One of my favorite posts to look back on is Day in the Life posts. I don’t know if anyone even finds these interesting, but I thought it was about time that I did another one!
A day in my life is somewhat insane, but fairly predictable. If you were to randomly stop at my house I would most likely either be cleaning up a mess, cooking something in the kitchen, reading/doing school with my children or breaking up a fight (#siblings). If I’m not at home doing one of those things, I am most likely at a doctors appointment for Heavenly or at the park with my kids. If you stop by our house in the evening, you will find Theo and I on the couch either reading our books or watching a show on Netflix.
For those of you who are new here, or who need a little refresher on the cast of characters in this little family:
Suzanne: Me! Stay at home Mom.
Theo: My husband. Hardest worker and best Daddy ever!
Heavenly: 10 year old foster daughter (not her real name, I am not allowed to share her name or pictures of her, but she is very much present and included in all the following activities!)
Tera: 2 year old daughter
Kiah: 9 month old son
My day begins at 6:30. Theo and Kiah are already awake and downstairs. I pump and then feed Kiah his first bottle. Theo leaves for the day at 7.
Tera usually gets up around 7, but I am trying hard to shower and get dressed before I even start the day. Otherwise, the whole day passes by and I realize that I haven’t even gotten dressed yet. I also try to really quickly make my bed and tidy up my room before I head downstairs to start the day.
We have eggs everyday for breakfast. Sometimes we are all eating at the same time, but sometimes we eat in stages. I usually try to do my devotions and the kids devotions somewhere during breakfast time. It’s a bit of a hot mess right now because I’m still trying to find a time of the day where it’s JUST ME. So far, I don’t think that time of the day exists unless I wake up at 4 am. So for now, my devotions looks a little bit more interrupted than I would like.
After breakfast, we do “school” every morning. School involves Heavenly doing schoolwork, while Tera does something pre-schoolish. Kiah always takes a nice morning nap. Sometimes I try to work on my blog, but that hasn’t happened in a long, long time.
We have had a lot of appointments for Heavenly, which means a lot of driving around, sitting in waiting rooms, having a 30 minute appointment and then driving back home. Our absolute favorite place has been Michaels House. It is a facility to provide counseling and healing for children who have been through abuse, neglect or trauma. Of course, our reasons for going there were less than ideal, but all three of my kids thought that the play atrium and the aquarium was the coolest thing ever. Plus, the staff gave all three of my children a snack, a bottle of water, a handmade blanket (!!!!!) and a stuffed animal. It’s safe to say that all three kids felt like royalty after we went there!
At this point, it’s lunchtime and we are back home. Lunch is always PB&J, Grilled Cheese or leftovers. Mama ain’t got time for anything else. At this point I’m always exhausted and just ready for a bit of a break.
After lunch we have a rest time, and I force all of my children to go to their rooms and do something quiet for two hours. I know…I’m the worst. It’s just…I have to stay sane somehow. During rest time I will work on Heavenly’s paperwork, work on my blog, read a book or watch a show on Netflix. It’s my “me-time” and I don’t allow myself to do chores during this time. Ideally, all three children would sleep or be otherwise entertained for the entire time, but that rarely happens. Here we have one child who is awake and crashing Mommy’s “me-time”.
After rest time is over, it’s time for me to accomplish some chores. It’s usually light housework because let’s be real…my house hasn’t been deep cleaned in months. On this particular day, I folded the laundry, washed the dishes and tidied up around the house a bit. I also worked on my continuing education for our foster license while I did this.
Once I feel like I have a bit of a handle on the state of my house, we usually head out- either to a park, a splash pad or just outside in the yard.
We get back home from being out around 5, and I start to make dinner. I usually have these two underfoot and Heavenly likes to do her daily hour of screen time while I’m making dinner. Theo gets home around 5:30 and that’s always such a blessed relief. I often start making dinner at 5 and no matter how hard I try, I feel like we are finally sitting down to dinner around 7. I do not know what takes me so long!
After dinner, we will either go for a family walk, or just have some evening downtime at home. The little ones go to bed at 8, and Theo is usually in charge of their bedtime while Heavenly does the dinner dishes. I am completely done for the day at this point and will usually just crash on the couch. I literally never accomplish a single thing after dinner.
Heavenly stays up until 9 and we will either read books, play a game or watch a show on Hulu or Netflix. Once she goes to bed, Theo and I stay up until 10 watching (currently: Blue Bloods!) a show and eating all the unhealthy snacks that I tell my kids not to eat. Lol. We are in bed between 10 and 10:30 and I usually read (currently: American Wife) until 11.
And that is a day in my current life!
Here are some previous DITL posts I have written:
April 2016 (foster Mom edition)
What two under two really looks like some days