This month, I’m talking about some of my routines and sharing what works for me.
Check out my previous post, How routines have made my life better to see why I’m such a fan of routine.
I’ve done several day in the life posts over the years (2011, 2013, and what I eat), and recently did one on Instagram. Daily routines are a big part of my days with two little kids, so I wanted to share what our days look like Tuesday through Thursday. (Monday and Friday are days where Mike is 100% on duty and I’m working. Wednesdays, we split the day.)
I put an asterisks (*) by the things that always happen, every day. Because somedays the bare minimum gets done, and there is no yummy dinner ready at 6pm.
Morning
I try to wake up before Theo wakes and 9 times out of 10, I succeed (if he’s up a lot at night, I want to get every minute of sleep I can).
[My simple morning routine]
6 am: Wake up, go to the bathroom, weigh myself, splash face with warm water and apply moisturizer.
Go downstairs and do my five-minute journal, some sort of movement – lately, I’ve been doing a plank and/or hip yoga. Sometimes I meditate.
Get a glass of water, make a green smoothie, and neaten up the kitchen.
8 am: Theo gets up, get self and boys dressed* (even if we’ll be home all day)
Make aeropress coffee* while Theo and Gabe eat breakfast (Gabe has cereal or oatmeal, Theo Cheerios and frozen blueberries).
After they eat, boys play while I clean kitchen and sometimes prep dinner.
They play all morning, with me joining in to read them books or dance with them, until Theo takes a nap. (There’s also usually a snack in there somewhere).
12-3 pm: Theo naps* and Gabe and I do some school, then he usually plays while I clean up or answer email. Or waste time on Twitter.
Afternoon:
3:30-5 pm: Theo is up from his nap. We go for a walk, play outside, go on an adventure (errand) or do something social (I can only manage a social outing with the kids once a week, usually Thursday). They get to watch an episode of Curious George if I need some peace and quiet.
Evening:
5 pm: Mike is usually home and I finish prepping dinner
6-7:30: Eat dinner, then play together. I clean up kitchen* and put away food from dinner. Many nights, we have a clean up and dance party before we start getting the boys ready for bed.
7:30: I put Gabe to bed* (we read from a chapter book every night and then I lie next to him until he falls asleep because I’m a sucker)
8-8:30: Mike puts Theo to bed, then we usually talk for a while
[My night routine]
Brush teeth and remove contacts*
Go through email on my phone and delete or snooze to clear out my inbox
Watch TV or read with Mike in bed
Write my next day’s to do list while in bed
Go to sleep around 10 or 10:30*
And that’s an average day for us when we’re all home. Weekends look different, as do the 2 days a week when I “go” to work (in the home office…). Some days it feels cozy and wonderful, other days I feel like I’m suffocating and just need to go somewhere alone. Ah, that’s the reality of life and motherhood, right?
Your post is really amazing . I enjoyed reading through your post. Please keep sharing this kind of work with.
Ok, I am REALLY curious about how your husband can be on duty 2 whole days out of the week — does he work in the evenings? Weekends? When my husband was a first-year professor (and we had no kids!) he worked ALL. THE. TIME. prepping his new classes, teaching, etc. It was a slog. He’s been teaching 10+ years now and there is no way he could take 2 whole days off per week.
This is not meant to be snarky in any way shape or form! I am truly curious because this is a constant struggle for us — he works a lot in the evenings or on the weekends and that is the experience of all of the profs in his department.
Oh, are we lucky? I have no idea! Most professors in his department work from home 2 days a week. There’s not a culture of people being there 40 hours a week. It’s a school that emphasizes teaching over research, so maybe that’s why? It’s also a counseling program, which I’d imagine makes them more attuned to the needs to have a sane, balanced life than many fields? :)
I know he does feel pretty stressed and overwhelmed trying to squeeze his work into those hours – but I feel like it’s good for us to both feel that way instead of just me? Is that terrible? Ha.
(I just left them since it’s Friday and he was working at the kitchen table while they ate breakfast.)
Yeah, that is really not the norm here. I asked my husband and he said there are probably departments here that do that but not most of them. They are expected to do 1/3 teaching, 1/3 research, 1/3 service. No grad school here so undergrad teaching is emphasized. It’s interesting how different it is in different disciplines and ad different schools. As staff at the same university, I find it odd that faculty isn’t expected to work full-time while the staff probably is. :)
Having been staff at two different universities and two secondary education schools, in my experience the divide between staff and faculty is usually a problem. Teachers could go home after school, we had to stay till 5. Professors got weeks off for Christmas break, we got a week. And so on.
There are pros and cons to both kinds of positions – I didn’t have to grade papers at home, for one! ;)
I loved the idea of a results oriented work place instead of an hours based work schedule and so did Mike. Which is why we’ve decided to pursue the paths we have. I never much liked the arbitrary work week schedule! But I get why staff needs to be there at certain times.
I can’t wait for the day where I can actually wake up before Riley, ha. I feel like whenever I do wake up before him it’s for minutes, if that. Thanks for sharing your daily routine, it’s always interesting to hear what other people do and how they make it work, especially fellow WAHMs.
I never ever ever wake up before Gabe. If I’m up at 5:30 am, HE’S up at 5:30 am. Thankfully, Theo is not that child. Kids! They are all so danged different.