The Daily Grind...

Cadence is almost 5 months already. I cant believe its been almost half a year that Ive been operating on nary a full nights rest. In the time Cadence has been alive Ive shot 7 weddings, 4 portrait sessions, spoke at a photography workshop, and traveled to San Francisco and to Atlanta. Its really crazy to think that so much has happened with him on the planet. Here I am, a stay at home mom and a work from home business owner. Its taken me until now to really feel like Ive gotten any sort of system down. I thought Id share with you what a standard day in the life looks like. I wish I was more organized but life right now is the "just-go-with-it" show. Prepare to be unimpressed. And to never want to have babies. Kidding. Kind of. ;) Cadence goes to bed around 11:30pm and wakes up at 3am, 5am, and 7:30am. My husband usually takes the first shift or two and I take the morning one. If Im fast enough when he starts to fuss, I can give him a bottle, change his diaper, and put him back to sleep. My husband leaves for the day at 8:45am. If the scheduling gods smile upon me that day, Cadence will sleep till 10 or 11. (Today it was 11:30!) During those couple hours I bang out as much as I can in our office. Usually sorting through emails (I have 7 accounts to keep up with), sending quick answers to whoever I can and filing the ones that need longer responses for later, replying to inquiries about photography, returning calls, and checking my social media outlets for anyone needing something from me. After that I usually try to get a blog post ready for the day on our photography blog. I only blog a few times a week there but the days always seem to sneak up on me. If I dont need to get a blog post ready, I try to get a portrait session edited and proofed. If theres none of those to do I tackle part of a wedding that needs to be edited or an album design that needs to be finished. About the time I get in the zone with an editing project, Cadence wakes up screaming mad. Im not sure why hes always so mad after his first nap. I shut down my office and go get him. Its time for lunch for him and for me anyway. He gets to eat first. Hes up for about 2-3 hours and he wants to be held the whole time. I try to get household responsibilities done or get out of the house for some errands. Even if I have to make up an errand, it always tires him out more to be out and about than to just be home. He has just finally starting loving the sling which has made our lives so much better. I have full use of both my hands again! Grocery shopping is 100 times easier. Hes too heavy to just hold with one arm now so the sling is my salvation. He gets fussy around 1 or 2 usually so down for a nap he goes. These naps used to be a glorious 2 or 3 hours long. Now theyre like 45 minutes. Such a tease! I cant really jump back into any business projects so I usually catch up on twitter or a few emails, clean up the house, do some laundry, do my hair, etc. Some days when Im feeling especially overwhelmed Ill watch an episode of 90210 on Netflix. ;) This next part of the day is the hardest for me. Cadence wakes up, eats, and is awake usually for a really long time. I try to keep him busy but I get bored about as quickly as he does. He has a play mat he likes (sometimes) and a jumper toy he has just started to tolerate but each only last about 10 or 15 minutes tops. When hes not playing in one of them he wants to be held. And he wants me to be standing. If I sit he starts fussing. Im not quite sure the difference but apparently theres a big one. Sometimes well go for a walk outside. He LOVES to be outside. We play games. Sometimes well do bath time early because baths dont make him sleepy-they make him WIDE AWAKE. I let him work out his standing muscles and sitting up muscles. He gets fussy but wont usually sleep again till 5 if he goes down at all. Sometimes he doesnt sleep till 7. Im not going to lie, I love him more than anything, but I get really overwhelmed during this part of the day. 5 month olds are hard to entertain for 6 hours. Nate gets home around 6 and usually the house in in shambles. After a few minutes being home, hell take Cadence for a while. We try to time it so that Cadence is napping during our dinner time so we can eat together instead of having to take turns. Some days this works out, some days it doesnt. The upside is that when he sleeps this time its usually for a good 3 hours. Except now that Nate is home I dont really get much work done. We try to spend time together, we try to eat dinner, and veg out. Cadence wakes up again around 8 usually. We try to keep him up till 11:30. We usually pass him back and forth on the sofa trying to entertain him. He gets another round with his toys and Nate tosses him up and down in the air a bunch. Night time diaper, change into PJs, aromatherapy oil massage, and then we snuggle him up and try to get him to eat a big bottle before bed so his belly is full. After he goes to bed we usually watch TV together and catch up on our favorite websites and blogs. I usually put together blog posts for this blog, and recently weve been watching old episodes of "How I Met Your Mother on Netflix. Were both exhausted around midnight so to bed we go. And the whole thing starts over. And thats it. Thats the life right now. Its hard juggling it all. And some days I have to add even more in like doctors appointments, client meetings, the gym, food trucks, dinners with friends, Skype meetings. Its craziness. I know Im blessed. Heres to the crazy ones! Cheers mamas. ............................................................................................................................................... This post is sponsored by Disney Baby. Ill be joining the Disney Baby blogging team next month, and look forward to sharing these kinds of stories (projects/ideas/etc) with you over there! Stay tuned for more details!