Someone said to me 'so what do you do all day?' and then said I was lucky not to be working; I think they thought I sloth about at home watching movies and surfing the internet all day long. I might not commute to paid employment at the moment but let me assure you I am 'working' harder than I ever have before, and instead of going home and forgetting about it, this new job is mine to attend to 24 hours a day, with virtually no respite!

So, this is how I spent the last 24 hours (don't try this at home kids!):

Wednesday -

2am feed, settle (I got back to sleep at about 2.45am, woke again at 5.45am - that was a long stretch of sleep for me)

6am feed, settle, take Sophs into bed with me, get back to sleep about 6.45am, wake around 7.30 and convince Sophs to go back to sleep again, wake again at 8.15 ( so that's about 90 minutes more sleep for me)

8.30am nappy change, nappy off time on the change table, lots of smiling, cooing, baby talk, interacting and playing with my little girl

9.30am feed, burp, then place Sophs on a pillow on my knees and play some more games with her (she's most alert in the morning). Put her on the playmat which buys me about ten minutes to scoff some cereal before she realises she's alone and starts making her 'come and get me I don't like this anymore' cries. Until about 10.30 I move her between playmat, my lap, her chair, my arms, talking, singing, tickling, kissing, holding, cradling, comforting, stroking, whilst doing things in between like the dishes, reading my email, trying to make phone calls. At the first sign of a yawn Sophs gets put into her cot to sleep. She whinges for a few minutes and I periodically go in and comfort her (pat her tummy, give her a kiss, give her a dummy, or if it's ramping up I'll pick her up and calm her before putting her down again). She falls asleep for around an hour and a half or so, and if she wakes before then I try to settle her again. While she is asleep I throw myself under the shower and then crawl back into bed for around 30 mins dozing with an ear out for her cries, in between checking email, making phone calls, thinking about dinner, putting a load of washing on/hanging it out/putting it away, reading the post, paying bills etc etc etc.

12.15pm nappy change, then long feed, burping, then more of the above. This nap is about an hour or so ish. Again, I am squeezing my life in around the minutes where I'm not attending to Sophs. During this feed I watch the Kath and Kim episode that Stu taped for me two days earlier.

3pm nappy change, feed, burping, then finally out the door to the cafe in the park for a coffee and to read a magazine while Sophs catches some afternoon zzzzs for a short time. She wakes up earlier than expected and I balance and rock her on one knee in the crook of my arm while drinking my coffee, turning the pages of the magazine, and chatting to her adoring public who comment on how little/beautiful she is! Keeping an eye on the clock I leave enough time for a walk through the park to bring us home in time for the:

5.30pm feed, nappy change and burp, then Sophs comes into the kitchen with me on her little chair and listens to some music I'm playing (JJJ Hottest 100!) while I start getting something ready for dinner. With dinner half prepared I then:

6.30 Run the bath for Sophs, sometimes I hop in the bath and we splash about together like I did last night. I make it a bit hotter than usual and the water a bit deeper, and glide her through the water on her back, and let her float with her head and upper body supported so she can kick her legs about. We both love it! Getting her out is a bit tricksy as she's as slippery as an eel, but I place a huge towel next to the bath and lean over and put her on it before then slowly getting out myself.

6.45 - 7.15 - dry myself and Sophs off, put on her bedtime cd, dress her, feed and burp her, put her in her baby sleeping bag then settle her for sleep which can take anything from 10 seconds to thirty minutes. When she's sleepy but not quite asleep she goes into her bassinet, I put the baby monitor on and leave the room.

7.15 - 10pm. Resettle Sophs whenever she cries, some nights it's as little as 3 times, other nights have been epic 5 -6 hour episodes. In between Stu comes home from work, we cook and eat dinner, watch some TV, catch up on things around the house, do the dishes, I'm generally totally zonked in the evenings.

9.30/10pm dream feed. Take Sophs out of bassinet and whilst still fast asleep give her a feed. This feed is lovely because she doesn't wake up and there's no settling afterwards! Straight back into her bed and back to sleep. Try to go to sleep myself around 10.30 - 11pm.

11-12 midnight - sometimes Sophs wakes wanting more food now, sometimes she holds off until around 2am - either way I don't get more than 3 hours sleep here. During her growth spurt she was wanting an extra 1 - 2 feeds between the hours of midnight and 8am, e.g. 1am, 2.30am, 4am, 7am, but thankfully that seems to be over now and she's gone back to two feeds between midnight and 8am!

Of course, every day is different!