Amy invited us to play along and tell about our daily schedules.. here's what a typical weekday looks like around here:
7:30 George wakes up. He has probably started to stir about an hour earlier, but I pacify him with a boob and we all get more sleep. We know he's really awake when he starts poking our faces or trying to dive head first over us to get out of the bed. Lately I've started putting him down on the floor and trying to get a few more minutes of rest. He likes to play with the sock bin in my closet, but he also gets into things he shouldn't too, like C's glasses, or this morning when I found him crawling underneath our bed..
7:45 Sneak away while George is playing to brush my teeth. I can't do anything in the am until my teeth are brushed.
7:50 Pick up the munchkin and head to the kitchen to make coffee for Costas. He gets tempted to stay home and play with George so I try to give him a push out the door- on good days I make coffee and lunch. On bad days I make him hold George and make his own coffee.
8:30 Breakfast for the 3 of us. Usually cereal for the adults, yogurt with fruit and/or oatmeal for the kid. C and I use this time to chat and catch up on the day's plans. I really like that we have breakfast together.
9:00 George and I head out to Stroller Strides or a playdate. Today we went to a music class at Orly's Treehouse. After class we have snacks (read: coffee) with other moms & babies.
12:00 Naptime. I try to plan to be on my way home from somewhere around noon so he can fall asleep in the car. Once we get home I make a pot of coffee, check my email, and try to get some school work done. I used to sew during naptime, but now it's coming down to crunch time in the semester-- I've got an exam on Thursday so i shouldn't even be blogging now.. I have quilt projects all lined up for winter break though.
1:30 Lunch for George, when he's done we play for a while. If I was lucky, I threw in laundry before breakfast so there'll be a load to fold together in the afternoon. He's getting really good at laundry. While he plays I can usually sneak off and check my email. I may get 10 minutes before he's banging on the office door. We catch up with family and friends with phonecalls in the afternoon, and in general just hang out around the house. Twice a week though the babysitter comes for 2 hours so I can get some more focused studying done. Thank god for that!
5:00 Start dinner. Depending on the meal, I usually start chopping and measuring while he's naping so I can saute and throw stuff together once he gets up. We eat all of our meals at home (Costas takes left overs or a sandwich 5 days a week for lunch) and I'm getting much better at meal planning, shopping for what we need (less frivolous purchases), and using what we have. This is a huge step for me as a housewife.
6:30 George gets dinner and I'll probably get a snack. Then more playing (and some mindless tv) til Costas gets home. Twice a week he gets a bath, but no more than that due to pretty bad excema.
8:00 Costas gets home. He plays with George for a while and then maybe we'll have dinner as a family, but if George didn't get the second nap, I'll let Costas eat first while I put George to bed.
8~9:00 Bedtime for the monster. Definitely flexible, depending on when he got up last and when C gets home from work. I hate to put George to bed without seeing Daddy, but sometimes Costas has to work late..
9:30 Unwind in front of the TV with C. Sometimes I try to study, sometimes I go hide out in the sewing room, sometimes I do both. Lately I can't handle more than 1 hour before changing activities so if I have more than 2 hours to myself I tend to bounce back and forth between sewing and studying. Of course I can also blow 2+ mindless hours playing on line, but then I go to bed feeling more tense (neck soreness) and very unproductive.
12:00 Bedtime. Sometime around midnight George will wake up and I'll go get him and bring him to bed with me. I let him nurse as much as he wants through the night and we all sleep better.
Our days are long and it's often exhausting keeping a 13 month old stimulated, happy and safe all day. But he's a happy kid and these days I'm usually a happy mom. There are ups and downs of course, but I'm thankful for the recent upswing, especially during crunch time at school.. This week has been unbalanced in terms of school work to sewing, but that's ok. Overall, I'm really glad that I found a good balance this semester-- taking time to sew keeps me more focused on schoolwork when it's study time.
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3 comments:
busy day :-) I always used to plan my days around naptime too, but I strictly had to arrive home by that time, because once my kids had a few minutes sleep in the car, they would not go to have their proper 2 hours sleep after lunch and would have been unbearable for the rest of the afternoon.
Usually I slept then too while they were small... :-)
Kristina
I had my daughter when I was in graduate school, too. I remember how frustrating it was when people would say "just write your thesis when she goes down for a nap" - the people who said that were always childless, don't you know. Sounds like you are doing well at achieving balance in a busy time! P.S. I read your "about you" - we have similar interests in language/linguistics. And I have a good colleague at Doshisha Uni - he teaches in the English Dept. there - do you know Nobuhiko Akamatsu?
I understand those full days! You probably noticed that our day is planned around naps too, sadly I had to wake a sick Owen to get Ella today, he would have been happy for another hour.
Good luck with all your finals and papers. :)
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