It's been 10 days since the last post, however nothing really exciting has happened in those days. I was thinking about what to make my next post about and I threw a couple ideas around, but decided to give all my readers a look into a normal day for myself at the Parrish household. Hope you enjoy it as much as I love living it.
The day starts for us anywhere between 6-7am, depending on when the girls wake up because they are hungry. Nora feeds one and I bottle feed the other. How do we choose which one goes with who? It really isn't pre-determined. We just make sure that it's switched up so we aren't always feeding the same baby. Lets go through if I have Londyn, since Wren is pretty smooth sailing when it comes to eating. Londyn in the morning is like me. She has no time to talk to anyone, no time for cute baby noises, she just wants to be left alone and eat. I respect this. Before I feed her, I need to change her diaper, so I pick her up and we are off to the nursery. This is where the screaming starts. She hates being changed and isn't really a big fan of putting on new clothes. News flash baby girl; this is going to happen every day for a very long time. Scream away, because it doesn't bother daddy, and you need some butt paste so get excited for that too. Once the screaming and flailing of the arms and legs is over, I have her changed and dressed and we are off to go downstairs. Once we are downstairs I need to warm up the bottle. We got this Phillips sexy bottle warmer for like $70. Looks great. Put the same amount of water in the base that is in the bottle and it is warmed in a few minutes. Perfect; if the god damn thing worked. I've tried it twice and it takes forever to warm up. Time is so important that the extra 10 minutes it takes to warm up seems like 10 hours by the end of the day, so I fill a plastic cup with scolding hot water and boom, the bottle is warm and Londyn now can eat. The screaming can stop. Until I have to burp her. She hates this. Not the point of having to burp, the fact I have to take the bottle away from her. I know what some of you are thinking, just let her finish the bottle and then burp her. Well we tried this at the beginning and projectile vomit happened the first few times I went this route. Thank you for the suggestion, but you're not the one cleaning up the vomit which then gets to other levels. The vomit gets on her onesie, which now I have to change her again, the screaming comes back, not to mention she then will want to be fed sooner then normal since she got rid of some of her food via throw-up. It's a vicious cycle that having to hear her cry a little bit is worth it while feeding her so she doesn't have to vom. Once the feeding is done we put both in their boppies and let them look around until they get grumpy and need to be put in their rock and plays for nap 1 of the day. This is where Nora and I get to do things like eat breakfast, shower, laundry, errands, and if I'm feeling really good I run. The girls are down for anywhere from 2-3 hours so we have to squeeze everything I just mentioned into this timeframe. Once they are up again, I feed whichever one I didn't feed the first time and the other goes with Nora. By the time we are done with this its around 12-1 pm and its time for Nora and I to eat lunch . The girls sometimes go right back to sleep at this time, but if they don't it's tummy time. We have a giant alphabet mat that we started off with. Wren on her tummy does two things. The first is she just sits there motionless, or she screams. Loudly. She isn't the biggest fan of tummy time but it needs to be done. Nora and I tell her all the time "Doctors orders." Londyn is a little more tolerable of tummy time but that is just because she is stronger at the moment. Both of them can move their heads from side to side and lift them as well, however Londyn is starting the body boogie as I call it and has moved from one spot to another and rolled over a few times. Neat. I have a feeling she's going to skip the crawling phase and go right to walking. That should be fun for everyone. Recently we just introduced a new play gym for tummy time. It looks like a small arena that has a mat with different cloth materials on it, a few bunnies doing shit that I don't really understand so the girls definitely don't, and toys dangling from hooks connecting to the double cross-bars that are keeping it upright. It's pretty fucking intense. One section has a mirror on it, another a velvet star , and 1/4 of a side is made of this scrunchy material that makes a noise that anyone over the age of 8 thinks is annoying but the girls dig it. In the middle is a dangling music box that plays a tune. We keep the girls on their stomach for about 3-5 minute intervals and then turn them on their back. They love to listen to the music box and watch the toys dangling from the cross-bars swing back and forth as I push one side bar forward and back. I know this is some exciting shit. After tummy time the girls are done screaming and ready for a nap and I need a cocktail. It's back to the rock and plays for about a 45 min to an hour nap.
The next feeding I do both girls which allows Nora to pump and also gives her more time to do other things. I attempted to feed both at the same time to start. I put Wren in one boppie and Londyn in the other and I sat in between both while holding bottles in each hand feeding both of my daughters. I'm superman. I can do anything. Look at me go. This is fucking fantastic. Until I have to burp one. For those of you that do not have kids yet, you may be confused on why burping can throw a wrench into this duel feeding. Well you as a human being only have two arms and hands. You are holding the baby over your shoulder in a mini firemans carry in one arm and burping them with your off hand. Two hands and arms are busy, but you know who doesn't care? The child you aren't burping. Whomever it is does not care what you are doing with their sister, they just care about the fact the bottle is no longer in their mouth and the deliciousness they were just enjoying has stopped. More screaming. More whaling of the arms and legs. Scratch the duel feeding. I'm not superman. I don't have a fucking cape anyway and I sure as hell can't fly. I don't think. I found that duel feeding actually was extending the time it took me to get both of them fed by about 15 minutes. Again, time is so precious to you, duel feeding was shelved and they now get fed separately. Wow Rocky, you figured that out so fast and are just breezing through this right? Wrong. If both babies wake up at the same time (Which happens very often), I'm not duel feeding so in comes the bunny arena again for the one who isn't on the bottle. The bunnies can't hold a bottle so more screaming and whaling is occurring, except when I play the music box. I love this music box. I crank it for as long as it can go and hopefully whichever baby I am feeding sucks the milk down before the music stops or else it's World War III up in the Parrish household again.
