A Whole Day, From Start to Finish
A day-in-the-life with an 8-month-old and a 4-year-old. 🙂
Hi friends! I’m off to LA this morning and will be Snapping, IG-ing and sharing lots of adventures on the blog in next week’s posts. In the meantime, here is a glimpse into a semi-normal whole day. 🙂 While I don’t think these are my most thrilling blog posts, I enjoy reading them on other sites. They remind me of the blog days of yore, and are also fun to look back on later. Have a wonderful morning and I’ll be back tomorrow with Friday Faves. xoxo
7:32 YES. We slept in! Yes, yes, yes, yes. I was afraid the crew would be awake early since we didn’t get them to bed until late the previous night. (Isn’t it a cruel joke that when kids go to bed later they wake up earlier? Not cool.) The Pilot and I were up until 12:30 between cleaning the kitchen, washing bottles, and a late-night Target essentials run. I hop out of bed to wash my face and put in my contacts,
and check my phone for about 30 seconds until Liv comes in. She tells me about her dream, and we hear P singing to herself on the baby monitor.
I let Liv go in to say “Hi” to her sister, while I race to the kitchen to start breakfast. Liv likes to be the first person to see Penelope in the morning, and she’ll talk to her, hand her a toy, and sing songs while I start her breakfast and heat up a bottle. The bottle is in the warmer, Liv’s oatmeal and yogurt are on the table, so I go into P’s room to see this.
It makes my heart explode every morning. (PS how awesome is that bedhead?)
Liv has her oatmeal and yogurt while I feed P her bottle, and when P is finished, I put her in the high chair to enjoy some puffs and avocado pieces. I scramble an egg for Liv, make her lunch,
and make my morning drink: hot water with apple cider vinegar, lemon, turmeric, honey, and cayenne.
We get dressed, I cover Liv in sunscreen and pack up her water bottle, and we drive to camp drop-off. Liv is doing a couple of fun camps this summer since school is out (a mix of half day and full day camps, depending on where it is), and she’s really excited for this one because we coordinated dates with one of her best friends.
9:20 We’re back from dropping off Liv and the weather is perfect, so I put P in the Ergo and leash the dogs for a walk before the sun starts to beat down.
9:45 We come back home, P and I read a couple of books and take turns making sounds and blowing raspberries at each other, and then I set her in her Pack n’ Play to briefly check emails. I answer the few that will catch fire if they’re not answered in a timely manner, and then it’s time for P’s nap. I have no idea what will happen because we had to put the AC unit in her room, which terrifies her (but only sometimes), and she’s teething in a major way. Fingers crossed.
10:05 VICTORY. She’s crashed! I take 10 minutes to make a quick breakfast,
wipe down the counters, wash breakfast dishes, and chug the rest of my morning drink, and run around the house picking up. I make the beds, put a load of laundry into the washer, write checks for bills to put into the mailbox, and feed the dogs.
10:40 Work blitz begins! I like to dedicate her first nap to pure content creation. This way, if she doesn’t take a great afternoon nap, the content is there and I’ll have a few posts in the queue ready to go at all times. I start writing two posts and a newsletter before P starts to stir. Usually I get the most done if I mono-task, but because I was hopping between content, I don’t feel like I accomplished much.
11:35 I change Miss P, snuggle with her while she drinks a bottle, and we pack up for the gym.
12:25 I get in a quick 30-minute upper body workout, testing out the PBB advanced plan. It kills my upper body in the best way possible.
1:00 We’re leaving the gym and on the way to Trader Joe’s for some essentials.
1:45 Back home, P is crashed in the car and I play the great naptime gamble: will she transfer to the crib without waking up?
SHE DOES. Yassssss.
2:00 Work blitz #2. During her afternoon nap, I try to do most of the behind-the-scenes and business-related blog tasks. I schedule conference calls and Skypes during this time and will invoice, work on my editorial calendar, email, schedule pins and shout outs (I’ve been using Coschedule which changed my world), and brainstorm ideas for PBB. I’ve been working on revamping the current version (which will be live in the fall) and designing the advanced plan, which all current plan-holders will receive automatically.
I make a salad using this combo, but forget to snap a pic (aka it isn’t nearly this attractive):
I remember I still need to design graphics for Summer Shape Up, so I start working on those.
