A Week In Brooklyn, NY, On A Joint $160,660 Salary

Occupation: Product Manager
Industry: Education Technology
Age: 30
Location: Brooklyn, NY
My Salary: $84,660
My Wife's Salary: $76,000
My Paycheck Amount (2x/month): $2,177.04
My Wife's Paycheck Amount (2x/month): $2,158.56

Monthly Expenses
Rent: $2,600
Car Payment: $200
Internet: $50
Electricity: $130
Gas: $20.78
New York Times: $18.78 (subscription and crossword)
Amazon Prime: $10.75
Renters Insurance: $16.99
You Need A Budget App: $4.17
Car Insurance: $171
Dental Insurance: $22.45
FSA: $93.75 (I upped my contribution a lot this year after insane out-of-pocket hospital bills when my son was born.)
Health Insurance: $182.67 (This covers my son and me. My wife is on her work's plan.)
Vision Insurance: $1.98
Parking Spot: $150
Donation To Everytown For Gun Safety: $100
401(k): $70.55 (2% of my paycheck, and my employer doesn't match.)
Savings: Varies based on our priorities. We have four separate savings funds right now (all in the same account, just different budget line items) for a house down payment, an emergency fund, childcare, and a fund to cover expenses during our maternity leaves. We aim to save about 20% of our income in total.

6:45 a.m. — My three-month-old son wakes up to nurse. I feed him, and then we snuggle with my wife, T., for a bit before getting out of bed. She does a yoga video while I make coffee and breakfast. Both my wife and I are on maternity leave for a few more weeks, so we are savoring these lazy mornings while we can. I'm paid in full by my company for 18 weeks (thanks, tech company benefits and NY Paid Family Leave!). T.'s situation is more complicated. Basically, she is taking the same amount of time off as I am, but the last six weeks or so are unpaid. She's a teacher and doesn't get as much paid leave as me, but her work allows her to take as much unpaid leave as she wants, and they'll hold her job. She's also been paid at 60% throughout her 12-week leave, and will get the remaining 40% as a lump sum when she returns to work. When I got pregnant, we calculated our loss of income during our maternity leaves and saved up that amount — about $12,000.

7 a.m. — I make myself a bowl of homemade granola with yogurt we made in the Instant Pot. Then I make myself my specialty coffee in our espresso machine, one of my favorite gifts we got for our wedding a couple of years ago. It's a double shot of espresso, filled to the top with half hot water and half steamed milk. Yum. I set the baby in his play gym while I eat and do the NYT crossword.

10:30 a.m. — T. and I browse online for some items we need for her brother's baby shower next month. We are hosting it and need to order things like diapers and craft supplies for the shower activities. I find a cute guest book on Etsy and message the vendor to see if she can personalize it and get it to us in time for the shower. I also browse Anthropologie for something to wear to the event. My body has changed a lot through pregnancy and birth, and most of my clothes don't fit. If and when I find something, I'll buy it in-store and get a discount through a family member who works there. Nothing looks that cute, though.

12:45 p.m. — I decide to measure myself so that I can actually buy clothes online that will fit the body I have now. Based on my measurements, I check out some plus-size clothing sites. It feels a little weird because I don't usually wear plus-size, but whatever — I just need non-sweatpants clothing that fits. I find three potentially cute dresses, and the site is running a promo where I get 50% off for ordering three or more items. $160.35

1 p.m. — I go downstairs and ride the stationary bike in our basement for the length of one 20-minute episode of Schitt's Creek. I'm gradually trying to get back into exercise, and it helps that we live in a two-floor apartment with space to work out on the lower floor. The time passes quickly, since Schitt's Creek is hilarious. Moira's outfits are amazing, but David is my favorite character. Then it's back upstairs to shower and eat some peanut butter toast.

