Ever wonder what a stay-at-home mom does
all day? Or even what you have done with your whole day? People are always whining about Mondays, and yes, even I am prone to
some weekend hangover-ness, but yesterday, I was on a roll, and decided to
record my actions because such a productive day may never happen again. Or
maybe one day in the future when the kids are older I’ll try to remember what
it was like with two littles and a freelance writing career, and if I don’t
write it down, I won’t remember. So here it goes, starting at 2 a.m., Monday
Nov. 21, 2016.
2 a.m.: Feed Knox, change his diaper, go
back into a deep sleep.
5:45 a.m.: Hear Knox, but he sounds happy,
so go back to sleep.
6:08 a.m.: Hear Knox, realize that while
he’s happy, he’s not going to fall back asleep unless I give him the binky. Go
in his room to discover he’s majorly wet the bed. Strip him and the bed, change
his diaper, wrap him back up and put him back to bed. Hear Rye saying he has to
pee, so go take him to the bathroom and put him back to bed. Get in bed myself,
but don’t fall back to sleep.
6:45 a.m.: Get up, retrieve Knox who did
not fall back to sleep either, feed him.
7 a.m.: Remind Josh that his alarm went
off at 6:30 a.m. and he need to get up.
7:10 a.m.: Greet Rye at his allowable wake
time, change Knox’s diaper, and put him back to bed.
7:15 a.m.: Fold the kids’ laundry that I
washed last night.
7:30 a.m.: Empty the dishwasher, make myself
a cup of decaffeinated Earl Grey.
7:40 a.m.: Pack up Josh’s lunch, say
goodbye.
7:45 a.m.: Breakfast with Rye—oatmeal,
granola bar, and one cookie for him (that I made last night to take to his
school’s special Thanksgiving program today); peanut butter-infused Greek
yogurt dipped up with apple slices for me.
8:10 a.m.: Start a load of lights to wash
Knox’s wet bed dressings.
8:15 a.m.: Play with Rye.
8:25 a.m.: Knox is fussing, go up and
soothe him, get myself dressed, bring down Rye’s clothes and get him dressed,
both brush our teeth.
8:35 a.m.: Try to soothe Knox again, realize he’s
not going to settle, bring him downstairs.
8:45 a.m.: Help Rye do a puzzle while
holding Knox.
8:57 a.m.: Realize I might as well feed Knox
now to get a head start on the next cycle.
9:10 a.m.: Tell Rye to put on his shoes and
start grabbing everything we need to take to school and the gym for me and
Knox.
9:22 a.m.: In the car and driving to school.
9:35 a.m.: Leave Rye at school, with the homemade
cookies and baby carrots I had signed up to bring, drive to the gym.
9:45 a.m.: Arrive at gym, put Knox in the
nursery, and attempt to master the elliptical for 40 minutes.
10:03 a.m.: Interrupted by nursery staff, need
to go change Knox’s poopy diaper.
10:15 a.m.: Decide Knox seemed really fussy and
probably just needs a nap, give up elliptical early after just 25 minutes and
head home.
10:30 a.m.: Get Knox in his room, change his
clothes wet from drool. Realize he’s not going to fall asleep on his own so
swaddle him, sing to him and sway for 3 minutes, until he falls asleep, then
put him in his crib.
10:37 a.m.: Time to get a shower. While in the
shower, realize that if Knox is really asleep, I have time to start another
load of laundry, blow dry my hair and still make it back to preschool in time
for Rye’s program. Start to realize this may be the most productive day ever
and that I should start taking notes.
11 a.m.: Dress and head downstairs with
load of darks, get them going, then blow dry my hair for five minutes. It’s
still mostly wet, but I shouldn’t get icicles in my hair anymore.
11:15 a.m.: Wake up Knox, remember to grab
a bib, then head downstairs, wrap him in my coat then head out with the diaper
bag to go to Rye’s school.
11:27 a.m.: Arrive early. Must wait in the
hallway. Ugh.
11:34 a.m.: We are let in and file into the
larger part of the classroom, I stand in the back with Knox in the Baby Bjorn,
wave to Rye, and get my phone camera ready. Take one picture then switch to
video, and video all 10 minutes of their songs. Rye doesn’t sing, but mostly
does the motions to the Turkey Wobble song.
11:45 a.m.: Snack time. Get some disapproving
looks from other parents for letting Rye have 4 cookies, but he had 4 pieces of
lunch meat and 3 chunks of cheese, so I’m happy that I won’t have to give him
lunch when we get home. I’m a little discouraged that parents are giving kids
these 2 ½-inch diameter store-bought M&M cookies over my homemade 1-inch
diameter honey coins (a shortbread covered in powdered sugar), but one dad
starts taking them by the handful, and one child with perfect hair and a
model-like mother chooses my cookie over the M&M cookie. The 9 p.m. cookie
making last night was worth it!
12:20 p.m.: Convince Rye it’s time to go
home, as Knox can’t wait to eat and sleep.
12:30 p.m.: Home, see that the mail has
not come and remember to put out a Netflix movie we need to send back. Feed
Knox, then change his diaper. Help Rye spell out signs to write on his magnet
doodler. Put Knox on his play mat and then help Rye put together another puzzle
he had started this morning and abandoned.
1:05 p.m.: Nap time. Cajole Rye to come
upstairs, change from his jeans to flannel pajama pants, take him to the
bathroom to pee. While he’s washing his hands, swaddle Knox and put him down,
go read Rye a book and put him in his bed, then go back to Knox’s room to re-swaddle
him and hold his arms still until he falls asleep 20 seconds later.
1:30 p.m.: My lunch time, warm up leftover
chili and sit down at computer to eat.
