A Day in the Life - Stay at Home Mom Edition {8.7.2017}

I, much like other bloggers, like to try to do a couple of day in the life posts per year so I can one day look back and see how we spent our days.  In the past, each of my day in the life posts have always been regular working days, so this time I thought I would do something a little different and document a week day when I took the day off. 

This was last Monday, August 7, and it was Jacob’s first day of school.  Since he had a half day with no extended day care, I had to take the day off to be there to pick him up when he got out of school. 

Here we go!

6:06 AM – I’ve already been up for 6 minutes, and since I failed to put a post-it on the bathroom mirror to remind me to document my day, I have forgotten to… start documenting my day.  I finally remember to snap a picture after I put my contacts in.

6:30 AM – Still getting ready.  I shower, wash, dry, and curl my hair every single morning so it takes about 45 minutes to get ready every day.  Yes, it’s exhausting, and no, I can’t skip the hair washing even for a day. 

6:45 AM – I head downstairs to check on the kiddos.  B has already gotten them up and started their breakfasts.  Jacob is not a morning person, therefore, they are all sitting in the dark kitchen with the only light coming from the light over the kitchen sink.  Lol.  We are at the end of the eastern time zone, so it doesn’t start to get light outside until around 7 AM.  I normally eat breakfast at work, but since I’m off today I grab a couple of blueberry toaster waffles and a big S'well Bottle full of water and I eat quickly at the counter while packing Jacob’s snack and unloading the dishwasher.  Multitasking at it’s finest!

7:00 AM – The kids are done eating so we all head upstairs.  I help Olivia get her outfit down from the closet and she starts getting ready while I run in my office to make sure my blog post for the day has gone live and I also do my link-ups.  On the way out of my office, I peek in Jacob’s room where I see that he’s almost ready for his first day of First Grade!

7:15 AM – Back downstairs to get the car loaded – purses, book bags, thermoses, etc. get loaded into the car, and then it’s time to head outside to the front porch to take our traditional first day of school pictures.  On the way out, I turn around and see that Olivia has found Jacob’s toboggan in the coat closet and she looks like she’s prepared for a blizzard.

7:20 AM – First day of First Grade pictures on the front porch… and Olivia wants to join in the fun, too!  After snapping a few quick ones we all load into the car – Olivia wants to ride with me and Jacob wants to ride with Daddy.  Since B is coming with us to drop J for his first day of school, it doesn’t matter who rides with whom today.

7:40 AM – Arrive at the school and the first day of school chaos is all around us.  The parking lot is slam full and there are moms and dads taking pictures everywhere.  I see one of my BFFs (we went to high school together at the same school where our kids are now all going) and we ooh and ahh over each other’s cute little nuggets.  B and I snap a few more pics of the kids in the parking lot and then it’s time to head in to the school! 

7:53 AM – Jacob is all settled in at his new desk.  He takes out a fresh box of crayons and gets started on his morning worksheet.  He cheeses for us so I can snap a final picture of him in his classroom, and then he barely looks up as we head out the door.  I, naturally, tear up on the way out.  At least one of us handles it well.

8:00 AM – B and I part ways in the parking lot.  He has Olivia in tow and will take her to school, and I head home to tackle a few projects until it’s time to pick up Jacob at noon.

8:24 AM – But first… a stop at Starbucks for a tall decaf skinny caramel latte!  If I’m gonna be a SAHM for the day then I’m going to do it the right way! 

8:41 AM – Just as I pull up at home, I receive a sweet text from Emily and it makes my day!  I sure do love my sweet blogger friends turned real friends!

8:42 AM – Then one minute later I get a text from my Daddy saying that my grandmother is going to be taken back into surgery for her pacemaker soon.  She ended up not being taken back for several hours after that text, but I don’t find that out until later.

8:43 AM – Since I was out of my original routine, I had almost forgotten to take an OOTD pic!  Time to remedy that now!

8:57 AM – I turn on my favorite morning show, the Elvis Duran Morning Show (anybody else listen?) and it’s time to get down to business.  The next 2.5 hours fly by as they are a whirlwind of cleaning out my entire closet, trying on old clothes, bagging up the old stuff to give away, throwing in a load of laundry, folding a load of towels, and “washing” our dry-clean only clothes in the dryer with Dryel.  Love that stuff!  If you have "dry-clean only" clothes, just use these babies and you're good to go!  I've never once been to a dry cleaner for our clothing!

11:28 AM – Out the door, check the mail on the way out, and head to the school to pick up Jacob.

11:44 AM – Arrive at the school and the car line is already going strong.  There are already about 30 cars in front of me and school doesn’t get out for 16 more minutes.  I respond to some emails, check Facebook and Instagram, and hang out until the line starts moving promptly at 12:01.

12:19 PM – This happy little face is finally in the car to greet me and now we still have to wait in the crazy long line at the red light to finally get out of traffic.

12:40 PM – We have made it out of the first day of school carline alive and we meet B at Chick-Fil-A for lunch.  Jacob tells us all about his first day of First Grade while we eat, and spoiler alert – he loves it!

1:10 PM – We leave Chick-Fil-A and head straight for Publix to do our grocery shopping for the next two weeks.  I am reminded over and over why I never bring kids to the grocery store.  Haha.  I have requests for Hot Wheels fruit snacks and Star Wars Cheez-Its and Oatmeal Cream Pies and popsicles and 18 million other things that I normally don’t buy!

