What’s your day-to-day life like? As a work-outside-the-home mom, my days are pretty full, and, no surprise, Monday seems to be the fullest of all.
Here’s a glimpse of what our most recent Monday looked like:
4:00 a.m. // My first alarm goes off. I’ve never been much of a snoozer, but 4 is tough, y’all.
4:15 a.m. // Second alarm. This time it’s time to get my feet in some sticky socks and on the floor for Pure Barre. I suspect I’d be the only attendee at a 4 a.m. class, but I love to visit Pure Barre Fort Worth when I can.
After the workout, I do a quick clean of one room of the house: pick up, dust, sweep, Swiffer mop, and start a load of laundry. This keeps my Saturdays from revolving around cleaning.
5:00 a.m. // Get myself showered, dressed, and ready for the day. Take care of any food prep, and do a quick Bible study. If I have an extra minute or two, I’ll hop on social media or respond to my own blog comments.
6:30 a.m. // Time for my girls to get up! I have one who is a morning person and almost always delighted to see me, and the other really could use an hour or so to sit quietly and ease into her day. This is exactly like my husband and me.
They are three and almost two, so after I get them fed, dressed, and out the door, I feel like I’ve had a second workout. Today it takes a bribe to get them in their car seats because my “threenager” wants to drive.
7:30 a.m. // We made it to school on time for once, which means I make it to work on time.
8:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. // Work, work, work.
1:00-2:00 p.m. // Generally, I spend my lunch hour doing school work, which is what I did today.
Frequently, I take care of personal work, run errands, or just catch up on something. Very rarely, I get to sit and read a book or meet a friend for coffee, and those are the best lunches ever.
2:00-5:00 p.m. // Work, work, work.
5:00 p.m. // Swing by my house to pick up my husband and our supper of smoothies, which are great for on the go meals. Then we head to pick up the girls for music class.
6:00-7:00 p.m. // We love our music class, but we are so thankful this is the last class of the semester. After-work activities have made for three unhappy ladies on Monday nights and Tuesday mornings.
8:45 p.m. // Case in point: My girls are still awake and very, very fussy even after a typical (albeit quick) bedtime routine.
9:00 pm.// They are FINALLY asleep, and it’s time to take care of a little more personal work, even though all I really want to do is veg out with an episode of Parks and Rec before I hit the sack around 10:00 only to get up and do it ALL again the next day.
This is our season to hustle, and I admit it’s tough. I frequently wonder if our pace of life is common for other WOHMs or if I have a harder time handling the hustle than others do.
I’ve hit on a few tricks that have made life work better for us (small cleaning every day, laying out clothes the night before, bribes, and more bribes to make the girls behave), but I’d love to hear your tips—especially if you’ve got a full-time, outside-the-home gig like I do.
How do you make life work at a very hectic pace? Are you just hanging in there on those manic Mondays (and all the other days)?