Eat, Sleep, Poop. Repeat.

Welcome to newbornhood! All Teddy seemed to do for the first four weeks was eat, sleep, poop, and repeat. I was starting to feel that new mommy feeling of being his caretaker or just a cow. Don’t get me wrong, I am head-over-heels in love with this little guy! But, when all you do is feed and change this little squishy, cute blob you start to think of yourself as nothing but a “provider of nourishment and cleanliness”.

Teddy started off sleeping 5 hours in the hospital and being “awake” for about an hour in between. The nurses told me to wake him every three hours to feed him but OH NO, this kid was NOT having it. He would fuss and cry until I swaddled him and put him to sleep. So, I decided to forget it and just let the little guy do whatever he wanted. I started timing his feeding and eating schedule and boy, was that awesome for the first week. Then, after that it became stressful as I tried to regulate a routine and he wasn’t having it — yet again. Back to letting the kid do whatever he wants. Clearly, I’m not the one in charge here.

Now, 6 weeks later, I’m the boss again! He’s so much more alert now and I can help keep him entertained during his awake time until it’s truly time for a nap. For the most part, his schedule is as follows:

6:30am – 8:30am — AWAKE TIME! Mommy is half awake from the night’s “festivities”, but I usually can drag myself out of bed, get dressed and take the little one and the pup for a walk.
8:30am – 9:00am — Quick nap. He’s usually napping once we have arrived at our destination (Starbucks or Breakfast Cafe) and on the way back home.
9:00am – 10:00am — Awake Time. Teddy usually wakes up once we’re arrived at home and we play for a while before he gets really tired and zonks out for his morning nap.
10:00am – 12:00pm — Morning nap. Sometimes I let him sleep a little longer depending on how his “quick nap” was.
12:00pm – 2:00pm — AWAKE TIME! We play and explore and then relax in the rocking chair while Teddy “tells me stories” from his adventures of the day.
2:00pm – 4:00pm — Afternoon nap. This is my favorite one, because I can usually clean (The house, the dishes, myself. Whatever is in most desperate need at the time), write, sleep, or catch a show on TV.
4:00pm – 6:00pm — AWAKE TIME! This is the best because he’s wide awake for when Daddy comes home. We talk and talk with Daddy until we pass out.
6:00pm – 7:00pm — Quick nap. Sometimes this doesn’t really happen, since this is during Teddy’s fussy time. This is usually when Mommy and Daddy get to eat and talk like adults instead of in high “princess” voices.
7:00pm – 8:00pm — Awake time. Usually Daddy is doing homework, so Mommy and Teddy have some play time.
8:00pm – 9:00pm — Bedtime Routine. Teddy gets a bath twice a week, but even if we don’t bathe him he’s a pretty sweaty little guy, so we wipe him down with the warm cloth and do lotion and jammies. Then Mommy feeds him and either Mommy or Daddy rocks him until he’s asleep.

Nighttime is a whole other animal. Teddy has been pretty consistent with his sleeping at night. He wakes up every three to four hours. The other night though, he slept for 6 hours before waking up! I couldn’t believe it. I woke up at 1:30am, fully expecting him to be awake but NOPE! He slept until 3:30am. Absolutely GLORIOUS. I thought for sure we had gone into a different cycle.

Guess again. I guess we REALLY know who’s boss.