I remember when Violet was a baby. I was completely overwhelmingly determined from day #1 to get her on some sort of schedule. I'm not completely sure why-- I think it was just my own natural response to new motherhood. She wasn't eating well. She wasn't sleeping well. It felt chaotic and we needed something stable.
She adapted well to a schedule, she always has. It's the kind of person she is-- she likes things tidy and tied, set, scheduled organized. I can admit now, I longed for a cuddly up-for-anything baby who would fall asleep in my arms, drunk on milk. But that wasn't who she was. And, in retrospect, I think I needed the routine as much as she did-- the routine of feeding her and then swaddling her and putting her down in her crib to fall asleep independently, while I gathered my wits and wrung my hands a bit...
I struggled as a new first time mom, really really struggled, and she struggled a bit too. But in a weird way, our struggling to figure it all out solidly bonded us together, and today we couldn't be closer.
Anyway-- Being a mom the second time around has been quite different. Eloise is such a different person. She is that round cuddly happy-go-lucky soul, who eats and smiles and gurgles. When she was tiny, we held her almost constantly because she demanded it, and and we loved it and it didn't seem so hard to be needed every second of the day the way it did with #1. We've been enjoying our little journey with her, relaxing a bit more this time, and letting the baby lead the way in terms of routines and scheduling.
That being said, I have started working lately on getting our little Eloise on more of a schedule. It started kind of by accident-- now that she's six months old it seems as though her naps and mealtimes are kind of naturally organizing themselves-- so I've been trying to encourage it because her happiness suddenly seems to expand exponentially when she is well rested and fed, and it's nice to know what to expect from the day so that I can plan when to work, cook, go out, etc..
Long story short: here is what the schedule of our 6 month old looks like on a good, ideal day:
7:30am: wake up, nurse, play, take V to school
10:00am: nurse, nap in crib (mommy works)
noon-3pm: lunch (solids), play, nurse, go out -Eloise naps in the car or stroller or carrier
3:30pm: pick up V, go home
4pm: nurse
5pm-5:30pm: nap in crib, (mommy gets dinner ready)
6pm: dinner with the family, solids for Eloise
6:30~7pm: bath (sometimes), nurse, bed
10:30pm: dream-feed
2am: nurse
5:30am: nurse
7:30am: wake up, nurse....... etc.....
Sorry to everyone who isn't a parent of a 6 month old, I'm sure this is absolutely uninteresting. It's helpful for me to see it typed out though because, as I mentioned above, this is what happens on "ideal" days. Often it will get thrown off if she happens to wake up earlier or later, or if I decide to do anything in the evening that requires staying out past 6:30... we do not run a prison after all :)
Still, I feel grateful and lucky to have a basically very happy and up-for-anything baby. If she gets off her routine, she still seems pretty happy. The only hard part about these "off" days is that I often don't get everything done that I've planned on doing. So dinner becomes some sort of thrown together tuna sandwich meal, and my plans to go to the gym or do my painting work get pushed to another day. But, life works itself out, and we carry on, and she remains jolly. Here she is on an off day:
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