A Day in the Life: Day-to-Day

Day-to-day life is different for everyone, especially for us moms. Depending on whether you work or stay at home, have 1 child or 12, allow screen time or don't. There are so many variables in how your day goes. For me, day-to-day life is constantly changing, yet remains the same. My daughter will be two in August, so we've officially entered the toddler years and they are tough, but SO fun. Each day presents new challenges and opportunities.

Today's post is titled "Day to Day" and it's all about my daily life as a SAHM {stay-at-home-mom}. If I had written this 6 months ago, I would've taken a different approach because I was working part-time, but because I decided to quit that endeavor, now I'm home with Emerson full time, as in 24 hours a day. Also, let me assure you that I'm writing this today simply as a way to share with my readers what a typical day looks like for me now that I'm a mom, who also stays home full-time. {This is in no way intended to be a mom-shaming post. }

My day typically starts around 7am, sometimes earlier, sometimes later; it's usually dependent on the weather, honestly {okay, and my child}. If it's sunny, I'm up and at 'em early, and usually with a hot cup of coffee in hand; if it's rainy or gloomy, I'm staying in bed until Emerson will no longer allow it. This is one reason I do NOT miss working full time, I basically create my own schedule. Then again, I thrive on routine, so I often miss the routine that a career brings along with it. I'm not the type of mom that gets up at the exact moment my child makes her first little noise in the morning, though either. More often than not, Emerson will play in her crib for anywhere from 15-45 minutes in the mornings. If she's not hollering {aka, acting like rabid banshee} then I leave her be. So around 7:30-8a is when Emerson is out of her crib and rearing to go for the day.  This is also the time in which I must prepare myself physically, mentally, and emotionally for anything that she might throw my way. EVERY DAY IS A LITTLE DIFFERENT. This is typically the order in which we do things once she's graced me with her adorable presence. :)

I greet her in her room by opening the curtains and cheerfully saying "good morning". I give her hugs + kisses and then, I change her diaper + sometimes I get her dressed for the day. Most days she stays in PJ's until after she eats breakfast, simply because breakfast gets everywhere. Then, I usually make her a breakfast of either cereal with milk {her current fave}, yogurt, a waffle, or MY oatmeal. Yes, she loves eating anything that isn't hers. She's finally able to eat with a spoon well enough to not need me, so while she eats, I usually make myself something to eat + TRY to get ready for the day if we have somewhere to be. Sancti-Mommies, get yourselves ready...I've also been known to put her highchair in the living room and allow her to watch Daniel Tiger while I get ready. OMG, screen time before age 2?! What? The HORROR! Don't even bother chastising me, I do. not. care and yes, I've read the studies. I'm not going to lie, I am so grateful to whoever the creator of Daniel Tiger is, like SO, SO thankful. As a SAHM, sometimes Daniel is my saving grace. I run around like a mad woman in the mornings because I have be fast unless I want her trailing my heels with every move I make.

After breakfast is eaten and cleaned up, I get her dressed and ready. This is seriously my favorite part of the day. Dressing her is so much fun!  Correction: picking out her outfit is fun! The actual dressing part can sometimes be a nightmare or a fuss-a-thon. She's just starting to want to pick out her own shoes, so that's been fun too. *eye roll* Then, I usually finish getting ready, which takes me anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour depending on how needy she's feeling that day. This is how I kept her occupied this morning to allow myself some time to get ready...

I like to get fully dressed, do my hair, and my make-up. It helps me feel like myself, so I make it a point to do this every day {well, most days}. I can't lie about this either, it's not easy to get ready or do all of these things, and sometimes if I'm honest, it means Emerson is whining at my feet the whole time. Call me selfish, but I need to feel like ME too, so whine she must sometimes. We usually don't make it out of the house before 9:00-9:30 in the mornings, unless it's an absolute MUST. I've never been a morning person, and I just prefer to take it slow if time allows. Ask any of my teacher friends, there were many a mornings when I was walking in to school with the students. It's cool though, I stayed wayyy past clock-out time, so I made up for it. HA!

The rest of the morning usually consists of a play date of some sort, grocery shopping, running errands, or lately, me dropping Em off at the gym Kids Club and me working out. She loves it in there, so don't give me that look. ;) I try to be home by 12-12:30p from whatever it is we're doing and then I feed her lunch. One day she likes something, the next day she loathes it, so meals have been interesting and trying. Meal times take forever! Also, I'm going to throw in the fact that I HATE feeding times because of the mess it creates. I really seriously can't wait until she no longer enjoys the thrill throwing food on the floor. When is that going to get old, Em, when?!? She even looks at me and says " Mommy said 'no'", then proceeds to throw it. I don't get it. She looks awfully cute though!

And, don't worry, she is punished now for throwing food on the floor intentionally because she knows it's a no-no. Did I mention we started spanking recently? Do y'all spank your kids? Please don't try to give me advice on why spanking is or isn't beneficial. I'm curious to hear what other methods of discipline y'all find helpful though! We're always open to suggestions/ideas that have worked for others with determined kiddos, as this is a new ballgame for us.

