Morning Routine with Baby: Quarantine Edition
Adapting to life in quarantine has been strange. I am so used to waking up, getting my day going and being at work by 8:30 in the morning. But, because I work retail and it will remain closed until the Shelter-in-place restrictions are lifted, I have almost a completely different morning routine. I’m sure everyone is feeling the insane shifts in our routines since quarantine!
My husband, Ben and I are renting my in-law’s basement while we save for a house. We (the parents) have the bedroom and little Benjamin sleeps in the living area. So when I wake up around 6:00 AM, I check the baby monitor to see if Benjamin is awake or if he is still sleeping. Nine times out of ten he is wide awake and talking away to his stuffed animals he likes to snuggle with.
I typically do not retrieve him from the crib unless he is getting fussy, or it is past 7 AM. When I peak around the corner to where he can see me from his crib, he always gives me the biggest smile. His diaper is usually pretty full from a good night's sleep, so he’s changed into a fresh one and we are ready to extend our morning to the rest of the house.
I am very glad I am not the only early riser in the house, and so is Benjamin! We sneak up the stairs and peak through the door to see if Kiki or Jojo (my mother-in-law or sister-in-law) are awake and ready for snuggles. We (and I mostly mean Benjamin) are greeted with happy good mornings and swept away for some snuggles while I make my coffee and Ben a bottle. Up until the beginning of May, I was still breastfeeding Ben in the mornings. Now that my lil nugget has grown some hefty teeth (5 by the time this post is live!) and I became more of a toy to him that a food source. It was a bittersweet end to my breastfeeding journey to say the least.
ANYWAYS. There are a few ways I like my AM coffee, and it fully depends on the mood I am in when I wake up. If I am super awake right off the bat, I'll drink drip coffee with some basic vanilla creamer. If I'm still a bit sleepy and need a little boost, I will make myself a long-shot espresso with my Mr. Coffee Espresso machine. And lastly, if I didn’t sleep at all because Benjamin was fussy or I just had insomnia, I use the Nespresso machine, chuck a capsule into it and some creamer. On those kinds of mornings, the less effort the better.
After this mama gets her coffee made, I sit with Benjamin in a smaller living space and watch NCIS with my sis while he plays with his toys. We keep an entire bin full of toys in the space for him to explore. He usually tips it over, examines every toy, throws it behind him and then moves onto crawling across the floor. Now that he is mobile, I really have to keep an eye on him. One second he will be on the carpet in front of us, and the next he’ll be halfway across the kitchen!
By 8 AM, Benjamin is ready for his morning breakfast. We switch off from giving him greens to fruit every few days or so just to mix it up for him. This morning his had his favorite, Banana Orange Medly! If he is still hungry after his pureed food, we will either give him puffs or chop up a banana for him. Just about every feeding Benjamin has, we give him something to stimulate his hand-eye coordination and he seems to really enjoy it! Though, he really enjoys the puffs and if we don’t provide puffs quickly enough, pterodactyl baby appears!
The playing with toys continue, and sometimes he gets up and has a dance party with his Jojo! There are plenty of giggles and playtime before his 10 AM nap time. Anywhere between 10 and 11, Ben goes down for his morning nap and it fully depends on his morning mood. If he is fussy, it will take him and extra half hour to fall asleep. Once he falls asleep, he’ll be out for about 2 hours, again, all depending on his fussy-meter!
And that’s my typical morning routine with Mr. Benjamin! I plan on posting an updated morning routine once quarantine is over and our schedules return back to somewhat normalcy.
This is all for now!
Tootles,
~ Izzy