Not long ago Ryan posted about what a day looks like from his perspective.  While we have quite a bit of overlap, we are married and raising Ivy together, there are differences.  No two days are alike but here’s my Thursday May 11, 2017.

4:15 a.m. – Ryan’s alarm goes off for the first time.  I wake up.  He hits snooze.

4:22 a.m. – Ryan’s alarm goes off for the second time.  I wake up.  He wakes up too and heads downstairs for a morning bike / swim.  I lay back down and try to fall back asleep.

4:55 a.m. – Ivy wake up screaming.  She can’t find her bink.  I bring her into bed with me, give her the bink and try to get her to sleep for another hour.

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6:00 a.m. – Ivy wakes up much happier this time.  Good morning good morning.

6:03 a.m. – Nurse Ivy.  I work really, really hard to keep her focused on nursing.  She works really, really, hard to look at the dog, look at cats, try to find where Ryan is, pull on my necklace, pull on my hair and pull on my shirt.

6:15 a.m. — Make breakfast for Ivy (sprouted grain toast with peanut butter and applesauce) and me (Primo smoothie mix with almond milk, blueberries and coffee.  All the coffee).  Ivy has some seriously sharp little teeth (she reminds me of Sunny Baudelaire) and can pretty much gnaw anything into small enough pieces for her to eat.

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6:45 a.m. — Ryan gets back from the pool.  Make Ryan breakfast (pancake, blueberries and chicken sausages).

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7:00 a.m. — Get dressed, get Ivy dressed and head out the door for a 3 ish mile run.

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7:35 a.m. — Home from the run.  Ivy passed out in the last mile.  Pull together all the bags for the day and wake Ivy up so I can attempt to take a shower.

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7:45 a.m. — Shower.  Listen to Ivy scream because she can’t bear the fact that she’s been left “alone” with a dozen toys on the floor of the bathroom right next to the shower.  Decide that I really don’t need to wash my hair that it’s totally a dry shampoo kind of day.  Get dressed, load the car, strap Ivy into her car seat.

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8:10 a.m. — Leave for daycare.

8:25 a.m. — Stop at Dunkin Donuts to pick up a dozen donuts for Ivy’s teachers as part of their Mother’s Day present.  Pick up a medium dark roast with cream for me because, well, coffee.

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8:45 a.m. — Arrive at daycare.  Drop Ivy (and the donuts) off with Miss Eleni, who Ivy absolutely adores.  Spend a little time with the babies in Ivy’s room and then head off to work.

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9:15 a.m. — Arrive at work.

9:30 a.m. — Close my office door and pump.

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9:30 a.m. – ish — Finish drafting responses to discovery requests (definitely not my favorite thing).  I find written discovery to often be really tedious.

12:05 p.m. — Lunch (packed by Ryan).  Chicken sausages, hard boiled eggs, Siggi’s yogurt, carrots and a pear.  Plus herbal tea because my office is freezing.

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12:15 p.m. — Research in support of a motion to strike (the Connecticut state court equivalent of a motion to dismiss).  Respond to athlete emails.  Follow up on some unemployment issues for a client.

2:45 p.m. — Snack (packed by Ryan).  Cherries and almonds (yes, its packed in a Very Hungry Caterpillar snack bag).  With my recent spate of disordered eating issues Ryan is in charge of packing my food for work.  If I’m left to my own devices I often opt out of packing a lunch and use coffee all day to deal with hunger pains.  Not good.  When Ryan makes my lunch, I eat it (and I love him for doing this for me).

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3 p.m. — Pump again.  Because of Ivy’s tongue tie and lip tie, my full milk supply never came in (this is why she had so much trouble gaining weight in her first month).  Right now I’m able to nurse Ivy in the morning and to pump enough during the day for her to have a boob bottle at daycare.  I’m completely jealous of all the moms who have ample supplies, Ivy, however, has to make due with what I’m able to produce.

3:15 p.m. -ish —  Revisions to a motion for summary judgment.  Try to track down a client to finalize a declaration.

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4:30 p.m. — I’m having a really hard time today missing Ivy so I decide to leave early to pick her up from daycare.  The fact that Mother’s Day is fast approaching is hard — it reminds me that Owen first made me a step mother and holidays are often the worst for dealing with feelings of grief.

5:00 p.m. — Pick up Ivy and drive home.  Realize that Ivy’s care seat had broken (the clip on the chest strap snapped off).  Not we need to call Britax and get a replacement.  thankfully we have two car seats so we’ll still be able to drive with Ivy in the car.

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5:30 p.m. — Dinner.  Scrambled eggs and quinoa mix.

6:00 p.m. — Ryan puts Ivy in the running stroller to do his second run of the day.  I’m supposed to get on the bike but I spend a few minutes lying in bed, staring out the window and enjoying the quiet (but messy) house.

6:45 p.m. — On the trainer.  An hour of cadence work.  Ryan and Ivy return part way through the ride so I get some Ivy entertainment as I finish up.

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7:45 p.m. — Another smoothie with almond milk.

8:15 p.m. — Get Ivy in her PJs.  Try to get her to take a bedtime bottle.  She’s not having any part of it.  Eventually she grabs the bottle on her own terms.

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8:30 p.m. — Get Ivy into her crib.  Close the door.  Listen to her scream for a few minutes and then pass out.  Goodnight Ivy.

8:45 p.m. — Pump again.  Clean up the kitchen and then head up to bed.  Lights out at 9:15 p.m.

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Kelly Burns Gallagher

mccarter english employment litigator / oiselle team runner / coeur sports triathlete / sonic endurance coach & race director / witsup.com writer / dartmouth '02 / emorylaw '05

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