A day in the life...

In the last year, my daily life has changed DRAMATICALLY. I've gone from being a full-time student who could basically go and do anything I wanted at anytime, to, well, not so much. Here's a normal day for Mommy Manda (starting at midnight)

1am - Clara wakes me up to eat. Goes back to sleep immediately. I go back to sleep on the coach as a habit, because if she DOES wake back up in the next hour, it's too heartbreaking to get back out of bed.
3am- I wake up in a panic that Clara's died. I go check to make sure she's breathing. She is.
5am - Yay! Four hours again! Clara wakes up to eat, goes back to sleep immediately. I decide to try my luck in my own bed with Jordan... still hoping she sleeps for at least another 3 hours.
8:30am - Clara wakes up to eat (what a great baby giving her mom so much sleep), stays awake. I make myself breakfast, attempt to give Clara tummy-time. I look at the dishes, knowing that I should do them. Procrastinate.
8:35- Clara hates tummy-time. I give in and flip her on her back. I eat breakfast and check email/facebook.
9am - I go peak in on Jordan. Still sleeping. He was up late last night working.
9:15 - Clara starts to get fussy. I put her in her swaddler and get her into her bed.
9:30 - Clara fusses in bed. I comfort her/give her the binkie.
10am - Jordan wakes up, we exchange dream stories. Clara wakes up. I declare that 45 min is NOT a long enough nap, go in and try to get her to sleep longer.
10:15- Clara wakes up again. Hardly long enough. Put binkie back in mouth.
10:30 - Clara wakes up. I give in. She's up. I feed her a bit. I hand her off to Jordan so I can get a break.
10:45 - Still fussy. She really needs a longer nap. I get her ready... AGAIN (worrying that I"m a horrible mother), she goes directly to sleep. I check facebook.
11am - Clara still asleep, I read Babyproofing your Marriage. Glance at dishes again, knowing Clara will be asleep for only so long. Continue to procrastinate.
Noon - Clara wakes up happy. I declare I am the best parent ever. I bug Jordan while he works. We rock. Oh, look, she's smiling at Jordan! She LOVES her daddy! I play with Clara while watching an episode of Gilmore Girls. Still procrastinating dishes, and now it's noon and I still haven't showered/gotten dressed.
12:45 - Episode ends. I glance at the dishes again. I hate dishes.
1pm - Clara starts looking sleepy, back down for another nap (she really only stays awake for about an hour at a time most days).
1:15- Hungry again. I hunt around in my kitchen for food, hating myself for not cleaning. If I cleaned it, I'd feel like cooking.
1:30 - after looking around the kitchen, I realize we have no food to eat. I make a grocery list. Hop in the shower (finally) and get dressed in real clothes.
2pm - Clara's still asleep? AWESOME. I'm running to the grocery store. Tell Jordan to look after the baby.
3pm - return from grocery store with a TON of groceries. Clara's still asleep? We are the best parents ever. Put away groceries. Also, think "I should reorganize my cabinet." And "Those stupid dishes." Continue to procrastinate.
3:15- Realize I never ate. Try to make a healthy choice, but add a cookie to my salad.... Not too bad, right? Now what's for dinner? I also check facebook, briefly.
3:30 - Go check to make sure Clara's breathing. Still breathing. And sleeping. Watch a Stargate. What a stellar parent I am *sarcasm*
4pm - Clara still asleep. I realize the minute I begin the dishes, Clara will wake up, but I finally decide procrastinating any longer will make me the World's Worst Homemaker (partly because I hate cooking dinner in a messy kitchen). I start the dishes.
4:05- Clara wakes up. I feed her.
4:30- I give a Jordan a choice: Dishes or Clara (I'm a great wife, I know). He chooses Clara, I continue dishes.
5:00 - Yay! Dishes are finally done! Now, dinner...
5:45 - Fish tacos for dinner. I wonder if Jordan will like them. Clara is really fussy, I waited too long to put her down for a nap, and now she's overtired. I get her ready for a nap before we eat.
6:00 - Clara's finally down. We start dinner.
6:05 - I'm about to open my mouth to eat food, when I hear Clara cry. I go calm her down.
6:15 - Another bite poised to enter my mouth, when I hear a Clara cry. I debate with Jordan if we should just let her cry a bit, or go calm her again. Jordan puts her binkie back in, comes back and we eat.
6:30 - Clara's still upset. I go feed her a bit and she goes to sleep. Jordan and I watch a Stargate together. I check facebook. Yes, again.
7:15- Clara wakes up. That's ok, she can be awake. she had a HUGE nap earlier, and I want her to sleep tonight.
8pm - Get Clara ready for real bed. Like, until the morning. Get her in pjs, read a book, have a nice nightly feeding, and then into her pack-n-play she goes. She goes directly to sleep, I congradulate myself on some rockin' parenting I'm doing here. Jordan and I watch the lastest Office episode to celebrate our success.
8:45 - Clara cries. What? She's supposed to be asleep for the night. I go in and her eyes are WIDE awake, and she smiles at me. No! Stop being so cute! You're supposed to be asleep! The book says you should be sleep! I rock her for 3 minutes, put her back in bed, walk out.
8:50 - Clara starts crying. I let her cry for five minutes.
8:55 - I go in and calm her down. Put binkie back in, and leave.
8:58 - Clara cries. I let her cry for 10 minutes.
9:08 - I go in and calm her down. Put binkie back in, leave.
9:10 - Clara cries. I give up, put her in her swing in her dark bedroom. She goes directly to sleep. I'm such a lame mom resorting to the swing to get her to sleep...
9:15 - Jordan plays some football while think about cleaning the kitchen again. I swear someday I'll be on top of this whole homemaking thing... I decide to read a book instead.
10pm - Clara's well asleep, I go and stop her swing, but leave her in it. She stays asleep. Jordan's working on my computer, so I finally go and put those things away that will go bad/make us sick. Oh, yeah, I might have an addiction. Yet AGAIN I check facebook. I feel guilty that I haven't done tonight's dishes, but managed to check facebook...
10:30 - I'm tired. Going to bed. I go in the room and very, very, very carefully move Clara from her swing to her bed. I stand there a minute. She doesn't move. I dare not be happy. I walk out and slowly get ready for bed, bug Jordan about coming to bed. He's still working.
11pm - Clara's still asleep, I'm ready for bed, Jordan's brushing his teeth. I double check that she's breathing before I go lay in my bed. Good. Jordan and I talk for about 15 minutes about how cute she is. Then we debate on when to have another one (Amanda: "But we did such a great job the first time!" Jordan: "You're already crazy, can't we wait until you're normal again?")

Yeah, that's not how my life was a year ago. But guess what? All I can think about is how darn cute that baby is! Oh, and worrying about her next nap. And checking facebook.