2:15 p.m. — T. and I bundle up the baby (it's freezing out) to head to the grocery store. We are hosting a family birthday dinner for T.'s cousins tonight, and we need supplies. We drive to the fancier store about 10 minutes away, because we need some specific things. I pick out some baking supplies, since I have lots of time at home to bake these days and have been going through our staples like flour and yeast. T. grabs what she needs for what she's calling “around-the-world lettuce cups” for dinner. We get a bunch of seemingly random stuff that will come together into several different dishes, including chorizo, tofu, lamb, peanut butter, sambal oelek, corn, mint, scallions, and of course, lettuce. $84

3:30 p.m. — Back home. Baby screamed the whole way — we forgot to bring his pacifier, and he's pissed. We turn onto our street and see that someone is blocking our parking spot. We pay $150/month for this spot because parking is tight in our neighborhood, and when I got pregnant we realized it wasn't feasible to be circling the block looking for parking every day. It's a decent deal for NYC. I carry in the groceries and the baby while T. honks for the person to come out and move their car. (This is pretty standard practice in our neighborhood when someone is blocking you in, especially if they have their hazards on.) The driver comes out — it's a guy and his kid. I tell him he can't park there. He ignores me and slowly unlocks his car and drives away. Asshole.

3:45 p.m. — Back inside, we put away groceries. It has started to snow, and I'm grateful we're inside and toasty warm. I realize I haven't eaten much today and have some leftover collard greens with lots of bacon from the fridge. I put some white beans on top for extra protein, plus Cholula hot sauce.

7 p.m. — Everyone comes over to eat. I put the baby to bed (he sleeps in a mini-crib called a co-sleeper next to our bed) and then come out to socialize and have a glass of wine. The food is amazing. My favorite dish is the Thai lettuce cup with peanut sauce and crispy tofu. T. is a genius in the kitchen. I made CBD-infused caramel sauce for dessert, and we eat it with green apples and graham crackers. So good. The groceries for tonight weren't cheap, but everyone is so pleased with the meal that it feels worth it. I fall asleep happy around 10:30.

7:30 a.m. — Baby's up. I feed him and check my phone. It's 4 degrees outside! So much for leaving the house to do errands. We'll be staying in today. I make coffee. No breakfast yet, because I'm still full from last night. Baby plays with toys while I check email. The Etsy seller got back to me about the guest book, and she can personalize and get it to us in time. Excellent. I order it. Shipping is $10 (yikes). $34.99

10 a.m. — Make a bowl of leftovers from last night: chickpeas and potatoes over arugula, with mango chutney, spicy green sauce, and yogurt. I labeled all the containers with masking tape and a Sharpie when I put them away last night, which makes it easy to put the meal together. I find that when we label everything in the fridge, we waste less.

10:30 a.m. — Scour the house for curtain rods so we can put up blackout curtains in our bedroom. We're trying to get the baby to nap in there during the day, but he needs it to be darker. We have the curtains already, and I find the rods downstairs, but it turns out we need special brackets to hang them. Sigh. We'll order them on Amazon.

12:30 p.m. — T. makes us a chorizo and corn salad from fridge leftovers. So good. I have another cup of coffee and regret the unsettling effect it has on my stomach.

12:50 p.m. — T.. places the Amazon order with the curtain brackets, plus a shirt she wants ($18.99), a pair of hoop earrings ($10), and two pairs of tights for me since I realize I don't have any that fit to go with the dresses I ordered yesterday ($26). The brackets are $25 for a set and we need two sets ($50, ouch), but it's the best price we can find for the specific type we need. $104.99

1 p.m. — Time for baby to nap again. Without the blackout curtains, the only place he will successfully sleep is strapped to one of us in our baby carrier. I strap him on and feel annoyed that I can't finish cleaning or switch the laundry now, since it jostles him too much. I sit down and rock back and forth gently on the yoga ball while he falls asleep. I browse Apartment Therapy and imagine how we can redesign our basement space.

2 p.m. — We spend most of the rest of the afternoon trying to get the baby to nap. He's not feeling it and won't stay asleep for more than 20 minutes at a time. We snack on white bean dip, toast, and cucumbers as we take turns soothing him.

