Yes, it's that time again: time for another "day in the life" post! I wrote my first day in the life post back in 2010, which I like to refer to as the
"DINK" edition. Then I wrote another one back in the Spring, aka: the
pregnant & working edition. Most recently, I shared what a day was like in my (brief) life as a
stay-at-home-mom. So now it's only fair that I let you all in on the excitement that is a day in my life as a working mom. Hold onto your hats because it's about to get crazy…
5:15 am - My alarm goes off and I roll out of bed, thankful that the babies slept peacefully the night before. I shower, put on makeup, and as I anticipate the day ahead, I try not to think too much about work that early in the morning.
5:40 am - I wake up my trusty sidekick (that would be Brian) and head to the kitchen to eat breakfast, make lunch, very briefly check what I missed overnight on the internet, and pack my bags for the day.
Just like when I was pregnant, M/W/F = english muffin + cottage cheese, and T/Th= cereal. My current cereal of choice is
Kellogg's Smart Start.
Thought you might enjoy this festive shot that includes all of my pumping supplies along with the vases full of ornaments in the background. Also in the background: the bottle drying rack, my laptop and cereal, and the babies' high chairs.
6:05 am - Time to wake up the little bits!
Notice the puddle of drool under his chin?
Brian and I switch off which baby we get dressed every other morning. On this particular day, it was my turn to get Colby ready. I snapped this right about the time he was realizing that he was awake and therefore hungry.
6:10-6:40 am - I nurse the babies while Brian eats breakfast and loads up the car. This is also when I peruse Facebook, Instagram, and e-mail. I also usually check my work e-mail during this time and cross my fingers that there are no problems waiting in my inbox.
6:40-6:50 am - I have a whopping 10 minutes to pick out what I'm going to wear and get dressed. Meanwhile, Brian plays with the babies and loads them up in their carseats.
Noah and Buster are major sources of entertainment these days.
Here I am, dressed and ready to face the day. As usual, I'm sporting a wet bun. I would like to dry and straighten my hair more often, but I like having 5-10 extra free minutes better.
This picture was actually taken at work, but these are some of my favorite shoes so I wanted to be sure to include a pic of them!
6:50 am - Hit the road! Brian and I are still carpooling, so the car is loaded up with Brian, Colby, Clara, me, my work bag, my purse, my pump, and the babies' daycare bag. We're like a traveling circus!
Clara typically snoozes for part of the ride, and today was no exception.
7:15 am - Drop the babies off at daycare, followed immediately by Brian dropping me off at work.
7:25 am - First pumping session of the day! This is usually a quick one and is just one I added in a couple of months ago to increase my supply. Thankfully it only takes 10-15 minutes. Also thankfully, I have an office, so I'm able to pump while I work. Only a few awkward situations have arisen as a result so far, i.e.: when I'm adjusting the pump while on the phone and the suction noise makes a farting sound that the person on the phone can very obviously hear.
10 am - Second pumping session of the day. This one usually takes 30-45 minutes.
12 pm - Lunchtime. Our office building supplied lunch that day from
Hasta La Pasta and my department actually had an ornament exchange- fun times!
Before
After… don't judge me, I'm nursing twins.
I ended up with a cute A&M ornament and a cute owl gift bag (thanks, Brittany)!
1 pm - Third pumping session of the day. I also like to refer to pumping as "feeding my third child"… I sure do spend a lot of time with this thing!
2:30 pm - Afternoon snack time. This is always a
caramel nut brownie Luna bar. And yes, I'm still hungry outside of my normal snack times, so I usually bring a pack of peanut butter crackers for good measure and forage for candy and other snacks from co-workers/the break room throughout the day.
4 pm - Fourth pumping session of the day. Why yes, now that you ask, it does get old by that point.
5:30 pm - Brian picks me up from work and we pick the babies up at daycare. This is usually my favorite part of the day and it seems like we can never get inside fast enough!
6 pm - Arrive home. Brian unloads the car while I put all of the milk in the fridge and start the nightly clean-up ritual.
Six bottles and four food containers to wash (with corresponding
Inchbug labels, of course!)
6:15 pm - Brian and I eat dinner while the babies hang out in their jumperoos or high chairs and snack on Cheerios. Tonight's dinner was
crispy southwestern lasagna. The babies are still just eating two solid meals a day and their second one is usually right before we pick them up. Eventually they'll eat "dinner" with us, but for now, it's easier to let the daycare handle it!
6:30 pm - Change clothes, put everything away, and get settled for play time. And far too often, this also includes folding baby laundry! We typically do their laundry once a week, but most weeks we have to do 1-2 extra loads mid-week thanks to a diaper blowout or spit-up mishap.
6:30-7 pm - Playtime! Usually we bring the babies (and their toys) to hang out in our room since it's carpeted.
Enjoy this sequence in which Colby snags Clara's toy… that giraffe ("Raffie") is highly coveted in this house!
Sneaky guy!
7 pm - We still just do baths every other night and that was an off night, so it was straight into jammies for the babies. If they're not too fussy/hungry/sleepy, we'll read a story or two. On this particular evening, it was a classic:
The Very Busy Spider.
7:15-7:45 pm - Nurse the babies. Clara always finishes first, at which point Brian takes her and puts her to bed.
8 pm - Colby finishes eating and I can usually snag a brief 1-2 minutes of snuggling with him before Brian takes him to bed. He wasn't super sleepy on this night but he was super smiley :)
8-9 pm - The one glorious hour of free time we have! Usually we catch up on tv shows or do anything else mindless that requires no thought or effort.
9-9:30 pm - Take a bath and get ready for bed.
9:30 pm - Fifth and FINAL pumping session of the day (again, added in to increase my supply).
10 pm - Lights out! Needless to say, I have zero trouble falling asleep these days. I savor every minute of the 7 hours I get on weeknights, that's for sure.
And there you have it. The days are long, busy, and tiring, but thankfully we are in a manageable routine and do our best to make the most of our time together.
Hopefully I didn't leave out any exciting details, but if I did, feel free to use your imagination- it's probably just as glamorous as you're imagining it to be :)