I finish one of the posts I had started that morning, so it’s ready to go, and start to create a few invoices when P starts to stir.
3:15 Time to pick up Liv from camp! She tells us all about the art projects she did, shares a bite of her cooking project with me, and sings a new song. We drive back home to feed P a bottle, and Liv eats her afternoon snack. I also give P some spinach-pea-pear pouch. She’s a fan. 🙂
I make a quick smoothie with frozen berries, almond milk, vegan chocolate Shakeology and goat whey:
and also chug another cup of coffee.
We hang out and play in Liv’s room for a while until Tom is home. We high five to switch over; I leave to teach Spin and he takes over with the kiddos.
5:30 I teach a super sweaty Spin class 🙂
This is my current favorite sprint song:
6:45 Back at home! I start a super fast dinner while the Pilot puts P to bed and Liv plays dolls in her room. This is one of our favorite on-the-fly recipes, especially since Liv will actually eat it, and it takes about 15 minutes to put together. She’s on a huge shrimp kick right now, so we’ve had it a couple of times in the recent rotation.
I Snapchatted the recipe when I made it, but it’s basically a sautéed onion with a pack of frozen stir fry veggies, tossed with shrimp, gluten-free noodles, and a peanut sauce (tamari, peanut butter, garlic, ginger, honey, olive oil, pepper, a pinch of cayenne).
7:10 We eat dinner as a family and catch up on the day, and then it’s time for Liv’s bath and bedtime routine. (Bath, hair dry, jammies, brush/floss, stories.) While the Pilot gives Liv a bath, I take a quick shower, and camp out in our room to finish the second post I was working on to send to the brand for review, and finish and send out invoices. I’m done just in time to read Liv her bedtime stories.
9:00 Liv is crashed, so we pour some wine and start cleaning up the kitchen and washing bottles. After the kitchen is done, I pack Liv’s lunch for the next day, and head into our room to write back to emails, schedule my post and shout outs for the following day, and answer blog comments.
10:30 Laundry mountain is staring at me, so I start a podcast (Amy Porterfield) and listen to it while I fold and put laundry away.
11:00 The Pilot makes a bottle and I head into P’s room for her dream feed. Even though I’m tired, I really love dream feeds. They’re so sweet and snuggly. After she’s finished eating and has a fresh diaper, I crawl into bed, and read until my eyes start to droop and call it a night.
11:45 Lights out, and ready to do it all over again. 🙂
Another whole day start to finish when P was 3 1/2 months old <3
48 Comments
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WOW loved this so much, babes!!!!! <3 Your blog is the only one I still read regularly <3 Love you and thanks for sharing – such a fun read! You're such a great Mom and I love your fam <3
Gosh what a day! I’m also a little jealous of any mom that can transfer from car to crib. Mine wakes up when I open the door. Lightest sleeper ever. Haha.
Goodness! This seems like A LOT. I admire you because I definitely could NOT keep up this pace. I have a 10 month old daughter & am a SAHM and sometimes I wonder how to get it all done. Kudos to all you working Moms out there that!
Share that shrimp pasta recipe!!!
Oh and have you ever considered bathing the girls at the same time??? That saves me a lot of time as well!!
yes, we do this often! they LOVE IT. sometimes only liv needs a bath so we’ll bathe her after p is crashed
Thanks for sharing- I love these posts!! and I’m totally recreating your shrimp noodle recipe 🙂
This was adorable and seriously resonated for me. The only part I can’t wrap my head around is going to bed at midnight. TEACH ME YOUR WAYS! I can barely keep my eyes open past 10 and if I do, I pay for it in a major way when waking up for work between 5 and 6.
i think it’s because you wake up earlier! i would go to bed early too if i had to be up at 5 or 6. 7 is my magic number (though it doesn’t always happen with the kiddos haha)
OMG, I am exhausted just reading that! You are a Super Woman. 🙂
I seriously love these posts. I’ve been blogging for just over 5 1/2 years now and I still do a “morning routine” post once a year to see how it’s changed. It’s been amazing to watch across our state-to-state moves and dating to engagement to marriage, etc. It’s fun to watch our journey across the years!
Also, Katy W and I were just talking about CoSchedule following Nicole’s Food Entrepreneur Summit. I think I may just have to invest. (Or at least try out the free trial, right?)
Thanks for sharing!
