Routines and rhythms

I always knew that tiny babies aren't great with routine but I feel that we are just beginning to get some kind of rhythm in our lives. I want to record some of the proto-routines that work for us now because I know it will change so soon and I want to be able to remember how we spend our days. I suspect I will look back on this time and wonder what I did with my self. The week has some relatively fixed points - Tuesday is swimming class with one of the other mothers from baby club and recently we have been going to the Early Childhood Health Centre for talks on Tuesday's too. Whether or not we go to the talk we always end up having coffee, and often lunch afterwards with other mummies, so it ends up taking up a lot of the day. Thursday, as previously mentioned, is baby club which again takes up a lot of the day and then the weekend is often taken up with family things.

The days usually start at not long after 6 when we here the little guy start to chat in his cot. I guess he must start to grizzle and Sanjay gets up, but I can't really think what happens at that time, coz I'm not really awake. Recently my back has been too sore to let me continue sleeping in bed (sometimes I can sleep on the couch, which is weird) but previously I'd keep sleeping til about 7:30 when I'd get up to find my breakfast made and Sanjay and the baby on the floor in the lounge room hanging out together. Between when I wake up and 8:30 I spend my time hassling Sanjay to get off to work in the hope that if he gets to work early he'll get home early. He never gets there early. Asher gets back to sleep between 8:30 and 9:30 and our routine goes out the window from then til late afternoon.

Well, I guess that's not strictly true. I used to try to get him to sleep after he had been up for an hour or two and I'm not sure when that evolved into our current chaos. I try to watch for tired signs but I don't always catch them so sometimes he gets a bit overtired, but we do what we can. At worst he only has 3 or 4 20 min naps at best he has a really long (2+ hour) nap and a few others. I can't complain though, because he's a very easy night time baby.

In the late afternoon we have a real routine, one that I more-or-less created rather than one that is purely organic. Sometime between 4 and 5 I recognise that Asher is getting tired and grouchy. It usually happens about the same time when I am getting tired and grouchy and would really like to have a cup of tea and not be holding a wriggly baby. At that point, if we are home (and I leave it as late as I can) we go outside and sit on the balcony. This started in the hot water when I wanted to water the balcony plants in the afternoon but now happens even if its cold and rainy like today. Either he sits in his little rocking chair while I wield the watering can or he sits on my lap and we just look out at the world. As close to 6pm as I can manage it we come inside and I feed him (one b00b), generally with the TV on. Sanjay usually gets home before 7pm and bathes the baby, either in the baby bath or they have a shower together. After his bath I get him ready for bed then he gets the other side and either Sanj or I put him to sleep. Generally he is asleep in his bed by 7:30pm.

The joy is that he then stays asleep til at least 2am, occasionally as late as 4:30am when he gets fed one side, has his nappy changed, fed the other side then wrapped up and put back in his bed. Generally Sanj gets the baby, I feed him, whoever is feeling most generous changes him and I put him back to bed, without putting him to sleep first. Then the whole cycle starts again.
I'm very lucky that he's so easy at night and even though he is generally pretty cheerful during the day I would love him to sleep a bit more regularly so I can plan my days around his sleeps a little better. I might blog a day or two of sleep/wake/feed times and see if that shows me any patters. It will almost certainly bore any readers!