2013: A 7yr old and a 2.5yr old #SAHM #motherhood #whatdoyoudoallday #kids
Taking on the PTA during Emily's 2nd grade year has me working non-stop these days and utilizing that other part of my brain that feels like it's been asleep for a few years! :) I'm constantly juggling activities and play dates for Nolan- he is one busy little guy; homework, Girl Scout meetings, afterschool enrichment, and play dates for Emily; and my marriage and my friendships but I've never been happier!
How do I do it? A supportive husband and nap time! Thank the good Lord for nap time!
Our days are still very consistent due to Emily's school schedule; however, they are more jam-packed!
6:45am - Our alarm goes off. David wakes up Emily and together we get breakfast going until Nolan is up at 7:00am. Emily is responsible for her own "list" every morning (and night!), which includes things like: putting on the clothes she picked out the night before, brushing her teeth, putting on her glasses, and gathering any items she needs for the day (share item, homework folder, Library book, etc.). While breakfast is being eaten, I pack Emily's lunch bag with her lunch and snacks (made the night before and then I shower and get ready for the day while the kids play and David cleans up the kitchen and makes his lunch.
8:10am - I walk Emily to school, mainly because I am volunteering again this year. I write late slips on Wednesday mornings and lead a group during the new CommonCore GRIN reading program on Thursday mornings.
9:00am - 4:00pm On days when I'm not volunteering in the classroom and come back home after drop off, Nolan and I are on our own while David heads off to work around 10:00am. Nolan gets bored easily if we just stay home, playing with toys, cleaning the house, or running one of a thousand errands so, I try to schedule play dates and take Nolan to Wee Play or the park every day. He loves being around other kids, regardless of their age, so we also purchased a Groupon for our local Pump It Up, renewed our Oakland Zoo membership, and renewed our Aquarium of the Bay membership so we could enjoy many future outings! I'm also considering signing him up for this next round of Lil Kickers parent 'n child soccer class once a week and Ruby's Tumbling parent 'n child tumbling class once a week. It's cheaper than purchasing a lot of new toys that he'd be bored with in a few weeks anyway. I'm also experimenting with more at-home crafts, like stringing Cheerios on dried spaghetti and trying to pick up cotton balls with tongs, though this is a struggle for me because I'm not so creative. We blow bubbles and shoot baskets a lot, wrestle, do puzzles, and dance around with music on.
Nolan is solidly on one nap a day that takes place from about 12pm-3pm every afternoon. I use the first hour to work on the books for our PTA (I'm the PTA Treasurer this year!) every day. It's been so much fun to dip my toes back into a mild form of Accounting - who knew I'd love to "work" again?!? The remaining 1-2 hours I clean the house, fit in a workout, email, blog, catch up on Facebook, read, or just sit outside and enjoy some quiet time.
4:00pm - 5:30pm The most fun time of the day because Emily's home and she is Nolan's favorite person! Emily is really interested in taking after school enrichment classes, which have her stay at school until 4:00pm almost every day. Recently, she's taken Taiko Japanese Drumming, Pottery & Sculpture, and Toyology (the science behind making toys). Once home, we tackle homework on and off for 40 minutes. There's always math worksheets, spelling practice and alphabetical order, and writing 6-8 sentences about a book she's read. Reading non-fiction books aloud for 20 minutes is required every night so, I have her read to Nolan and I, which we all enjoy! Then, it's play time with Nolan.
5:30 - 6:30pm How this hour of the day is always the most stressful I do not understand but it is! It's dinner time for both kids, continued dinner prep for David and I, and the time I pack the next day's lunch. I'm also cleaning up for the dinner mess and the disaster that has become the play room that afternoon and checking to see where everyone needs to be the next day.
6:30 - 7:30pm Lastly is bath time and evening "list" time. I still bathe the kids together because Nolan INSISTS on doing everything Emily gets to do (can't believe this starts so young!!!) and it actually makes washing hair so much easier because he's so eager. :) Once out of the bath, Emily begins her evening list herself, which includes things like: changing into her PJs, putting her dirty clothes in the hamper, cleaning up her room, picking out tomorrow's clothes, and brushing her teeth. I take Nolan upstairs to get him dressed for bed and Emily comes up to play and read once she has completed her list.
8:00pm - I put Nolan in bed and Emily and I go to her room. Having sleep-trained both kids, it really pays off to be able to just say good night and shut the door! Thankfully, Nolan hasn't tried to climb out of his crib yet and we are praying this lasts one more year. I can't imagine him roaming around at night right now!
8:00-8:30pm This is my hour with Emily that is so special. Just she and I. I read to her. She reads to me. We talk about school and all the fun things coming up that week and we just play whatever she wants to. Mostly match game, Scrabble soup, math problems (yes, this is fun for her!), and I spy. When David can make it home before 8:00pm, she really enjoys playing War with him. We've completely done away with watching television and playing video games on school nights. We've found Emily is more relaxed and falls asleep easier and faster and, bonus: it gives her something to look forward to on weekends.
8:30-10:30pm - This is another pocket of time I get a lot done. David and I eat dinner together and talk about our days over wine, and often watch our favorite television shows while I'm also working on my laptop. I've got the holidays on the brain so I'm on pinterest and craft blogs looking for ideas and getting a jump start on my Christmas shopping. To be honest, I rarely make it to 10:30pm these days! I'm so tired, I'll often go to bed before 10!
