A few months ago I wrote a guest post about a day in my life and received feedback from people interested in hearing more about my average Monday, Sunday, work day, weekday, etc. In response, I decided to write a series about a week in my life–this particular week taking place about a month ago. Enjoy!
6:30am: I wake up to the sound of Kate stirring in her crib and go downstairs to get her a sippy cup of milk. We’ve been gradually weaning her from her morning bottle and today will be her very first morning without it (a thought that makes me want to slam a glass of wine before the sun’s even up). I return to Kate’s nursery to find that she’s fallen back asleep—bonus extra half-hour of sleep!
7:00am: G gets out of bed and decides to take the morning shift with Kate, which means I get to sleep in even longer! I love Sundays.
7:45am: I hear Kate giggling at the stairs and decide it’s time to get out of bed and join the fun. Kate’s favorite thing right now is anything to do with the stairs, so Kate and I sit at the top of the stairs and laugh and clap as we roll bouncy balls down to Daddy.
8:00am: Time for Kate’s breakfast. I warm up a leftover cranberry oatmeal muffin and toss some Puffs and multi-grain Cheerios on her tray, while G gets her a sippy of milk and feeds her oatmeal cereal mixed with applesauce.
8:15am: Coffee.
8:30am: I clean up after Kate’s breakfast while she plays in the living room and G watches SportsCenter.
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| SportsCenter is the fourth member of our family. |
Oh shoot, I remember the radon test I started last week is complete, so I go down to the basement, close-up the test bottles, fill out the paperwork and get them ready to mail to the lab. I’ve been meaning to test our house for radon ever since we moved in…five years ago.
Back to cleaning the kitchen.
The grapes in our fruit bowl remind me that I need to Google how to store grapes. We were keeping them in the fridge but I decided to put our most recent purchase in the fruit bowl on our kitchen island after seeing Courtney Cox’s character doing it on Cougar Town. I share this fact with G after he calls me out on it and he’s not entirely convinced with my Courtney Cox/Cougar Town argument. After my Google research I put my pretty grapes back in the fridge. Dammit.
Back to cleaning the kitchen.
9:00am: Time for Kate’s morning nap. G offers to put her down, but I volunteer to do it.
Back to cleaning the kitchen.
9:10am: I remember I still need to wrap the birthday present for our neighbor McKenna’s 5th birthday party this afternoon.
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| Gift wrapped and topped with cake pops for the birthday girl and her parents! |
Wrapping McKenna’s gift reminds me that if I actually want to be showered for her party this afternoon I better do it now. Or maybe I should workout first so I don’t have to shower twice today? I should probably eat breakfast sometime, too. And I still need to clean this kitchen! Okay, here’s what I’ll do: breakfast, workout, shower & get ready for the party.
The kitchen can wait.
10:25am: Breakfast ate (Carnation Instant Breakfast & peanut butter toast) and workout done (30 minutes on my elliptical). I hear G upstairs with Kate, awake from her nap, so I start getting her morning snack ready.
10:30am: I feed Kate her morning snack (a homemade apple plum bar, sliced grapes & a sippy of water) while G does a load of laundry.
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| If loving snack time is wrong, I don’t wanna be right. |
10:35am: G takes over monitoring snack time while I hop in the shower and get ready for the day.
10:45am: I get out of the shower and am reminded of the FRICKING HICKEY I have on my neck compliments of G! (“It was an accident!” he protested, as I pelted him with pudgy-handed punches after discovering said hickey.) Seriously, what self-respecting 31-year-old woman walks around with a damn hickey on her neck??
I decide to cover it up as best as I can and if anyone asks I’ll say it’s a curling iron burn…although I’m sure no one will ask. My neighbors are classy people—not the kind that go to five-year-olds’ birthday parties with hickeys on their necks.
11:30am: I load up the crock pot with chicken soup ingredients for dinner while Kate plays in her Drawer o’ Fun.
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| Drawer o’ Fun = Mom Productivity |
12:15pm: I feed Kate lunch (chicken/apple/cheese quesadilla, mixed vegetables, and some whole wheat Goldfish crackers) while G folds laundry, watches college basketball, and does the dishes.
12:40pm: We’re off to McKenna’s birthday party!
1:40pm: Kate’s partied out and overdue for her afternoon nap. After G puts her down he turns on college basketball again (have I mentioned how much I’ve grown to hate sports?) and I look around our messy house and decide what to do next.
