A Day in the Life of a Mummy of One - Part I

A Day in the Life of a Mummy of One - Part I

I love a youtube vlogge-style 'Day in The Life (DITL)' video. For some of you who may not be very familiar with the term, vlogging, is the film version of blogging. A DITL is a video recording showing just that. The mummy wakes up in the morning puts her video camera on and takes you round her house as she gets herself and baby(ies) ready, the housework done, maybe a little outing etc. It involves a bit of editing obviously because she runs through the key events/activities and turns of the camera between those. It's purely to show her subscribers what her mummy world is like and they are very popular. There is a good size network of teen mums on youtube and the couple of DITL videos I've watched are by some who have a huge following - and they sure do make it look easy with their routines, creative ideas for birthday parties, very tidy homes and so on.

Yesterday, when my crazy (but wonderfully supportive, super, awesome) financier friend asked me to about our daily routines I immediately thought of these DITL videos. It would be great to actually do the real thing, on video. Maybe when I am bitten by the vlogging bug, till then, heres a run down.

It's actually quite long (I see why the video format is preferred) so I have split it into two parts. Enjoy!


The day technically starts at 12 midnight.

00:00
Coco and I are both fast asleep. As a very very reluctant Co-sleeping Mama, she's right beside me on the bed, wrapped in her muslin cloth or  light blanket.

5:00
I wake up to Coco stretching her arms and legs and granting a little bit. I know she's waking up. I watch her a few more minutes, just to check she's not falling back asleep. Finally, she turns her head from left to right a few times and makes a few complaining sounds. Usually, I do not wait till she cries, I pick her up at this point and breastfeed her.

These days, because she's a bit bigger, I do this while lying down and holding her in the laid back breastfeeding (biological nurturing) position. Her legs a usually across my chest though rather than vertical, because the duvet is covering my lower body - thank you winter!

When she was a bit younger I would sit up for every feeding session, and then hold her upright for at least half an hour till I put her down. She was 'colicky', but thats a whole other post.

I should probably say I change her diaper at this point, but I don't always. If I get the feeling its quite wet, then I do. But more often, unless she has a dirty diaper, I let her fall right back to sleep after food, usually this is about 10 minutes after she's woken up. While she's feeding, her eyes are usually closed. She then gets put down and I also return to sleeping.


8:00
She either repeats the stretching and then waking routine as per her 5am wake up or I gently wake her. This is because I feel I absolutely have to change her nappy at this point. We use pampers diapers and so far I have been happy with them, I haven't actually tried other brands, but I have had a handful of times when her wet nappy leaks on her and she can sleep through this, but it is the most awful thing for me to discover has happened.

So if she wakes up first - I feed her, if I wake her up, then I change her first and then feed her after. Today I roused her out of sleep by singing 'Morning Coco, Morning' a few times. Then, I kissed her and picked her up.

Then, I change her diaper and wash her lower half in some soapy warm water. I change her into her day clothes - separates if were going out or a lovely cheery baby gro. I remember wondering at what I should put her in separates but it came so naturally to me. As her personality shone more, I just felt like we were both ready to make the transition.

8:00 - 9:15
She has more food and then we just play in bed. I read a story or play some music and we generally 'bond'. Sometimes the MisterB - Cocos Dad will have take her right after she's been fed, if he has no morning meetings. If  he does 'my time' (see below) begins even earlier.

09:20
Coco is fast asleep. I usually hang around for another half hour and the leave her for 'my time'. This is the time of day I can guarantee she will be asleep for the next three hours. I use this for admin,  dishes, laundry, getting myself ready for the day, have my breakfast and lunch, quiet time, these days I do some blog related things etc. I might also do some cooking.

13:15
Coco is awake, the monitor announces. I feed her, change her bring her to the living room. She might play in the play gym for a little while but mostly I will give her lots of cuddles and she's usually in a great mood for 'chatting' and interacting. If the plan is to go out for the day, that usually happens between now and 3pm, before she falls back asleep.

3:30
Coco goes back to sleep. If we're out she's getting pushed in the pram and absolutely loves this. If we're home, she's in the bassinet downstairs. I usually close the blinds, turn down the lights and occasionally retreat to bed if only to be wrapped under the duvet - I find day time sleep difficult these days.

And thats the first half of the day gone. Phew. Check back in for part two.

B

A Day in the Life of a Mummy of One - Part I