A Day in the Life: Heather

I’ll admit it: I’m nosy. I like to know what people’s days look like, especially moms- working or not. I’ve been both and I have friends who are both. After I had Jackson, I went back to work full time and established a great sense of balance in my personal and professional life. It wasn’t easy by any means but I enjoyed it. But after Cam, I felt my calling was to stay home with my boys and so that’s what I did.

Now that I’ve been home for a year, I thought I’d shed some light on the day to day happenings over here because I think there’s a misconception about being a stay at home mom. People say things like, “Wow that must be so nice!” or, “You’re so lucky you get to be home all day and not work.” Oh honey, don’t get it twisted it is WORK. You know what’s “nice?” Driving to work in complete silence for 20 minutes with a cup of coffee and a podcast. There’s no happy medium for women. We have to make the toughest decision after we have kids. To go back to work or not.. and no matter what the final decision, you compromise somewhere. I can’t count the number of times my friends and I have had this conversation because there’s no easy answer. I’m not looking for praise or sympathy or a pat on the back. And neither are my friends who are full time working moms. We all just do what we have to do to survive each day.. oh and we’re all rocking it by the way.

Ok, I really went off on a tangent there so let’s just get to it.

5:15 am: ALARM. I wake up most mornings before the rest of my family, eat a banana and hit the gym. I get a BBG workout done in 28 minutes, maybe a little cardio on top of it and I’m home by 6:15. Unless I stop at Starbucks (every time).. then I’m home by 6:20 😉

6:15-6:45 am: My kids are early risers. They’re up by 7 am and ready to start. the. day. Yawn. We come downstairs, Cam gets his bottle and Jackson gets a banana or yogurt to hold him over until we can get breakfast on the table. This is when they get some cartoon time so my husband and I can make breakfast and pack Jackson’s lunch for school. Pictured below: protein, veggies/hummus. raisins, fruit.

7:30 am: Breakfast for everyone. My husband and I split duties in the morning. He usually whips up some french toast and fruit for the boys while I pack J’s lunch. Other typical breakfasts are waffles, Simple Mills pancakes (that I freeze) or toast with almond butter. Always with a side of fruit. Jackson’s lunch is usually a combination of a protein, veggies/hummus, raisins, yogurt, string cheese, fruit, etc. As for me, I’ll have eggs/avocado toast, yogurt with granola or a smoothie. Britt is usually out the door no later than 7:30 so then it’s me and the boys. Jesus take the wheel.

7:30-8:45 am: Free play and keeping them occupied. I find this to be the hardest time of day and when I’m usually wishing I was back at work haha (not kidding). Don’t take that drive to work in silence for granted, people! They’ve been up for over an hour and already getting bored but school doesn’t start until 9 so we have to stretch the morning. As it gets warmer, I will take the boys out for a walk to get coffee or a pastry but right now it’s just too cold. So we get creative by making forts, playing cars and basically take every toy out of the toy chest. Face palm.

8:45 am: We all get dressed and ready to get out the door to drop J at school. I’m lucky that the boys play really well together and I can leave them in Jackson or Cam’s room to play while I get myself ready. And by ready, I mean yoga pants, hair in a bun and a touch of mascara maaaaaybe. There’s no glamour in the day to day.

8:55 am: I load up both of the boys and drive Jackson to school, which is less than 5 minutes away. The drive home is typically the WORST because Cam is SO tired by this point and ready for a nap but I have to keep him up. He typically cries the whole way home because he’s just DONE. Oh, and so am I. PS it’s not even 9 am yet. SOS.

9:15 am: Cammy and I get home and he goes right down for a nap-AMEN. The next two hours are MINE ALL MINE! I blog, browse Pinterest, catch up on the DVR, do laundry, clean up the mess from the morning and meal plan. I’ll catch up on emails, make appointments for the week if needed and just relish in the fact that it’s quiet. By the way, this is what my husband thinks my ENTIRE day looks like.. and maybe what a lot of people think my day looks like as a stay at home mom.

11:00 am: Time to hit the ground running. This is when I get an errand or two done and get Cammy some play time. Grocery store, Target, library story time, Little Gym playdate or a walk around the lake. If I didn’t get a workout done in the morning, I’ll go to Barre3 because they have $5 childcare for the hour. Or this is when I usually meet up other mom friends.. it takes a village. I pack snacks for myself and Cam.. a bar for both of us.

12:30 pm: I usually come home in between my errands and picking up Jackson so I can feed Cam and unload groceries because I hate having to unload two kids AND groceries. Lunch is usually Dr. Praeger’s veggies puffs, turkey meatballs, PB&J, fruit, or just anything because the kid is a monster and will shove anything in his mouth. Or at least that was the case two days ago when I wrote this. He’s now turning into a picky little eater. NOOOO!

