non-schedules are schedules too

before ben was born, i was reading a book called "baby wise". i was reading it thinking, "well this is awesome. why isn't everyone scheduling their kids like this?" i made it about halfway through the book when ben was born. and after one week with a baby, i was like, "who the heck uses baby wise? scheduling babies is way too difficult."

but now here we are 3 months in. and ben's not on a "schedule" throughout the day. this means that hang outs need to be a little flex and then the hang out either has to be near a swing, or include a drive or a walk because these are the three ways that ben naps during the day. now you'd think one might think, "i should start scheduling this kid so i know when things are going to happen" but because ben's such a great sleeper at night, i've let the days fall to "baby time". you'd be amazed at well one can make baby time work for them.

take today for example: the plan today was to go to WR and hang out with ang and while doing that, go to our family friend gail's place to see her jewelry that she makes. i had told ang i'd be at her place between 11 and 12pm. i had told gail i'd be there early afternoon.

(this is a detailed account of our day complete with times. if this does not interest you, i've highlighted the main sentences that you should read to get the gist. then you can read the last paragraph.)

ben woke up at 6:45am, had a bottle, squealed a little while lying on the couch with me, and then fell asleep at 7:45 in his swing. i went back to bed too at 8:15 and we both slept until 9;30. then we got up, ben had a bottle and i had breakfast. he sat with me on the counter, telling me some stories, while i washed bottles and replenished his diaper bag. then he came with me to my room while i packed myself an assortment of clothing for all weather/activities (yes, i do this almost everytime i leave the house) and i got dressed. by now it was 10:30 and ben was getting a little tired of this business. i popped him in his carseat, put all our stuff in the car, and off we went to WR. he slept the entire ride and woke up when i got to ang's at 11:30. (right "on time") we hung out for a bit before having a bottle at 12:15 and then after the burp quotient had been satisfied, we headed off to gail's. we arrived at gail's early afternoon. ben laid on the floor playing with his blanket for a good half hour while we admired and tried on jewelry. when he started to get a little vocal about being left alone, we brought him into the room we were in where he laid on the floor and watched us try on more jewelry, making our final decisions. when we were finished, he as just starting to let out little cries so we made our purchases and put ben back in his carseat. he immediately fell asleep so we went to the drive thru starbucks for fraps before heading back to angela's. after a that short little nap, ben woke up to play for a bit and then we had a bottle at 2:30ish. we left ang to let her work and went to grandma and grandpa's (where no one was home of course because they work) so i could change my clothes and then we headed to crescent beach for a walk. ben slept all the way to the beach and then in his stroller despite the bumpy ride on that gravel. he woke up as we were walking back to the car and cried about still being stuck in his carseat for the drive back to g&g's. at g&g's of course, he was happy and smiley. so by 4:30ish, he had another bottle. we waited until judy was home form work to hang out with her for a bit before leaving around 5:30. as you could probably guess if you've been paying attention...ben slept on the way home to abbotsford. when we got home, ben was thrilled to see his daddy who played with him and gave him his bottle at about 6:40 and i made dinner. we sat on our deck to eat and enjoyed the evening with ben in his bouncy chair playing with his blanket and squealing. ben hung out on the couch between tim and i for half an hour talking and looking at us and when his little arms and legs started to get still and there were no longer coos to accompany his smiles, i ran his bath. ben was in the bath at 7:30, in his pj's at 7:40, and drank a few ounces of a comfort bottle before giving in to sleep at 8pm.

so what's my point? well, it gives you an idea of how i work activities into a non-scheduled day because even though i can't tell you what time ben's naps are, there IS a pattern to his "baby time". and while all this napping seems a little excessive, ben sleeps great at night so who's to mess with that? i figure once we go to ontario in october, any schedule that we will have developed in the next month will be destroyed so i think i'm going to continue living on baby time until after we get back. but as you can see, it's doable.