Some of my favorite blogger posts are the "a day in my life" posts. Call me nosey, but I just like to know what other people (especially moms who seem to do it all) do on a daily basis. When I first started to think about writing this post, I was going to decide on a specific day to map out. The thing is, I get the 'best of both worlds' at the moment. I'm home with Cam 2 days during the week and 3 days I work and take him to daycare. So, I decided to actually post 2 separate "a day in my life" posts, so you all can see what it's like to be a working mom AND a SAHM (stay at home mom). I also want to document this time I have with just Camden before baby #2 arrives.
I have friends that work full time that always say they wish they could stay at home with their babies. I also have a few friends and know a lot of bloggers that are stay at home moms that seem to be losing their minds on a daily basis trying to keep up with their little ones. It's totally a "the grass is greener" scenario. I'm definitely using 2 different parts of my brain depending on what day it is. The days I'm at home with Cam can be much more physically and emotionally exhausting! The days I work seems to be a bit more mentally challenging and I always have a slight twinge of mother's guilt that I'm not with my son. I'm sure other working moms can relate.
So here's a little look at a "typical" work day for me (I say typical, but as you may know things aren't always 'typical' with a toddler!). PS - the photos below are completely unedited and from my iPhone. I wanted you to get a real sense of our day and not a filtered/edited version.
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Date: March 31, 2016 (Thursday)
Camden is 16 months old
5:45 am - I hear Cam chirping in the monitor next to my bed. My boy is an early riser! I'm lucky when he sleeps past 6am. I get up, brush my teeth, throw on some
yoga pants and a t shirt and go get him out of his crib. I change his diaper, then we head downstairs.
We do pretty much the same routine every morning. I set him up in his high chair and give him a hand full of cheerios and a sippy cup of milk and turn on a few Elmo videos on YouTube to keep him entertained while I start the coffee (I make an old school pot of coffee for Bill and me. I only have one cup in the morning) and our breakfast.
I have a piece of toast (I'm not normally hungry at this hour) and feed Cam some yogurt (
this kind is his current favorite) and cut up half a banana for him.
(Yes, it's dark in the above photo because we get up before the sun!)
6:20 am - After breakfast we head to the basement to play in his playroom for a bit. He's getting pretty good at playing independently as long as I'm near by. Most of the time, however, he wants me to be engaged in what he's doing.
7:00 am - He hears 'dada' walking around upstairs so we head upstairs to say good morning.
7:15 am - After greeting 'dada', we head upstairs to start getting ready for the day.
We go to my room first so I can get dressed and slap on some minimal make up. I put on
my favorite pair of maternity jeans,
maternity tank and a cardigan which has been the norm on work days. Bill recently brought up some of my bins of summer clothes because I was wishfully thinking it might get warm someday... I let Camden play with some of my sandals while I get ready. Hey, whatever works!
I put my make up on with one eye on Camden and one eye in the mirror. Then, we head to Camden's room to get him ready for school.
7:25 am - I get Camden dressed and pack his bag for school. We play with a few puzzles before heading back downstairs.
7:45 am - We say bye to dada before heading out the door for school. Bill has a meeting at 9am that he had to prepare for, but typically he would help out in the mornings or take Camden to school.
I decide to swing by Starbucks because I'm starting to get a bit hungry and it's a good excuse to delay the daycare drop off. I order a tall decaf sugar free iced hazelnut latte (say that 3 times fast!) and a piece of pumpkin bread.
8:00 am - I take Camden in to school to drop him off. I thought maybe we'd get away with no tears this time, but I was wrong. As soon as I hand him off to the assistant, he starts crying. I've learned it's best at this time to just leave without making things worse. It is always the worst part of my day when I have to work. I always ask Bill to do drop offs when he can. The teacher has ensured me that he stops crying as soon as I leave. Even if she just says that to make me feel better, I'm ok with that.
8:15 am - I head to the post office because I need to send a birthday gift to my friend in Ohio who's daughter is turning 1 this weekend. Sometimes I will try to run quick errands in the morning before work and after I drop Camden off if I need to. Especially the ones that may be difficult to do on days I'm with him.
I realize the post office doesn't open until 8:30, so I wait in my car, eat my pumpkin bread and scroll through my phone. I end up Amazon prime-ing (that's a phrase, right?) diapers because I just remember we are running low. I seriously love Amazon prime and every mother should sign up for it!
I send the package and head home by 8:45 am.
9:00 am - I'm home and I clock in to my computer to start working for the day. If you don't know, I work remotely for a real estate investment company and help with their websites and social media accounts for their properties. I have been lucky that they allowed me to go part time after Camden was born. It has really helped keep a sense of balance for me and our family.
I work for a solid 2 hours and start to get hungry about 11am. I decide to heat up some of Bill's mom's home made chicken tortilla soup (it is soon good!). While the soup is heating up, I throw some dishes in the dishwasher and clean up the kitchen a bit. When the soup is ready, I add some shredded cheese and tortilla chips and eat while I continue working.
12 pm - I take a little break from work and check my personal email, start my blog post for tomorrow and comment on a few blogs. Then, I decide to test out a few more paint colors on our walls (we have finally finalized the colors this week!).
1 pm - I clock back in and continue working.
4 pm - I get a text from Bill saying he won't be home until after 5pm. Meaning I will need to pick up Camden from school. This is also about the time I panic and realize I haven't planned anything for dinner. We've been living off Easter left overs for the week and it just slipped my mind! So, I grab a frozen bagged meal we had in the freezer and throw it in a pot (This one is actually not bad, we've had it a few times). I also throw in a batch of frozen tater tots in the oven because, why not!
4:30 pm - The meal is cooked so I turn off the burner and set it aside to cool while I go pick up Camden. He is happy to see me when I pick him up, but it looked like he had a fun day from his daily report card.
5 pm - We are home and I fix Camden and I a plate for dinner. Don't worry, he did not eat this whole plate. I probably had about 90% of it!
Camden eats all of the tots and a few bites of veggies and chicken. I'll take it.
5:30 pm - I clean up a bit from dinner and we head downstairs to play.
6:15 pm - Dad comes down to join us for playtime.
6:30 pm - Camden starts to get whiny at this time of night, so my solution has been bath time! We head upstairs to take a bath. Camden LOVES our new big bathtub in our master bath.
6:45 / 7 pm - Bath time is done and he is now running around our room naked. I change into sweats and we go to his room to get him dressed in PJs and ready for bed.
7:15 pm - Bill brings up a half full sippy cup of milk, I read to him for a bit before bedtime. I love this time of day because he actually sits still with me for about 10 mins reading. A very rare occurrence during the day!
7:25 pm - He is ready for bed, so I turn off the lights and turn on his sound machine, get him all set up in his crib with his paci, blankie and lamb lovie. I kiss him goodnight, leave the room and turn on the monitor. He babbles to himself for about 5 minutes before falling asleep.
7:30 pm - I head downstairs and have another helping of dinner. Bill and I chat for a bit about our days. I clean up the kitchen and load the dishwasher.
8-8:30 pm - We sit on the couch. Bill watches basketball, I finish up my blog post for the next day. I'm exhausted, so I head up to bed just to lie down.
8:30 - 9:30 pm - I lay in bed scrolling through my phone and watching the office on netflix (my go to netflix series). By 9:45 pm I am ready for bed.
10 pm - lights out!
So there you have it folks! It's a busy day, but I'm so lucky to have this life. I plan on posting another 'day in my life' post from a day that I'm home with Cam next week, so you can compare.
