Day in the Life: a working day

Some of my very favorite posts to read are "day in the life" posts. I work three days a week as an orthopedic physician assistant so my work days and days at home look drastically different. I recently did a "day in the life" post showing what a typical day at home looks like and today I will show you what a typical work day looks like.

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Date: Wednesday August 23, 2017

5:05am- I hear Vivi crying through the monitor. She has slept 7:30p-5:05a so I know she's probably hungry and not going back to sleep without a bottle. Garrett is at the gym so I get up and head into the nursery to feed her then get back in bed.

6:00am- My alarm goes off. Let Bella outside and feed her then straight to the coffee maker.

6:10am- Wash my face, quick make-up, get dressed and make the bed. Bella is mad the bed is made because she wants to get under the covers. Diva dog.

6:30am- Vivi is awake and talking in her crib. Garrett and I head in there together (our morning ritual) and she is SO smiley and happy to see us. Change her into her clothes for the day.

6:45am- Garrett leaves for work. Vivi plays on her play mat while I cook breakfast and pack my lunch. Today it's oatmeal with frozen blueberries and honey. After I eat I spend a little time playing with her before I have to leave.

7:20am- My MIL gets to my house to keep Vivian for the day. Smother my baby with kisses then it's out the door.

7:55am- Get to work. The 30 minute commute allows me alone time to drink my coffee, blast Lauren Daigle pandora, and mentally prepare myself for the day. Once I'm settled into my desk I review my patients for the day, look over paperwork that my nurse has prepared for me, sign off notes, etc.

8:45am-12pm- See patients. I see everything from 4-year-olds with a broken arm to 85-year-olds with severe arthritis in the knees. Do lots of cortisone injections in joints, put casts on, look at so many x-rays, post-op appointments, you name it.

12:15pm- Eat lunch in our break room with my coworkers. I always bring my lunch and today it's a turkey sandwich with strawberries.

12:45pm- Head across the street to the hospital to make rounds on our inpatients. These patients are admitted to the hospital post-joint replacement, hip fractures, etc. After hospital patients are seen it's back to the office to see afternoon patients.

4:45pm- Done seeing patients. Finish up my notes for the day and head home.

5:15pm- Garrett got home before me today and they are waiting for me on the porch. So happy to see them both! Change out of my work clothes then we go on a walk. I'm not sure who likes walks more... Vivi or Bella.

6:00pm- I tackle baby duty while Garrett tackles dinner. Tonight she gets carrots and apples and after she eats it's bath time.

6:30pm- Garrett and I sit down to eat while Vivi plays in her exersaucer. Tonight we have grilled pork chops, squash and zucchini.

7:00pm- Play time in Vivi's room to buy time before bed. She starts to get fussy around this time but we try to entertain her until at least 7:30.

7:40pm- I feed Vivi a bottle then we rock. My absolute favorite part of the day. She is soo snuggly and I have to force myself to get up and put her in her crib.

8:10pm- Finish up the dishes and pick up the house. I cannot go to bed until the living room and kitchen are clean.

8:35pm- Finally take a shower, get my lunch for work tomorrow prepped, then get in bed. I usually either read or we watch something on our DVR like a Dateline or 20/20. Tonight it's "Sick Girl" by Amy Silverstein.

10pm- Lights out!

Vivian Kate | 6 months

Vivian,

I am in denial that you are halfway to one. In some ways it feels like you were born yesterday and in some ways I feel like I have know you my entire life. One thing is for certain, we cannot imagine life without you!

Weight
17lb 15oz (81st percentile) and 26" long (54th percentile)

Sleep

We suffered through a major sleep regression this month. It was brutal! I thought it was teething but now I'm thinking it was just a good, old fashioned sleep regression. She went from sleeping 8p-6a to waking up every single hour. I let her cry it out one night and since then she has starting sleeping 7:30p-5:30a, getting a bottle then going back to sleep until 6:30a. It was SO hard hearing her cry for 40 minutes straight and I felt like the worst.mom.ever. but she had already proven she could do it, she wasn't sick, and there was no reason for her to need me. One night of crying it out did the trick!  Hopefully we are completely over that no-sleeping phase.

She also hasn't been napping as good as she used to. She sleeps on her tummy for naps but right when you put her down she thinks it's hilarious to roll on her back. Then she gets mad and cries because she can't get back over onto her belly. She usually wakes up at 6:30a, naps from 8:30a-9:30a, 12-1:30p, 3:30-5p and goes to bed around 7:30p. I think we may try to transition to two long naps here soon, one morning and one afternoon.