It's nice to be so busy, so needed, and feel so great about all that I'm contributing. I'm having so much fun being so involved and meeting more people at school. This year so far I've helped sell tickets and run booths at our Fall Festival (it's an amazing carnival) and set-up and tear-down our Scholastic Book Fair. I'm looking forward to helping with next year's Read-A-Thon and possibly being Treasurer again!
How do I do it? A supportive husband and nap time! Thank the good Lord for nap time!
Our days are still very consistent due to Emily's school schedule; however, they are more jam-packed!
6:45am - Our alarm goes off. David wakes up Emily and together we get breakfast going until Nolan is up at 7:00am. Emily is responsible for her own "list" every morning (and night!), which includes things like: putting on the clothes she picked out the night before, brushing her teeth, putting on her glasses, and gathering any items she needs for the day (share item, homework folder, Library book, etc.). While breakfast is being eaten, I pack Emily's lunch bag with her lunch and snacks (made the night before and then I shower and get ready for the day while the kids play and David cleans up the kitchen and makes his lunch.
8:10am - I walk Emily to school, mainly because I am volunteering again this year. I write late slips on Wednesday mornings and lead a group during the new CommonCore GRIN reading program on Thursday mornings.
9:00am - 4:00pm On days when I'm not volunteering in the classroom and come back home after drop off, Nolan and I are on our own while David heads off to work around 10:00am. Nolan gets bored easily if we just stay home, playing with toys, cleaning the house, or running one of a thousand errands so, I try to schedule play dates and take Nolan to Wee Play or the park every day. He loves being around other kids, regardless of their age, so we also purchased a Groupon for our local Pump It Up, renewed our Oakland Zoo membership, and renewed our Aquarium of the Bay membership so we could enjoy many future outings! I'm also considering signing him up for this next round of Lil Kickers parent 'n child soccer class once a week and Ruby's Tumbling parent 'n child tumbling class once a week. It's cheaper than purchasing a lot of new toys that he'd be bored with in a few weeks anyway. I'm also experimenting with more at-home crafts, like stringing Cheerios on dried spaghetti and trying to pick up cotton balls with tongs, though this is a struggle for me because I'm not so creative. We blow bubbles and shoot baskets a lot, wrestle, do puzzles, and dance around with music on.
Nolan is solidly on one nap a day that takes place from about 12pm-3pm every afternoon. I use the first hour to work on the books for our PTA (I'm the PTA Treasurer this year!) every day. It's been so much fun to dip my toes back into a mild form of Accounting - who knew I'd love to "work" again?!? The remaining 1-2 hours I clean the house, fit in a workout, email, blog, catch up on Facebook, read, or just sit outside and enjoy some quiet time.
4:00pm - 5:30pm The most fun time of the day because Emily's home and she is Nolan's favorite person! Emily is really interested in taking after school enrichment classes, which have her stay at school until 4:00pm almost every day. Recently, she's taken Taiko Japanese Drumming, Pottery & Sculpture, and Toyology (the science behind making toys). Once home, we tackle homework on and off for 40 minutes. There's always math worksheets, spelling practice and alphabetical order, and writing 6-8 sentences about a book she's read. Reading non-fiction books aloud for 20 minutes is required every night so, I have her read to Nolan and I, which we all enjoy! Then, it's play time with Nolan.
5:30 - 6:30pm How this hour of the day is always the most stressful I do not understand but it is! It's dinner time for both kids, continued dinner prep for David and I, and the time I pack the next day's lunch. I'm also cleaning up for the dinner mess and the disaster that has become the play room that afternoon and checking to see where everyone needs to be the next day.
6:30 - 7:30pm Lastly is bath time and evening "list" time. I still bathe the kids together because Nolan INSISTS on doing everything Emily gets to do (can't believe this starts so young!!!) and it actually makes washing hair so much easier because he's so eager. :) Once out of the bath, Emily begins her evening list herself, which includes things like: changing into her PJs, putting her dirty clothes in the hamper, cleaning up her room, picking out tomorrow's clothes, and brushing her teeth. I take Nolan upstairs to get him dressed for bed and Emily comes up to play and read once she has completed her list.
8:00pm - I put Nolan in bed and Emily and I go to her room. Having sleep-trained both kids, it really pays off to be able to just say good night and shut the door! Thankfully, Nolan hasn't tried to climb out of his crib yet and we are praying this lasts one more year. I can't imagine him roaming around at night right now!
8:00-8:30pm This is my hour with Emily that is so special. Just she and I. I read to her. She reads to me. We talk about school and all the fun things coming up that week and we just play whatever she wants to. Mostly match game, Scrabble soup, math problems (yes, this is fun for her!), and I spy. When David can make it home before 8:00pm, she really enjoys playing War with him. We've completely done away with watching television and playing video games on school nights. We've found Emily is more relaxed and falls asleep easier and faster and, bonus: it gives her something to look forward to on weekends.
8:30-10:30pm - This is another pocket of time I get a lot done. David and I eat dinner together and talk about our days over wine, and often watch our favorite television shows while I'm also working on my laptop. I've got the holidays on the brain so I'm on pinterest and craft blogs looking for ideas and getting a jump start on my Christmas shopping. To be honest, I rarely make it to 10:30pm these days! I'm so tired, I'll often go to bed before 10!
It's nice to be so busy, so needed, and feel so great about all that I'm contributing. I'm having so much fun being so involved and meeting more people at school. This year so far I've helped sell tickets and run booths at our Fall Festival (it's an amazing carnival) and set-up and tear-down our Scholastic Book Fair. I'm looking forward to helping with next year's Read-A-Thon and possibly being Treasurer again!
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