I think I've talked about what normal is to me now that I am a working mom. This weekend after a 24 hour flu bug hit everyone except for my baby daughter, I am glad to be getting back to "normal."
So I wanted to document a Day in my Life for my current "normal."
A "normal" day in my life
I wake up at 4:31 when my daughter started screaming and crying. She is 7 months old and still not completely sleep trained. After half an hour of crying and rocking she finally goes back to sleep. I wake up at 6:18 when my 3 year old son crawls into my bed saying he is hungry for breakfast. It is a good thing because I forgot to set my alarm so who knows know what time I would've woken up.
I go downstairs to prepare oatmeal for everyone and start emptying the dish washer. After my son and I finish, I go upstairs to feed and dress the baby while my husband eats. I let her play on a blanket while I get dressed and prepped. Then I get my son dressed while my husband showers.
After everyone is dressed, I finish making the baby's bottles for daycare (from frozen or pumped milk). I make sure everyone has shoes, jacket and hat on and help load the kids in the car with my husband. He takes them to daycare and I finished packing my lunch. On my way out, I check my schedule for work and realize I have an early morning meeting that I had not prepared for so I think about that on my drive to work.
It takes me 30 minutes to drive to work.
My day is mainly filled with conference calls and meetings with my team to talk about What they are going to talk about on conference calls.
In between calls, I go to the "mothers room" to pump (once in morning and once in afternoon).
Today I may work through lunch but sometimes I take a walk around the buildings, if I have time and remember my shoes.
After work it's my turn to pick up the kids so I try to leave early and drive to daycare. When we get home and start dinner this is the most stressful part of the day for me because I'm trying to entertain a toddler and infant, while dealing with hot food. Tonight I make pasta with store bought sauce and ground turkey I cooked on the weekend. I open a bag of salad mix for the side.
My husband gets home just before it's time to eat so he helps me set the table and get the food on the table. After dinner we clear the dishes and have some family time. I read books and play puzzles with my son, while my infant crawls around and explores.
After an hour, we switch and my husband plays with the kids while I wash the dishes. I also prep the bottles and thaw any meat for the next day. about 7:30pm it's time to start bathtime. my infant daughter is first, then I feed her and put her to bed. At 8:30, I wrestle my son upstairs to coax him into the bath (what is it with boys and wanting to stay dirty?).
After reading two books with him, hopefully my son goes straight to sleep without getting up a million times. Then I can check emails and talk to my husband about our days. I then take a shower, pick out what to wear the next day and go to bed, hoping my daughter sleeps at least 4 hours.
Before I know it, the alarm goes off again and I am back in the "normal" routine.