This feeding is done, everyone has survived, and it's around 4:00-4:30 pm. I have about 30 minutes of relax time for myself before I have to start cooking dinner as Nora breast feeds both of them around 5 pm. I am going to go into meal prep in another blog post so I won't get that in depth here. Dinner now is anywhere from 5-6 pm. After dinner I have to dry the sterilized bottles and other baby things that I did in the morning before I ate breakfast. Once all of this is done and Nora is done cleaning up the kitchen it is around 7-7:30 pm. I'm up again for a little top off feed. I give both girls around 2 ounces of milk which they take down in less then 5 minutes each and it is now time for them to be changed and put in their PJ's. Once Nora is done doing this, it's story time. I sit in the nursery rocker and read one of the money books that we have for them. This pretty much consists of me reading to Nora sitting with the girls and them looking all over the place minus at me who's reading the book. Eventually they'll dig this, but for now keep looking at the changing table while Daddy reads Dragon's Love Taco's. Once story time is over the girls are put down in their rock and plays and Nora and I have a good hour to get ready for bed ourselves. I shower somewhere in this time because at 9 pm Nora breast feeds both girls. Once they are all done it is around 10 pm and its time for everyone to go to sleep. I'm 36 years old and going to bed at 10, but couldn't be happier about this.
The girls wake up around 1 am or I have to wake them up as I bottle feed both of them while Nora pumps so she can go right back to sleep. I am normally done before 2 am, where I can slide back into bed as long as the girls go down quietly. Again, this will be touched in another blog post because when they don't go down quietly it's just a circus act at 2 am over here. I don't want to short change my readers by putting how it goes down just in a few sentences. Nora is then up around 4-5 am breastfeeding both, and I wake up just to make sure she doesn't need anything. After this it's back to bed and before you know it, we are back at 7 am. Time to press the repeat button...
The day starts for us anywhere between 6-7am, depending on when the girls wake up because they are hungry. Nora feeds one and I bottle feed the other. How do we choose which one goes with who? It really isn't pre-determined. We just make sure that it's switched up so we aren't always feeding the same baby. Lets go through if I have Londyn, since Wren is pretty smooth sailing when it comes to eating. Londyn in the morning is like me. She has no time to talk to anyone, no time for cute baby noises, she just wants to be left alone and eat. I respect this. Before I feed her, I need to change her diaper, so I pick her up and we are off to the nursery. This is where the screaming starts. She hates being changed and isn't really a big fan of putting on new clothes. News flash baby girl; this is going to happen every day for a very long time. Scream away, because it doesn't bother daddy, and you need some butt paste so get excited for that too. Once the screaming and flailing of the arms and legs is over, I have her changed and dressed and we are off to go downstairs. Once we are downstairs I need to warm up the bottle. We got this Phillips sexy bottle warmer for like $70. Looks great. Put the same amount of water in the base that is in the bottle and it is warmed in a few minutes. Perfect; if the god damn thing worked. I've tried it twice and it takes forever to warm up. Time is so important that the extra 10 minutes it takes to warm up seems like 10 hours by the end of the day, so I fill a plastic cup with scolding hot water and boom, the bottle is warm and Londyn now can eat. The screaming can stop. Until I have to burp her. She hates this. Not the point of having to burp, the fact I have to take the bottle away from her. I know what some of you are thinking, just let her finish the bottle and then burp her. Well we tried this at the beginning and projectile vomit happened the first few times I went this route. Thank you for the suggestion, but you're not the one cleaning up the vomit which then gets to other levels. The vomit gets on her onesie, which now I have to change her again, the screaming comes back, not to mention she then will want to be fed sooner then normal since she got rid of some of her food via throw-up. It's a vicious cycle that having to hear her cry a little bit is worth it while feeding her so she doesn't have to vom. Once the feeding is done we put both in their boppies and let them look around until they get grumpy and need to be put in their rock and plays for nap 1 of the day. This is where Nora and I get to do things like eat breakfast, shower, laundry, errands, and if I'm feeling really good I run. The girls are down for anywhere from 2-3 hours so we have to squeeze everything I just mentioned into this timeframe. Once they are up again, I feed whichever one I didn't feed the first time and the other goes with Nora. By the time we are done with this its around 12-1 pm and its time for Nora and I to eat lunch . The girls sometimes go right back to sleep at this time, but if they don't it's tummy time. We have a giant alphabet mat that we started off with. Wren on her tummy does two things. The first is she just sits there motionless, or she screams. Loudly. She isn't the biggest fan of tummy time but it needs to be done. Nora and I tell her all the time "Doctors orders." Londyn is a little