6:30 p.m. — Decide to put the baby down for the night a little early. He cries in his crib for 30+ minutes which hurts my heart, but we are trying to get him to learn to self-soothe. Finally he passes out, looking like a sweet angel on the baby monitor. We eat turkey soup that my mom made for us and froze after the baby was born. T. adds greens and mushrooms from the fridge. It's delicious, and I'm starving, so I eat a bowl and a half. Then T. makes a scaled down recipe of oatmeal raisin cookies — the recipe makes just four cookies, so it's the perfect amount for a two-person dessert. We finish the CBD caramel, too. I'm still hungry and have a bowl of granola with almond milk. If I eat right before bed, it helps keep me from getting hungry while I breastfeed the baby in the middle of the night — although sometimes that happens anyway.

8:45 p.m. — I kiss T. goodnight and read my book in our room by the light of my iPhone flashlight, since the baby sleeps next to our bed. I've been reading My Sister The Serial Killer for about six weeks. Normally it's the kind of book I'd finish in a few days, but my focus and energy basically all go to the baby right now. I start to get sleepy, put the book down, and look at pictures of my sweet baby on my phone until I pass out.

8:45 a.m. — Wake up, feed the baby, and cuddle. T. changes his diaper and gets him dressed while I clean up the kitchen and make us coffee. Then T. makes us bowls of yogurt and savory granola with chopped cucumbers and grated garlic. We're obsessed with Alison Roman's cookbook Dining In, and we've been keeping jars of both her sweet granola and savory granola on hand.

9 a.m. — We sit down to eat while baby plays with toys. T. tells me about a phone call she took last night after I went to bed with one of our friends who is also our wedding planning client. We're in the early stages of starting a side hustle as wedding planners. So far we have one couple we're helping for free and one couple who will be paying us for our help. T. and I loved planning our own wedding and got tons of compliments on it, so we thought wedding planning could be a fun way to make extra money.

9:30 a.m. — I pay rent online, since it's the first of the month. Our lease renewed this month, and our landlord tried to raise our rent $200 even though we've only been here for a year. We negotiated him down to a $100 increase, which I'm pretty proud of. I subtract $56 that we paid for a plumber visit last week and also pay for our parking space via Cash App.

10:30 a.m. — Go downstairs for stationary bike and Schitt's Creek while T. puts the baby in the front pack for a nap.

11 a.m. — Clean up downstairs, since my in-laws are arriving tomorrow and will be staying in our basement suite. I strip the bed and change the linens, run the robot vacuum, and wipe down the bathroom. T. yells down to me that the baby is awake and hungry, so I leave the bathroom half-cleaned and run upstairs to breastfeed. T. asks me if I want to start ordering coffee beans from a Guatemalan collective each month, rather than Amazon. I say yes, absolutely. She places an order. $28

12 p.m. — Shower, then deal with more house chores: taking out trash and recycling, unloading the dishwasher, and putting away the baby's clean clothes. Somehow when we are home all day, it seems like there are endless house tasks to handle. I can see how stay-at-home moms feel like they have no free time. I stress a bit about how we will manage all of this when we go back to work. T. tells me that she ordered another 10-pack of bibs for the baby. He's going through at least five a day between spitting up and drooling, and we can't seem to wash them fast enough. $17.99

2 p.m. — The dresses I ordered arrive. None of them look good, and I feel like crying. They're all too long on me and sack-like. I truly have no idea how I will dress myself when I have to start leaving the house again. And now I have another chore — returning the clothes.

4 p.m. — Try to unwind by baking a grapefruit yogurt cake. Baby is strapped to me for yet another nap. He's not loving it, and I have to take lots of breaks to soothe him and bounce on the yoga ball. I manage to get the cake baked, though, while listening to an episode of Believed, an NPR podcast about the Larry Nassar sexual abuse case. It's fascinating and horrifying.

