Daily Routine

I'm realizing, more and more, just how nice it is to have a daily routine. This routine is not rigid by any means, but it is a general roadmap for our day, and it benefits both Maggie and me. Maggie is growing and changing so much these days, and she is quite the sponge. I can tell she appreciates having a routine as well, because she has a sense of what is coming next. I thought I"d share with you all the daily routine from our little life, just for the heck of it. These "times" are not rigid, just a general timeline.

Between 6 and 7 a.m.: Rise and shine/nurse in bed with mom who is not ready to get up yet :)

7:15-8:00: Play time in the living room, with all her toys. Raffi or Putamayo
Kids CD's usually on in the background.

8:00- 8:30: Breakfast Time!
* my little chow-hound usually eats scrambled eggs, yogurt, gluten-free waffle,
and bananas (mostly all by herself)

8:30-9:00: Play time in the office.
*Maggie LOVES playing in the office with a box of pens, and other office supplies
on the floor. We have a 2nd fridge in the office (ask Daniel what this stores) and
she likes to play with magnets on it. I enjoy this time, because I can be on the
computer while she plays. I think she has more fun in the office than with all
her toys in the living room.

9:00 (or 2 hours after waking up): Morning Nap
* I always change Maggie's diaper first, then we go into the room and close the
curtains to cue that it's sleepytime. I nurse her and sing to her, then lay her in
her crib. She usually sleeps over an hour. Sometimes she wakes up after 30
minutes, but I quickly go to her and put her back to sleep. I've found that laying
her on her tummy and patting her back works wonders for keeping her calm
when I lay her down for her nap.

10 or 10:30 (after nap): Diaper check......Get dressed for the day.

Wake up time-2:00: We usually go out to the store, or to a friend's house to play between
morning and afternoon naps. I'll pack food for her if we aren't home for
lunch. Maggie has 2 friends her age that we see almost every day. It's
wonderful.

2:00 (or 3 hours after waking from her morning nap): Afternoon nap

3:00 (or whenever she wakes up): We play, or go out an about again. This is a good time to run
errands or visit with friends, before making dinner.

5:00 p.m.: We're usually home by this time, and I start dinner while Maggie plays in the kitchen. We look forward to daddy's arrival home.

6:oo ish: Daddy's usually home by now. We have dinner together, Maggie eats a ton!

6:40-7:00: Daddy's on bath and bedtime duty now (lucky me!). He gives her a bath and gets
her jammies on, gives her a bottle and cuddles, and puts her to bed. He is great
with her. Maggie seems to like this routine. Once it's bathtime, she knows bedtime
is coming soon. I am liking that Dad can put her to bed now....it's a nice break for
me.

Maggie's usually down for the night around 7:00. I don't go to bed early enough, but it always works out. She's been waking up a lot lately, but it's ok. Our daily routine makes the day go by so fast. It's been so good for me to have routine as well.

Thanks for reading!

A Season for Change

I haven't blogged in awhile.....sorry for those of you who actually check my blog now and then. I don't mean to stay out of touch, I just don't have much free time these days, and when I do have an hour or two, the "creative juices" aren't flowing.

Maggie's sleep update: Well, it's been up and down, that's for sure. We actually did try out a sleep training method (as Carrie suggested); one that allowed for frequent "check-ins" so she wasn't left to cry alone. It was hard, though she didn't cry as hard as I thought she would have. Anyway, this was a couple of months ago, and it went fairly well. She started only waking up once or twice a night, and usually put herself back to sleep. We were enjoying this respite, but with several trips and mess-ups of routine, we're back to frequent night wakings. I know we should probably just "re-train" her, but it is more complicated now. She is in the throws of an "8 month sleep regression", which is a typical thing for babies her age as they are hitting some major developmental milestones (i.e., crawling, standing up,) and this can disrupt their sleep at night. Maggie has been waking up and thrashing around the pack 'n play, trying to crawl, and getting herself jammed in one corner of it. She gets really upset, and needs help going back to sleep. I don't want to ignore her during this time...not to mention she's getting closer and closer to cutting a tooth. I'm just thankful she goes right back to sleep for me, and doesn't stay up for an hour or two in the middle of the night. Sure, some nights I get annoyed, but I try to keep everything in perspective---she won't be doing this forever, she won't want me to even hold her for much longer, and the closeness we have during night nursings is special. I think we'll give sleep training another shot when she is a little older, like maybe one or 1 1/2. Now, she cries a lot harder and gets more upset when we don't go to her (not like before when we tried to train her), so I don't have the heart to leave her alone to cry.

This is just an update, not a complaint. Things don't feel so overwhelming anymore, and I'm finding that it's only as big of a problem as I let it be.

In other news.....we are gearing up for a big change.....a move to another rental here in town. We've had our eye out for a long time, trying to find a house to rent that was the same price as the place we are currently in (a granny unit), but we were having no luck. Labor Day weekend, I discovered an ad on Craigslist for a house on an organic produce farm that was the exact price we are paying now, so I had Daniel contact the guy right away. We just found out today that we got the place, and there is SOOO much to do now. I don't even want to think about the chaos we will be living in for the next few weeks and maybe even months. Oh well, it's what needs to happen.

In many ways, I'm sad to leave our cozy little granny unit. As I was eating dinner and looking at some of the packed boxes, I teared up a little....because we have so many memories in this place. This is the only home I've known as a wife and a mother. All my memories of Maggie are here. I know we'll make new memories in the next place, but I will always treasure the times we had here, the good and the bad. We'll be living in more of a rural setting, so I will definitely miss not living within walking distance of so many stores, coffee shops, downtown, and a great park. Oh well.....what we get in exchange is a house, with 3 bedrooms (so no more sharing a room with Maggie), a bathroom with a tub, a dishwasher, indoor laundry (ours is currently outdoors), and about 100 more cupboards in the kitchen than I currently have. Our little family definitely needs more room, and if we have another kidlet in the near future (nothing yet, folks), the space will be needed. Maggie will be crawling any day now, and I'm glad there are no stairs to worry about in this new house. This is a chance to have a clean start, in a new place, and we can "baby proof" it from the start, and have her mobility in mind when we arrange the house.

Anyway...that's the big news around here. Daniel and I are celebrating 2 years of marriage on the 23rd of this month. We've had 2 wonderful years, and I hope they are indicative of how the rest of our life will be as a couple. My husband is so caring, selfless, supportive, loving, and he's my best friend. God knew I needed him, with all his strengths to help my weaknesses. I'm so thankful for him, and I'm looking forward to the overnight date he's taking me on in San Francisco on Friday night. Friends of ours will stay here with Maggie. I'm sure I'll be thinking about her most of the time we're gone, but I'll try to relax and just enjoy our time alone (especially a night without waking up 3 or more times :)

Please pray for us as we face the task of moving, and getting settled into a new place, in a new part of town. I know it will take awhile for us to adjust, but we'll try to make it "home" as soon as we can.