A usual day with Elijah at 6 months

Wow Elijah you’re six months +! How time has passed. Time for me to get this blog going again (maybe). It’s been a great big change for me being a mum and a parent – all for the better I suppose. I’m glad now I have more time to myself now that he is a bit “older” – a weeee bit older. I guess that’s why I am back here and hopefully I can update this space more. In a way I guess this blog serves as a reminder of what has gone by.

So where am I now? Well, I have to say I am a happy mother and enjoying this time in my life. No doubt being a parent has many challenges – so much has to be put aside; most especially time for myself. Sometimes I wonder what I get done in a day – so what DO I do in a day now that he is six months? He changes so much but for now the day seems more predictable.

He wakes anytime from 6:15am -7:00am.For the past week it’s been about 6:45 ish am – yay! It’s funny how 10minutes of difference is huge in my world now… I breastfeed him, “ask” him to burp and do a poo “ngg ngg” . Then it’s nappy change time so I wake daddy up for this (heh heh) whilst I prep breakfast for both adults. By this time Elijah’s in fresh nappies and having a look at our backyard in our room. Joel and I joke that it is as though he lives like a retiree – having a relaxing time after breakfast looking at the scenery with no other cares in the world. Joel and I have breakfast in our room (!) then I prep Elijah’s “breakfast” (currently the menu is pureed avocado and breastmilk and the “special of the day” is pureed boiled pumpkin and breastmilk. He enjoys his “meals” and has never looked back since he started at about 5months. We then play, sing songs and read books.

He starts getting cranky about 9:00am and then goes to bed about 9:15-9:30am. When he is tired he gets cranky and starts scratching his ears. He occasionally does a twitch with his head and eyes, and needs to either suck his fingers or my clothes to comfort himself to sleep. Thankfully naptimes and bedtime for him are not a huge battle for him or me. I then have a little time to sit down, wash the dishes and check Facebook and email.

He wakes up from sleep usually after about 1 hr and a half, looks around his cot and has a bit of a chat to himself. I leave him for a bit on his own and about 11:00ish give him his botttle of formula. Then it’s nappy change time again and then I put him in his exersaucer ( we recently hired ) and he happily entertains himself. I get to sit down and have my morning coffee time for about half an hour. [ Funnily today he fell asleep in the exersaucer bouncing up and down and nodding off... ?!! I suspect him bouncing his legs may be the start of some self-soothing as he does this in bed too before sleeping ]

1:00 ish means he’s getting slight cranky again.  Sometimes we are out shopping, at church, having lunch or at my “mothers’ group so he slowly nods off in the car when we are travelling home and I transfer him to bed. He seems to be okay with this and continues sleeping. During this period I plan for dinner, have a sit down, have lunch, maybe do some dishes again, and seemingly endless tasks of cleaning. At 2:45 -3:00 ish pm he wakes from nap and gets a breastfeed. Somehow his afternoon nap is different. He wakes up after 40mins, fusses around and I have to intervene and pat him to sleep more – sometimes he can go back to sleep sometimes he can’t or he fusses for 20minutes or so then puts himself back to sleep without my help or sleeps right through without problems. Perhaps I  just haven’t got the right amount of activity time for him. I am not sure why – it’s the same whether we’re having a day out of in.

He has more food at about 4:00pm.  After that he plays a little, then sometimes we go for a stroll just him and me, and sometimes with our dog Toby. Depending on the day if he has not had a good nap he gets cranky and naps again about 5:00ish pm. At 5:45-6:00ish is his bathtime. Joel is sometimes around so he bathes him whilst I cook dinner. Elijah enjoys his bathtime but dislikes getting dried and dressed for bed. We’ve tried lots of things – turning the heater on, singing, amusing him but he keeps whinging until he gets all dressed for bedtime! Maybe he wants to stay in the bathtub longer…

Then it’s bedtime story and singing, his bottle and nighty-nite at about 6:45-7:00pm. Joel and I can now put our feet up and have dinner whilst watching TV. At 11:00pm Elijah has his “dreamfeed” and his and my day starts again the next morning.

So really in a day I feed Elijah, change his diaper, have some activity time then put him to bed and the routine starts all over again, and again, and again, day in day out. I still have some time to myself but quite a bit of it is actually doing things for him too – cleaning his little tupperwares for stored milk,  making puree, sometimes learning nursery rhymes!!, folding some clothes ( although Joel does most of it ), etc etc. Yes, it does get a bit boring and of course I understand why mums do just want some adult conversation or something different to do. But when I look at this little baby – well I have to keep reminding myself that these seemingly mindless “tasks” may be mundane but they serve to nurture him and there will be a day he will be independant.  And thankfully – yes thankfully he started sleeping through the night since he was 5 months ( with some bumps here and there like a few days ago… maybe a growth spurt? ) so I am no longer sleep deprived and perhaps now I don’t have an excuse to stay in my PJs the whole day

To my mum – Thank you for taking care of me.

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