30 Day Blog Challenge topic: Bullet your whole day

People have asked me what I do all day. For the most part, I am a stay-at-home mom. I do occasional freelance work, but between contracts, it doesn’t occupy much time. So what do I do all day? Honestly, I am just as curious as some who have asked. Usually when people ask me, I sit in stunned silence because a) it’s kinda rude b) I don’t really know.

When I saw that the 30 Blog Challenge called for this post, I embraced it. Fair warning, it’s a detailed account of my day. Once I started taking note of my day, minute by minute, I started to wonder what it would reveal.

Here is a peek into what an average 24 hours looks like in my house.

12:00 am

• Attempt to go to bed.

12:02 am

• Em wakes up.

12:55 am

• Finally get Em to sleep.

1:05 am

• Settle in for the night.

1:23 am

• Q wakes up.

1:43 am

• Settle back into bed.

2:48 am

• Em wakes up. Nurse Em.

3:55 am

• Wake up to go to the bathroom.

5:05 am

• Em wakes up itchy. Rub her head.

5:55 am

• Nurse Em.

7:08 am

• Realize with horror that the alarm will go off in 22 minutes.

7:30 am

• 22 minutes later.

7:37 am

• Go to wake Q and discover he’s wet the bed.

7:38 am

• Em wakes up.

7:40 am

• Get Q dressed for preschool.
• Get Q breakfast.
• Nurse Em.
• Change Em’s diaper and realize it leaked. Change her clothes.
• Make some caffeinated dirty water.
• Gather change of clothes, shoes, mitts, etc., for preschool.
• Throw on yoga pants and hoodie.
• Check Mr. T’s car for snow pants and backpack.
• Realize that Q’s snow pants and backpack were left at his cousins’ house.
• Accept that I’ll be that mom who sends her kid to preschool, ill-prepared.
• Organize and take out two weeks worth of recycling.
• Feed Em.
• Bundle Em up and put her in her car seat.
• Brush my teeth.
• Nag Q about his jacket and boots.

8:35 am

• Leave the house.

8:45 am

• Arrive at preschool (am reassured that preschool has extra snow pants).

9:00 am

• Get home.
• Sit down for a few minutes with (hour old) coffee and jot down morning.
• Facebook while Em sleeps.

9:44 am

• Jump in the shower.

9:56 am

• Get dressed.
• Put kids’ clothes away.
• Strip Q’s bed.
• Start a load of laundry.

10:05 am

• Respond to a bunch of text messages.
• Make call for work.

10:17 am

• Fold laundry in front of the TV.

10:34 am

• Get ready to run errands and pick up Q.
• Switch laundry.
• Update bullets.

10:46 am

• Leave house.
• Go to drugstore and bank.

11:15 am

• Pick up Q.

11:25 am

• Get home.

11:27 am

• Bathe Em and do her skin care regimen.

11:45 am

• Feed Em and Q.
• Nurse Em.
• Eat lunch.

12:30 pm

• Deal with temper tantrum.
• Make Q’s bed.
• Start Q’s quiet time.

12:40 pm

• Update bullets with Em on my lap.

12:45 pm

• Turn on webcam for Em (it’s the new “mirror”).
  

  webcam!

1:10 pm

• Put Em down for a nap.
• Sit still in the quiet for 20 minutes. Breathe.

1:30 pm

• Clean bathroom.
• Tidy and sweep kitchen.

2:00 pm

• Q finishes quiet time.
• Tidy living room while Q watches a show.
• Make Q a snack.
• Sweep front hall.
• Take garbage to the garage.

2:30 pm

• Update bullets.
• Cuddle with Q for a quick minute.
• Help Q pick up his toys.

2:57 pm

• Em wakes up.
• Cuddle Em.
• Play with Q.
• Update bullets.

3:30

• Get Em a snack.
• Sit on the floor and play.
• Fight fatigue.

3:53

• Nurse Em.
• Check Facebook.
• Play with kids.

4:58

• Tidy front hall.
• Mr. T is bringing home dinner!!
• Tidy living room again.
• Put away groceries Mr. T brought home.
• Watch Q and Em play together.
• Update bullets.
• Read this blog post and relate, considering my chosen exercise for the day.

5:34

• Eat!

6:20

• Go upstairs to lay down. Finally.

7:02

• Come down to inconsolable Em.
• Nurse Em.
• Bathe Em and do skin care regimen.

7:30 pm

• Put Em to bed.

7:50 pm

• Mr. T takes Q to bed.
• Unload and load dishwasher.

8:00 pm

• Veg in front of the TV.
• Check Facebook and Pinterest.

This was an interesting exercise for me because we don’t really pay attention to clock time in our house. In fact, most of the clocks in our house are wrong. Unless we have somewhere to be at a certain time, I hardly ever look at a clock. We don’t have a rigid schedule, but as I look at our day, I realize that we do have a definite routine that happens at roughly the same time every day.

I also realized that almost every minute of my day is accounted for. As much as I think I sit around, idly, I realize that when I am sitting, I am nursing Em, or entertaining her, or eating. I am not idle. I think if I was actually idle, I’d crash. If I sit too long, I might pass out.

The other thing I noticed is that it doesn’t take me near as long to do things as I would have guessed. I can do far more in 10 minutes than I would have given myself credit for. I’d expect that my house would be tidier after cleaning that much in a day, though. I wouldn’t even say it’s company ready. Sigh.