A Day in the Life of a Working Mom

5:00am: 1st alarm goes off. This is suppose to give myself a gradual wake-up period.

5:30am: 2nd and real alarm goes off. Time to get up.

5:45am: Actual wake up time. I now have about 35 mins to shower, get dressed, do hair, makeup and make bed (a must!)

6:20am: Time to wake the baby. Also, dress him and give him breakfast of cereal, toast and jam or fruit. Put on shoes. (A must!)

6:45 - 6:50am: Leave for work

7:30am - 4:30pm - Working.

4:30pm - Leave for work and head to daycare.

5:15pm - Pick up child. Head home

5:45pm - Arrive home. Change into comfy clothes, make a snack while child is usually playing.
This is when the 2nd shift starts and its more rigorous.

5:45pm - 7:45pm - This time is a flurry of several things. Its making dinner, for myself and for the child. Hubby usually gets in a bit later so I don't wait for him. Since I am usually starving the moment I walk in the door, I tend to fix myself a plate and eat it quickly while standing at the kitchen island.

My son is usually running back and forth throughout the living room, dining room and kitchen, sometimes happily. I may then sit with him with some flash cards or a book or let him watch some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Star Wars Rebels while I try to multi-task and empty or load the dishwasher, get a jump on packing my lunch for the next day, wipe down some kitchen counters or if I am tired (which is many nights) try to relax a few with my tablet and some Facebooking/YouTubing or other social media.

But its short lived when you have an active, mobile toddler jumping on the couch, throwing pillows, balls, or toy cars at everything including the windows, TV, or straight in your face or trying to play on top of the icky trashcan, opening and slamming kitchen cabinets, hitting or playing in the window blinds, making a grab for remote controls (which are forbidden), tablets or any gadgets nearby, climbing stairs or storage bins or, making a dash for the bathroom to hide behind the door to play hide - n- seek, unravel toilet paper or serve as company for anyone who thought they could pee in private. Jokes on them!

This time is also precious because its really the only time I have to spend with my 22- month old and in that short span of time, I am 1) tired after working all day and being up since 5-ish am (in fact, it really hits me soon as I get in the door. I seem to lose about 50% of my energy level the moment I walk in the door and remove my work heels), 2) have a good list of things I need to accomplish before bed and 3) it feels like a race against time to get things done so I can have some me time. The more I have to do, the less time I have to myself before bed. Some nights that means NO time for just me.

After dinner, he either gets a bath or its time for bed. I have a routine of preparing him for bed which includes getting his sippy cup of milk ready and waiting upstairs (warmed in the colder months), pulling out his PJs, night diaper, wipe and putting his toothbrush out with toothpaste, his wash cloth damped and ready and the baby monitor turned on. I do these things with him downstairs with his father as its more work to try and do it with him in the room. Its key that he does not see the sippy until he gets it otherwise he'll whine and cry 'til he gets it.

The bed routine is the most physical as I have to wrestle him out of his diaper and into his PJs, block him from grabbing things on the changing table and throwing them and sometimes hold him still to keep from kicking everywhere. Teeth brushed and all settled, lights go off (he gets to hit the switch) and its time for "night night". I sit him in the rocking chair while he drinks his last milk and rock a bit to calm him. Truth be told, sitting in that dark room rocking for so long, I usually end up nodding off myself.

After he finishes and after some time (some short as 10 mins some long as 20 -30 mins) he settles down and I put him in his crib and tuck him in.

FREEDOM!!! - Well, no not yet.

Now I gotta get to that list of stuff I need to do that I couldn't do when he was awake. But now I have lost another 15% of energy in the bedtime routine. *sigh*

8:30pm - 9pm - This is typically when I handle the nightly 'chores of life', which include:

• packing his daycare bag (his lunch, 2 snacks and 3 sippy cups of milk and water + spoon)
• packing my own lunch
• washing sippys for the next day
• straightening up the kitchen
• putting toys away in the living room
• cleaning the cat's litterbox; refilling the automatic food bowl
• tidying up the living room, dining room and putting away clothes and shoes I wore that day
• if need be, cooking or preparing meals for the next day

9:15pm to 10:15ish p, FREEDOM, no for reals this time!!

After all my regular nightly chores are completed, I finally get some free time to myself for A WHOLE HOUR!!!!

This is finally the time to pursue whatever other interests I may have including workout out researching recipes, reading, browsing the internet, doing my hair, blogging (like right now!), other writing, gaming, doing nails/toes, spending time with the hubby, etc. Yeah no, can't fit all that into one hour. So I may choose one or two things per night (such as 30 mins to workout and the rest to write or read before bed). And then there are many night where I am just too tired to do anything but pour a glass of wine and take my butt to bed early with a book in tow. I am usually passed out and snoring loudly around 10:30pm and often times after having only read about 2 pages of whatever I am trying to read.

And that is my Monday through Friday. Because of this new mommy schedule, its been impossible to keep up on the latest TV shows and movies. I can't really watch anything without distractions until after 9pm and 9 out of 10, I am nodding off through it. Where I use to be a pretty prolific and regular blogging, it now takes me sometimes weeks to complete just one because that one hour a day goes by soooo fast and I have so much I am trying to cram into it. The energy levels quickly drain.

Weekends are calmer but it also means running after my toddler for 10-12 hours a day so the actual free time is still limited and again, usually hindered with the same lack of energy as during the week.

But that is not to say I am complaining. While the day-to-day dealings with a toddler comes with MANY challenges, some I never saw coming, my reward comes in spontaneous, little packages throughout the evening, such as watching my son's face light up when he realizes Mommy is there to pick him up from daycare and comes running,  both arms outstretched shouting "Mama!!" and slams me me with a big hug; when he holds up his cute little arm to offer me a piece of his cheese, anytime he bumps his little applehead and its me that he comes running to for comfort and love but the best part of my day, the moment that keeps me going, is tucking him into bed at night, getting that big hug and a sweet, slobbery, droll-juicy kiss and that final "I yuv yoo" to end the day.

Its the perfect end and reward for a long day. And totally and completely worth all the craziness it contains.

Thanks for reading!