6 p.m. — Give the baby a bath, which he loves. We use this thing called the Otteroo for bath time, which is a neck floatie for babies. It lets him splash around freely. Very worth the $30 or so we spent on it. He "swims" around and looks adorable. He's really the best, despite the recent nap struggles. I cover him in coconut oil, put him in his sleep suit, breastfeed him, and set him down in his crib.

6:45 p.m. — Drink a spicy Paloma (mezcal and grapefruit) that T. made for me while she cooks dinner. I have a cool wife.

7 p.m. — Dinner is kale and mushroom tacos, covered in lots of lime, cotija cheese, and salsa verde. We watch Russian Doll on Netflix. It pops up on the recommendation screen, and I'm sold as soon as I see Amy Poehler worked on it. I'm a diehard Parks and Rec fan. The show is fascinating, and we get through six of the eight episodes. I have another Paloma and some grapefruit yogurt cake before heading to bed around 10:30. T. stays up to wait for her parents to arrive.

7 a.m. — Baby wakes up. I breastfeed him, then pass him off to T. so I can make coffee. T.'s mom comes upstairs and is very excited to kiss and hug the baby. She hasn't seen him in over a month, and he has grown a ton. We have coffee, granola, and yogurt together and catch up, mostly about T.'s brother, his fiancée, and their baby on the way.

9 a.m. — Feed baby again, then pass him off to his grandpa while I jump in the shower. I've had extensions for a while (long Senegalese twists), but I'm wearing my hair natural as of a week or so ago. I condition it, comb through with my fingers, put in a leave-in conditioner, dry my curls with a t-shirt (less frizz than using a towel), and finally put in some DevaCurl styling gel. My wife uses the gel too, so we keep a couple big bottles under the sink. I blow dry while scrunching my curls upwards. I look in the mirror and am pleased — it's a good curl day.

11:30 a.m. — I FaceTime my parents with the baby on my lap. He's fussy and doesn't give them much interaction or smiles, but they are happy to see him regardless. When we hang up, T. and her dad are back with lunch. They got chicken rotis (a Caribbean wrap, kind of like a burrito), mac and cheese pie, and stewed eggplant. T.'s dad paid for the food. Our neighborhood is home to a lot of Caribbean folks, and their food is good as hell. I'm starving and eat a lot.

1:15 p.m. — Since baby is sleeping, and we have multiple adult caretakers today, I decide to rest too. Baby woke up to eat every two hours between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., and I'm tired. Can't wait for him to outgrow the many night feedings. I go to my room with a handful of caramel chocolate chips and lie down.

3:10 p.m. — T. comes in and wakes me up with a hungry baby. I feed him, then get up and make some black tea with almond milk and brown sugar and two small pieces of rye toast with butter. We have a 6:30 dinner reservation at an Italian place I'm excited about, so I stop snacking.

6 p.m. — We brief T.'s parents on the baby's bedtime routine and leave them to babysit. Then we hop on the subway to go to dinner. I add $10 to my MetroCard for both of us. (Neither of us has taken the subway in a while, so we have nothing on our cards.) Dinner is wonderful — the service is fantastic, which is one of the things I love about going to nice restaurants. It's good to feel taken care of, like someone is paying attention to the small details that make you comfortable. T. and I chat about how excited we are about our wedding planning side hustle, and also which of our friends and family might get pregnant next. She also tells me that she ordered some wine glasses ($23.61) to be sent to our friends as a housewarming gift — they just moved to a new place. $33.61

7 p.m. — We order a chicory salad and porchetta appetizer, then two pizzas — one with truffles and steamed romanesco broccoli, and one with salami and mushrooms. We also each get a Negroni and a glass of wine, then a glass of Amaro after dinner. We are huge Amaro fans and love to try new flavors. We get some of the pizza packed up to take home. The total is $148. We pretty much always tip 20%, but I realize afterwards I accidentally tipped more like 18%. Oops. We'll make it up next time we're here. $170