1:37 p.m.: Mid-lunch, Rye calls over the
monitor that he has to pee again. Really tempted to call B.S. but go up anyway,
take him to the bathroom where he dribbles out an ounce, then put him back in
bed.
1:47 p.m.: Finish lunch. Remember I need
to finish my food column, so open the document, edit the pre-selected recipes I
found last night, then write my intro.
2:07 p.m.: Remember that if I plan to cook
next, I should make sure the meat in the fridge is thawed. But I find the meat
is not in the fridge, but the freezer. First fail of the day! Get it out and
put it in a bowl of water, hoping that will get it mostly thawed in the next
hour.
2:11 p.m.: Knox is crying and sounds in pain.
Go up and give him gas drops, put my hand on his chest until he falls asleep,
and go back down to finish writing.
2:24 p.m.: Finish food column and email it to
my editors. Since meat is still frozen, decide to fold whites.
2:44 p.m.: Start cooking. I make a homemade
Hamburger Helper-like casserole for a family from church on the Mercy Meals
list, and start roasting a spaghetti squash for our dinner, to serve with
leftover Italian sausage I cooked Friday.
3:34 p.m.: Casserole is done and put back in
the fridge to cool, squash is still roasting. Time to sit down! But Rye wakes
up and wants water. I give him some but let him know he has to stay in bed til
4. Go downstairs and start Project Runway with a little snack of leftover
Mexican corn.
3:50 p.m.: Knox wakes up, bring him down to
feed him while continuing Project Runway. Ugh, Dexter is so annoying!
4:10 p.m.: Go upstairs to get Rye, change Knox’s
diaper, then let Rye know we have to take the food to the family. He agrees by
asking if we can bring 3 of his toy road signs instead of just the standard 2
we allow (one for each hand—can’t argue with that logic). I agree to the
compromise. I take the spaghetti squash out of the oven and let it cool, let
the family know we’re on the way, then get the kids in the car.
5:00 p.m.: Back home. Put a very fussy Knox in
his bouncer, then talk to Rye about some road signs he admires but doesn’t
have, then convert two of his signs into two from his wishlist: two lanes ahead
and squiggly road ahead.
5:15 p.m.: Back to cooking our dinner. Shred
the spaghetti squash and put in pan, add marinara and cooked Italian sausage,
start cooking pasta for Rye. Take Knox out of bouncer and put him in Bumbo in
kitchen with me while Rye watches Truck Tunes, then a little of Busytown.
5:40 p.m.: Take Knox upstairs for his nap. Come
back down and scoop out our food, wait for Rye to finish his video then we sit
down to eat.
6:05 p.m.: I’m done dinner, but Rye isn’t,
though he suddenly realizes he has to poop and leaves the dinner table. I use
this opportunity to get a head start on dishes.
6:15 p.m.: Pooping is done, Rye declares
he will not finish his dinner, which was about two-thirds consumed so I don’t
really care, and he goes to the living room to play while I finish dishes.
6:30 p.m.: Having finished the dishes, I
am free to play with Rye. We play 10 minutes of Signtown, where cars drive
around and remark on the signs in the town, then I convince him to clean up all
his signs so we can play with the magnet doodler for the last 5 minutes before
bath time.
6:50 p.m.: Upstairs for bath time.
7:02 p.m.: Rye’s yell about getting soap
in his eye wakes up Knox. Go into his room, give him his binky, stay for a
minute then back to the bathroom for Rye.
7:10 p.m.: Bath time is over. Dry Rye up
and take him to his room to get dressed. Then downstairs for his milk, upstairs
to read a book, then count as he brushes his teeth. Then we both put some cocoa
butter lotion on our hands, go back to his room, say a prayer, talk about three
special things that happened today and talk about what’s going to happen
tomorrow.
7:35 p.m.: Back downstairs. Give the cats
their treats and night time food. Bring up the last load of laundry from the
basement, go into the living room to fold it while continuing to watch Project
Runway (same episode) and wait for Knox to wake up for his final feeding of
this Monday.
8:00 p.m.: Done cleaning up and can
finally sit down!
8:07 p.m.: Rye tells me over the monitor
that his door opened by itself, and can I come and please close it?
8:12 p.m.: After I am back downstairs, Rye
says he has to pee. I take him to the bathroom again, and tell him this will be
the last time I come in tonight. We blow his nose one more time for good
measure.
8:30 p.m.: Josh texts that he’s on his way
home. I wake up Knox to feed him again.
8:50 p.m.: Project Runway is over—Dexter
went home! Josh gets home, Knox is done feeding. We talk while Josh unloads for
the day and giggle with Knox.
9:10 p.m.: Take Knox upstairs, tag team
putting him to bed.
9:20 p.m.: Feeling good that Knox won’t
need a feeding until at least 2 a.m. (or 3 a.m. if I’m lucky), and I create a
new skinny cocktail: almond cashew milk with pumpkin spice Kahlua. Delicious!
Consumed in a very small quantity.
9:28 p.m.: Sit down to view the latest
episode of PBS’s “Poldark.”
10:03 p.m.: Check to see how much show is
left, which is 18 minutes, so decide to go for it.
10:21 p.m.: Show finished, take all
glasses and plates to kitchen, then show Josh the video I shot of Rye’s
Thanksgiving parade. Marvel at how grown-up Rye looks, and how tall, standing
next to his peers.
10:34 p.m.: Upstairs, brush teeth, get in
bed to read a little more of “The Glass Castle” before sleeping.
10:53 p.m.: Lights out. Dead to the world.
Day over.
So there you have it, if you made it this far—a full day. It was a good day. This must have been how Ice Cube felt when
he wrote “It Was a Good Day”…