A Day in My Life

The month has been flying past. I can’t believe that it’s almost over already. Julie and I have been getting along very well. There’s not really a normal day for us, but there are rhythms. Usually, the itinerary looks like this:

7-7:20 ~ Edo and Mireille leave for work 
7:30-8 ~Julie and I read a story together. I struggle through a Dutch book from her shelf, and then I make up my own English version. By the time that’s done, she’s rubbing her eyes and yawning
8-8:30 ~ A nap for Julie. Some days I take a nap too, and some days I shower or eat breakfast or something like that. 
9ish ~ Julie wakes up 30-60 minutes later, and I play with her, read my devotions to her if I haven’t had a chance to do it by myself yet, or do something else. 

9:45-10 ~ Bottle for Julie
10:15 ~ Change Julie's diaper and put on clothes. 
10:15 ~ Monday, Wednesday, Sunday: bathtime for Julie
11ish ~ naptime
There’s usually one long nap a day, lasting 2ish hours, and sometimes this is the time for it. If she wakes up before I eat lunch, I eat with her

1:30ish ~ bottle for Julie
2-4:30ish ~ we go for a walk unless Julie acts very tired (in which case I put her in bed).
4 ~ errands that may be necessary

5:30-6 ~ Bottle for Julie
6:30ish ~ Edo and Mireille come home
7ish ~ Dinner time! Julie now gets pureed vegetables like broccoli, carrots, or squash. We drink wine and eat yummy food like pasta, risotto, sauteed vegetables, nasi, etc. 
8ish ~ Julie goes for another nap, and we all do our own thing

9:30ish ~ Mireille feeds Julie
10ish ~Julie goes to bed, and Edo usually follows close behind
11ish ~ Mireille and I go to bed

But, as with any ordinary life, there are complications. We found out that Julie's right hip bone is not forming properly, so she has to have a brace on over her clothes. It has to be on all the time, even when she is sleeping or eating. We take it off to change her diaper and give her a bath. This complication means that we have doctor's appointments in the afternoons more often now (three appointments in two weeks), so that changes the schedule.

Furthermore, Julie is never predictable. I give a rough schedule of her naps and bottle times, but she feels free to disregard any habits she may have kept before. She used to stick to the feeding schedule and not nap so regularly, but lately she has been ignoring the bottle times as well. She sleeps through them more often. 

We also have special occasions that throw off the rhythm, like her grandparents' 40th wedding anniversary party or her baptism. 

So it seems quite relaxed and easy to be with Julie some days because she sleeps a lot or plays contentedly without me, and I can do whatever I want. Other days she wants attention all the time, cries because she is very tired but doesn't want to sleep, or giggles so much she almost chokes. Never predictable, but always adorable. Yes, I get quite sappy about her, and I'm not going to apologize for that. Definitely the best graduation present I could have asked for is living here in the Netherlands with Edo and Mireille and getting to be an important, regular part of Julie's life.

 First time eating solid food: carrots! Edo is a pro at feeding Julie thanks to his time as an au pair

 She likes to fall asleep cuddling my hand some days. It's so sweet that I hate to leave her room

Mireille is feeding Julie broccoli for her first time - yummy yummy

We go on walks, and sometimes Julie hides in the cave made by the sun/rain cover. I peek in on her.

The pair of us before her baptism after I had given her a bottle and we were waiting to go into the church