During the Day

A lot of people keep asking me if I’m happy being at home during the day, if I’m bored, how I’m adjusting to not being at work, what I do, etc. To honestly answer this question, I am so happy being at home. And I’m never bored! I have just never been the kind of person to be bored; I always find or have something to do. I love being home and it’s weird to look forward to each day (not dreading each day like I used to when I was working).

Here’s what E and I do during the day:

- Walks. We love taking morning walks around the neighborhood and Harmony Park across the street. It’s so fun to get bundled up and take walks with other moms in our neighborhood. It’s great to get some exercise, chat, and get out.

- Errands. E is so good when we go out to get groceries, do Christmas shopping, and when I have lunch with my girlfriends. He mostly sleeps, but sometimes wakes up and just looks around.

- Play time. E loves to look around at the lights, the blinds, and at pictures in our house. He is so calm and sweet. If I need to take a shower or make dinner, I can set him in the Boppy and he’ll just look around for an hour without a peep (unless of course he has gas in which case he has some loud grunts and screams!). He is also getting great at tummy time and is lifting and turning his head better each day.

- Laundry. Lots of laundry! Now that I’m home I’m trying to stay on top of mine and Mitch’s better as well as wash E’s stuff separately, which can be a lot with spit-up, getting peed on (!), and diaper blow outs.

- Eating. Emerson eats every 3 hours during the day and every 4-5 at night; he has really learned the difference between night and day. At night he falls asleep right after feeding, but he stays up more during the day. It’s been nice only having one feeding in the middle of the night. Feeding does take up a lot of the day though; luckily it’s the perfect time to read so I’m getting through a lot of books I’d had stacked in my bedside “queue.”

-Lunch with daddy. Mitch is able to come home most days for lunch. I try to make a nice lunch and keep E up so they can have some time together.

- Workout sessions. E is happy in his swing while I do some light workout videos or Fit TV programs. Last week I started feeling good enough for these, and though I get winded easily, it feels good to be active again after a month without.

- Visitors. We love having friends come meet E. At church or when we're out and it's cold, we usually keep him in the car seat, but at home we can actually let people play with him.

-Emailing daddy. We (I) like to send Mitch pics of me and E telling him we miss him. Like these:

(Gotta love the fresh spit-up on my shirt.)

Since being at home I’ve realized it’s nice to slow down and it’s okay to not be doing a million things a day. I’ve also realized you can’t expect to get too much done with a baby—some days I’m happy to get a shower in and dinner made. Other days I’ll have run my errands, done laundry, gotten ready and cleaned the house by lunchtime; it’s always different.