What do you do all day?

As part of my baby preparations, I wrote down Goldie's routine for the day. My mom will be taking care of her and I want to make it as easy on both of them as possible. Plus, I can go into labor with a clear mind that Goldie's needs are being met. It may also come in handy if anyone stops by to help out after the baby is born.

I couldn't believe once I started how many little things I do for her. I also learned that while I may feel disorganized, we really do have a routine that we follow everyday. Its flexible, but consistent. It also answers the age old SAHM question, "What do you do all day? Don't you get bored?" I thought I would post just the morning to lunch portion, I don't want to completely bore you. If this doesn't seem like a lot, keep in mind that all this goes on while homeschooling my 2 older kids, making their lunch, etc...

Goldie’s Schedule

6:30-8:00 Good Morning!

Potty -Right after she wakes up Goldie pees on the potty. She is usually dry in the morning.

Breakfast Goldie likes: - toast w/ raspberry jam or peanut butter
-Waffles w/ maple syrup to dip them in
-banana
-cereal w/ soy milk (feeds herself so use 2 bibs and a placemat)
- NO cheese, milk, or yogurt
Drink - 50/50 juice (white grape or oj) and water = 8 oz w/ 5 tsp Thick-It
- add 4 drops of Vitamin D (only added to morning drink)
Ginkgo - give .50 ml in the morning (not afternoon or evening)

Get dressed, puts her pajamas away in drawer

Playtime - read books, do puzzles, play babies, watch Signing Time, helps unload dishwasher and puts her dishes away.

10:00 Potty time and snack. Encourage Goldie to drink.

Lunch - 1 orange probiotic and ½ tsp Children’s DHA
- both are on door of refrigerator, use medicine syringe for DHA
-Goldie likes: leftovers from dinner, pb&j, fruit, salad, canned pasta, chicken, salty foods, tuna, and soup
Potty

Nap - Goldie is ready for a nap by 1:00.Sometimes sooner if she was up early. She likes to rock in the recliner and listen to her GloWorm (while I sing along). Sometimes we lay on my bed and I sing to her.

Potty - Goldie usually poops after her afternoon nap. Be patient this can take a long time. It’s a good time to read some books.

So there you have it, a peak at the day in the life of Goldie!

I also did not intend this post to be about nutrition, supplements, or potty training. But, I realize people may have questions after reading it. I consider all of Goldie's supplements essential for her. She has to have probiotics and fish oil(Children's DHA) to avoid constipation. The fish oil and melatonin work together to help her sleep. We also see a difference in her speech and cognition when she is taking Ginkgo. As for potty traing, we aren't. We have practiced elimination communication since Goldie was 4 months old. Our road to being diaper free is just a little longer than most!

Before T & A Surgery

Goldie is having her tonsils and adenoids removed on Friday. I wanted to document for myself what her sleep is like now. She has been sleeping through the night most of the time. By sttn, I mean she doesn't wake ME up. When I was sick, I sat up and watched her for an hour in the middle of the night. She must have sat up at least 6 times. No wonder people are constantly telling us "she looks tired."

I think the melatonin has helped Goldie with being able to fall back to sleep on her own. She gets 1-1.5 mg before bed. I read on an email list that melatonin works better in conjunction with omega-3's. I didn't give it much thought until we ran out of Goldie's fish oil. I kept giving her melatonin, but she wasn't sleeping at night. After two nights it dawned on me that she wasn't getting her fish oil. I bought more and she was back to sleeping well again.

Which brings us to last night. Omega-3's have a side effect of thinning the blood so we had to stop giving them before Goldie's surgery. Then we ran out of melatonin yesterday. I went to get more and they are out of the brand we use. The brand I ended up with takes 4 droppers to equal 1 of our normal brand! And the droppers aren't marked with ml. Last night, Hank and I were up with Goldie from midnight until 2 am. That's when he put Signing Time on and stuck her in the pack and play while he slept on the couch. She was tired the entire time she was up. She kept moaning and sucking her thumb. (this is her self soothing technique) Her only nap today was 20 minutes in the van. She fell asleep outside in the swing at 7:30 and was back up at 9. I got her back to sleep and haven't heard from her yet. I'm off to join her as quick as I can. Who knows what tonight will be like.

I would appreciate any prayers or happy thoughts you can spare on Friday. I'm having a hard time just thinking about handing my baby girl over for surgery.