A day in the life

Sometimes when counseling a mother with a second child I am asked about my daily routine and how I manage to balance house, 2 kids, 1 part time job and 2 volunteer jobs so I decided to write down what a typical day looks like for me during the week. I have the advantage/disadvantage of not having a car so I don’t have to worry about errands such as grocery shopping. Weekends and Wednesdays (if I have a babysitter) look different but this gives you an idea.

 

 

All of these activities are done while having a 3 year old asking what something means, to spell something or to say something else.

• 7:30- Shammy wakes up but he knows better than to try to wake me up so he cuddles me while I snooze.
• 7:45- Zen wakes up and has his morning “milkie”
• 8:00- we finally get out of bed and the boys beg to go to the computer room where they beg to watch their preschool videos. I do my best to wake up and catch up on e-mail/Facebook while they do their videos
• 8:10- we all change out of jammies and head downstairs for breakfast.
• 8:45 to 9:00- done with breakfast and tidy up a little.
• 9:00- the boys watch PBS Kids while I shower
• 9:15- I empty the dishwasher and/or start a load of laundry, the boys usually help with the laundry.
• 9:45- Homeschooling, reading or playing together with blocks or puzzles. If the weather is nice or the boys have a playdate we walk to the park playground.
• 10:30- small snack
• 10:45- the boys have free play while I continue the laundry or do some minor cleaning like sweeping, vacuuming or scrubbing a toilet. I check Craigslist for new daycare/babysitter ads. Call daycares to be disappointed that they don’t have space or I can’t afford their rates. Have mini anxiety attack over not having a babysitter.
• 11:30- start to cook lunch
• 12:00- lunch time
• 12:20- post lunch cleanup and diaper changes
• 12:30- nurse Zen and attempt to put him down for a nap, lately it can take as much as 45 minutes for him to fall asleep
• 1:15 I do at least 20 minutes of cardio exercises using the XBox Kinect, Shammy will either join me if it’s an exercise he likes or play with a homeschooling app on his Kindle
• 1:35-15:00- Shammy will either color, read, practice writing or watch Sprout while his brother sleeps. I will attempt to do some work, return breastfeeding calls, answer La Leche League help forms or do homework, I am not always successful and end up reading a book instead.
• 15:00- snack time
• 15:15- play with the boys or they have free play while I try to finish some work or try to talk a breastfeeding mom off the weaning ledge
• 16:00- the boys clean up whatever mess they made during the day while I do some assorted cleaning such as floors, bathroom, etc or may be talking to a breastfeeding mom that is freaking out about not having enough milk
• 17:00- start to cook dinner
• 17:40- hubby gets home, we eat dinner
• 18:00- Tidy up after dinner, start to load the dishwasher, the boys usually hang out with their daddy.
• 18:15-19:15- If I am lucky the boys are upstairs driving their daddy nuts and I catch some me time that I spend reading or watching Doctor Who. Sometimes we will take a family walk to the park and let the boys run around and throw a ball for a while.
• 19:15-20:30- family time, usually in front of the TV :-/
• 20:30- small snack
• 20:45- finish loading the dishwasher, take out trash and recycling, bedtime prep
• 21:00- bedtime for the boys
• 21:10- mama computer time, usually spent looking for a babysitter online, checking out part time job listings, doing volunteer work such as bookkeeping for Best for Babes or web stuff for La Leche League. If I am specially awake I will read or watch something on Netflix or Amazon Prime.
• 23:00- I am usually still awake but I drag my rear to bed and toss and turn for half an hour before I fall asleep.

And throughout all of this sprinkle a generous amount of kisses, hugs and cuddles.  My past self would be horrified at how much screen time my kids get but I am not perfect and sometimes it’s the best way to ensure that they stay out of trouble while I get something done. As it is my house is never perfectly clean but I do enough here and there to keep it livable and prevent it from getting out of hand.

What does your day look like?