A day in the Miller household.

Curious what our days consist of? Sometimes I look at the clock and it's 10pm...and I have no idea where our day has gone and wonder what we have to show for it. So here is a sample schedule of our average day:

7:55am - Drag myself out of bed and brush my teeth. Go to Ruthie's room and turn on her lamp. Turn off the sound machine and turn on the radio to a soft volume.

8:00am - Warm a bottle and prepare Ruthie's morning medications. Take all of it to the nursery and start talking to Ruthie so she'll wake up. Remember that she is an ex-NICU resident who will sleep through a tornado. Rub her back and pick her up to cuddle for a few minutes...soothe her when she complains at loud volume about having been woken up (ahem...Jay Miller). Change her diaper and get her dressed for the day. Give her the morning meds and feed her - wipe off any spit-up and burp her until I get a result. Clean up more spit-up.

8:30am - Take Ruthie and her monitor to the living room and get her situated on the play-mat. Take her bottle to the sink and toss her pajamas and sleep-sack in the washing machine.

8:35am - Lay on the floor with Ruthie and entertain her with toys for as long as she will tolerate it. Try to practice tummy time. Clean up more spit up.

9:00am - Take Ruthie (and monitor) to her room and rock her for a few minutes until she gets drowsy. Lay her in the crib and sneak out of the room. Go right back in when she starts crying and give her the favored purple paci. Watch her eyes immediately close as she sucks like mad.

9:15am - Start the first load of laundry. Make our bed and tidy up our bedroom (men don't use hampers). Clean our bathroom and get dressed.

9:30am - Make and eat my breakfast. Clean up and put away any dishes. Make the day's bottles and start thinking about what to make for dinner.

10:00am - Check on Ruthie. Gently pull out spit-up-covered burpcloth from under her head and wipe off her face as she sleeps on.

10:05am - Vacuum living room, guest room, Ruthie's room, and our room. Empty vacuum outside and realize Gavin has been chowing down on Stinky's food the entire time he knew I wasn't looking. Transfer clothes to the dryer and start the second load.

10:30am - Get out next bottle and warm some water for it to sit in. Fold a load of laundry and put it away.

10:50am - Check Facebook and emails.

11:00am - Go to wake Ruthie and see that she has thrown up. Change her outfit and her diaper. Feed her, burp her, and clean up spit-up. Try to keep her awake for a few minutes but realize your efforts are futile and she would probably sleep if a marching band went through her room. Smooch on her and lay her in the crib again. Feel guilty that I should be holding her more.

11:30am - Take clothes out of dryer and transfer load from washer to dryer. Fold the fresh clothes and put them away. Put away Ruthie's clothes and burpcloths and take a few minutes to stare at her in her bed. Think about how she's the cutest baby I've ever seen, and I've seen thousands.

11:45am - Start lunch preparations. Sit down in the recliner for "just a minute" to check Facebook. Realize that I'm super hungry and it's been almost two hours since I got lost in Facebook world.

1:30pm - Eat lunch and get out another bottle to start warming. Let the dogs outside and threaten Baylee's life if she doesn't stop barking just to be obnoxious.

1:45pm - Change sheets on our bed and dust all the furniture in our bedroom. Realize I probably should have waited to vacuum until I'd done all that...now there's more dog hair on the carpet. Wish we had the money to put hardwoods across the house so we didn't have to worry about animal dander in our preemie's environment. Start thinking about money and how much it sucks.

2:00pm - Wake Ruthie and see that she's thrown up all over herself and her bed. Change her outfit...again. Change her diaper and try to remember how long it's been since she pooped. Debate giving her a suppository. Feed her and take advantage of her wakefulness to put her in the swing for a few minutes. Go change her entire bedding and throw the wet sheets and blankets in the washing machine for yet another load of laundry.

2:45pm - Pick up a screaming Ruthie from the swing that she hates and rock her in the recliner for a few minutes. Lay down with her on the floor and play with toys until she gets fussy again. Take her (and monitor) back to her room and read her some books while we rock awhile. Lay her down on her tummy - her favorite way to sleep.

3:15pm - Realize I have yet to go to the bathroom today. Take care of that. Clean the hall bathroom. Look forward to the dr appt the next day so I can ask all of my questions about her goings-on this week and make sure (for the 100th time) that she's not sick.