2:00 PM – We arrive at home.  Jacob is off to play with his Hot Wheels and Legos and I unload the groceries and put everything away.  I also take advantage of the fact that I’m already home for the day and it’s only 2 PM so I throw some stuff in the crock pot for dinner, I clean out the refrigerator, and I clean out and organize the pantry.  Ahhhh.  Organization.

3:00 PM – Maui needs to go out, so I step outside with her.  It starts to POUR as we get inside so I run out to the front and put my ferns out so they can get a good soaking.  

3:20 PM – Just as I walk back inside, I check my phone and see that I have texts from my Momma and my Daddy saying that my grandmother has finally made it out of surgery and she is doing fantastic.  I tell Jacob that he can watch one show on Netflix and then I head upstairs to my office to do the next day’s blog post. 

4:40 PM – Run downstairs, stir the crock pot meal, run back upstairs and iron the few things that need to be ironed, tidy up our bedroom, and then it’s back downstairs to hang with my Boo for a little bit.  We lay around on the couch making silly faces for a while and then he’s ready to get up and do something.  He’s just like his Momma… never sitting still!

5:15 PM – It’s time to tackle the kitchen.  But first, it’s time to cozy up for the evening.  I turn on one of my favorite albums (I adore Rod Stewart's old standards!), I light my Limoncello candle (it’s been my very favorite all summer!), and I turn on all of my lamps and the twinkle lights in the tree in the living room.  Once the cozy tone has been set, I clean off the island which has become our catch-all for everything which I can’t stand.  I settle Jacob in for a little snack of his new Star Wars Cheez-Its and juice, I cut up the broccoli to be steamed for dinner, and I unload the dishwasher.  B and Olivia come home in the middle of all of this and she settles in with Jacob in the living room to play while B and I discuss our days.

6:07 PM – The four of us sit down at the table for dinner – Fiesta Chicken and Rice with steamed broccoli from Shay's cookbook and everyone gobbles it up!  After dinner the kids ask for a popsicle and we happily oblige as there are hardly any calories or sugar in these and there is also no fat.  Win win!  B does the dishes and I get everything else put away while they finish their dessert.

6:45 PM – I plop down on the couch for a quick breather while the kids play with their Hot Wheels for a bit and then it’s time to go upstairs for the bedtime routine.

7:00 PM – Upstairs, B gets the kids in the bath while I start preparing for the next day.  I quickly change into some workout clothes, stopping to admire the cleanliness of my closet, and then I gather Olivia’s things for her first gymnastics class the next day.

7:25 PM – Olivia is out of the bathtub and has already gotten herself in her PJs and she is picking out a book for us to read together before bed.  Tonight’s choice – Happy Easter, Mouse!  Haha.  When we finish our book, we walk next door to Jacob’s room and Olivia piles in the bed with him while B and Jacob finish reading their book for the evening – a Hot Wheels Vehicles book.

7:40 PM – We all head to the master bathroom for quick hair drying, and then it’s back to the kids’ bathroom to brush teeth.  After teeth brushing, Olivia piles on the playroom couch with Brian to give him some night night lovin’, she then gives Jacob some lovin’, and then she and I snuggle up in her chair for prayers.  We say the bedtime prayer, talk to God for a bit, talk about her day some more, and then I get her all snuggled in the bed.  I head into my bedroom to grab her monitor and while I’m in there, Jacob pops in to give me a quick hug (and show me his fidget spinner) and then he heads to his room with B. 

7:56 PM – I walk to Jacob’s room to join he and Brian for prayers, and on the way, I stop to “check on” Olivia.  She’s still wide awake and smiling.

7:58 PM – After praying with Jacob I head out as it’s B’s turn to lay with him.  On my way out I check on Olivia again.  She appears to be asleep already.

8:13 PM – Nope, she wasn’t.  I check on her one last time, she cheeses at me again, and then it’s downstairs for the rest of the evening.  I give Maui a treat, post a photo to Instagram about our weekend, and once B comes down we turn on The Bachelorette (which was terrible this season, BTW.)  I do some strength training, some ab work, and I do 500 steps on my stair stepper while watching.

9:33 PM – I’ve earned some dessert!  Almost every night before bed I like to have a small bowl of frozen yogurt.  B and I always get the Publix frozen yogurt, but I decided to grab a couple of the Halo Tops to try since I’ve heard such good things.  I pop it open, put half in a bowl for B, and then I take the rest and eat it straight out of the carton!  This kind is amazing!!

9:57 PM – I pull out the kids’ One Line a Day books, log our days, and then put them away just in time for The Bachelorette to end.  If you’re looking for a really easy and unique way to make a keepsake for your kids, I highly recommend these books!  They have just a few lines for you to write something short and sweet each day for the first five years of their lives so it only takes a minute a day.  I didn’t know these existed until Jacob was almost two, so I didn’t start his book until his second birthday, hence the reason his is not done yet.  Olivia’s was started on the day she was born, so I will do the last entry the day before her fifth birthday.  They have a blue version for boys and a pink version for girls.

10:00 PM – B and I head upstairs to get ready for bed, and once he’s all ready he heads back down to do some more work from home.  He’s been having to pull some late nighters recently so I’ve been going to bed alone.

10:21 PM – I finally settle down in the bed with my Ava Bracelet on, I read my daily excerpt from my devotional, Jesus Calling, and then I read a chapter of The Identicals, my current read which I’m loving!

10:38 PM – Lights out!

And just like that, my stay at home mom day is over!  And I’ve loved every minute.

*Linking up with Jessi's Design and Going the Distance for What's Hap-"Pinning" Wednesday.