When I casually polled a few of my girlfriends on what they'd like to read more about on the blog, this was the common topic. SAHMS, working moms, mamas to be, we all just want to feel like we're in this together. Social media can sometimes make it seem like everyone else has it all together while we're over here struggling to get through the day let alone be supermom. Well, those pretty little pictures never tell the whole story and today I decided to give y'all a good look behind the scenes.
I kept my phone within arm's reach nearly all day, something I pretty much never do, so I could attempt to document what goes on around here on a typical day. I captured what I could in pictures and on my IG story but I'll fill in the blanks here. Let me preface this by saying that this is more like a day in the life on a Wednesday. The hubs works nights 4 times a week so he's not running on a M-F, 8-5 schedule. I also baby-sit 3 days a week so a day with a 3 month old and a 6 month old looks a lot different. If this type of post is something you as readers would like to see more of in the future, I will certainly try to do this on other days so you can see how much these variables change things. But for now, I give you a day in the life.
My alarm goes off at 6AM. I immediately check the baby monitor to see if Fallon is awake. Sometimes she is laying quietly in her bed and other times she is still sleeping. Of course there are times she is crying but I've already heard her and have then been listening for her to calm herself. I am up by 6:15 to go feed the cats and dogs and get my coffee going. If Fallon is still asleep at 6:30 I go ahead and let the dogs out and make my breakfast, almost always oatmeal. If she is awake I go get her and nurse her then change her diaper. I then make and eat my breakfast or just drink my coffee while she bounces in her jumperoo. There are many days she refuses to be put down so I do everything with one hand.
We play together with blocks, her toys that make noise and read books until 8/8:30. I usually give her a piece of whole grain rice cake to munch on while I get her second breakfast of solids ready. Today she had part of a waffle and some blackberries. I forgot to undress her first so I was stain treating that sleeper afterward. #momfail
Between 9-9:30 Fallon goes down for a morning nap. This is when I clean up the breakfast mess and then attempt to get my nap time hustle on. If we are going somewhere I shower or just get myself ready and if not I do things around the house. Today was bathroom cleaning day but I was halfway through when little girlfriend decided to wake up. There are times when she will fall back asleep if I leave her be but I usually know if that's a possibility or not and today it was clearly not. So I dressed her and gave her my brushes to play with and thank goodness those kept her occupied long enough for me to finish. I even dusted the bedroom! I don't always get so lucky though and chores get put on hold.
Fallon will nurse again usually between 10-10:30 and then we have a few hours before her next nap. Today it was chilly but not windy so we bundled up and went for a walk. She tool another half hour snooze in the stroller and was ready for lunch round 12 when we got back. Lunch is usually between 12-1 and on a good day we can eat at the same time. She had steamed broccoli and sweet potato and I had a spinach + hummus + feta wrap. Afternoon nap time is somewhere between 1-2 unless she didn't nap at all in the morning and then our day is just all up in the air. We played today after lunch until daddy came home and then Fallon went down for another nap around 1:30.
Sometimes she sleeps minimally (or not at all!) and sometimes she sleeps 2+ hours. I got lucky today and she slept almost an hour and a half so I got in a workout and a few random things on my to-do list before she was up. By 3PM I was nursing again while Chris let the dogs out. I handed her off to him when she was finished and switched the laundry from the washer to the dyer, something I all too often forget to do. We had some family time before daddy went up to bed just after 4 and then Fallon and I played until dinnertime.
Again, I try to eat when Fallon eats now that she can mostly feed herself. It doesn't always work out if she's fussy and frustrated that she can't get the food in her month fast enough. That was today. She had cheese squares and steamed asparagus for dinner and I helped out a lot. On the nights Chris works I always fill the dog and cat food bowls so they are ready to go in the morning so I did that with Fallon on my hip as well as fed the cats. The dogs eat all their food in the morning so at least I only have to feed 1 set of furballs twice a day.
6PM is bath time and I'm currently still bathing Fallon in the infant tub in our first floor bathroom. We have tried the big tub and it didn't go over so well so we will try again this weekend. Hopefully she decides she's okay with it before she completely grows out of her baby sink tub. After her bath I rub lotion on her and get her pjs on and then nurse her for the last time before bed. She starts to drift off in my arms just before 7 and that's when I bring her upstairs to her crib. That's the one thing that is almost always so easy.
I spend the rest of the evening eating dinner if I haven't yet, cleaning up the kitchen, picking up toys and and other messes we made, folding laundry, blogging or doing anything else I need to check off the to-do list. Yes, there are nights I just watch TV but it's rare. I usually try to get things done so that I can spend the nights hubby has off with him. I almost always end my night with a glass of wine or a good beer so even if I'm still on the clock it's like I'm not. Bedtime for me is usually 10:30/11 and praise the Lord Fallon sleeps through the night so I get to also. I dream of a new kitchen, a personal chef and cheese fries without calories before I wake up and do it all over again.
There are days we stay in our pjs all day and never leave the house. Sometimes when Chris gets home he tags in immediately and takes a fussy baby who has refused to be put down or nap all morning. I escape to a hot shower and then chug coffee to get through until bedtime. I can be found eating random things I can grab from the pantry for lunch, vacuuming with a baby on my hip and or cranking the volume on the speaker to drown out the crying some days. I don't get a shower every day and I only wash my hair once a week. For every day that Fallon and I wear matching outfits, we check most everything off from the to-list or have fun little photo shoots, there are days we count it a win that the house is still standing. You win some, you lose some.
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