12:50 pm: Cam and I are back in the car to go pick up Jackson from school (it’s a 9am-1pm program). And he’s usually crying again because he doesn’t want to get back in the car.. sorry dude, neither do I but we gotta go. This is the second hardest part of my day.. loading and unloading kids in the car, carrying Cam/J’s lunch and water bottle/artwork from school all while dealing with a little attitude from J because he’s wiped from the day and just doesn’t want to talk to me. See picture below.

1:15 pm: We are home from school and usually chill before nap time because they’re both a little cranky by this time of day. Jackson has a snack, Cammy finishes his lunch and they load up on some milk/water before we head upstairs. This is also when I usually have lunch.. either I pick up a salad during my errands or make something at home. Typical lunch is a salad bowl with quinoa or lentils, greens, feta, chicken and Primal Kitchen dressing. Loving the green goddess and caesar.

1:30 pm: NAPS! Jackson doesn’t really nap anymore but I still mandate that he goes upstairs and has “quiet time.” He hangs out in his room and sometimes falls asleep but not always. They’re both usually down/chillin by 2 and this gives me at least an hour and a half to decompress and get dinner prepped.

2-4 pm: More laundry, cleaning, dishes, vacuuming, dinner prep and if I’m lucky, I can blog some more or get a chapter or two in of the current book I’m reading. Just started The Rules of Magic!

4 pm: Boys are up and we walk to the park or to Alix’s house for a playdate so we can get blog photos done. Two birds. One stone.

5-5:30 pm: I make dinner for everyone. I haven’t quite reached the stage where I can make one dinner for all of us so the boys get another version of what they had for lunch – protein, fruit and veggies. Veggie burgers are my go to for a fast and easy option.

6 pm: Britt gets home from work and angels sing! AHHHHH! Thank you Jesus daddy is home. Britt and I eat dinner, we play with the kids for the next 30-45 minutes before baths (about 2x a week) and Cammy’s bedtime.

6:30 pm: Cammy goes down for the night. Britt and I switch off on Cammy duty. Actually we kind of fight over it cuz it’s the easiest gig of the night.

6:30-7 pm: Jacksons winds down, we watch some cartoons, Britt and I can discuss our days and plan for tomorrow.

7:15 pm: Jackson goes to bed. He’s in a really fun stage right now and doesn’t fight bedtime.. probably because he’s not napping anymore and he’s exhausted from school. We get in PJs, brush our teeth, read a book, sing 2 songs and say our prayers. Legit the exact same thing every night. He tells me he loves me about 300 times and I close the door. The whole process takes me maybe 15 minutes.. and it takes my husband twice as long haha so I am the one who usually does bedtime routine. Jackson knows not to mess with mommy 😉

7:30-8:30 pm: I get about an hour at the end of the day with my husband.. it’s not a lot but it’s our time to decompress, have a glass of wine and watch our shows. We need some recs for a new Netflix series because right now he’s just watching Bravo with me and is OVER IT lol.

9 pm: I am in bed by 9 pm every night because dude, I AM TIRED AF. Always asleep by 9:30 because 5 am comes quick.

The only caveat to this routine is that once a week, I have a sitter come and watch Cam from 9-1 while Jackson is at school. I can get more errands done, workout at a decent hour, maybe get my nails done or head to an appointment (like dentist, doctor, etc) that I wouldn’t want to bring Cam to. I usually do this on a Wednesday to break up the week or on a Friday to put me in a great mood for the weekend. Alix and I nanny share so we can get blog photos done or work on content at a coffee shop. It’s just nice to have a little break. Some don’t understand it but it makes me a better mom. And I think it’s a great way for Cam to get more socialized and play with Alix’s daughter for a few hours.

Sometimes it feels like groundhog’s day. Ok not sometimes. All the time. When my husband gets home and asks me how my day was, I am just going to direct him to this blog post ha. The days are long and sometimes I feel like I get nothing done. Did I accomplish anything today? Did I use my brain AT ALL? I have to remind myself that I truly have the best job in the world because I get to see my kids grow up. I get to drop them off at school, pick them up, teach them new things and be involved in every aspect of their life. Not everyone has that privilege and for that, I know I am lucky.

However, for working moms and stay at home moms all over, everyone knows there are no easy days. Whether you work or stay at home, being a mom is the hardest job in the world because in between every one of those timestamps I wrote about above, there are meltdowns, tears, whining, pleading, begging, negotiating, dirty diapers, messy fingers, sticky faces, needing to be held, needing to be helped, wanting, grabbing, cuddling, come play with me, go away, I love you, come back, I’m hungry, I want a snack, I’m thirsty, one more song, one more book, one more hug that takes patience and a big ol heart of gold. So to all moms, I salute you.