Eat

She drinks 5oz every 3ish hours. We started oatmeal cereal a few weeks ago and she LOVED it. We just gave it to her once a day at "dinner" time and then gradually transitioned to vegetables. We are still only doing solids once a day around dinner time but I will likely start doing it twice a day soon. I have loved making her baby food so far and hope I can stick with it.

Clothes

She is in 6m or 6-12m for the most part. She still has hardly any fall/winter clothes so I need to get on that ASAP!

Likes

Being outside is her absolute favorite thing. Bike rides, sitting on the porch, going on walks, you name it. She likes her jumper and exersaucer. Loves rubbing her furry sister (who doesn't exactly love it in return). So far she has tried sweet potatoes, green beans, and carrots and has loved them all. She loves her cousin Ella James and lights up when she's in the room. She still loves bath time and is totally a water baby. She lovesss the pool and splashing around.

Dislikes
You haaate getting dressed. It's like fighting a bull to put your clothes over your head. You hate having your mouth wiped off after you eat solids. You hate being bored and you get bored very easily #highmaintenance. You don't mind being in the car for short periods of time but long car rides aren't your jam (I think it's because you get bored).

Milestones

This month you did SO many new things! So far this has been the month with the most new milestones! You rolled over for the first time from belly to back on 7/26/17. You still can't figure out how to go from back to belly but I think you're just being lazy. You tried oatmeal cereal for the first time on 7/30/17 and loved it. You sat for the first time by yourself on 8/8/17. You hold your bottle by yourself now. You changed so much this month and no longer feel like a tiny baby but I love watching you grow!

More Vivi posts:

Birth story
1 month update
Nursery reveal
2 month update
3 month update
4 month update
5 month update

Recent Reads

I don't know about you, but I love getting book recommendations from someone who has already read it so I don't waste my precious free time reading a terrible book. I honestly look forward to crawling into bed at night and diving into a good book. Here are my most recent reads!

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NINETEEN MINUTES

By Jodi Picoult

"In nineteen minutes you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist. You can fold laundry for a family of five... In nineteen minutes you can stop the world or you can just jump off it. In nineteen minutes you can get revenge." This book is about a 17-year-old high school student who has endured years of physical and verbal abuse from his classmates and he is finally pushed over the edge and commits an act of violence at his school. It is a great read. Emotional and thought provoking.

BIG LITTLE LIES

By Liane Moriarty

"A brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive." An entertaining book about three very different women who all have children at the same school. Someone ends up dead but it isn't your typical murder novel! A must read and now I'm dying to see the tv series.

SLIGHTLY SOUTH OF SIMPLE

By Kristy Woodson Harvey

A great southern novel about a mother whose 3 grown daughters move back in with her in a small beach town. They are all going through personal struggles and trying to find the balance between love, family, work,  etc. This book has lots of twists and turns and keeps you on your toes! It really reminded me of my family since I am one of 3 sisters. Would read again!

WHEN GOD DOESN'T FIX IT

By Laura Story

Such a great read by Christian singer Laura Story about her husband being diagnosed with a brain tumor. She talks about how their "picture perfect" life was shattered and how her perspective changed when she realized that God may not fix everything. I highly recommend this book for anyone who has lost someone they love or is currently going through hardships.

WE NEVER ASKED FOR WINGS

By Vanessa Diffenbaugh

A story about a mom who is working three jobs to make ends meet while her mom raises her children. Her parents decide to return to Mexico and she has to step up and become a mom for the first time in her life. A pretty good book about young love, family, and hard choices.

ORDINARY GRACE

By William Kent Krueger

A story about a teenage boy who experiences multiple deaths in his town in a summer. It is told from his perspective forty years after all the events of that summer. It has a lot of characters which I don't really like because it gets confusing. It took my forever to read this book because I couldn't get into it but it starts to get really good about halfway through. I would recommend it.

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If you missed my last recent reads post, you can catch it here!

Blueberry cheesecake breakfast casserole

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. We usually eat healthy breakfasts but on the weekends we tend to splurge. I am all about a breakfast that you can prep the night before because lets be honest, when I wake up I am hangry. This was the perfect breakfast treat last weekend at the beach. Add some eggs or bacon on the side and you have a delicious, easy breakfast!

Blueberry cheesecake breakfast casserole

Ingredients:

-1 loaf french bread, cubed

-1 package cream cheese

-1/3 cup granulated sugar

-1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries, tossed lightly with flour

-8 large eggs

-1 1/2 cups milk

-1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

-Spray 9x13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray

-Layer half the cubed bread in dish

-With hand mixer, mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla

-Pour mixture over bread

-Layer with frozen blueberries

-Cover with remaining bread

-Whisk the eggs and milk until combined and pour over bread

-Cover and refrigerate overnight

-Bake on 350 for 45-50 minutes

Weekending: last beach weekend

I am so sad this was our last beach weekend of the year. We have plans basically every weekend until mid-November so we likely won't see our beach again until 2018. So bittersweet... we will miss it but I am definitely looking forward to fall now.