more tolerable of tummy time but that is just because she is stronger at the moment. Both of them can move their heads from side to side and lift them as well, however Londyn is starting the body boogie as I call it and has moved from one spot to another and rolled over a few times. Neat. I have a feeling she's going to skip the crawling phase and go right to walking. That should be fun for everyone. Recently we just introduced a new play gym for tummy time. It looks like a small arena that has a mat with different cloth materials on it, a few bunnies doing shit that I don't really understand so the girls definitely don't, and toys dangling from hooks connecting to the double cross-bars that are keeping it upright. It's pretty fucking intense. One section has a mirror on it, another a velvet star , and 1/4 of a side is made of this scrunchy material that makes a noise that anyone over the age of 8 thinks is annoying but the girls dig it. In the middle is a dangling music box that plays a tune. We keep the girls on their stomach for about 3-5 minute intervals and then turn them on their back. They love to listen to the music box and watch the toys dangling from the cross-bars swing back and forth as I push one side bar forward and back. I know this is some exciting shit. After tummy time the girls are done screaming and ready for a nap and I need a cocktail. It's back to the rock and plays for about a 45 min to an hour nap.
The next feeding I do both girls which allows Nora to pump and also gives her more time to do other things. I attempted to feed both at the same time to start. I put Wren in one boppie and Londyn in the other and I sat in between both while holding bottles in each hand feeding both of my daughters. I'm superman. I can do anything. Look at me go. This is fucking fantastic. Until I have to burp one. For those of you that do not have kids yet, you may be confused on why burping can throw a wrench into this duel feeding. Well you as a human being only have two arms and hands. You are holding the baby over your shoulder in a mini firemans carry in one arm and burping them with your off hand. Two hands and arms are busy, but you know who doesn't care? The child you aren't burping. Whomever it is does not care what you are doing with their sister, they just care about the fact the bottle is no longer in their mouth and the deliciousness they were just enjoying has stopped. More screaming. More whaling of the arms and legs. Scratch the duel feeding. I'm not superman. I don't have a fucking cape anyway and I sure as hell can't fly. I don't think. I found that duel feeding actually was extending the time it took me to get both of them fed by about 15 minutes. Again, time is so precious to you, duel feeding was shelved and they now get fed separately. Wow Rocky, you figured that out so fast and are just breezing through this right? Wrong. If both babies wake up at the same time (Which happens very often), I'm not duel feeding so in comes the bunny arena again for the one who isn't on the bottle. The bunnies can't hold a bottle so more screaming and whaling is occurring, except when I play the music box. I love this music box. I crank it for as long as it can go and hopefully whichever baby I am feeding sucks the milk down before the music stops or else it's World War III up in the Parrish household again.
This feeding is done, everyone has survived, and it's around 4:00-4:30 pm. I have about 30 minutes of relax time for myself before I have to start cooking dinner as Nora breast feeds both of them around 5 pm. I am going to go into meal prep in another blog post so I won't get that in depth here. Dinner now is anywhere from 5-6 pm. After dinner I have to dry the sterilized bottles and other baby things that I did in the morning before I ate breakfast. Once all of this is done and Nora is done cleaning up the kitchen it is around 7-7:30 pm. I'm up again for a little top off feed. I give both girls around 2 ounces of milk which they take down in less then 5 minutes each and it is now time for them to be changed and put in their PJ's. Once Nora is done doing this, it's story time. I sit in the nursery rocker and read one of the money books that we have for them. This pretty much consists of me reading to Nora sitting with the girls and them looking all over the place minus at me who's reading the book. Eventually they'll dig this, but for now keep looking at the changing table while Daddy reads Dragon's Love Taco's. Once story time is over the girls are put down in their rock and plays and Nora and I have a good hour to get ready for bed ourselves. I shower somewhere in this time because at 9 pm Nora breast feeds both girls. Once they are all done it is around 10 pm and its time for everyone to go to sleep. I'm 36 years old and going to bed at 10, but couldn't be happier about this.
The girls wake up around 1 am or I have to wake them up as I bottle feed both of them while Nora pumps so she can go right back to sleep. I am normally done before 2 am, where I can slide back into bed as long as the girls go down quietly. Again, this will be touched in another blog post because when they don't go down quietly it's just a circus act at 2 am over here. I don't want to short change my readers by putting how it goes down just in a few sentences. Nora is then up around 4-5 am breastfeeding both, and I wake up just to make sure she doesn't need anything. After this it's back to bed and before you know it, we are back at 7 am. Time to press the repeat button...