9 p.m. — Walk 15 minutes to a bar since it is still early. We each get one more drink ($23.95 with tip) and enjoy the slightly rowdy Saturday night vibe, which we haven't experienced in a while. There's a punk band playing downstairs. The air hockey table is open, so we put in some quarters ($1 worth) and play a round. $24.95

10 p.m. — My boobs are getting painful and filled with milk since I missed one of my normal feedings. We hop in a cab so I can get home fast and pump ($13.61 plus $1 tip). When we get home, I pump and pop two Aleves to stave off the impending headache. Chug water, wash face, and get in bed. $14.61

5:45 a.m. — Baby wakes up to eat. When I pick him up, he's soaking wet. I change his diaper, wipe him down, and bring him into our bed. We snuggle and snooze for another hour.

7 a.m. — Wake up for real. Coffee, oatmeal with dried cranberries, and lemon water. T. does yoga while I hang with the baby. Her parents come up from downstairs.

9 a.m. — T. starts the project of putting up the blackout curtains. When taking them out of the package, she discovers that they are made of an ugly shiny white fabric. So frustrating — we spent all this money and finally have all the pieces, and the curtains are hideous. We have a slightly tense discussion about what to do next. Finally, we decide to drill in the rods, put up the ugly curtains, and look for better ones later. T. is cooking brunch, and I'm taking care of the baby, so her parents agree to put the curtains up for us. There's lots of drilling sounds and cursing coming from our bedroom.

9:30 a.m. — I'm exhausted — the baby is still waking up to eat every two hours, and the booze definitely made my sleep quality worse. I should take a break from drinking for a few days. I make a cup of green tea with honey and lemon, since I am trying to stick to one cup of coffee a day.

11 a.m. — T.'s cousin comes over for brunch. We have sweet potato hash and scrambled eggs. He stays for a while, and we discuss the Democrats running for president in 2020. We all moan about how we still have almost two years until the election.

1 p.m. — Blackout curtains are up. They're actually not as ugly as we thought, and they block out the light pretty well. We set baby up for a nap in our room, and he falls asleep pretty quickly. Success!

3 p.m. — T.'s parents leave, and I thank them profusely for their curtain assistance. Then I go take a nap.

5:30 p.m. — T. and I get the baby ready for bed and read some books. He is really starting to focus on the pages, and he makes lots of sounds as we read. He is very smiley and cute, and we give him tons of hugs and kisses before putting him down. He cries for less than ten minutes and then passes out. We eat chicken cacciatore, polenta, and kale salad for dinner while finishing up Russian Doll. The final episode is incredible. Natasha Lyonne is a gem.

8:30 p.m. — I'm still tired. I realize we have nothing going on, and I can just go to bed super early, so I do.

5:45 a.m. — Baby wakes up wet again. Maybe I need to start changing him during the night. Change him, feed him, and snuggle in bed for a while.

7:30 a.m. — We get up for real. We are out of both granola and yogurt, so I eat a Larabar and have coffee. Baby is in a weird mood and can't be soothed. I check the weather and it's 45 degrees and sunny, so I try bundling him up and taking him in the backyard. He stops crying right away, so we sit on the porch, listening to the city sounds and singing songs. T. and I think a lot about whether we should stay in NYC long-term, or whether we should move to D.C. to be closer to her family. There's so much to love about where we live now, though. Our apartment is pretty great (outdoor space is super rare in the city), and I love the idea of my son growing up in NYC as a cool city kid, surrounded by all kinds of people.

11 a.m. — I throw together a smoothie with frozen blueberries, peanut butter, almond milk, dates, and cinnamon while T. changes baby's diaper. I put him down for a nap and hope he actually sleeps.

