As usual I am late to the ‘Day in the Life’ party….but I am here now.  So let’s do this day in the life of a working mom thing.

Mornings –

I am usually awakened by my alarm….that I push snooze on at least twice, but today I was greeted by a child’s butt.  At some point Jane had crawled into bed with me and she was tossing and turning – she ended up kicking me in the ribs and that’s how I woke up with a butt in my face.  On other days, I try to get up and get ready – hair, teeth, make-up and clothes, before the girls wake up.  Sometimes I am successful, most times I am not.  When the girls trudge up the stairs I am prepping myself for good morning or bad morning.  you parents know what I am talking about.   is getting dressed and brushing teeth the equivalent of throwing yourself into hot lava?  yup….   The girls are inherently gabby and sunny natured – but if there has been any illness or sleeplessness – the bears come out.

but in these pictures they look like little angels.

Depending on when the girls wake up, we have anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes to get ready for the day and out the door.  The dogs always make it interesting, as they are chomping at the bit to get outside and do their business.  So the girls sometimes race to be the one that lets them out.

Brushing hair and teeth commences and then the age old girl question of “What to wear?”  When Jules was younger, she used to have full on melt downs over what to wear each day.  I tried everything to eliminate this habit, from picking out clothes the night before, to only having a few things in the closet to choose from, but nothing worked.  I ended up putting her to bed fully dressed one evening after her bath and the next morning was smooth sailing.  It seems weird to put a kid to bed dressed but it worked!  She eventually grew out of that faze….Thank Goodness.

We load up in the car and its hugs, kisses and ‘I love you’s’.

Lunch time –

I will run errands during my lunch break and/or come home and clean house.  If Dave is in town, he leaves after me in the morning, so I take advantage of an empty house and clean.  I will clean up all the dishes that did not make it from the sink to the dishwasher, pick up the kitchen, move laundry, put away laundry, etc.  I will also vacuum.  I am allergic to my dogs, so keeping up on dog hair is essential.  does anyone know why dog hair likes to hang out on stairs?  seems to multiply over a few hours….there has got to be some science reason for that.  I try to get as much cleaning and picking up done during this time frame as possible.

Depending on my plans for dinner, I will pull together a crock pot meal or prep any food that I will be using for dinner.

Anything that doesn’t get done during the lunch hour – is held over for after work.

After work:

Jules will practice piano and Jane will bother her, while I finish up the details on dinner. 

After Dinner:

Help Mama with the dishes

After the things that are more ‘have to’s’ are done…I send the girls off to play for as much of the evening as possible.

On this evening the girls made a maze for Tinkle to go through while she was in her hamster roller ball.  So cute.

After clean up and prayers….the girls are off to sleepy land.  hopefully

If Dave is in town, I like to get him to watch a show or 2 with me.  Right now we are on Sleepy Hollow via Hulu.  If Dave is not in town….I can go a little crazy.

This can be me….

And then this one……

This could have happened….hahahaha. 

If binge watching Netflix isn’t my cup of tea, then it’s off to snuggle with a book.

Obviously our days vary…but this sums it up.  The girls and I love it when Dave is home.  In the mornings, he helps with the girls by getting them up and ready for the day.  When he gets home from work, he usually distracts the girls from their ‘have to’s’ with running, chasing, wrestling and just plain horsing around.  They are hilarious when they decide to play zombie together.

Once dinner is done, Dave will go and work on the house or vehicle projects until the girls come to distract HIM.

I have yet to come up with a good summation of Dave….for today, a good way to describe him is ….best thing since fire, cars and beer.  Neither Dave or I like to get our photos taken all that much but I do have a few that I have managed to sneak in.  They represent ‘other days in the life’.

and then this super adorable one.

Well there you go.  What are your days like?

 

Story time:

 **A close friend recently asked me ‘how do you do it?’  It equals a relatively clean house, full time job, home improvements, cook every night, keep up with 2 young kids and have a husband who is away most of each work week.  This is NOT a bragging post….I promise.  What struck me was that on the surface she is right….just writing those words makes me feel kinda proud….but there is so much more to the picture than just those words….What she missed is the gigantic kid fight I had to break up between the kids before she got to my house, the laundry that I would rather burn than actually fold and put away, etc, etc, etc.

For some perspective:  A number of years ago a very nice girl wanted to be friends with me and as skittish as I am around new people….she really had to pin me down and make me be friends and I will be forever grateful for her persistence.  For the purposes of this story I will give her the name of ‘Emmy’.  Emmy and her husband are a little bit older than Dave and I and married before we did, but that didn’t stop me from comparing.  The worst thing I could do.  Comparing is not fair to yourself or the person you are comparing yourself to.  Emmy and her family had the same outside interests…camping, boating, etc.  We met up on weekends at the lake to enjoy the outdoors together.  One day I made an offhand comment about how envious I was about their things and place in the world.  Emmy did not take that comment as offhand and looked me straight in the eye and said ‘In life, we are in a different place than you’.  I remember being floored.  What a simple concept and she was/is so right.  In general terms I was comparing my beginning to their middle.  Talk about a sure fire way to feel bad about yourself.

I learned a valuable lesson with that comment and I hope you all do to.  Stop comparing where you are in life against where someone else is in their life.  It’s so hard to do to reality….but once you adopt this mantra- your mental health will improve.

Here is a short and sweet recap…  I do it because my kids are old enough to have a set of chores, Dave and I have our routines down……and I close the door to the laundry room so you can’t see the pile 🙂