The Rogers Family: Getting Into the Swing of Things

Cade and I are so lucky to have a husband and father like Todd. We admire him for many reasons - one being that he is such a hard worker. He is currently working two jobs to make sure we have everything we need and most of what we want. He is determined to ensure that we have Cade's daycare paid up through the end of this school year and to meet this goal he's working two jobs. At least three days a week he leaves the house before 7 and comes home after 10 - going straight to from the first job to the second. The most baffling part about this craziness is that I don't think I've heard him complain - not once. We are so thankful for you Todd and we are so blessed to have someone like you to support and love us. We love you!

While we appreciate Dad's hard work, this means lots and lots of time at home alone for Cade and me. I'm not complaining; I am so fortunate to have this time off from work and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Cade is very good in the car and stroller (knock on a huge piece of wood) so we get out frequently to run errands, go to the grocery store or meet friends for dinner. Last week had dinner with Ali and Olivia and also with Deborah and Monica. It seems we are finally getting into a schedule and for this structured mama, that is definitely a good thing!

Sometime soon my life will no longer rotate in a non-stop three hour rotation and I’m certain I’ll look back and wonder what it was like. I want to make sure I don’t forget so I typed up our typical day below (more for me so feel free to stop reading here - all 4 followers!)

Cade normally "wakes up" between 8:00 and 9:00 (though he also "wakes up" around 2am and 5am so I'm not sure we can call it "waking up" - but that's when I mark the start of our day). He's not sleeping quite as well in his crib as he was in the AMAZING Rock n' Play Sleeper (thanks Ali for the lifesaver of a recommendation). He eats and then we have ‘cuddle and conversation’ time (yes, cuddle and conversation time :) - the teacher in me is bleeding into every aspect of motherhood) before we're off to change out of pajamas and get our work out on in Cade's room. It is during this work out time that I realized that my stomach muscles are now just as soft as the outside of me. Not cool. We sing a couple of songs, have tummy time and stretch a little. We play for a while in there until he goes back down for nap 1 around 10:30. He wakes up again, eats and we play downstairs on the activity mat, dance, or walk around and check out the windows and pictures on the wall…sounds thrilling and boy is it! J Nap 2 around 1:30. Wakes, eats and then we run errands or play downstairs in the Jungle Jumperoo or I'll play with Cade's toys while he watches. Sometimes I'm certain that I'm having more fun than he is at this point. Again he goes down for a nap around 4:30 or 5, wakes, eats and then we play upstairs in his room for a while. The “last” feeding of the day is around 9 p.m. After that we change into pajamas, have a baby massage, read books and rock and listen to music until Baby Cade finally drifts off. We finally got into the eat-play-sleep thing and though it doesn’t always go as perfectly as I would like, we’re definitely getting into the swing of things. I’m sure we’ll have it just about perfect right about the time I go back to work…and then we’ll start all over again! J