11:30 a.m. — T.. starts putting together a list of daycare options. Our plan is to put the baby in daycare in about six weeks. We go back to work this month, but for the first bit of time, we'll use a combination of T.'s mom and a babysitter for childcare. Part of my work's parental leave benefit is that I can go back to work part-time for my first couple of months back, so we'll only need childcare three days a week at first. They'll only pay me for the days I work (same full-time benefits, though), but we've saved up to cover the temporary loss of income. We've been talking about our childcare options for a while now, but haven't nailed anything down. We looked into sharing a nanny with another family, but we couldn't find anyone whose schedule/needs meshed with ours. I'm not crazy about sending my son to daycare because I feel like he's still really young, but having one of us stay home longer isn't really a financial option.

12 p.m. — T. starts calling daycares and asking about availability and prices. Our friends say they generally pay about $400/week for daycare. We've been saving up for a while and we have $5,700 put away so far — so about 14 weeks' worth. I'm proud of us for building up this savings cushion to make the transition back to work feel easier. One of the daycares T. calls says they charge $250/week, which sounds like quite the deal compared to what we've heard. She makes some appointments for us to visit daycares later this week.

12:15 p.m. — I'm exhausted, but I force myself to ride the stationary bike downstairs. Struggle through 20 minutes while watching Schitt's Creek.

2 p.m. — Baby goes down for a nap again. He starts screaming. I can't really take anymore screaming today, so T. tells me to go downstairs and she'll deal with it. I grab the rest of the caramel chocolate chips and stress-eat them in the basement while scrolling on my phone.

2:30 p.m. — Come upstairs to feed baby. T. tells me she's watching “that show where celebrities eat progressively hotter chicken wings.” Um, what? It's called Hot Ones, and Abbi and Ilana from Broad City are being interviewed. They're very funny as usual. Then we watch some of the Bon Appétit test kitchen YouTube videos. T. wonders how she can get a job in a test kitchen. I think she would be great at it.

3 p.m. — I've been eating weird small snacks all day. So far I've had a Larabar, the blueberry smoothie, a small bowl of polenta and tomato sauce, a frozen masala burger with mango chutney from Trader Joe's, some gluten-free cornbread, and the caramel chips.

3:15 p.m. — I breastfeed and then pump for 20 minutes. I get three ounces of milk, which is an okay amount for me, but not great. Sometimes I can get five ounces. I label the bag of milk with the date and put it in the fridge. Let's call this the start of my back-to-work milk stash. Baby is starting to respond when I play peek-a-boo with him. He gives me a huge smile, and I feel pure joy.

5:30 p.m. — We order dinner from a vegetarian Thai place. We get curry samosas, summer rolls, green curry tofu, moo shu vegetables, and steamed greens ($53.64 using my Seamless gift card). The food arrives right as we're putting the baby down for the night. Everything is super delicious and satisfying. Baby cries for a full 30 minutes, so T. goes in and soothes him. She comes back, and he cries more. I can't take it, so I put on headphones while she watches the baby monitor. I'm really grateful that she's willing to deal with the crying when it feels like too much for me to bear. I hate that he is in distress, and I'm not supposed to help him. We are determined to stick with the sleep training, though. He's making so much progress with learning to fall asleep on his own, and we really want to get to a point where he goes to bed easily and sleeps through the night. Someday soon? I take off my headphones after about 15 minutes, and he's asleep. Good job, baby.

7:30 p.m. — I want to finish My Sister The Serial Killer, but it's in our bedroom where the baby is sleeping, and I can't risk waking him up. I decide to finish it later and order a new book on the Kindle app on my iPad ($14). I choose As Long As We Both Shall Live, a thriller that just came out. I love to read thrillers and mysteries. Sometimes I feel like my attention span is shot from years of scrolling through tiny bits of content on the internet, but when I read something suspenseful I feel like I can focus for longer. I read for about an hour. The writing style is a little sloppy, but the story is interesting enough. $14

8:30 p.m. — I make granola so we have something for breakfast tomorrow. Then I listen to more of Believed on my new Bluetooth headphones. They were pretty cheap on Amazon (I think $25), and they work pretty well. They're perfect for times like this when T. is watching TV, and I want to be in the same space while doing something else. They'll also work well on the subway, since I won't have to worry about the headphones cord getting tangled up in my coat and backpack. Major pet peeve.

