A day in the life of a Mommy Blogger – my routine
Routine? What routine? Also known as, How I start my never ending days, or a Day in the Life of a Parent.
How I start my day
7:30AM: I lay in bed staring at the ceiling until 7:35 when a pair of super hyped Price is Right contestants slam open my bedroom door and scream “THE LIGHT TURNED GREEN!” Then they run downstairs. I get out of bed, go pee, take my depression meds, and brush my teeth before I face downstairs. Regardless of what is happening, I have to do those 3 routine things before I leave my room or I will forget one, if not all.
We share a house with my parents. 3 days a week Papa eats breakfast with them so I can sit silently, drink my Diet Coke with Lime, and eat a bagel – sue me, I don’t like coffee). 20 min to check work emails from overnight, touch base with all my socials, and post some to Facebook. Usually I look longingly at my FB Memories from when my children were less mobile and weren’t trying to kill each other every time my back is turned. At some point all of us get dressed to one degree or another.
I have to allot around 15 – 45 minutes to get two three year olds out the door to Pre-School. Shoes and socks live in a closet by the door. And I’m told my routine of cramming them on my kids’ feet as fast as possible isn’t helpful for learning self sufficiency. So I have to wait and wait and wait. And fight and wait and wait.
My kids are also prone to use ‘getting out the door’ as an excuse to want to do all the things they would otherwise avoid doing like the plague (sort of like bedtime). And that’s the story of why my kids brush their teeth on the way to the car.
Between 9:15 and 11:50 I have time to do household management stuff, shopping for 6, running miscellaneous errands, and household troubleshooting (my list of things that needs to be fixed or re-done is loooong) you know, usual routine kind of life stuff.
Pack some lunch for my kids that they won’t eat, grab the boys from Pre-school and drop them at their afternoon program at the art museum. This is the time I SAY I’m going to work out. Sometimes a day in the life even includes putting on my gym clothes. But probably I’m finishing all my ‘house’ stuff.
Afternoons for a day in the life of me are for moody toddlers
2pm: I pick the boys up from the museum, take them home and make them eat their lunch. Or, if I don’t die from shock, and they actually ate their lunch; then they get a smoothie or something to take the edge off hangry toddler burnout.
Then they go to their room for ‘REST TIME.’ We separate them because sometimes they actually sleep. Sometimes, instead, they take all their bedding off one bed and pile it on the floor. Pretty much, I don’t care, so long as they leave me alone for 1 hour to 1.5 so I can eat lunch, maybe shower, and touch base with email again.
4 – 4:30pm: I wake up two weepy emotional creatures that I bribe with snacks and TV for a half hour to stop crying. There is usually snuggling. Sometimes it is nice. Sometimes one of them cries for 40 minutes. Sometimes a day in the life means one of them looks me square in the eyes and hits me in the face.
Then we go outside. A day in the life of our family includes this pretty much every day, regardless of the weather. Not in a sanctimonious kind of way, in a if-they-don’t-run-around-outside-for-a-couple-hours-all-they-are-going-to-do-is-find-ways-to-annoy-each-other-or-me kind of way. They get light supervision during this time. I try to be outside or near a door or window and prep dinner when it’s my nights to cook.
6pm my kids eat. Or they don’t eat. Who knows. I probably get desperate around 7 and let them watch a show, so I can stare at pinterest while no one talks to me.
Two words about bedtime: routine and Melatonin. Bath every night (unless they’ve been in the pool all evening, either way soap is optional) and stories. One of my twins will hit a sleepiness wall like Wile E Coyote and ask for bed. Then he pets his own eyelashes in his crib tent until he falls asleep. His brother holds out for at least 20 more minutes. The boys are lights out at 8:30, unless they aren’t.
Beyond Bedtime –
8:30 – 9:00pm The grownups eat dinner. We watch a movie or a couple shows. It’s our routine to do this as a family. Imagine my husband and I, with my 70 year old parents, binging Game of Thrones and the MCU (actually happened this spring). Right now we are into Scandinavian political dramas. And wildly sexually inappropriate comedies – Episodes, I’m looking at you.
From 9pm-12am I work on my mommy blog, pretend I’m a photographer and edit pictures, and engage on social media – because I actually like my audience. I head upstairs at midnight, read a couple pages of a book and I’m usually asleep by 12:30.
Then repeat every day. What do your days look like? Sound familiar?
7:30 AM: Kids are up, I take my meds, brush my teeth, and drag my butt downstairs for breakfast
8:25 AM: Dress and prep kids, try to drag them to school by 9am
9:00 – 11:45 AM: Household management, home improvement, shopping, planning, and cleaning. Make lunches
Noon – 12:15 PM: Pick up kids from school and take them to lunch program at the art museum. This is the time I claim I’m going to the gym, and sometimes I actually do.
2 – 4 PM: Force the kids to eat the lunch they likely skipped. Then they have to go to rest time somewhere I can’t see or hear them for at least 1.5 hours. I get to shower, finish work, or start prepping dinner.
4 – 6 PM: Post nap toddler time – snack, show, head outside for play while I make dinner.
6 – 7:45 PM: Toddlers eat, then back outside unless I get desperate and let them watch a show while I mindlessly surf pinterest
7:45 – 8:30PM: Bath, pajamas, and story time. Kids are lights out at 8:30 and the grown ups get to eat.
9 PM – 12 AM: When I get time to blog, edit photos, engage on social media, and work on my enormous backlog of blogging duties (work on seo, research, drafting social posts).
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