Friday we got there around lunch time and spent the day on the porch. I filled up her baby pool and she just loved splashing around now that she can sit on her own. I even got an hour of alone time to read and drink a glass of champagne while she napped which was absolute heaven! Garrett brought takeout home for dinner on his way in after work.

Saturday the weather was gorgeous so we spent the whole day on the beach. We had dinner reservations and that morning my babysitter canceled on me but said she had a high school girl set up for me already... bless that girl's heart. Vivi cried for basically three hours straight, thank you separation anxiety. I tried to relax and enjoy date night but gosh I was just so sad and stressed the entire time! I guess I will be staying home for the next 18 years!

Sunday we were up early to head home and get ready for the week. Gym, grocery, porch sitting, walking, and a family dinner at my mom's house. The perfect way to end the weekend!

Baby Essentials: Months 3-6

We have officially kept our little human alive for almost 6 months! There are some products that we absolutely couldn't have lived without. I always loved seeing people's favorite products for babies so I have rounded up a list of the things that we loved for months 3-6.

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Solly wrap. We have used this since she was a newborn and she still loves it. I throw her in it when I need my hands to be free and it keeps her happy and lets me get things done around the house.

Stroller fan. We go on walks every single day and this fan keeps her cool in this awful NC heat and humidity. I love that you can charge the battery too.

Exersaucer. We bought this exact exersaucer and play mat in perfect condition at a consignment store for $25! Best find ever. The toy bar lights up and plays music and you can take it off and attach it to the floor mat too. She loves both the play mat and the exersaucer.

Baby Merlin's magic sleep suit. This suit stops their startle reflex, which is commonly why they wake themselves up. As ridiculous as this thing looks, she absolutely loves it. We call her our sumo wrestler or marshmallow. We put her to bed without it one night just to see if she was ready to transition out of it and she woke up a million times. Back into the puffy suit she went!

Bumbo. We sit her in this to eat her solids every night and she also loves to sit in it and play with toys that we put on the tray that attaches. It is perfect for when they start holding their head up and is a good item to have before they transition into a high chair.

Little Unicorn bibs. Because teething. And allllll the drool!

Baby Einstein take-along tunes. She LOVES anything that lights up or plays music and this does both.

Suction spinwheel toy. Her absolute favorite toy. We put it on her bumbo tray and even take it to restaurants and put it on the table in front of her. She loves the colors and loves to try to spin it herself.

Sophie the giraffe. She loves her Sophie and chews on it nonstop! The perfect teether because she can hold the neck and it is soft on her gums.

Jumper. I also found this exact jumper at a consignment store for $20! She is just now starting to really jump in this thing and she loves it. Working on those leg muscles!

Kick & Play Piano. We have this on the inside of her crib and she loves kicking and listening to the music. We can throw her in the crib and turn this on and it will keep her entertained for a while.

Jumper that hangs in doorway. She likes to sit in this and spin around. We put it in the doorway in our foyer and she can look out the front door, which she loves!

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Mamas, what other products did you love around months 3-6? You can check out our favorite items for months 0-3 here!

10 Things You May Not Know About Me

1. I have a tattoo on my hip that says "believe". I got it on my 18th birthday and I always forget it's there.

2. I am a terrible cook and don't enjoy cooking at all. My husband loves it and cooks 90% of our meals.

3. My dad is an orthodontist and I had to have braces three times because I never wore my retainers. Worst patient ever!

4. I am super paranoid that I am going to run out of toiletries and household products so at any given time you will find about 4 extra tubes of toothpaste, 2 bottles of contact solution, 3 sticks of deodorant, and 5 bottles of hand soap and dish soap in my house.

5. I can't stand talking on the phone. My husband is the exact opposite. He calls me about 5x a day just to say hey and I'm all like "why can't you just text me?"

6. I have two sisters and I am the middle child. I want three children one day and I'd be totally happy if they were all girls because I know how special sisters are.

7. I love checking the mail. I don't know why, I just do. Even though it's usually just bills (and an occasional package for Vivi), it just excites me. It's the little things you guys!

8. My love language is an amazing charcuterie board. Give me alllll the cheese!

9. I love being outside. Going on walks, bike rides, sitting on the porch, you name it. I am a total country girl and would live on a farm in a heartbeat if it didn't take 30 minutes to get to the closest grocery store.

10. I am 100% a morning person. When my alarm goes off I hop right out of bed full of energy and ready to tackle the day. But I can barely keep my eyes open past 9pm.

What do we have in common?!