Monday

a day in the life 3
6:50am: Walk in the front door, yell out a greeting to Momboss and Dadboss, if they're not there in the kitchen. Start making bottles.
6:55am: Grab whatever baby is awake from MB and cuddle while I finish preparing the morning feed.
7:00am: Set Baby1 up in a bouncy chair on the couch, go to grab Baby2 if awake - if not, that means I get the ease of feeding one baby for the next few minutes! Commence morning feed.
7:10am: Baby2 generally wakes up by now. DB grabs her and brings her out to me. I pop a bottle in her mouth as well and finish feeding both babies. Momboss is finished getting dressed for work, she comes out to the kitchen to make her lunch, we chat while I feed and she packs.
7:20am: MB leaves for work.
7:30ish: Babies are done eating. Commence burping.
7:45ish: DB is ready for work, he chats a little bit as he gathers all his stuff to leave and I burp. He departs.
7:50ish: Baby2 is passed out on my shoulder - she often falls asleep at morning feed. Swaddle her, turn on white noise machine and humidifier and lay her down in crib.
8am: Baby1 is drowsy and almost asleep on my shoulder. Swaddle him and lay him down in crib next to Baby2.
8:05am: Gather up bottles from morning feed, and whatever may have been used overnight, and wash.
8:15am: Let the dog out to pee. Convince him that baby blanket/burp cloth/toy/etc isn't actually his.
8:30am: Grab whatever I brought for breakfast, sit and eat while enjoying the Today Show on TV, then pull out my laptop and work on paper.
10:40am: Baby2 wakes up - I sprint in and grab her before she can wake Baby1. Diaper is changed, then I put her in the sling to have 2 free hands to make bottles.
10:50am: Bottles all ready to go. Take Baby2 out of sling and put her in bouncy seat, go to wake up Baby1 and change his diaper.
11am: Time for feed! Baby2 in seat, Baby1 in lap until halfway through feeding when they get burped, and positions switched - Baby2 always needs a little more convincing to finish her bottle!
11:35am: Feed done! Change diapers again (Feeding always means a huge poop!) and put them in clean clothes for the day.
11:45am: The weather is still nice at this hour, not 90* yet, so I load them in the stroller and we go for a very quick walk around the neighborhood - they pass out within a couple of minutes.
12:10pm: Arrive home. Transfer babies one by one into crib without waking.
12:20pm: Wash bottles again.
12:30pm: Free time. Play on computer, make lunch, etc.
1:50pm: Baby2 is crying. I go in and rock her a bit, then swaddle her and lay her back down. She passes right back out.
2:40pm: Make bottles, sit them on counter to wait. Let dog out to potty.
3:00pm: Babies are both still sleeping, so I have to go and wake them up for their feed! They're not totally happy about this, as can be expected, and scream through the diaper change.
3:50pm: Finally done with feed, which was very stop-and-go as babies weren't totally awake for it. Put each baby in swing while I change the others diaper again, then vice versa.
4:10pm: They pass out again. Swaddle them and put them into separate cribs this time. Restart white noise machine. Wash bottles.
4:40pm: Baby2 fusses. I go in and pat her back for a minute and she settles back down. Didn't wake Baby1, thank goodness! Throw in load of baby laundry.
5:25pm: MB arrives home! We chat for a little bit, maybe make fun of DB's procrastination tendencies - I'm very thankful to have a solid, friendly relationship with MB and DB this time! Generally, right about now Baby2 will wake up and MB goes to grab her. Baby1 will wake up in a little bit and they'll manage to stay awake until the 7pm feed, after which they'll have a bath and go down for bed at about 8:15pm, after which - if everything goes well- both babies will sleep through the night!
5:40pm: Kiss Baby2 (And/or Baby1, if he happens to be up!) wave good-bye to MB, and leave for the day!

11 comments:

Sleepyhollow said...

You burp, I sure hope you say excuse me:)
It sounds like you have a very easy day the
babies must be young. It seems all they do
Is sleep, rest up as I'm sure their sleep
schedule will change soon.

Bostonnanny said...

i miss working with infants :( my two are now entering the annoying tantrum and question phase. One is following me around all day asking why and the little one is throwing herself on the floor for every little thing. At least they take a nap at the same time for 2-3 hours otherwise I'd go crazy

xyz said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
OP said...

Yes, they are still quite young, 2 1/2 months old. I LOVE working with infants again, but I can't wait until they get a little bit older and are able to interact more, stay awake a little longer, etc.
And I'm VERY glad that after almost 4 years, I've finally succeeded in finding a job with a family who does NOT have psycho parents! ;)

NannyPoppins said...

Aw. How cute! I love working with infants as well. I currently work with an 8 month old boy and I will start working with a 2 month old girl within the next month! Infants are so much fun. I would love to hear how your "day in the life" goes within the next few months!

Michelle said...

sounds fun :) I remember the quiet sleepy days in the beginning! "my" babies are now 15 months old and while they still nap 2x a day they are exhausting (and tons of fun!) Enjoy the sleepy phase while you can, I miss the snuggles at that age!

OP said...

I'll definitely submit an update "DITL" in a few months when things are a little more busy and fun! Things are way easy right now, I can't wait until I'm trying to chase 2 mobile babies around the house. ;) (This is not my first go-round with twins, so I know what I'm in for!)

just curious... said...

...and feel free to school me, since I have only ever taken care of infants over 6mos. and older children, but why wake them up to eat?

Manhattan Nanny said...

Just Curious,
(I'm not the OP) When I cared for preemie twins they had to be fed every three hours round the clock. They were quite small and weight gain was important. They couldn't drink too much at a time, so frequent feedings were necessary to get the total amount they needed in 24 hours. Even with full term newborns the ped. may recommend not letting them go more four hours between feedings, so you have to wake them. Often this will be what is called a dream feeding. They don't fully wake up, but suck away, altohough they may wake up and expess their annoyance when you try to burp them!

LouLou said...

Manhattan Nanny- I had a preemie (only 1, but extreme preemie) and weight gain was important for him too. However, we were never told to wake him up, unless it had been more than 8 hours. (Yeah, right!) I don't think many peds recommend waking a sleeping baby anymore, and for my baby, conserving energy by sleeping was just as important as feeding him, at least according to his NICU doctor. I'm not the OP, I just wanted to let you know my experience! :)

OP said...

Just curious -
They were on a 3 hour schedule for a bit, but mom and dad switched them to a 4 hour before I even started. It's important to keep them on the schedule so it doesn't degenerate into spending all day and night taking turns feeding one baby after another so they're on separate schedules. With 1 baby this wouldn't be important, but with 2 it is!
Manhattan nanny - They're actually not preemies! (39 weekers). The boy STTN, the little girl gets a dreamfeed at 11 and then typically wakes up at 3 or so for another feed, although sometimes she does STTN.