When I was asked to join these beautiful ladies on sharing a Day in the Life, I was super excited! For some reason, I find it fascinating reading about how other people spend their days…specifically women and mothers. What do their 24 hours look like? There’s something interesting about it, so I hopped on board.
MY MORNING
Brielle typically wakes up throughout the night roughly two nights per week -usually due to teething. This morning, I was up with her from 1:30-2:30am as she’s fighting a cold. Am I the only one who finds it nearly impossible to fall back asleep after night wakings?
Nick gets up for work around 6am, I hear his alarm so I’m normally awake at this point too. Mila usually crawls into bed with us around this time as well (but this morning she slept past 7). Brielle begins to stir between 6:30 or 7, and we all make our way downstairs; I take Baxter out for a pee.
Up until recently, Brielle was still breastfeeding first thing in the morning. Now however, she gets a little bit of milk from a bottle then has her breakfast. Mila is usually starving as soon she wakes up, and her usual requests are toast with nut butter, oatmeal, or cereal with fruit. Today it was toast and blueberries for all of us (plus, all of our vitamins and Mila’s puffer – she has asthma). Sometimes I’ll have oatmeal, boiled eggs or a smoothie. Once we’re done breakfast, I clean up the kitchen and empty the dishwasher while they play.
PRE-SCHOOL DROP OFF
It depends on the day but this morning Mila had pre-school (she goes two mornings every week). Mila likes to dress herself now, and I tweak if I need to (she usually puts on a summer dress no matter the season). Usually I get Brielle ready first, then while the girls are playing, I try and get myself ready. Every morning is different, but this morning Brielle was extra clingy and just wanted to be in my arms, so getting ready consisted of washing my face, putting my hair in a bun, my 5 minute makeup routine, and yoga pants. I always feel better when I get fully ready, but some days it just doesn’t happen!
Once I wrangled the girls up and ensured they were both ready – hair done, teeth brushed, and beds made, we were out the door to drop Mila off at preschool. (FYI – if Mila doesn’t have pre-school, I usually take the girls somewhere for the morning. We may do a playdate with friends, go to the park, to the book store, or simply run some errands. Also, if I know we are going to a pretty location, I’ll take my camera and snap some photos of the girls. My camera is on me 70% of the time ).
EXERCISE, PLAY, CLEAN
When we return from preschool, we usually don’t have a ton of time until pickup (Mila is only there for 2.5 hours). On her preschool days, I usually take Brielle downstairs to sneak in a workout while she plays. Once I’m done my workout, we come upstairs for snack and play time. We usually go to the park or into the playroom. I always try and throw in a load or two of laundry in between activities and tidy/clean the house. This morning, I cleaned the bathrooms while I set her up with a colouring activity. I usually dyson the floor once a day – I’m a little bit of a clean freak and luckily we have the hand held which makes doing it super easy.
LUNCH PREP
I then prep lunch and we head out to pick Mila up. Lunch usually consists of any of the following: boiled eggs with cooked veggies and toast, a platter of cheese/whole grain crackers/fruit/cut up vegetables, homemade soup, or left overs from the night before. On the days when I don’t have any time to prep, I usually feed them Annie’s Pasta (the healthier alternative to Kraft Dinner) and I always add peas or broccoli to up the nutritional value. Today is homemade veggie lentil soup – we are all sick, so this is the only thing I’m feeling like eating.
I’m really big on feeding my kids a well balanced diet. I focus on feeding them nutritionally dense, whole foods and I do the same for myself, and therefore I usually spend a little extra time preparing our meals (for details on my fitness and eating routine, see my post on Shedding the Baby Weight: Suggestions & Tips. Once lunch is done, I put on a show for Mila and I put Brielle down for a nap.
MY AFTERNOON
Once Brielle is asleep, I clean up the kitchen and then head straight to my computer and phone. This is usually the only time I get during the day to accomplish anything related to my Blog or Instagram account. I typically have quite a few messages at this point, so I answer e-mails, DM’s, texts, and post to my IG. I try and write a new blog post every 1-2 weeks, so I’m either prepping the next blog post, organizing an upcoming collaboration, editing photos, or doing something relating to the above. I usually let Mila watch two shows, and once those are done I set her up with a craft or activity she can do quietly. Brielle’s nap time is our “quiet time” and I’m pretty serious about this (for my own sanity)!
DINNER PREP
If I haven’t already taken meat out for dinner, I’ll usually begin dinner prep at this time. Some days this is much harder to do (usually two days every week, Brielle will only give me a 40 minute nap or no nap at all). This makes it tricky to get everything done on my ‘to-do list’, so on those days, dinner prep is completed once Nick gets home from work at 4:15pm (this is also my cue to pour myself a glass of wine – don’t judge). Today I was able to prep my roast in the morning.
Once Brielle wakes up, it’s snack then typically, outdoor play. Brielle is usually super clingy when she wakes up from her nap, so I find getting her outside really helps her wake up. By this point, if I haven’t had time to tidy the house or prep dinner, I’m feeling a little bit stressed but I do my best to roll with it, as every day is different.
MY EVENING
Evenings are always hectic. We aim to eat around 5:30pm, because the girls become little gremlins if they aren’t fed by then. Nick and I both love cooking, but typically I’m the one that does most of it since I’m usually prepping and planning the meals. We typically have two meat-free meals every week and I’m pretty mindful on the types of foods we eat. Once in a while we will order pizza on a Friday night, but most of the time everything is home-made. I also love one pot meals – anything that I can throw together all at once with little clean up is amazing!
BATH TIME
Once dinner is done, one of us cleans and the other bathes the girls. If they don’t need a bath, we take them for a walk or they play inside until 6:30. We then give them a bedtime snack and get them into their PJs. Nick typically plays with the girls while I try and finish up the laundry.
I settle Brielle around 7:30pm and Nick reads Mila a book and tells her a story. After I put Brielle down, I say goodnight to Mila and we always talk about the day. The two questions we always ask each other: What was your favourite part of the day? What are you most thankful for right now? And any other thoughts that may come up, we chat about. She’s such a little girl, but she’s wise beyond her years.
IN TO BED
Once they are both in bed, I shower (if I need to) then hop into bed. Nick and I stare at our phones for about a half hour – I catch up on anything relating to my Instagram and Blog, and text back friends that I’ve been meaning to chat with. Sometimes we turn on the tv and catch up on our favourite shows or we read then call it a night. Some evenings, Nick will go outside to work on the shed or fence (or whatever project he has on the go, because there is ALWAYS one). On a typical week day night though, we both have PJ’s on by 8pm. I’m usually asleep by 9:30-10pm
Thanks again for joining me on A Day in The Life (I hope I didn’t bore you too much). You can check out my friends days below!
Teagan – Two Kids Raising Kids
That was an interesting read about your day, Honestly…But what about Grampa? Does he never come over to help a bit? Just asking. Roberto
Haha Dad, you’ll be in my next ‘A Day in The Life’ – I promise
Don’t forget Nana