It’s blowing my mind that Max is seven weeks old as I’m writing this post! Time is absolutely flying. Truly, I never knew how quickly a day could pass by until I was spending every waking hour with this snuggly sweetie man.
It blows my mind how much we read about pregnancy yet how little we’re educated on the difficulties of the fourth trimester. From the physical recovery of birth and the mental struggle of surging hormones to navigating the complexities of breastfeeding and growing a human, there is a lot to figure out. And most women don’t go back to their doctor until six weeks postpartum!
The six week mark was when we started to get into a bit of a groove. It’s been so much easier adjusting to our new norm now that my body has mostly healed from the second degree tear I had from delivery. That said, every day still looks different depending on what we have going on and how baby’s mood is.
I’m really grateful to have Jeff home with us until May. It really makes everything so much easier, especially with me since he can give baby bottles.
Even with having daddy home, it still feels almost impossible to get things done. I swear I’ll have a basket of laundry sitting in our room for three days before I find a block of time to fold it and put it away. Such is newborn life! It’s the most magical blend of chaos and love like you’ve never known.
Without further adieu, here’s a peak into what our days look like with a six week old. Rest assured that we were not eating such organized meals when baby was really young. We’ve come a long way!
7am
I wake up to my alarm (assuming I fell back asleep after the 3:30am pumping session, which doesn’t always happen!) and go downstairs to grab a bottle from the fridge. I like to run it under hot water so nothing is stuck to the sides. Then I go back upstairs and say good morning to Max, change his diaper, feed him, and burp him. These bandana bibs are the best for saving outfits from spit up!
I swaddle him then put him right back down in his bassinets for a nap. He typically babbles for a bit, but is usually calm and happy. If he does cry, it doesn’t last long.
7:30am
If you follow me on Instagram, you know breastfeeding was very challenging for us. I made the decision to exclusively pump and it’s been wonderful for both me and baby.
My boobs are dying by now so I go pump sitting up in bed for 25 minutes. I chug an insane amount of water and have a pre-breakfast snack like this that I keep on my bedside table. I’m currently reading on my Kindle which makes the time fly by!
Once the time is up, I go downstairs to put the bottles of pumped milk in the fridge. I give the bottles I used to pump a rinse and then store the parts in a container in the fridge versus washing them with soap every time. Breast milk lasts up to four days in the fridge, so this hack has saved me so much time! I’ll wash the parts with soap once or twice a day and then we sterilize them in a pot of boiling water about every other day.
There are times I feel insatiably hungry around this time so I’ll stand in front of the fridge and shove a muffin or matcha bites or whatever is easy in my face. If it’s been a rough night of sleep, I may go back to bed until his next feed. If not, I’ll use this time to take a hot shower (best thing ever), brush my teeth, and chug coffee.
9am
Time for Max’s second bottle! These two feeds are close together since he was going longer stretches at night, but he’s been fussier at night lately so we’re still trying to figure things out. I always have to wake him up for this one. We do a diaper and outfit change and then it’s time to eat. Max lives in these sleepers and just outgrew the newborn ones!
Around 9:30am it’s awake time, which is usually doing some tummy time on his play gym or holding him in our arms, bouncing around, and calling him a sweetie eight million times while we make silly faces.
Sometimes he enjoys tummy time and does a great job turning his head and sometimes he’s not having it and we flip him onto his back or hold him again. He’s loving the contrast cards these days!
10am
After some rocking in our arms and goodnight kisses, we swaddle Max and put him back to sleep upstairs for another nap. We try to put him down when he’s got droopy eyes but is still awake, since babies tend to be fussier when they wake up in a different place than where they fell asleep.
The goal is that this nap goes until noon; but it totally depends on his mood. Yesterday he cried on and off for the whole time and barely slept, and then there’s days where he’s out cold the entire time. That’s baby life for ya!
Now it’s breakfast time for mom and dad with Max on the monitor. If we haven’t already, we’ll put our contacts in, brush our teeth, and make coffee—not necessarily in that order….
Jeff has been making breakfast lately while I catch up on Alchemy and blog emails. This is also when I take some of my prenatal vitamins.
I took a maternity leave but when you own your own business, it’s definitely not black and white. That balance has been a real struggle for me. I have a rule that I don’t work while baby is awake to make sure I soak up all that sweet time with him.
Breakfast looks like steel cut oatmeal with berries or avocado toast plus scrambled eggs during the week. On Saturdays we like to make pancakes and usually on Sunday we’ll order something like bagel egg sandwiches.
11am
Max is still asleep but making little noises. This is when we’ll catch up on washing bottles, throw a load of laundry in, and try to get the house somewhat organized. I’m pumping about four hours apart now, so I’ll pump again for 20-25 minutes. I like to put the motor in a little backpack so I can be mobile and unload the dishwasher or do something useful while I pump.
