So, What Do You Do All Day?

3:00 am Everybody but me asleep. I fall asleep not too long afterward.

3:00 - 10:00 am Sleeping, and probably nursing Peeper off and on, without really bothering to wake up or look at the clock.

10:00 am Wake up enough to check the time before offering Peeper a boob. We both go back to sleep.

10:30 am Have very vivid dream in which Shrike and I, along with the midwife who delivered Peeper, are helping a friend (who is pregnant, in real life) to deliver her baby. It's a water birth in an actual fullsize swimming pool. I'm "pushing with her" and I can feel it. Not the pain part, but the pressure. Weird enough that it was so vivid and I "felt" it so clearly, but even weirder that I wasn't even the one having the baby in the dream!

11:00 am - noon Continue to doze while nursing Peeper, as Shrike "messes with her" off and on, and tries to get her to wake up.

Noon - 12:15 pm Peeper is finally awake, as am I. Cuddle in bed with Shrike and Peeper.

12:15 pm Finally get up. Offer Peeper some breakfast (Cheerios, raisins, honeydew melon) which she turns down. Fix my breakfast (cinnamon swirl - no raisins! - bagel with peanut butter and honey)

12:20 pm Shrike takes Peeper while I eat breakfast in front of the computer, checking email, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

12:40 pm Shrike brings Peeper in to see me because, "Stupid Mommy let me step on a holly leaf." I think I was supposed to nurse her and fix it, but by the time she gets to me, she's fine, so they go play some more. I sit in front of the computer and play some more.

1:00 pm Nurse Peeper, Shrike takes a shower.

1:20 pm Shower and dress.

1:45 pm Get shoes on, etc, and go for a walk with Shrike, Peeper and the dogs. (This is not typical, in fact it's the first walk Peeper and I have joined them for in quite a while. They've been going early, before it got too hot. Now that it's cooler, we'll try to join them - until it gets too cold.)

2:20 pm Home from walk. Shrike and Peeper play, while Shrike gets dressed for work.

2:40 pm Nurse Peeper to sleep.

2:45 pm Shrike leaves for work.

2:40 - 5:30 pm Peeper naps / nurses in my lap in front of the computer. Check email, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Surf random shit. Make calls to grocery stores and bakeries to get price quotes on birthday cakes. Nobody can do a dairy-free cake. Send long Facebook message to friend who makes very cool cakes, about maybe making a very cool, and also dairy-free cake for Peeper's birthday party. Google and find a local party supply store. Formulate a plan to visit it today. Research riding toys for one-year-olds.

5:30 pm Peeper wakes up. Get us both dressed. Realize that diapers are half-washed and we only have two clean ones after the one I've just put on Peeper. Start diapers on their final rinse.

5:50 pm Leave the house. Call Shrike to see if she needs / wants anything while we're out. She asks if the party store is still open. Hmmm. While driving, hear suspicious sounds from Peeper - both her voice and her booty.

6:00 pm Arrive at shopping center where I expect to see party store. Don't see it. Go to Kmart across the street instead. Smell Peeper's booty. Change very poopy diaper. Use both washcloths that I have with me. I now have one clean diaper and no wipes. Cross fingers.

6:10 pm Finally get in Kmart. It is dumb. No plain pink or generic "first birthday" plates. Lots of licensed characters. Boo.

6:30 pm Leave Kmart, head to Dollar Tree by where the party store was supposed to be. Park car. Start to get Peeper out - and see the party store, in building a right angle to where I was looking before. Get back in car and drive to party store.

6:35 pm Party store is meh. There are a few cute first birthday things, and cheaper plain pink plates. I think we will do that and save our money for the cake.

7:50 pm Walk a few stores down to Subway and buy a sandwich for dinner. 6" cold cut combo on wheat, toasted, with sweet onion sauce, red onions, black olives and sweet peppers. Drive home.

7:00 pm Arrive home, and share sandwich with Peeper. She might be signing "milk" while she eats. Put diapers in dryer.

7:15 pm Nurse Peeper for about 10 minutes.

7:25 pm Let Peeper play on floor while I play on computer, until she complains. Play with Peeper.

7:40 pm Nurse Peeper for about 10 minutes.

7:50 pm Let Peeper play on floor while I play on computer, until she complains. Play with Peeper.

8:05 pm Let Peeper play with toys in kitchen while I make a pot of decaff coffee.

8:15 pm Fold and put away clothes in bedroom, then in Peeper's room, while Peeper plays in her room.

8:25 pm Play with Peeper.

9:00 pm Fold towels, while Peeper helps. Peeper falls backward on (carpetted) floor and bumps her head. She doesn't cry, but it requires a few seconds of nursing to fix.

9:10 pm Set up Peeper playing in her room. Start a load of clothes in washer, remove diapers from dryer, throw a few dishes in the dishwasher and start it.

9:20 pm Move Peeper to office, and check email while she plays.

9:22 pm Play with Peeper, walking all over the house.

9:30 pm I'm starving. Set Peeper up with a snack and start to fix something for myself. She's done with being in the highchair. Move her to her "farm" (exersaucer) and finish fixing me a snack. Cut up some onion and hotdogs, heat in skillet, squirt on some barbecue sauce. Peeper is really done now. Put it all in a bowl and stick it in the fridge for later.

9:40 pm Nurse Peeper to sleep for her second nap. (There are supposed to be three naps. There've only been two the past couple of days. I think this might be a new pattern. I need to pay attention, so I can know what to expect.)

9:40 - 11:50 pm - Peeper naps / nurses in my lap in front of the computer. Check email, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Process images and post "Daily Peep." Transcribe notes scribbled on an envelope about what I've done all day.

11:50 pm Dogs barking outside wake Peeper up. I realize she probably should've been up an hour ago, if we want her asleep at a "decent hour" for the night. Oops.

11:55 pm - 12:10 am Finally eat! Feed Peeper a snack as well (honeydew, Cheerios, Ritz crackers - put some of my barbecue sauce on the crackers for her). Move clothes to dryer.

12:10 am Get Peeper set up with toys in the office, and update blog on what I've done in the past twenty minutes. And, she's done.

12:10 - 12:20 am Play with Peeper. Discover tooth #6. Blog about it, while she plays with my feet. I think she's trying to peel off the crusty part.

12:20 - 1 am Play with Peeper.

1:00 am Mommy's home!

1:00 am Eat some oreos, get coffee

1:05 am Nurse Peeper

1:10 am Get in bathtub all by myself.

1:30 - 1:50 am Peeper joins me in bathtub.

1:55 am Shrike gets Peeper in her diaper and jammies, and brushes her teeth, while I have a snack and start a load of diapers washing.

2:10 am Everybody in bed - books, singing, nursing, Peeper flopping back and forth.

3:10 am Peeper is fussing, and tooting a lot, so we give her Tylenol and Orajel for teeth, and Mylecon for gas. (First time she's had that in months and months and months. It's a stretch.)

3:30 am I give up and get up with Peeper. Shrike stays behind and goes to sleep. Peeper leads me to the computer chair where we usually nurse, but won't nurse. We watch "The Baby Peeper Show" (my screensaver - a slideshow of her) for a while.

3:40 am We get up and she leads me to the highchair, so we each have a snack, and I restart the diapers, on hot water.

3:55 am Back to the chair, and now she's willing to nurse.

4:05 am Peeper's still nursing, and is maybe probably hopefully asleep.

4:20 am She's out, and I head to bed.