Following up from Part I of our series, we have 4 more moms willing to share the ins and outs of their days, from maximizing their commute to getting in a bit of childcare while they work out, to even sleeping in the car. Every one has a different schedule, but all are able to make it work, proving again that moms are the best multi-taskers of all!
- Name: Marisa
- I am a… Working Mama – Marketing Director
- Child’s name + age: Charlotte aka Charlie, 9 months
7:00 a.m. Charlie is up and off to the races! I, on the other hand, am dragging. While a 7 a.m. wake-up is admittedly not bad — kids or no kids — I feel like I’m still catching up on months worth of sleep deprivation. It is no joke.
I speed check my emails, news, Instagram, and Nest Cam (to make sure Charlie hasn’t Houdini’d herself between the crib slats) while my husband, Nate, showers.
7:15 a.m. Time to get the chiquita from her fortress, which is one of my favorite parts of the day. She does this thing when she’s happy to see someone where she kicks her legs really hard and smiles so big. There’s nothing like pure childlike joy to snap me out of my morning haze. It’s the best.
7:30 – 9:30 a.m. Coffee for Nate and me, bottle for C. The rest of the morning consists of playing on the floor with Amazon boxes (her new favorite “toy”), convincing our dog Louie to let C pet him, and getting dressed/ready for work while simultaneously making sure C doesn’t fall off the bed.
Our nanny is with C from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday — so Nate and I switch off days that we go into work later. And as a rule of thumb, I like to get home in the afternoon to spend the end of the day with C. It’s nice to be home to bathe her, feed her dinner, read to her, and you know, be there for her witching hour meltdown.
Our original plan was to put C into the Beth Israel CDC here in Austin and even though I put her on the waitlist when she was only 14 weeks along in utero (yes, that is correct), she didn’t get in until this Fall. She’ll be transitioning to daycare in September, which will ultimately force us into earlier morning routines and will expose C to a whole new world of germs… and friends, hopefully. The hardest part about all of this will be not seeing our nanny every day. We absolutely love and trust her. I couldn’t be a working mom without her and it fills me with dread to think about the changes ahead. I just hope that we can continue to see her — whether it be in a babysitter context or fun monthly visits or the combination of the two — so that C doesn’t forget about one of the first people to make an impression in her life.
9:50 a.m. – 4:10 p.m. Werk, werk, werk, werk, werk.
Up until 7.5 months, C was exclusively fed breastmilk. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever kept up with, especially after I went back to work at 3 months. I don’t think I realized the full extent of pressure, stress, and anxiety I put on myself to make this happen until I slowly introduced formula and acknowledged that it was no longer feasible for me to do it all by myself. I say this in light of the fact that my job has been incredibly flexible and accommodating. It’s just really, really hard to keep up with pumping on a normal two-to-three hour feeding schedule when you have meetings and deadlines. Somehow, I’d look up and have missed 2/3 of my pump sessions, which in turn, greatly affected my supply. My frozen maternity-leave stash had been cleaned out within the first month of me being back at work. So, yeah. The whole thing was intense — it made me feel like a bad mom, stressing out about whether or not C would have enough to eat the next day. As soon as I eliminated the mental blocks (mom guilt conditioning is real – FORMULA IS FINE, people), and saw how happy, healthy, and perfectly okay C was and is, I stopped pumping and shortly thereafter, weaned her completely. I don’t blame my career for this, but I do think it was a good reminder of how to be much kinder to myself and to others in the face of big life transitions. Not everything is going to go as planned and this was certainly one of them.
4:26 p.m Home sweet home.
4:45 – 5:30 p.m. Although our nanny has already taken C to the pool today, I’m filling up our very glamorous (read: not glamorous at all) kiddie pool in the partially shaded part of our backyard. It’s so hot in Austin right now and I find that this is a happy medium for fun playtime outdoors. As in, it’s basically the only thing I can stand to do outside for more than a few minutes and not feel like I’m putting her little baby body at risk, ha.