9:30 p.m. — The house smells spicy and toasty as the granola bakes. When it's done, I put it away in a big glass jar and eat a bowl. I accidentally pour myself too much, so T. helps me finish it.

10 p.m. — Get in bed, read a little more, stare at my sweet sleeping baby, and fall asleep.

5:45 a.m. — Baby wakes up. I feed him and we snuggle until 7.

7 a.m. — Granola and coffee while T. does yoga.

8 a.m. — Time for baby's first nap. We put him down and he cries for a full 30 minutes (we go in every 10 to try to soothe him). Torture. I go in there, rock him to sleep, and lie down in bed with him. At least this way he'll actually sleep. T. texts me articles about sleep training. She asks me if I want to do the all-night cry it out method tonight, where we don't soothe him or feed him at all from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. I really don't want to do that, but we have been sleep training for two weeks, and I want it to be over. Supposedly if you do the all night method, the baby will sleep through the night in three days. I shed a few tears of frustration over the difficult decision. I tell T. I need to think about it more. I fall asleep next to baby.

10 a.m. — I suggest going to Trader Joe's, but strapping the baby in the car and disrupting his nap schedule sounds like hell. We place an Instacart order instead. We get two salad kits, organic chicken stock, Applegate bacon, microwave popcorn, organic chicken breast, chocolate-covered pretzels, a milk chocolate caramel bar, hominy, parsley, cilantro, scallions, cremini mushrooms, Honeycrisp apples, Granny Smith apples, clementines, frozen mango, rosemary crackers, salami, cheddar cheese, mango juice (to flavor some kombucha I'm making), almond milk, organic whole milk (to make Instant Pot yogurt), cucumbers, bell peppers, baby carrots, lemons, and a large container of olive oil. The final total is $233.81 with tip and delivery fees. An expensive shopping trip, but we do have stuff for a week of dinners, as well as good snacks to get us through sleep training. We also bought groceries for another family dinner (nine people) next Saturday. And we did not have to leave the house. $233.81

11 a.m. — Scroll through Instagram and see that Hilary Duff is sleep training her baby, too. I started following her when she announced she was pregnant because it amused me that I was having a baby at the same time as someone I used to watch on the Disney Channel. Apparently she had a baby sleep consultant stay with her for the weekend, and now her baby sleeps 11 hours. Must be nice! I wonder how much that cost.

12:15 p.m. — Eat leftover steamed greens, coconut rice, and green curry tofu.

2 p.m. — It's somehow 60 degrees in February (climate change is terrifying), so I go for a walk and listen to more Believed while T. plays with baby. When I come back, he has fallen asleep on his own. Thank goodness. You can do it, baby.

4 p.m. — Instacart groceries arrive. I clean out the fridge and put the groceries away. Then I chop up the bell peppers and cucumbers for easy snacking.

4:30 p.m. — Some friends (a couple and their baby) text to say they're in the neighborhood and want to drop by. We enthusiastically say yes. We've gotten closer over the past year or so as we've all gone through pregnancy and babies together. They show up with two bottles of prosecco and we hang out, drink, and play with the babies for a couple of hours.

7 p.m. — T. throws together dinner (meatballs from the freezer, tomato sauce, polenta) while I put baby to bed. We decided to do the all night cry it out method, so we are hanging out and sleeping downstairs (with the baby monitor) tonight in order to let baby learn how to soothe himself without us. I'm nervous about it. We watch a couple episodes of The Other Two on Comedy Central while we eat. I eat a bunch of chocolate-covered pretzels, drink some red wine, and fall asleep on the couch.

11:30 p.m. — T. wakes me up and we head to bed in the downstairs guest room. Baby's sleeping soundly.