A Day in the Life with a Three Month Old

by Katie on January 13, 2012

in Audrey

Hi friends!  I’ve been meaning to do a day in the life post for awhile- I love reading them myself and it will be fun to look back on when Audrey is a little older.  Right now, Audrey is 3.5 months old and generally (knock on wood!!) sleeps through the night, going down between 9-10 and waking up between 5-7 to eat and then goes down for a little longer.  During the day all bets are off as to when she’ll nap.  :D

3:00 A.M- Audrey wakes up with bad gas (poor little).  Brian gets up and soothes her back to sleep after some Mylicon and bicycle kicks.

6:13 A.M- Audrey wakes up for her first feeding of the day.  As a general rule after her first feeding she will go back to sleep for a few hours.

7:45 A.M- Audrey starts fussing in her pack n play, so I bring her in bed with me to hang out.

Good morning!

8:17-8:45 A.M- Audrey’s second feeding of the day- this one is typically longer.

8:45-9:45 A.M- Diaper change!  After getting changed,  Audrey plays in her pack n play (she loves talking to her BFF, the ceiling fan) while I grab my coffee, put the cloth diapers in the wash, give Bailey a treat, publish a blog post I wrote the night before, get myself ready and get her clothes out.  Audrey gets into a going out outfit (she usually wears sleep n plays unless we are going out somewhere).

All dressed up:

9:50-10:00 A.M- Car ride to panera to meet some moms that I found on a local meetup group.  Audrey loses her ish after her pacifier falls out of her mouth. Oy. Good thing it’s only a five minute car ride!

Do I have to ride in my car seat?

10:00-10:30 A.M- Audrey naps in Panera while I chat with the other two moms- one has a little guy that is a week younger than Audrey.  It was so nice to meet another new mom in the area!

10:30 A.M- Audrey wakes up hungry- I’ve never really nursed in public before but hey, when a baby is hungry they need to eat!  I grab my cover and feed her at our table.  It went pretty smoothly!  I felt more comfortable doing so with the other moms around.

11:15 A.M- Audrey decided that she is hungry again, so I feed her again while chatting it up with the moms.

11:40- We head home, but not before Audrey has a big spitup in her carseat.  Thankfully she was wearing a bib!

12:00 P.M- Diaper change, outfit change to outfit number two of the day. We play for a bit and I put her in her swing.  She isn’t feeling it.  She seems tired so I put her in her pack n play.  She isn’t feeling it.  She tolerates the rock n play for a little bit before she starts with the hunger cry so eating it is!

No swing, please.

 

Nap?  You crazy, devil woman!

Rock n play?  Nah, I’d rather eat

12:34-1250 P.M- Audrey’s fourth feeding of the day.  I catch up on my DVRed shows (Switched at Birth anyone?) while feeding her. She seems sleepy afterwards so I swaddle her (I usually don’t swaddle her during the day) and put her in the pack n play.

12:50-1:40 P.M.- Audrey naps!  While she naps I clean up the kitchen, take out the garbage, get the guest room situated (Brian’s mom is coming this weekend), put clothes away and run the cloth diaper wash again.  Bailey decides our closet is a nice place to pee so I clean up Bailey pee.

1:40-2:15 P.M- Audrey wakes up and it’s play time!  We read a book and then Audrey drops a bomb.  Diaper change and outfit number 3 of the day (she spit up a bit too- did I mention she’s a spitter?)  We play/sing on her changing table for a bit- she loves getting her diaper changed!

Let’s play!

I can help turn the pages ya know…

Bailey chills next to us while we hang out.

Outfit number three!

2:15-2:30- tummy time!  Audrey hates tummy time but I started using the boppy during it yesterday and she is doing a lot better with it.  It’s a good thing I laid a cloth down because after I took this picture spit up fest 2012 happened.

Tummy time!

This is what I think of your tummy time

2:30- Audrey chills in the rock n play while I heat up my lunch (Trader Joe’s pesto pizza).  She falls asleep around 2:50 so I settle in to eat, clean up the living room, start the cloth diaper rinse, compose this blog post and write thank you cards (I’m only a few months behind, haha) with the DVR on in the background.

Sleep!

 

Cloth diapers  (love ‘em!)

3:50- Audrey wakes up to eat for her fifth feeding of the day and then falls asleep.  Cuddle time until 4:20 and then I put her in the rock n play to rest while I hang up the cloth diapers, vacuum and start a load of laundry.

