Our Daily Routine: For 9 Month Old
Some of you ladies have asked me about our daily routine so I've put together what our days look like for the most part, I work two days a week so those days look a little different.
Heres what a normal weekday looks like:
Cash usually wakes up around 7/7:30am. I bring him into our room to nurse and to cuddle of course! After a long nights sleep (12-13 hours) we've missed him dearly. Daddy usually leaves around 7:30am for work so we hang with him in bed, enjoying cashs mornings smiles and giggles. After daddy leaves we go out to to the family room to play with some toys. Our morning times usually consists of practicing crawling and standing along with Cash putting a million little goodies into his mouth and chatting me up with some adorable baby babble. I feed him Some solids around 8/8:30, an hour after he last nursed. We usually do some fruit or gluten free or multigrain waffles for breakfast. We'll stroll around outside for 45 mins or so until his first nap. I try to stay close to home before his first nap because sometimes he's tired sooner so we don't usually plan outings until he wakes up from nap #1. Lately we've been playing with plants and learning to name things like "leaf", "flower", "tree", "truck", and "grass". He loves to go around feeling everything with his fingers. We head back home for his nap which is usually 2 hours after he woke up, so 9/9:30am. I nurse him if he seems hungry (so he sleeps longer & doesn't wake up hungry) or I'll just sit with him in his room to get ready for nap time. We draw the curtains shut and turn on his sound machine so he knows it's nap time. I then lay him down awake and for morning naps he's asleep in seconds.
He usually sleeps for anywhere between 1-2 hours, lately it's been 1.5 hours. So this is my time to get ready for the day, clean, or like I'm doing right now, STUDY for my licensing exam. When Cash is up I nurse him and then we get out of the house. We never stay home after his first nap because we are usually home all morning and later on before bedtime and my personal view is that kids should be outside in sunshine and exploring and venturing out to see what God has created for them in nature. So we make plans with my sisters and his cousins, or friends of mine that have kids he can play with, we'll go to our pool and go swimming, the ocean to watch the waves and play in the sand, or head to the park to crawl in the grass, play on the swings and slides and meet other neighborhood kiddos. Cash loves watching the bigger kids so it's a ton of fun going to public places where he can people watch. We also go to his grandmas "nanas" house to work out a couple times a week. Over there Cash can play with her little doggies and crawl on the floor and play with new toys as well as hang with his grandparents. He loves it and it's nice for mama to get a quick workout in. I don't take him to our gym daycare because my dr says kids pick up so many illnesses from day cares so it's just not worth the risk with him being an infant still.
Once it's been 2 hours of wake time we head towards home. He usually naps again after 2 and half hours of wake time. That's when he shows sleep ques like rubbing his eyes and ears and gets fussy. So I do the same routine mentioned above, make sure to have fed him some solids or snacks when out and about and then put him down. He doesn't fall asleep as quickly for the second nap so it can take him 5-20 minutes since he's learned how to stand and sit up in his crib. So he plays in there and then finally settles himself and lays down to nap. He sleeps anywhere from 1-2 hours. So during that time I get everything done that needs to be done. I'll shower if I need to after the pool or a work out etc and each lunch, pay bills, do some prep work for work, blog, answer emails, study more, try to clean up a bit and by that time he's usually up again. After he wakes up it's usually late to mid afternoon so we will head outside again and go for a walk with Cash in his stroller or run some errands. Daddy gets home around 4:45/5ish so we usually go home by then to hang with him. Sometimes we'll all jump in the spa and play at the pool since it's been so hot and "water" is Cashs favorite thing in the world. Well head home to feed (solids) him dinner at 545/6ish and then give him a bath if he needs one around 6:30ish. After the bath we do bed time routine, put lotion on him, sing, put on a diaper, and Jammie's and then cuddle and play with him. We make sure to give him wAter since he tends to not want a ton of fluids during the day. And then daddy says goodnight and I close the drapes and turn on his sound machine and nurse him. He's in bed by 7 and asleep usually when I lay him down or within 10 minutes after.
Weekends we are out having fun and finding new adventures to try out. We are looking to buy a safe infant bike seat so we can take him on bike rides sometime soon!
He's a ton of fun and we can't wait to give him siblings to play with. For now I love hanging with my little guy and days when I have to leave him are tough, especially since he's going throughh some separation anxiety with me right now. But we make sure to get plenty of one on one time before I leave and on days when I get to be with him all day. It's such a blessing to get to teach him and be an example to him. I love that my husband and I are leaving such a big imprint on his life, being aware of that helps us make good healthy choices as parents in how we act around our son, what we speak into him, and what we decide to do with our day. It's not always easy being Home to nap him but that's where he gets the best rest and as much sleep during a nap that his mind and body call for. We certainly nap him on the go when we need to but we try to be home so he can get adequate rest for a baby his age. Same with bed time. His well being is in our hands and I remember that daily when we make the decision to be selfless and go do something we know he will enjoy and learn from. That can't possibly be an everyday all day thing and I've learned that these last 9 months of being a parent. Sometimes mom needs to clean and we have to stay inside, or sometimes he's gotta come along on errands that take up most of our day, but when we can, which is a good healthy portion of the time, we do what is best for Cash and get outside, take every opportunity to cuddle and teach and grow him. We soak up the moments we have together because we know they will go by all too quickly! Being a parent is so much about being selfless and at the same time giving yourself grace. Grace to not be perfect, grace to mess up and grace in the years ahead as we struggle to be the parent that that individual child needs.
With that said, this is 'our' world, I'm sure yours looks similar in some ways and much different in others. That's why motherhood is so special, you get to choose what life looks like with your littles with our choices in how we raise them and what we decide to do each day .. It certainly does impact them and leave a mark. Thank God for his help and for grace.
