Hi friends! I haven’t done a day in the life post in approximately forever, and these sorts of posts are always requested anytime I ask for post ideas, so I thought it would be fun to share one today!
Here’s a day in the life from earlier this week, on a day when I was home with Wes (our 2 year old). Our summer schedule has me home with him two full days per week; he’s with our part time nanny the other three mornings, and I’m with both kids every weekday in the afternoons after Riese gets out of camp and Wes is up from his nap.
It has been tough transitioning back to this schedule after having Wes at preschool in the mornings in the spring, but we’re settling in. There are only a couple more weeks of this schedule, though – we are saying goodbye to our nanny in early August (before leaving for a couple weeks in Pittsburgh with Matt’s parents to bridge the gap between camp and school starting again) as Wes will be at preschool again in the fall and will be old enough for camp next summer!
I’m feeling really ready to have all of our childcare (with the exception of date nights) out of the home now, and I think Wes is too – he is very social and loves being with his friends, but if he’s at home he only wants to be with me, which is tricky and makes me feel guilty (he cries anytime our nanny arrives – he’s fine once I’m out of sight but he knows that when she arrives it means I won’t be with him that morning). I think it will be a good change for everyone!
Anyway! Day in the life – let’s do it!
5:25 a.m. – Alarm goes off. Brush teeth, throw on yoga clothes, eat a banana and some nut butter and head out the door to walk to yoga.
Being able to walk there makes the whole 6am thing feel much more doable/pleasant, I love it. And this time of year I get lovely sunrise views on the walk there, too (unlike the winter when it’s pitch black on the way to class, but we get nice sunrise views from the studio window towards the end of class!).
6 – 7 a.m. – Hot power yoga class! I go twice a week to the early classes and then usually hit a normal time class on the weekend, too.
I’m really loving being more consistent with yoga than I ever have been before! Playing around with inversions in particular has been super fun for me lately. It really feels like coming home to my body after many years of growing + nursing babies.
A few of us stick around for a few minutes to play around with inversions after class and the instructor snags this pic. So fun.
7:10-7:25 a.m. – Change out of my super sweaty clothes at the studio (I never have time to shower until much later in the day, so a change of clothes is necessary!) and walk home.
During the school year I rush right out after class to change and be home by 7:15 because we have to get everyone out the door by 8, but the summer camp schedule is shifted a bit later and it’s nice to have more flexibility.
7:25 – 8:20 a.m. – Make and eat breakfast with Matt and the kids (we have a variation of my High Protein Oatmeal with some frozen blueberries and strawberries thrown in), and tag team getting the kids ready to go and packing Riese a snack and lunch for summer camp.
8:20 a.m. – Head out the door to walk Riese to summer camp with Wes in tow in the stroller (although often he wants to get out and walk). Occasionally Matt comes with us for the walk but often it’s just me and the kids as Matt has early work calls.
Riese just learned how to ride a big girl bike with pedals last month and has been enjoying biking to and from camp, so she’s ahead of us in this shot!
8:30 a.m. – Drop Riese at summer camp and walk to a coffee shop with Wes + some mom friends from camp. Get an iced latte plus a bacon, egg, cheese, and tomato breakfast sandwich with a side of sausage (Wes is obsessed) for Wes and I to share at the playground. I’m always STARVING after early hot power yoga and need multiple breakfasts!
8:45 a.m. – Say bye to my friends and leave the coffee shop to walk over to the playground with Wes. We hang out for awhile and around 9:30 we share our breakfast sandwich, sausage, and some clementines I brought from home. Plus lots of water – it’s SO hot outside.
When we are done eating a friend from Wes’s preschool joins for a playdate and my mom friend and I hang out with our boys until they are hot and tired and ready to leave. It’s always nice to see a friend – my days solo with Wes can feel lonely so I’ve been making a big effort to try to line up playdates for both of our sakes!
10:30 a.m. – Walk home from the playground. When we get home, we play with some toys for a bit, read some books, I throw in some laundry, and then I convince Wes to bumble around our bathroom/bedroom for a bit so I can shower because I feel super gross.
Luckily he’s at the age now where he’s fine to wander around while I shower, although often he ends up playing with the bathtub (separate from our shower) faucets, meaning my shower water pressure tanks and the temp gets freezing as he turns the bathtub water on and off, so that’s fun. It’s worth it as I feel much better post-shower, though!
11:30 a.m. – Turn on the TV and cuddle while watching an episode of Daniel Tiger, which is Wes’s favorite show. By this point in the morning I’m tired and ready for a break and so is Wes!