3:45pm - Make sure Jay's dinner is ready for him to take to work that night and feel sad that I'll be alone for 13 hours. I hate the long nights. Try not to cry.

4:00pm - Fold 3rd load of laundry and stack it in the basket to put away later. Hear Ruthie coughing and run to her room. Clean up more spit-up and try to change her clothes without waking her. Wonder why the CRAP we give her reflux medicine if it doesn't even work. Soothe her back to sleep after her abrupt awakening.

4:30pm - Wake Jay for his work night. Miss him before he's even out the door and wish we were millionaires so he could stay home, too. Get out another bottle to start warming.

5:00pm - Feed a sleeping Ruthie. She's so tired she never even wakes up. Feel guilty about not changing her diaper since she's asleep.

5:30pm - Wash remaining bottles from the day and start yet another small load of laundry so I can have blankets and burpcloths for Ruthie for the evening/night. Decide what I'm going to have for dinner and prepare it.

6:00pm - Feed Baylee and Gavin and let them outside. Make sure to cover Stinky's food bowl with the water bucket this time so I don't have to smell Gavin's gas the entire night.

6:15pm - Check Facebook and emails and feel lonely.

7:00pm - Eat dinner and clean up the dishes. Clean the kitchen counters and wipe down the fridge and microwave.

7:45pm - Start Ruthie's bath. Get a towel and washcloth, soap and rinsing cup. Mentally prepare for the drama that will ensue the minute I put her in the tub. Turn out big lights in kitchen and turn on laundry room light to make it fairly dark - this usually lessens the bath-time drama. Warm bottle and prepare evening medicines and take all to her room to be ready for her.

8:00pm - Wake Ruthie and smooch on her for a few minutes to get her awake. Get her pajamas and sleepsack ready, as well as everything I'll need after her bath - lotion, diaper cream, lead electrodes for her monitor, hairbrush, new diaper, etc.

8:15pm - Produce a naked baby in the kitchen and attempt to put her into a nice, warm, supposedly-relaxing bath. Hold her down as she bucks and kicks and starts screaming. Try to keep her somewhat in the water while I bathe her and wash her hair. Talk to her and wonder why everyone else's baby seems to love bath time and mine acts like I'm trying to drown her.

8:20pm - Wrap her in a warm towel and cuddle her close as she stops crying the moment she's out of the water. Take her to her room and dry her off. Stick on new electrodes. Try to give her a baby massage with lotion as she looks at me like I'm a traitor. Put on diaper cream and a fresh diaper and slip wiggly baby into pajamas and swaddler. Clean her eyes, ears, and nose with a Boogie Wipe (saline wipe, grape-scented!) and brace myself for the yell that follows, as she is not fond of this. Brush her adorable hair as she again gives me the "look" for having dared give her a bath.

8:30pm - Turn off the radio and the lamp and crank up the sound machine. Give her the evenings medicines and follow it up with a nice, warm bottle. She grabs at it like I starve her and makes wonderful eye contact for several minutes. I think, "Maybe this is the moment when I will see her first smile!" I don't. I burp her (or try to) and clean up any spit-up. I put her on my shoulder to snuggle. I rock her as long as is needed to get her to sleep and war with myself over whether or not to lay her down. She is so precious and I just want to snuggle her. I get out my phone and start reading a Kindle book while rocking her.

9:30pm - Realize it's been an hour and if I want any sleep at all tonight, I should finish the rest of the household chores so I can go to bed after her dreamfeed.

9:35pm - Put last load of laundry in the dryer. Clean baby tub. Water houseplant. Try to clean some clutter out of the guest room when I remember that we will be having company in just two short weeks. (Yikes.)

10:30pm - Finally finish all that needs to be done and sit down in the recliner for a few minutes. Check Facebook. (Of course.)

11:00pm - Without turning on any lights or making any noise, pick up Ruthie and give her the "dreamfeed" bottle. Be grateful she does not wake up. She burps on her own and I lay her back in her bed and sprint to get into my own.

And if I'm lucky, she'll sleep until 8am the next morning, and we'll start all over again. This is an average day in the Miller household. Sometimes I long for her to get older so she will be in a more predictable routine and not sleep so much, but I know I will miss this tiny-baby time in her life.