Our day, our week.

 I caught up with a friend on the weekend who asked me, "what do you DO all day?"  She didn't mean it in a rude way - quite the opposite.  She said she found the idea of entertaining a baby all day, every day, really daunting.

My mother said to me that when I was a baby, her days were long and lonely - no car, no television, no internet.  None of her friends had babies.  There was no Mothers' Group in her area.  Her local ABA only met once a month, and most of the other mothers were a fair bit older than her.  Dad was working and studying.  The highlight of her day was when the mail came!  That sounds so sad and boring - babies are gorgeous and fun, but they aren't generally enough to keep you busy all day.

I think there is a fine balance to reach, between doing enough to keep yourself and your baby entertained, but not so much that you are both tired and overstimulated.  Of course, this depends entirely on each individual mother and baby - some babies (and mothers) thrive on activity and social interaction, whereas others need plenty of quiet at-home time.

For us, I find that we need to get out of the house most days, however if we are out all day, we both crash and burn.  In each day, I like to include some time in the fresh air, some walking, some interaction with people (and ideally, babies or children), and some free play time.

So our week is roughly as follows - I hope that this is interesting or useful to others with young babies.  I find it interesting to hear what other people do to entertain their little ones!

Generally, Tabitha gets up at around 7:30am, then naps at 10am - 11am or 11:30am, and naps from 3pm - 4pm or 5pm.  She goes to bed between 7pm and 7:30pm.  Before each bedtime and nap, we read one or two stories.  Current favourite naptime books are Hairy Maclairy series, Green Sheep, Ten Little Fingers and a baby animals book.

Tabby eats breakfast at 8am, lunch around noon, and dinner around 6:30pm.  She has breastfeeds at roughly 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm, 10pm and 2am, with some extra little ones in between sometimes.

This routine is fairly new - for the first 6 months, things were very loose and unstructured, which suited us both.  Now she really prefers a predictable routine, and it suits me too, as it's easier to plan the days.

Here are our daily 'main' activities.  Aside from these, it's mostly quiet play, errands, walks, and meeting people for brunch / lunch:

Mondays - Swimming

Tuesdays - Food shopping at the market

Wednesdays - Gymbaroo

Thursdays - From 2pm - 5pm (including her nap), her Godmother Sophie takes care of her, while I do some ABA study at a local coffee place or the library.

Fridays - ABA local group meetings in the morning (every fortnight), as well as Mothers' Group every Friday afternoon.

Saturday - Farmers market in the morning, or my dad over for a visit and play.  Catch up with friends during the rest of the day around her nap times.

Sunday - Normally a big walk with The Daddy, then nap then yum cha or out to brunch with friends.  Quiet play in the afternoon while we clean the house.  Early dinner out with family or friends.

So it's not mind-blowingly exciting, but it's certainly not a boring week for me.  I don't really like television (particularly not when I'm tired), so while she naps, I normally knit, read or bake.  I get some 'me time' when her Godmother takes care of her for a few hours on Thursdays, and in the evenings (and Sundays) when The Daddy is home.  I don't really exercise, since we do plenty of walking.  I generally make dinner in the evenings with Tabitha wrapped onto my back, so she can watch me cook, but is out of harm's way.

On a side note, here is a strawberry and rhubarb lattice pie going into the oven.  Soon, I will do a post on making lattice tops - they are incredibly easy, and make pies look so pretty!