12 p.m. – Come upstairs and make some lunch for both of us. I have a barley and arugula/spinach salad with some random veggies, feta, pumpkin seeds, chickpeas, and a homemade lemon vinaigrette (with red wine vinegar instead of balsamic).
Wes has some yellow pepper, blueberries, and a sweet potato, mango, and coconut milk meal (Amazon affiliate link).
As you can see in this picture Wes is in a phase where whenever we get home from somewhere, he immediately takes off not just his shoes and socks but also his shorts. Lol)
12:55 p.m. – Trade off with Matt, who is coming downstairs for his lunch break (he started working from home during the pandemic and mostly is still working at home, which is awesome). I tried to put Wes down for his nap already but he was yelling “not yet!!” (his new favorite phrase) and I have a zoom call at 1 for a women’s group I’m a part of, so thankfully Matt takes over to get Wes down for nap!
1 – 2 p.m. – Zoom call. It’s a community call with Revolution from Home and is great, as always.
2 – 2:45 p.m. – Check in on some emails and blog-related work. I don’t typically do much nap time work on my days home with Wes because I’m usually exhausted by the time he takes his nap and want to chill, but I have decent energy this day and I’m already on my computer and have a few things that need some follow up, so I go for it.
2:45 p.m. – Have a snack (PB&J + some fresh cherries – keeping it simple), then lie down for a bit and read my book until it’s time to get Wes up. I just started reading The Kingmaker (Amazon affiliate link) and am really enjoying it so far!
3:15 p.m. – Get Wes up! I typically have to wake him up and toss him right in the stroller to pick Riese up from either school or camp, but Riese just started doing swim lessons last week, and I took her to the first one but my mom will be coordinating most of the future ones as trying to wrangle Wes at the pool is kind of a lot. Thanks, mom!
I still wake him up at the normal time, though, because otherwise he’ll nap too long and won’t sleep at night. We cap his nap at around 2 hours or so, which is still a really nice long time!
3:20 p.m. – Wes is grumpy and yelling “outside!!” since normally we go right outside after I wake him; I was imagining getting to chill and relax and read books with him since we didn’t have to rush off and get Riese for once, but apparently he’s not loving that idea, so into the stroller he goes with his milk + snack and we walk over to another playground.
4:30 p.m. – Wes is over the playground (it’s so hot), so I get him in the stroller and we walk back home.
4:45 p.m. – Arrive home just as my mom is arriving to drop Riese off. Say goodbye to my mom and take both kids up to the bath – Wes is sweaty and Riese has chlorine that needs to be washed off!
I mean, can you even handle these curls? I love them so much.
5:30 p.m. – Wrap up bath time just as our date night babysitter arrives – hooray! Matt and I have a date night once a week and yes every week is a bit of an indulgence and also it’s really really nice to have that dedicated and consistent time together. Highly recommend. We have the same sitter at the same time every week so there’s no annoying logistics to figure out which is also key.
5:45 p.m. – Riese is watching a bit of TV to decompress before dinner and Wes is outside in the backyard playing with our babysitter, so I prep some dinner for the kids (we always feed them the same thing on date night, again to just keep the guesswork as easy as possible: chicken tenders + a simple fruit and veggie side), then head upstairs and take another shower.
Yep, second shower of the day. It’s just sooo hot and I’m covered in sunscreen and sweat after another playground outing and want to feel fresh for our dinner out!
6 p.m. – Matt wraps up work and gets ready, and we head out the door together around 6:15 to walk to dinner.
6:30 p.m. – Arrive at our dinner spot, a new Mexican place in Del Ray called Dos Hermanos. We have a neighbor couple joining us for dinner (normally we go out just the two of us, but every once in awhile another couple joins us and it’s fun to mix it up!), but they are running a little late, so we get some drinks and guac and chips while we wait. I have a beer, Matt has a margarita the size of his head.
7 p.m. – Our friends arrive and we have so much fun chatting with them that I forget to get any more pictures. Oh well! The food was nothing to write home about (decent, but not amazing – I had the carne asada which was steak with black beans, rice, and pico de gallo), but the company was excellent. 🙂
9:15 p.m. – Leave the restaurant to walk home together. They live on our street so it’s convenient because we are all going to the same place!
9:30 p.m. – Arrive home and relieve our babysitter, then head right upstairs to get ready for bed. I’m wiped! I read my book in bed for a little while, but not too long.
10:15 p.m. – Lights out – goodnight!
I’m curious – what does a typical day in the life look like for you?
