A Day in the Life of the Hyde Family

I’ve Googled a million different schedules.  I like schedules.  I like the predictability of a routine.  It gives me a sense of control.  I like being in control.  This is my schedule, as most schedules I Google are labeled I would call this one: life with a 4 month old, working/pumping mother.  Now since she just turned 5 months old, this schedule has changed, I no longer am pumping which really frees up a ton of time.  More to come on that in her 5 month post but this is what the last few months have been looking like for us:

5:30 AM – my alarm goes off, I have to pump.  Aaron has already been awake for who knows how long.  He's an early bird.  He usually goes into Annie’s room about this time and try to slip her reflux meds to her while she is still somewhat asleep.  Normally successful. 

5:45 – I wash all my pumping supplies and pack up my pump & supplies to take to work with me.

6 AM – Reflux meds have been in her for the minimum half hour before feeding as required.  I get in the shower, Aaron feeds Annie. Some days we have to feed her before 6 am as it’s can be super challenging to hold off on feeding a hungry baby, ideally her meds need to be on an empty tummy for 30 minutes but however long we can get, we take!

6:30 – I take over Annie so Aaron can get ready.   We play and get dressed, I load her into her car seat, fill out her daycare sheet, pack up her bottles and send her and Aaron out the door at 7 am.

7 – 7:30/8 – Makeup, hair and dress myself.  I’m out the door and at work anytime between 7:30 and 8. I’m loaded down carrying my pump, work computer, lunch, extra cooler for pumped milk, coffee in one hand, purse throw in there somewhere.  I work in a massive building with a massive parking lot, carrying everything in (in one haul/in heels) is a workout.

My days vary from day to day.  But normally I have meetings that fill up half my day and the other half is free for work to-dos.  I generally get into work and settled, look at my calendar and plan 2 times I can pump during the day.  I can’t hold off as long as lunch time, 5 hours I’ve learned is about the max I can go in between.  I settle with blocking time on my calendar around 10 am and again at 3 pm.  I have to block time on my calendar or someone will plan a last minute meeting or I get busy and lose track of time.  I generally don’t go home for lunch, I’ll step out for some quick errands or I will work thru lunch and leave early.  I love my job and the people I work with.  That helps make the days fly by!

Anywhere between 4 – 5 pm – Leave work and go to daycare to pick up Annie.  Chat with her teachers, review her day with them.  She loves daycare and usually has awesome days there.  I enter all her naps and bottles in my baby app every single day, Daycare does an awesome job of keeping track of this for me during the day.  It really helps when she is super fussy to pinpoint what could be wrong.

Until 6 pm, it’s just Annie and I.  I get her reflux meds in her right away so I hit that 30 minute window.  Usually watch a little Mickey Mouse, have some rice cereal, feed her bottle and then Daddy comes home. 

6 pm – I start on dinner.  Aaron and I do the ‘dinner dance’ that goes something like this… me: What sounds good?  Aaron: I don’t know.  Me: I’m calling in an order to the Mexican place down the street, what do you want?   Who has time to cook anymore!?!

6:30 – Annie usually sneaks in a short catnap until 7 so we can eat.  Aaron and I chat about our day as we eat fairly quickly, never knowing if Annie's catnap will only last 10 minutes or 30.  It's not normally a sit down meal, it's more like I take a bite, get up feed the dog, come back take a bite and realize something else so I run and do that.  Aaron's phone rings, it's a call he has to take in the middle of dinner. We eat while we get stuff done.  It's a chaotic hour. 

7 pm – bath time!  Every other night Annie gets a bath.  She loves baths.  Following a bath comes her baby lotion massage, which she loves!  But then I put on her jammies and she screams.  She normally hates getting dressed.  

7:30 – I play with her, read a book and cuddle up.

8 pm – Aaron feeds her last bottle of the night, she gets zipped up in her swaddle blanket and normally goes down by 8:30 pm.  Some nights a little later, but we try to hold off as long as we can until 8 if she is acting tired early. 

8:30 – Aaron might workout or he does some work from home.  I make Annie’s bottles for the next day, unpack and clean the pumping supplies/bottles.  Make my lunch for tomorrow. 

9 – TIRED!  At this point, I haven’t sat down to do nothing since 5:30 am.  Watch tv for a half hour and spend time with Chuck.  She pretty much is demanding my attention at this point so she gets my last half hour.  So we play fetch and tug-a-war and she gets her daily allowance of belly scratches.

9:30 – wash up and get ready for bed.

9:45 – I have to pump.  This is the most dreaded agenda item on my list.  All I want to do is go to sleep, I actually don’t mind the 5:30 am or day time pumping sessions as much, but this session is the one I dread and hate doing so much.  It’s the last thing I want to do after a long day but I get it done.

10 pm – get pump ready to go for 5:30 am session and fall asleep watching the news.

5:30 AM – Get up and do it all again!  

I think Aaron and I have a good balance of who does what.  This is pretty close to a look at our weekdays, it varies some, some nights Aaron mows the lawn and I do everything with Annie.  Some nights he takes her and I go to my hot yoga classes.  Some nights I have small group, some nights he has late work events.  And not to mention the million diaper changes we do.  We have a good give/take balance that seems to be working for us!  Annie pretty much has to be hands on all the time, she doesn’t really play by herself for too long of periods before she gets colicky so there is a lot of hands on/trading off that must be done to keep our sanity!