4:50- Sleeping beauty wakes up- diaper change time!  Afterwards we play and read on the bed, where she spits up again.  Time for outfit number 4 of the day!

5:20-6:10- Audrey is hungry and eats for awhile- sixth feeding of the day!  I check facebook on my phone and catch up on the DVR.

6:10-6:50- More playtime!  We walk around the house a little bit and Audrey plays with her seahorse.

6:50- Diaper change!

7:00- Audrey is cuddly so we sit on the couch where she falls asleep on me.

7:15- Brian’s home!  He heats up our leftovers (chicken burrito bowls) and I eat while Audrey sleeps on me.  It’s  a balancing act. ;)

Sleepy baby

7:50-8:20- Catch up with Brian and hang out while Audrey sleeps.

8:20- Audrey wakes up- time to eat again.  Seventh feeding of the day- hungry girl!

9:00- Audrey appears to be done eating so I hand her to Brian to put her to sleep and get changed into running clothes.

9:10-9:40- I hit the treadmill and get 2.5 miles in, as my training plan requires.  Woohoo!

9:40- Audrey is still hungry!  I nurse her again for her eight and final feeding of the day.

10:15- Audrey goes to sleep in her pack n play so I shower, then clean the kitchen up, hang up the wet laundry and get the trash together from around the house to be put out tomorrow.

11:15- Time for a nightcap- Guinness!  (It’s good for milk production.  Duh.).  I type up a bit of this post, read some blogs and then call it a night.

Whew!

A few notes:

  • Audrey ate eight times today- she’s generally anywhere from 5-8 times.  A lot of my time is spent nursing her :D
  • She took a few naps today, which is unusual.  Generally she will nap when we are out and about but if we’re home she will do a twenty minute catnap, if that.
  • Audrey only dropped one bomb today but was quite spit uppy.  It varies from day to day- sometimes it seems like every diaper is dirty and she hardly spits up!
  • As a general rule, I try to get out of the house with her once a day, be it to run an errand, pick up some things at Target or meet a friend.  It’s nice to break up the day.
  • I usually take her for a walk in the afternoons (love this Southern weather!) but it was rainy.

So, there’s a typical day for me and Audrey!  I’m wondering how much it will change as she gets older.  Time will tell! :)

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Katie

{ 17 comments }

Weekend Catch-Up

by Katie on January 11, 2012

in Restaurant,Running

Hi friends!

I intended to get this post written by Monday but such is life with a baby :)  Anyway.  We had an awesome weekend!  My parents came into town on Thursday to get in some baby time.

Audrey smiling at her nana (yes, my tree is still up in the background.  #dontjudge).

Go GMen!

On Friday my parents, Audrey and I headed into downtown Charleston to meet up with my bestie Christina and her six week old daughter for lunch at Magnolias.  Christina suggested the restaurant since the menu had a lot of fresh fish and southern fare, and it didn’t disappoint!  Initially I was a little worried that the restaurant wasn’t baby friendly since it was quite the challenge getting the stroller in the door and up the stairs, but the restaurant was super accommodating.  We had a large table off to the side and the babies snoozed away while we enjoyed lunch.  The group shared housemade pimiento cheddar with pita chips, which apparently is a southern thing and is also amazing.  I’ve never had pimiento cheese before moving down here and I am happy to have been introduced to it!

The babies both woke up hungry after we finished eating.  The staff told us we could head upstairs (where private banquets are held, it looked like) to use the couches up there to feed them.  So, I nursed “in public” (aside from in my car, haha) for the first time!  I put it in quotations since the only people that walked by were staff and I had a cover on but yeah, baby steps!

Me and C after lunch.

This weekend also brought my long (heh) run of the week- my training plan called for a three miler.  I haven’t run three miles since I was 5 weeks pregnant, so it’d been awhile!  The weather over the weekend was gorgeous so I put on capris and a tech tee and headed outside (in January, craziness!  Normally I’d have all sorts of coldgear on.  Anyway).  The run went really well!  I was actually kind of hot wearing the capris.  I lost steam and my pace slowed a little bit after 2.5 miles but I got it done!