By the time lunch is finished and cleaned up, it's just about nap time. Nap time is NOT optional in this household. I NEED this time to recharge my batteries for round 2 {post-nap}. Before naps, we always change her diaper, read a couple of books, and sing our "night-night song", which is "You are my sunshine". She'll usually nap for about 2 hours, sometimes more, sometimes less. While she naps, I do any of the following: clean, rest, watch tv, eat, do yard work, pay bills, blog, clean, clean, clean, laundry, take a shower, read {rarely}, blog, waste time on the internet,  and clean. I do a lot of housework/chores while she naps, usually, in case that wasn't obvious. I also tend to do most of my blogging during nap time as well, as I can't really get much accomplished in this regard when she's awake. Some days if she's extra clingy or we just didn't get out of the house, I work out during this time. I typically try to save tv time for after she goes to bed at night... I'm getting there, I promise.

This was a day when she had a short nap + I didn't make it to the gym because she was super clingy. She was literally trying to hold on to me while I worked out. It was interesting, to say the least.

Once she wakes up from her nap, we play, run errands, watch a cartoon, color, play with play dough, play outside, or meet up with friends. Emerson likes me to play with her like basically ALL THE TIME. I've considered giving her a sibling ASAP for this reason {until I realize that's actually more work right now}. HA HA. I enjoy teaching her too. We're currently working on colors, numbers, and letters. Afternoons are always a toss up and are mood-dependent. I like to be home by 6ish to feed her dinner. Sometimes I have dinner prepared by then, but most often I eat {or we, my husband and I} after she goes to bed because it's just easier that way. I am NOT a cook, as in I do not enjoy it. I really struggle with making meals for us. We eat takeout way too much, I can admit that {though not "fast food"}. My cooking goes in spurts, much like my blogging. HA.

After Emerson is fed and cleaned up, she takes a bath. She gets a bath every single night, mostly because I like the way it makes her hair smell, hah! After her bath, we do her bedtime routine which we've had in place since she was really little. She is usually down for the night by 7:30-8p. We did sleep train her early on because having time to ourselves at night was very important to us and crucial for our marriage. This is such a hot controversial topic, so I won't stay here long, but because of my husband's careers, he has a very odd schedule and sometimes at night is the only time we get to spend any time together. Sometimes we only get 1-2 nights a week together, so it's crucial for our marriage to have that time alone without Emerson. Ironically, and semi-related, I recently read a Scary Mommy article titled "Listen to Your Smug, Sleep Training Friends. They're Right." The title sparked my interest and not just because we did sleep train. I was semi-upset that the title referred to me as 'smug'. Anyway, it's pretty interesting, and even from my personal perspective, the pros far outweigh the cons in the sleep training department, but I won't say anymore for fear of causing any drama with anyone! To each his own...

After Emerson goes to bed, I usually am so tired and have little mental energy left. We eat dinner {whether that be with or without my husband depending on the night}, clean up the kitchen, take a shower, and get comfy. From about 9:00p on is ME TIME. Yes, technically nap time is also "me time", except it's not really. Nap time is usually "see how much you can get done before waking the beast". Ha, she's not a beast...usually. Night time though, that's true ME TIME. I have this complex about needing more alone time, so I stay up way too late. It's a double-edged sword, as I immediately regret it the next morning upon waking. I swear the nights I decide to stay up are followed by the earliest mornings. It's like she knows...

You may be thinking, "Gee, Chels, none of that sounds too hard. Why do you always claim to be so exhausted at the end of the day?" Well, let me share this little tidbit with you. Yes, I do get to spend some days never changing out of pajamas, but I also rarely get to spend a lot of time with adults. I rarely have an intelligent conversation with someone over the age of 2 unless I'm texting, talking on the phone, or talking to my husband. And even when I am doing those things, half the time its about the children.  I am constantly needed and my child is attached to my side. She's not the most independent of children. I play with bubbles, play dough, babydolls, and rubber basketballs ALL day long. I tote Emmie everywhere I go. A simple grocery trip is not just a simple grocery trip...ever. Everything I do all day has to take her and her needs into account. 90% of my time is spent WITH my child. I love that and I hate that, and I don't care how that sounds because it's just the truth, MY truth. I can recognize the difficulty of this stage of life, and also appreciate it greatly in the same breath.

Toddlers {or babies/kids of any age} require a whole other level of patience, endurance, and time that I have never experienced before. So yes, I do spend a lot of time on the floor playing, or with other moms "drinking coffee and socializing", but I'm not apologizing because I'm "ON" all the time. Motherhood isn't something you get to clock in and out of whenever you feel like it. When she's awake, she's usually one step behind me and I'm anxious for sleep time.  When she's asleep, I miss her. It's the strangest thing. There's no escaping as a SAHM. I don't even go pee by myself, y'all.  This stage of life is repetitive, often boring + lonely, and it's flat out hard. Regardless of whether I'm working outside of my house or not, being a mom is hard work any way you look at it. Motherhood is NOT for the faint of heart, I repeat, it is NOT for the faint of heart. Moms of all walks of life deserve a tremendous round of applause for the work they do day in and day out, whether at home, at work, or both. I was recently asked what I thought fair compensation would me for my "job" now. My answer was "I don't think it can be compensated monetarily. It's like a thousand jobs all rolled into one." As for me right now,  I'll take my yoga pants, my coffee, my non-stop cleaning up of messes, and my crazy toddler whose tantrums are often just hilarious...oh and don't forget the dry shampoo. This day-to-day "job" is really freaking hard, but I wouldn't change it. I'm finally learning to laugh amidst the chaos that is my life now. What does your day look like? Is it similar to mine? XO!