2:00pm: G heads to the gym which means I have about an hour to myself before Kate wakes up from her nap. I sit down and relax for the first time all day, and decide to spend it catching up on episodes of The Vampire Diaries. Yeah, that’s right.
3:15pm: Kate wakes from her afternoon nap. I feed her a snack (veggie pizza, some Puffs, and milk), and we spend the rest of the afternoon listening to her children’s radio station on Pandora and playing.
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| Kate: 13 Months |
It’s a nice day out so when G comes home we all go for a walk.
5:15pm: I feed Kate dinner (chicken, whole wheat egg noodles, and carrots from the soup I made in the crockpot this morning) while G empties the dishwasher.
5:30pm: I clean up after Kate’s dinner while she has story time with Daddy.
6:00pm: Bath time!
6:30pm: G puts Kate to bed while I pour myself a glass of wine.
7:00pm: Eat dinner. Unfortunately my crockpot chicken noodle soup was not good. It was my first attempt and it was really bland–more like chicken, carrots, and noodles in water. And how the hell can chicken taste dry when it’s cooked in a vat of liquids?? FAIL.
I spend the rest of the evening drinking wine, eating Nerds, watching Vampire Diaries, and picking out pictures for “Kate’s Crazy Hair” blog post.
9:00pm: Bedtime for this Mama. But first I check on Kate to make sure her room is a comfortable temperature and she’s still breathing.
1:15am: I wake up and check on Kate again. It’s a habit I haven’t been able to break. People always ask, “When did your baby start sleeping through the night?” but what they should really ask is, “When did you start sleeping through the night?” Kate’s been sleeping through the night for several months now. Her mom? Not so much.
Such a fun post – I look forward to more of them!! And I can totally relate to Sports Center being an extra family member! There’s never an off-season in this house!
If you want to get rid of a hickey take the cap of chap stick or lipstick and rub the open end on the spot with a little pressure to break up the blood under the skin. As the redness from the rubbing goes away so will the hickey.
Great post! Can you post the recipes for her food/snacks. Do you make everything yourself fresh (veggie pizza, mixed vegetables etc.) or do you use any shortcuts with frozen/canned stuff? It seems like she is eating such a balanced diet and I am in the process of weaning bottles and introducing more snacks and food.
Thanks!!
Loved this post! I’m always curious how other moms spend their days. I’m also interested in all of Kate’s meals and snacks — I’m actually feeling a little guilty because my nine-month-old doesn’t eat so many different things. Or as much! Am I underfeeding him? Oh God, I am, aren’t I???
I have to give props to your husband. It sounds like he helps out quite a bit both with the baby and the house! Wish I could get my husband to do some laundry!
Thank you for your comments everyone!
@Corisa–I make nearly all of Kate’s food, and I plan on posting some of my favorite recipes soon. Stay tuned!
@Heather–Oh my gosh, no! I’m sure you’re feeding him just right. Your job is just to offer healthy choices–his job is to do the eating. It’s certainly not something you can–or should–force. I’m sure you’re doing a great job!
Thanks Anna! Yep, he’s pretty great!
The hickey thing totally cracked me up. I loved this post- I need to copy this idea
I had the same problem with chicken noodle soup. Try using chicken stock instead of broth or water (I make and freeze my own…not difficult if you have the time). You also need to add LOTS of herbs, garlic, and salt to give it flavor. You can throw some whole garlic cloves and dried herbs in the slow cooker. Add any fresh herbs close to serving time. Check for blandness throughout cooking (if you can) and add salt as needed. Oh, I also usually throw a leek or an onion in my soup too for more flavor. Good luck!
I have been following you since before my daughter was born. She’s about a month younger. I would love to see your recipes for Kate’s food. Do you have inspiration or recipes you use from other websites/blogs?
@Anne Marie–thank you so much for the tips on how to improve my chicken soup. I was about to give up on it, but I may have to attempt it again!
@Cara–I plan to post a bunch of my recipes for Kate soon, so stay tuned. To get you started, one of my favorite sites when I was just starting to introduce Kate to solid foods is http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com. I mostly used them for Kate’s purees, but they do also have some finger food recipes and some toddler meal ideas, too.
Did you get a Home Radon Test kit that you mail in or did you have it done locally?
Wow, I just realized you said “get them ready to mail”. In that case, which company did you get the test kits from?