XO, Jessica
http://www.semisweettooth.com
yes, it’s totally worth it! it makes things so much easier 🙂
In awe of Liv’s relevé standing next to the crib! <3
right?! she has amazing ballerina feet. it will be cool to see how she progresses if she decides to stick with it
I don’t often (ever?) comment but I have to say that this post felt really good to read! I have a 4 years old and a 13 months old and this look a lot like my day (minus the bog posting/work related stuff… how do you even have the head space to fit that in??).
I’m so relieved to see that you also spend a large chunk of your evening cleaning the kitchen, prepping food for the next day and doing laundry before you can crash. My other mama friends seems to go to bed at 10pm at the very latest and I don’t know how that’s possible without leaving the house in a huge mess (maybe that’s what they do).
Keep up with this kind of posts please 🙂
thank you so much for reading and for leaving a comment <3
and YES cleaning the kitchen and prepping food takes so much time, but it has to happen. i think we'd be able to go to bed much earlier without it , but a dirty kitchen and piles of laundry stresses me out haha
xoxo
Man and I am bummed out when I don’t get to relax any until 9:30 PM! I have 2 small girls but I work outside of the house. I sometimes think it would be so nice to be able to be getting chores done during that day, but I don’t know if I would have your discipline to keep this schedule day in and day out. Kudos!
That hair OMG! So cute! I’ve been using coached use for two years. Life changing! I only wish it stored social media shares as a library to pull from or re-share as you want it to.
Could you share the shrimp pasta recipe? It looks incredible!!
sure, i need to measure it out next time! it’s so quick and easy
xoxo
Awwww the nap work hustle is real!!! The afternoon nap for us is always unpredictable too and quick dinners are a must these days!
amen to that!
I’m exhausted just reading this! You go!
A “dream feed” sounds so sweet and special! I can’t wait to have my own angels 🙂
haha thank you <3
it's super snuggly and wonderful
Penelope’s hair looks just like my sister’s when she was a baby. Adorable. Beautiful girls.
so cute! thank you <3
Dream feed! That’s such a beautiful name for a nighttime bottle! I’m totally stealing that for my future babies <3
<3
Loved this sneak peek into your daily life!
thanks, friend <3
What a day!! You do much. It’s really inspiring to see how you do all of this, plus stay so healthy and fit. Thanks for sharing!
thank you, friend!
Wow, you’re awesome! I do find these posts interesting! You seem to manage a lot:)
thank you! xoxo
I love these kind of posts!
Can you share more about your morning drink (recipe, benefits)? I’m not a food right away in the early morning person but I feel like I need something to get going!
sure! it wakes me up and the ACV has a lot of great properties like probiotics, boosting metabolism, increasing energy. the turmeric is to reduce inflammation, cayenne for a little zing, and honey for healthy immune system
…And my personal coup for the day was reading and going to a class at the gym! You are a superstar (do the SNL pose, you know you want to) momma!
aww thanks friend
I really enjoy these posts, the nosy part of me thinks it’s fascinating to peek into your life.
That Sia song is amazing. Nothing motivates me to work out like a new playlist. Would you mind sharing some more music finds?
Thanks!
thank you, friend
glad you liked it too!
some more new faves:
cobrastyle (ft mad cobra)
wrapped up- olly murs
say you do- sigala
war paint- fletcher
happy- c2c
enjoy!!
Wow so much accomplished! I’m Canadian so we get a 1 year gov paid mat-leave from work… which means I do a lot of tv watching and napping with my 9 month old! Lol. It blows my mind how ‘merica moms like you do it all.
americans everywhere are jealous of mat leave around the world. that is so awesome! <3
Wow. I need a nap after just Reading this! You are amazing. Your family is deliriously lucky to have you at the helm. Wow.
that means a lot, friend. thank you! <3
I love reading day in the life posts — I think we all assume others live this glamorous life, but in actuality we’re all folding laundry at odd hours of the night
Can you tell me what amounts you use of water, ACV, turmeric, honey, lemon, & cayenne in your morning drink?
it’s about 10 oz water (from the k cup machine), 1-2 tablespoons ACV, juice of half a lemon, nice drizzle of honey (maybe a teaspoon?), 1/2 teaspoon turmeric and a sprinkle of cayenne.
Twinsies!!! Sounds about right. #wahmlife