A Day in the Life....

Ok. I'm not a celebrity or anything, and I don't have throngs of people clamoring at my front gate to get a glimpse of me as I get my mail. No one stops me in the grocery parking lot to have pictures taken with me, and the only reason I get special treatment at the airport is because we have a "young child and need extra time". That said, I have had a few people ask what I do all day. If you are a stay-at-home parent and reading this post, save some time. You already know what I do all day. The same thing you do. So turn off whatever you are reading this on and go fold the clothes! You know that is what you SHOULD be doing ;) just like it is what I should be doing instead of blogging. Every day is different, but I will use "grocery day" as my best example. For all of the other days, just take grocery time out and insert something else, like "gymnastics class" or "random errands". Because the other 80% of the day is pretty much unchanged from one to the next. Here you go! 7:00 am - Mommy wakes up 7:00-8:00 am - coffee, do makeup and hair, get dressed for the day 8:00-8:30 am - feed dogs, take them out, wash any dishes from night before (don't judge) 8:30 am - get breakfast out and ready, get Emma up, change diaper 8:30-9:30 am - eat breakfast, clean dishes, diaper change, dress Emma, take dogs out again, load car 9:30 am - goal time to leave house to do daily agenda 10:00-12:00 noon - grocery time **I will point out that grocery time often takes 90 minutes, plus other errands beforehand combined with time after shopping is done to load groceries into the car. Everything I buy MUST be checked meticuously. All labels of ALL foods are read 3 times-forward, backward, and forward again-regardless of how many times I have purchased the item. It gets read another 3 times before I give any of the food to Emma. Every item. Every time. Three times in-store. 12:00-1:30 pm - diaper change, take dogs out, unload and put away groceries, cook lunch for Emma and I, eat lunch, and clean dishes 1:30-4:30 pm - Emma's diaper change and typical nap time and duration **1:30-2:30pm - Mommy's "mommy time" for coffee, a book, facebook, or a nap **2:30-4:30pm - house chores (laundry 3 times a week, cleaning house once a week, yard maintenance, etc) 4:30-5:00 pm - wake Emma up, diaper change, snack time 5:00-6:30 pm - Emma has free play and sometimes TV while Mommy cooks supper, usually another diaper change too 6:30-7:00 pm - Suppertime 7:00-8:00 pm - Emma's daily allergy meds, bath, skin cream, diaper change, and putting pajamas on 8:00 pm - Emma's bedtime 8:00-8:30 pm - clean up supper dishes, fold any remaining laundry, make list for the next day 8:30-9:00 pm - Mommy time (hello bubble bath!) 9:00-10:00 pm - Quality time with the hubby 10:00 pm - Mommy's bedtime Sometimes I think people think I lay on the couch and watch soaps and eat candy. In reality, a large percentage of my day is spent cooking (hello 3 meals and a snack) and cleaning up so I can cook again in a couple of hours. The added time of reading labels and stopping to look up or call packaging companies to verify food safety for Emma cuts in also, but it has to be done. There you have it. We deviate from it from time to time, and push certain things up or back. We skip steps on days that life throws a curveball. But for the most part we stick to the routine and Emma thrives on knowing what to expect and feeling in control. We both thrive on her 3-hour naps :) It's no Brad and Angie....and I'm pretty sure I won't see a People magazine article titled "the Royals divulge their schedule" but it's neat to see how much we really do accomplish in a day. Makes me tired just writing it...