Our little baby Roo is now 4 and a half months old, and I'd be lying if I said I've got this whole parenting thing down, but we're definitely getting the hang of it now. On a good day I can get up and out the house before 10am, and on a not so good day I realise it's 4pm and I've not cleaned my teeth or eaten. Some days I don't even brush my hair, and some days Reuben naps for long enough that I manage flicky eyeliner AND cleaning the entire flat. This boy gets more likes on instagram than I do (Can I really blame you though? No, no I cannot) so I thought I'd share an insight into his average daily routine.
6am - Wake up and first feed of the day!
I never need to set an alarm for Reuben because he always wakes up around 6am every single morning. We have him in the Chicco Next2Me crib at my side of the bed, and up until he was a few months old he used to always wake up crying (out of hunger I'd imagine) but now he just lays and babbles away to himself, which slowly wakes me up, and when I poke my head over the side of the crib he catches my eye and smiles. It kills me, EVERY DAMN TIME. Like, this little human is happy to see me? I'm v honoured about that, and it truly is the best start to the day. You can sleep with the side of the crib down, but we just keep it up all night now as Roo doesn't wake for a night feed anymore.
We keep everything Reuben needs for his feeds in the bedroom. The Tommee Tippee Perfect prep machine (game changer - we bought this when I stopped breastfeeding, it makes a perfect temperature bottle in under two minutes) along with his powdered milk, and two little storage boxes from Flying Tiger which hold an easy access supply of muslins and bibs (both things which you can never have too many of) Then his bottles we keep in the kitchen, sterilising in the microwave as and when they're needed. I change his nappy, make his bottle then we move through to the living room for a bit of morning telly.
7am to 9am - Back to bed for a couple of hours (for us both!)
9am - Second feed
Reuben gets 7oz of milk every 3 hours, so if I don't need to be up and out early, we head back to bed until 9am when he usually wakes up looking for another bottle (and nappy change) He guzzles this one as enthusiastically as the first, and is content enough afterwards to sit for a while and watch me pack his bag for the day and drink my morning coffee. Around 10.30/11am he starts to get grumpy - what I now recognise as a tired cry! Why do babies fight sleep? In 16 years time he will realise that sleep is awesome and I'll be having to drag him out of bed in the morning.
Pete got me a Fjallraven backpack for my birthday, and I've managed to streamline everything Reuben needs for when we go out into it! His changing bag generally contains the following:
Changing Mat - From the Scottish Baby Box
Bibs x 2
Change of clothes
Teething ring
Toy of some description
Mam bottle
Travel milks x 2
Dummies x 2
Zip up pouch - Flying Tiger
Hand wipes - Flying Tiger
Nappy Cream - Eco by Naty
Muslins x 2
Baby wipes - Kit & Kin
Nappies x 3 - Eco by Naty
Nappy bags - Eco by Naty
11am - 12/1pm - Second nap
Reuben really fights this nap, and needs to be cuddled on the sofa with his dummy until he falls asleep, then I transport him back into his crib once he's sound and make a run for the shower! Depending on how long he naps for dictates if I put makeup done or do anything half arsed with my hair.
1pm - Third feed & heading out
After Reuben has his lunch time bottle, I get him changed and this is normally when we head out for the afternoon to run a few errands, go for a walk in the park or meet some friends. Our changing table is a bit of a makeshift setup in the bedroom (basically just a changing mat ontop of the chest of drawers which hold all his clothes) and I got the dotty nappy holder from ikea.
Nappy wise, when I found out I was pregnant (a year ago today!) I was really keen on trying reusable nappies. The more I looked into them and spoke to friends, I realised we didn't really have the proper space to be washing and drying them quickly enough in the flat. With all the unknowns of a new baby on the way I didn't want to be stressing about nappy turnaround times, so we just use disposables but it's always been playing at the back of my mind what sort of effect this has on the environment. Last month we started using Eco by Naty nappies, which are meant to be the most environmentally friendly disposable nappies on the market and made of natural, biodegradable materials. So far we have had zero leakage (even when he wears one all night) and the actual nappy its self is a really good fit for Roo's little body, with the sticky panels which come round the sides much longer than the Pampers ones I was using before. We would like to ditch the disposables eventually, and will definitely go down the reusable route when we have another baby.
Wipes have been another thing I'm on a constant hustle over! I feel like I've tried every brand, from every supermarket, and still can't find ones which I like the most for Reuben but that are eco friendly and don't cost a bomb. I was drawn in to Kit & Kin with their cute advertising and positive mission statement, but for £2.95 a pack there's nothing special about them. I'm using up the ones I bought but doubt I will purchase them again! Naty also have a range of wipes, so I'm gonna give them a try considering we got on so well with the nappies. Reusable wipes are also a thing... but I don't think I'm organised enough to commit to them yet. So any recommendations for cruelty free brands with eco friendly, reasonably priced, nice smelling, and quite 'wet' baby wipes - please sling my way. Two bloody paragraphs about nappies and baby wipes... well done if you've read this far haha.
4pm - Fourth feed, normally while we're out and about
7pm - Bath time
Pete gets home from work about 6pm, so this is when I hand Reuben over to him for some Daddy time while I tidy and work out what we're doing for dinner. We'll get dinner in the oven, and Pete starts Roo's bedtime routine around 7pm. This consists of bath, bottle, story and bed!
7.30/8pm - 5th Feed
Getting Reuben into a routine during the light summer nights was a challenge initially, as we don't have blackout blinds so the room is still really light when we put him down. But sticking to a consistent bath, bottle, bed routine has worked some magic over the months, and now Reuben seems to associate his crib with sleeping. Sometimes I hang a blanket over the side panel to block out some light while we read him a story, but of course we remove this as soon as he's sleeping.
We have a little Motorola monitor set up which plays white noise and music, that we can control from a screen in the living room. A little cuddle of his jellycat bunny, we'll watch him on the monitor and by 8pm he's usually fast asleep. It has been so warm at night recently that we've just been putting Reuben to bed in a vest, then I'll pop a blanket over him when I go through to sleep around 11pm. And that's him through to 6am - he doesn't wake up for a night feed anymore! This vest is from Shapes Of Things (I have the matching tshirt) and is getting a little small now, but he's fast approaching fitting 6 month size clothes already. I know it's such a cliche but where the hell has the time gone?
So yeah, that's a pretty standard day in the Millar/Duthie household! Seems absolutely crazy that a year ago today, I was letting the emotions of two positive pregnancy tests sink in. I still can't get over how much your whole life can change in just 365 days ♥
"Everything has changed and yet, I am more me than I've ever been" - Iain Thomas