Three miles done in 33:28 with an average pace of 11:30/mile.   I’ll take it.  :)  (the trees in my backyard look kind of cartoonish, eh?)   My long run this coming weekend is 3.5 miles- getting up there!  I’m only half-joking- the three miler took a lot out of me and I really did feel like I felt at the end of ten milers back when I was in my top running shape.  It’s fun getting back in shape!

Another fun thing from this past weekend was…wait for it… DATE NIGHT!

Brian and I haven’t been on a date in who knows how long- at least fifteen weeks ;)  My parents were more than happy to babysit so we took advantage and hit up this awesome, awesome sushi place- Wasabi!  (it gets a double awesome- it’s that good!)

 

Wasabi is now my new favorite restaurant.  Seriously.  I even told Brian that I think it was the best sushi I ever had-and I’ve had a decent amount of sushi in my day!  We were seated right away (well, it was a Sunday night) and the service was quick.  We shared crab rangoons and these little beef wraps (stuffed with cream cheese and something delicious).  There was a lot of fresh, plain sushi on the menu but I really love this place because it speaks my sushi language- deep fried!  I love love deep friend sushi.  I enjoyed a bagel roll (smoked salmon, crab, avocado and cream cheese deep fried) and an SC crunch roll (crab, tempura flakes, cream cheese and avocado and shrimp on the outside).  Ah, so good.  We finished the meal with a tempura banana with green tea ice cream.  It was a great meal and it was so nice to go on a date with Brian.  We didn’t even talk about Audrey the entire time…only a few times ;)

If you’re a mom (or dad, haha), do you get to go on date nights often?  The grandparents need to move down here, stat :)

That about wraps it up- how was your weekend?  I’m off to meet up with a  local mom group- hopefully I’ll meet some cool new moms to hang out with! :)

Have a good one friends :)

Katie

{ 8 comments }

Training Begins!

by Katie on January 5, 2012

in Audrey,Crossfit,Running

Hi friends!  How’s it going?  Charleston is currently dealing with “bitter cold” temps in the 20s and 30s (at night- it’s 40/50 something during the day)- at least that’s what the newscasters say, haha.  They obviously haven’t spent a winter in upstate New York!

Before the cold front came in, I was able to get a glorious, OUTDOOR run in.  Hold the phone!  I haven’t run outdoors since I was around 25 weeks pregnant (and let’s face it, I probably could have walked faster) so it’s been awhile.  It feels good to be back!  Day one (!!) of my 10k training plan called for 2.5 miles.  Brian had the day off so I took advantage and headed outdoors.   While my endurance isn’t anywhere where it used to be, I was able to run the entire 2.5 miles without stopping.  Definitely a success in my book!  I finished the 2.5 miles in 28:46, which was around and 11:30/mile pace (or something like that).  It felt so nice to hit the pavement with the sun shining down.  My neighborhood is fairly large so I was able to run around and not run in too many circles.  I do want to find some local paths to run and take Audrey for walks on.

Later that evening I decided that I definitely wanted to do a CrossFit workout as well (hello two-a-day… well, kind of- I worked out twice!)   This one was so intense.  First of all, there were two effing warmups.  The first warmup was a 500 meter row, 15 (assisted) pushups, 15 (assisted) pullups, 15 abmat situps and 15 air squats.  Instead of doing the pushups on my knees, Bri finagled some contraption that allows some of my weight to be supported by a band, like so:

I think that doing modified pushups in this manner versus on my knees will help me get to proper pushup form sooner!

After that was the WOD (workout of the day) warmup, which called for 21/15/9 reps of knees to elbows and box jumps (ie, 21 knees to elbows and box jumps, then 15, then 9).  Ugh.  Holy hell do I hate box jumps.  I’m scared I’m going to break myself, and they’re hard.  In fact, our box is adorned with the phrase “Katie’s arch enemy”- Brian wrote this on it apparently after I kept bitching about them.

Bri made the box and it can be either 20 inches or 24 inches (that’s what she said).  I jump onto the 20 inch height but Brian is going to make another 18 inch box for me.

Pissed during the second “warmup.”

After that was over, I felt like the workout was pretty much complete.  But the actual WOD itself was 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 pullups/squats.  Basically, do ten squats and one pullup, then nine squats and two pullups, eight squats and three pullups (and so on).  I was SUCH a whiner at this point but Brian didn’t let up.  And I did it and felt really good afterwards!

DONE!

