We usually go lay in my bed and nurse first thing, then head downstairs for some supplement (as of this week, this includes some solids, then a bottle of soy formula). After he eats, we walk outside to check out our garden (and see which plants the rabbits chose for their snack overnight :/). Next, we play on the couch or the floor, reading books and singing songs while mama drinks her coffee. About 2 hours after he wakes, James is quite ready for his first nap. I turn off his lights, turn on his white noise, snuggle and sing for a moment, then lay him down fully awake in his crib. He always immediately rolls to his belly and sucks his thumb. Within a few minutes, he is (usually) asleep.
I use this first nap to briefly get ready, eat breakfast, do yoga, read some scripture and do some journaling. James will nap anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours right now. Whenever he wakes from his first nap, he hops in the stroller and we go for a jog (sometimes yard work is substituted here, and he sits outside in the stroller or in his Zebra chair while I work). The tiny boy LOVES to be outside.
After our jog, he nurses and has a second bottle. Afterwards, he is usually ready for a second nap, so down he goes, just like the first. I usually shower, eat lunch, clean the kitchen and work on laundry during the second nap.
After he wakes from his second nap, he gets some time to practice eating solids, then it is usually the best time for us to run errands - go to Target, the grocery store (Trader Joe's is his favorite - I think he likes all the bright colors there, with a close second favorite of Whole Foods - probably because he gets to ride in the Moby wrap since their shopping carts are too small for his carseat), pick up some baked goods from Foster's Market, go to Lowe's after working in the yard and realizing there's always more and more to go get... Or sometimes we'll just get out of the house and go get coffee, meet up with friends or even visit Stuart at work.
After our outing (or sometimes during), he nurses again and has another bottle. When we get home, he is usually more than ready to go down for his third nap. I usually try to start dinner prep during this nap, or wrap up other chores and laundry. Or sometimes I just knit :) It mostly depends on how our day has gone so far.
When he wakes from his third nap, he gets some more solids. We then spend the evening trying to kill time until 6:15 or so, when his bedtime routine starts. Sometimes we'll go for a short walk or sit outside or run a brief errand. If we stay busy, he's the happiest baby. But if he starts to get bored during these evening hours, he gets rather fussy (especially if naps haven't gone so well).
Around 6pm, he nurses for a bit, then we plop him in his little bathtub. He loves bath time, so sometimes we hang out there for half an hour (or until the water gets cold), then we put on lotion and PJs. Finally, he takes his last bottle in his room while sitting in the rocking chair. We've been reading through the Winnie the Pooh series that his P\PAW gave him. Lately Stuart has been home for the bedtime routine, so he gives James his bottle while I read Pooh to my two boys. Then we snuggle the baby, sing him a little song and lay him down for the night at 7pm. And that's a day!
A note (mostly for myself to remember, but also for anyone who is curious): for several weeks, we did everything solely based on James' cues and wrote it all down in detail. We noticed several patterns in his routine occurring, which helped us establish a bit of a transition to parent-directed routines. We took what we noticed he was already doing, and structured it a bit. For us, this was mostly at his bedtime. Within a few days of us establishing a set bedtime routine at a consistent time everyday (and after he learned how to fall asleep on his own) he started sleeping 10 or 11 hours every night, which amazed us!
From here, I'm so curious to see how his routines change over time!
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