we read a book. I put him in his crib, and he immediately starts crying. I give him a few minutes to settle down on his own but he doesn’t. (He never does.) So I go in there, put the pacifier back in his mouth, put my hand on him, and try to soothe him. I leave again, give him a few minutes to cry/fuss it out, but he still doesn’t settle down on his own. After doing this 4 times every single day (3 naps + nighttime) for 6 months, I am exhausted of this process, so after a couple of tries, I usually end up picking him up and rocking him or nursing him to sleep. It doesn’t seem to affect his sleep because he does sleep through the night and will take long naps even when I do this, thankfully.
11:45 a.m.
Time for lunch. I make myself a turkey burger, salad, and apple slices. I have half of a bagel with cream cheese while I’m preparing this plate and make some lunch for Cullen who has carrot sticks, a cheese stick, and chips with salsa.
12:15 p.m.
On the dot, Bjorn wakes up after 30 minutes.
12:20 p.m.
I feed Bjorn, and then we read a book and play together for a bit.
12:40 p.m.
I clean up the kitchen, start a load of laundry, reply to a couple of emails, check work messages, and answer a couple of texts from athletes. Somehow more than an hour passes, and while I was busy the whole time, I don’t feel like I accomplished all that much.
2:00 p.m.
I take Bjorn’s 6 month picture. Cullen helps me to get him to laugh and smile, but holy cow he is a hard one to get to smile. Unlike his brother.
2:45 p.m.
Bjorn goes down for his third nap of the day. Cullen plays with his LEGOS, and I grab a snack and tidy up the house some more. I’m sure I spend more time cleaning the house now that we’re at home all day long.
3:15 p.m.
Bjorn wakes up from his nap. I feed him, and we get ready to go for a walk.
4:05 p.m.
We finally make it outside for a walk. I carry Bjorn in the Ergo and walk Sadie while Cullen stops every minute to pick up a stick, stomp on the ice, and eat snow. I tell Cullen not to eat the snow because a moose could have peed on it. #boys
4:50 p.m.
We are one block from home when we see a moose in the neighbor’s yard, so we stop and wait to see what it’s going to do and if it will move out of our way, so we can continue on home. It stops to munch on the branches of a bush, and he/she (not sure which gender) doesn’t look like they are in a hurry to keep moving, so I call Craig to come and pick us up. He comes within a couple minutes and drives us back home. #alaskalife
5:10 p.m.
I start dinner as soon as I get home. Craig and Cullen go to rent a movie from the RedBox for the night. I make this homemade vegan pizza.
6:00 p.m.
We eat dinner.
Bjorn has this thing he does where he touches your face as if, “Is that really you, Dad?” It’s cute and funny.
6:30 p.m.
I take Bjorn upstairs for his bedtime routine: bath, pajamas, book, and then a bottle. I do feed him a bottle each night because he actually stays awake for it, and I know he’ll get at least 4 oz of milk right before going to bed.
7:10 p.m.
Bjorn is down for the night.
7:15 p.m.
I clean up the kitchen and tidy up the house while Craig and Cullen watch their movie.
8:15 p.m.
I finally have a chance to go through the 50 emails that came through during the day, respond to Facebook messages, and whatever other computer work I need to do. I was hoping to start this blog post, but it will have to wait.
8:45 p.m.
The movie is over, and Craig gets Cullen ready for bed: pajamas, brush teeth, and a book.
9:10 p.m.
I hear Bjorn start to cry. I go and stick the pacifier back in his mouth, but that doesn’t work, so I end up nursing him again. He does eat quite a bit, so hopefully he’ll be satisfied for the night.
9:30 p.m.
I get ready for bed, and then foam roll while checking Instagram. If Bjorn doesn’t wake up while I’m getting ready for bed, I will pump because I’m trying to build up my stash in the freezer.
10:00 p.m.
Lights out for me.
For comparison, HERE is the blog post from when Cullen was 6 months old.