Sometimes I’ll try to get a workout in around now, but it just depends on what we have going on for the day.
12pm
Time to wake up sweetie man for another bottle! Then we’ll do more tummy time, play with Freddie the Firefly or sing some songs. At some point I may hand him off to Jeff so I can prep some food, like a batch of my lasagna soup, roasted sweet potatoes, or some mint chocolate bites. I’ll have another snack at this point, too. My hunger is off the charts with pumping!
1pm
We’ve been loving doing his 1-3pm nap outside in the stroller (currently 20% off). He tends to sleep really well when we’re strolling!
Our favorite portable afternoon snack lately is a juicy mandarin or three. I craved citrus throughout pregnancy and I still love it! You can’t beat the easy peeling and convenience of Peelz Citrus. We just throw them in the stroller and we’re off!
I love that they’re so sweet, juicy, and seedless all in one. Sometimes I put a couple in a smoothie or on top of oatmeal, and sometimes we just eat them whole for a quick snack break. Click here to find Peelz at a store near you!
3pm
Max is conked out all cozy in the carseat from our walk so I gently wake him up to change his diaper and eat again. He takes his bottle like a champ!
Fun fact: did you know you may not have to warm the bottle? I learned this late in the game and while all babies are different, I was so excited that Max happily drank it cold out of the fridge!
We usually take turns hanging out with baby and eating lunch in this window. Alchemy Meal Prep has been a game changer for our lunches! If we don’t have those on hand, I’ll eat something we prepped like the soup pictured above. Usually we make smoothies at some point as well.
Sometime around now I’ll pump again. After Max is fed and happy, we give him a bath. Right now we’re only bathing him once or twice a week. He definitely doesn’t love bath time yet!
4pm
Diaper change and more nap-time until 6pm! This tends to be sweetie’s witching hour where his naps can either be super solid or he’ll barely sleep.
4:30pm
I take advantage of this nap by working on blog posts. This is also when Jeff may go to the gym, so I try to be really efficient with work in case the baby wakes up. There are times when I get nothing done because baby is crying on and off.
6pm
Time to wake baby and eat! Jeff normally does this feed and then some more tummy time or he’ll just hang with him on the couch while I work on dinner.
7pm
Jeff puts baby to sleep for his last nap before bedtime and I pump again for the fourth time. We try to eat by 7:20pm so we have some down time before the nighttime routine. Ahh….time to relax for a bit and enjoy some enchiladas! Currently we’re watching the show “Ted Lasso” and loving it.
Some nights Max is super fussy and we have to go upstairs a few times to soothe him.
8pm
Around 8:15pm, we’re digging into the cookie stash and starting to get together allllll the supplies we have to bring upstairs in preparation for bed, including the pump motor and parts, multiple bottles to store the milk from my 3:30am pumping, a nighttime snack, two full water bottles, and a pumping bra if I’m not wearing one that functions as an all day bra.
8:30pm
We head upstairs to wake buddy and do bedtime. Our “routine” right now is just a diaper change followed by putting on a fresh sleeper, feeding, and a story. Sometimes he’s super squirmy and I just bounce him and sing to him instead of reading a book, but we’re trying to nail some environmental cues so he recognizes it’s bedtime.
It’s a toss up as to weather he’ll be super snoozy or wide awake. We swaddle him, rock him a bit, give him a zillion kisses, and then put him in the bassinet around 9pm or a bit after. He’ll usually be quiet for a few minutes and then start fussing, but it doesn’t last long and he’ll most likely soothe himself back to sleep.
9pm
Jeff and I quietly head to our bathroom to start getting ready for bed. I pump around 9:30pm and Jeff will usually hang out with me while I do. Right now I’m sleeping in our guest room so I can get a solid stretch of sleep from about 10pm to 3:30am when I wake up to pump.
Jeff sleeps in our bedroom and takes care of baby when he wakes up fussy during the night. Right now I really can’t go longer than six-ish hours without pumping or else I’m very uncomfortable (and I also want to avoid infection).
3:30am
I wake up, pump, and eat my snack. Then I go downstairs to refrigerate the pumped milk and rinse the parts. Lately I’ll have a bowl of cereal at that point depending on how hungry I am.
I head back up to our bedroom, wake Jeff up, and we switch rooms. He sleeps in the guest room to get quality sleep for the rest of the night until about 9am and I sleep in our bedroom for baby duty. We’re close to being at the point where we can sleep in the same room again, hooray!
It’s a toss up as to whether I’ll get another block of sleep between 4:30am to 7am. Sometimes sweetie pie wakes up at 5am, sometimes 6:30am. And then we do it all again! It’s a wild ride, but we couldn’t be more in love!