I think this every time- the workout sounds so crazy and intense but once I actually get it done I feel amazing and really proud of myself.  I just need to get over this whining phase!

Audrey, as always, was a trooper during the workout.

We also keep a dog bed out there for Bails but he wants nothing to do with it- I think the garage scares him.

Audrey turned 14 weeks old this week!

She loves her seahorse!

Time is flying.  During pregnancy I loved Thursdays because that was when the week changed.  Now I love Tuesdays because Tuesday marks another week older!

It seems like in the last few days her personality is coming out even more.  She is talking/cooing so much more and is such a little cutehead.  She loves to hang out on the changing table, and she even tolerates my singing!  Such a sweet girl :)

Take care, friends!

Katie

{ 15 comments }

Easy Lemon Rosemary Roasted Chicken

by Katie on January 2, 2012

in Crossfit,Recipe

Hi friends!  Thanks so much for the welcome back to blogging.  I’m excited to get back at it! :D

I hope that everyone had a wonderful New Year’s Eve and a great start to 2012.   We kept it low key and went to bed before the ball dropped.  Ha, how the times have changed.  Yesterday we checked out downtown Charleston and had coffee and dessert at Kaminsky’s- helllo cookie pie (SO good).

Exercise wise, things have been going well.  We started 2012 out with a nice CrossFit workout- a (crazy, workout in itself, involving rowing, pullups, pushups, box jumps… it’s crazy!) warmup, followed by a mile run, 100o meter row and a mile run (two miles total).  Originally there were supposed to be some ab moves in there but my stomach has been feeling off the past few days so I skipped that part.

I’m really digging CrossFit. I’m seriously such a whiner when the workout begins.  Usually the workouts sound really intense and endless, so in my head I just tell myself to get through one round and go from there.  Oh, and I whine too.  Brian just dismisses it, which is annoying haha.  It’s good for me though.
Knees to elbows torture (or in my case, knees to hips ;) )
Audrey gets bored spectating our workouts.
Sidenote- remember this post?  So fun that she’s wearing it now :)  I didn’t even put it on her- Brian has fun dressing her :)
While I definitely enjoy cooking, having a three month old makes it difficult to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  Some days she’ll sit happily in her bouncy chair or even nap (naps were rare around these parts for a bit but I can’t complain, she’s an awesome night sleeper) but other times she can be a bit demanding.  So, dinners that require minimal effort are prized around here!  Enter- the crockpot.  Dude, I love the crockpot!  It’s so nice to just assemble the ingredients, turn it on and then walk away!  One of my new favorite crockpot meals is a roasted chicken- we get quite a few meals out of it and it is so easy to make!   I definitely recommend this dinner, even if you aren’t time constrained- it’s so simple (with only five ingredients!) and it’s delicious, with a subtle lemon flavor.  I used to be scared of handling whole chickens- don’t be!  It really is so easy.
Lemon Rosemary Roasted Chicken
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time:  8 hours
Ingredients 
  • 3-5 pound roast chicken
  • a bit of butter or margarine
  • a few sprigs of rosemary
  • half of an onion, diced
  • 2 lemons, cut in half
  • Salt and pepper
Directions
  • Ensure that you remove the bag of innards from the inner cavity of the chicken (have a I mentioned that I hate dealing with raw meat? Blech).
  • Rinse the chicken and pat dry, lightly coat with butter.
  • Place chopped onion inside of cavity, along with half of an unjuiced lemon.
  • Place chicken inside of crockpot (I’ve been known to put it in “upside down”- apparently the legs should be facing upwards.  Okay then).  Juice the remaining lemon over the chicken, and then place the lemons alongside the top of it.
  • Arrange the rosemary sprigs along the chicken.
  • Spread about 1/4 teaspoon of salt and pepper over the chicken.
  • Set the timer on your crockpot to eight hours, to cook on the low setting.
And that’s it!
After eight hours, check the temperature of the chicken with a meat thermometer (it should be at least 180 degrees).  It should look something like this:
Voila!  We generally have the chicken in a salad, but there are so many dinner options that come out of this (not to mention leftovers!)  I love rosemary (it’s my favorite herb, aside from basil) and the taste isn’t overpowering.  I’m so glad that I got over my fear of dealing with roasts!
Do you have any crockpot recipes to share?  I’d love to add some to my repetoire!
Have a good one!

Katie

{ 14 comments }