A Day in the Life with a Newborn: Quarantine Edition

Hi friends!

I always find ‘A Day in the Life’ posts interesting to read – It’s like reality TV, blogger version! I’ve shared what a day looks like for me here & there but haven’t done so in years, so I thought it’d be fun to do this type of post this week.

It’s safe to say that my life definitely looks much different with a baby! I run a remote business as a writer & content creator, and I’ve been working part-time since I became a mom. Before COVID-19 hit, I had a nanny coming over to watch Camryn a few days a week so that I could get work done uninterrupted, go to a workout class or exercise in my home gym, and run any quick errands. It was really a wonderful balance for me & we had gotten into a stride… but then the quarantine hit.

So now I’m currently caring for baby 24/7, doing the best I can! Some days are definitely easier than others, and even though we are under quarantine, one day to another can look a lot different depending on how much my unpredictable baby sleeps, how much work I have to do, and if the weather is nice out. Here’s a look at what one day looked like a few weeks back.

6:45 am – Camryn wakes up in her nursery. She’s 9 months old and started sleeping in the crib last month. Before then, she would just scream & scream throughout the night when we tried to have her sleep in her crib. I think she just wasn’t ready, and it’s nice now that she’s out of our bedroom because she’s an insanely light sleeper. No joke, I couldn’t take a deep breath without her stirring in the bassinet next to me!

Since my husband works from home nowadays, he’s been taking Cam first thing in the morning for a bit so I can sleep longer. He does so on this day.

7:45 am – I awake and bring Camryn into my bedroom. We play a bit, and I check my emails and work deadlines on my calendar.

8:15 am – I dress baby and get ready for the day myself, then we head downstairs to feed my dog Harley, clean and make milk bottles for the day, make a cup of tea, and check out the latest coronavirus news and happenings in the world.

8:45 am – Cam and I have an easy breakfast: cereal with protein powder, sliced banana, and almond milk for me; cereal and mashed banana for her.

9:15 am – My babe is being cranky so I give her a bottle and put her down for a nap. The only way we’ve been able to get her to sleep lately is in her stroller with it closed up so she’s in complete darkness (She has serious FOMO!). I roll it back and forth while she drinks, then once she’s asleep I roll her into the bathroom and turn the fan on as white noise.

I’ve been playing around with her nap times because her sleep needs seem to be changing, and some days she’s really hard to get to sleep. But today was an early, long nap day and she fell asleep easily, woohoo!

9:30 – I head down to my basement for a sweat session, a strength + cycling workout.

10:15 – I work on an assignment for a client at my kitchen table.

11:30 – Cam wakes up and I distract her with a new toy every few minutes while I finish what I’m doing for work, then email with my accountant and pay a few bills.

12 – The baby runs around in her walker while I bake us some pumpkin apple banana muffins and tidy up my kitchen a bit.

12:30 – Lunchtime for us girls: I make a cherry banana protein smoothie with immunity-boosting mushroom powder for me (sounds gross, but the mushrooms don’t taste like much and they amp up the nutrition!), feed my demanding eater a yogurt, and then we split a freshly baked muffin.

1 – Outdoor time! I’ve been switching up our walking routes a lot because it’s just about the only outing we can do. I get Camryn, Harley and me ready to go for a walk, and we drive about two miles down the street to walk around a neighborhood with a tiny park that hasn’t been shut down. It’s nice because it has a roaring stream and a bounty of sticks that Harley likes to play fetch with.

We go for an hour walk, with a bit of a break near the stream so that I can feed Cam a bottle snack. I listen to an audiobook while we walk using my Bose audio sunglasses. Lately I’ve been listening to a book called The Nightingale, a story set in WWII era. It’s not at all what I usually read and it’s a super long audiobook… but in the few weeks since this day actually occurred, I’ve gotten into the book and look forward to “reading” more of it during my walks.

2:30 – We get home and it’s playtime. I read a bunch of books to Cam, we play with some of her toys in her nursery, and visit with my husband. It’s nice that he gets to see our baby more working from home nowadays!

3:15 – It’s time for nap #2, and I give Cam a bottle and do the whole stroller routine to get her to sleep.

3:45 – The babe has fallen asleep, and nap time means work time for me. I use this time to get a bit of work done for another client and snack on an apple with peanut butter.

4:45 – Baby awakes, and we head upstairs to fold and put away laundry, then do some song time. Cammie loves music and Adam and I are both musical, so we do music time every day to help cultivate that more in her. As soon as I start singing she gets this big ecstatic smile on her face, and it’s one of my favorite things ever!

5:30 – I put Cam in her high chair and start to make dinner while attempting to distract her with kitchen items and finger foods. She’s fussing in her chair a lot and my hubby’s work day is winding down, so he takes her upstairs so that I can make dinner in peace. She was giving me a headache – the story of my life, haha – and the quiet time is definitely appreciated!

6:30 – It’s dinner time, and I’ve made spring veggie & asparagus puree soup for us adults & a potato + black bean + zucchini puree for my tiny human. She also feeds herself pieces of pita bread, as I do a mix of purees & baby led weaning feedings.

7 – We have a bit of family relaxation time in the living room. I give Harley some love because she’s been limping around the past few hours. We’ve started to have this problem with her running around like a complete maniac, then later limping. She’s almost 10 years old and I don’t think she knows it yet, my poor girl!

7:30 – It’s time for our bath time routine. I give Cammie a bath and change her into PJs. She has always loved baths, and on this particular day she’s kicking her legs in the water, splashing around and laughing like a goofball. Next, I put her in her vibrating chair in the bathroom and give her a bottle while I get a shower. Truth be told, I rarely shower right after working out, especially these days!

8:15 – I feed Camryn her second bottle – She often has a big feeding before bed of 8 oz – and rock her to sleep. Then, I successfully transfer her to her crib.

8:45 – I eat a few squares of dark chocolate while doing a couple of things for work, then we watch an episode of Narcos on Netflix.

10:30 – It’s time for this tired mama to head to bed! Camryn is unpredictable with her sleep, so I never know if I’ll get a night of interrupted sleep or not, though she had been doing well with sleeping long stretches.  On this particular night, she wakes up once for a little while at 3 am.

Tell me…How have you been doing during the pandemic? What are you doing to make it a little less Groundhog Day-ish?