Routines

Caleb will be six-weeks-old tomorrow. Marcus commented the other day that the last six weeks have flown by, but it seems to me that I have been a mother forever. I can't really even remember NOT having Caleb.

Anyway, Caleb seems to have settled into a semblance of a routine. He wakes up for the day around 7:00 am. He nurses for about 30 minutes right after he wakes up, and then its play time. Mostly, we talk and sing together, and occasionally get out one of his books, though his attention span is only about ten seconds for the book. He is happiest in the morning, full of smiles and coos. The morning is also the only time when he is content to lay alone on his Baby Einstein playmat for 10-15 minutes, which works out very well for Mommy's morning shower :)

He starts getting tired and hungry again about an hour and a half after he woke up, so he nurses again for about 30 minutes and falls asleep. His morning nap ranges from 1-2 hours, and he's usually up again by 11:00 am. Again, he nurses, plays for an hour or so, and then nurses again, going down for an afternoon nap around 1:00 pm. He's up again around 3:00, and the routine repeats himself. He usually takes a little catnap, 30-45 minutes around 5:00 pm. His longest wakeful period is in the evening, and it ranges from two to four hours. He also tends to fuss the most in the evenings, though some nights he's perfectly happy.

We try to start his bedtime routine around 8:00 pm, though he may not actually go to sleep until as late as 10:00 pm. Bedtime starts with a bath, which Caleb loves. Daddy like to take part in the bath-giving, because Caleb enjoys it so much. After his bath, Caleb wails in protest while Mommy puts on his diaper and his pajamas. He usually doesn't mind being changed or getting dressed, but somehow, the combination of fatigue and being deprived of the warm water makes pajama time a battle. The final step in the bedtime routine is a long nursing session with the I Can Only Imagine Lullaby CD playing in the background. Caleb falls asleep when he's full and I lay him ever-so-carefully in his little bouncer seat and tip-toe out of the room.

I'd like to pretend like that is the end of the day, but of course it is not :) He usually sleeps for about four hours that first stretch, gets up to nurse for about 15 minutes, sleeps another three hours, nurses again, and then sleeps about two more hours; then he's up again for the day. If I'm lucky, I get seven cumulative (though definitely not consecutive) hours of sleep.
I have described here an ideal day for Caleb. Some days, he wakes up after 30 minutes when he should have slept for a couple hours, and then he is fussy until he catches up on his sleep. Some days he won't go to sleep at all and skips a nap entirely, which also results in grumpiness. Appointments, mommies' groups, church, shopping and other outings sometimes disrupt his schedule. In the two weeks since this general pattern has developed, probably only half of the days have unfolded as neatly as described here.