5:30 – 6:00 p.m. Dinner (a sample menu: her favorite pea/spinach/basil chunky purée and sweet potato yogurt) and a bath. She’s doing a hybrid baby-led weaning aka there’s no structure… so mealtime is a messy, messy affair. Doesn’t matter because bath comes next! C is like me — she loves a good spa moment. So, even though we don’t actually wash her hair most nights, she sits in the bath almost every night to play. Can you tell she’s a water baby?
6:30 p.m. Nate is usually home by this point and wants QT with C before bed. They hang while I assess the dinner situation (part two). I can hear her getting fussy over the monitor so I head upstairs with her bedtime bottle.
6:45 p.m. Either Nate or I will *try* to read her a book (her ability to stay focused is a work in progress) before bottle and bed. If all else fails, it’s our time to sit with her quietly before we put her down. Some nights she’s an angel; some nights she’s a demon possessed. Right now, she’s being sweet and cuddly.
7:15 p.m. C’s asleep and dinner is going to be reaaaaal simple. Nate and I spend this time snacking (ruining our appetites), catching up on our days, drinking some much-needed wine, and tucking into some food before doing another hour or two of work. We both have a tendency to be workaholics. Since having C, we’ve been much more cognizant of how we spend our time — especially in her waking hours! — and when she’s asleep, we capitalize on knocking out more before morning comes.
9:00 p.m. Some nights we use this “free” time to tackle long-forgotten home projects. We’re currently in the midst of adding artwork and a few final furniture pieces to our bedroom… but tonight? Tonight we’re not doing any of that. Instead, we zone out and watch the latest Desus & Mero (our favorite). Maybe I’ll force Nate to watch an ep from the new season of Queer Eye, too.
10:45 p.m. Time to go upstairs, do a lengthy skincare routine (one of the few things I have not given up on!), read a little, and go to bed. For years now, I’ve tried to get Nate on the multi-step skincare wagon but my powers of persuasion have yet to take hold in this regard.
11:30 p.m. Lights out. G’night!
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- Name: Crystal
- I am a… : Stay at home mom.
- Child’s age and Name #1: Eric – 4 years old
- Child’s age and Name #2: Evan – 2 years old
On most weeknights, I usually sleep in the guest room for two reasons; 1) because it is next to my boys’ rooms and 2) my husband wakes up around 4:15am to get ready for work. At some point around 1am, Evan, my two-year-old wakes up and I bring him into the bed with me because I don’t want him to wake up his brother nor do I have the energy to deal with having to put him back to sleep in his crib. Then, usually around 4:30/5am, my oldest also comes and crawls into bed with me.
6:30am I am woken up by one of the two boys sleeping next to me. Some days wake up time is closer to 7am and others closer to 6am. The days that are 5:30 or 5:45am are the hardest and longest.
Once the boys are awake, they get to watch two shows in the morning (they both get to pick one show each). This allows for me to first and foremost have a cup of coffee. Next, I prepare breakfast which could be eggs, pancakes, french toast or on lazy days toasted english muffin with fruit. I then prepare and pack lunch for Eric for school and Evan for the gym childcare. With whatever time remains from the shows, I quickly get dressed and pack my gym bag.
After breakfast, I literally have to chase the boys around to get them dressed, brush their hair and teeth and get shoes on their feet.
8:30am We leave to drop Eric off at preschool. Most days we walk to school (weather permitting). I find that it is easier to walk than to wrestle them both into the car.
Once we drop Eric off, we usually head to an activity for Evan (gymnastics or soccer) or run an errand or two.
10am Head to the Bay Club so I can workout while Evan goes to the Play Club (the childcare at the Bay Club). Included in our membership is two hours a day of childcare. This allows me to workout and take a un-interrupted shower.
Noon Leave the Bay Club. Sometimes I run a quick errand or pick something up at Safeway prior to get picking Eric up from school.
12:45pm Pick Eric up from preschool and walk home
1:15pm Put Evan down for a nap. Eric usually does not take a nap. Instead, I try and have him play quietly and independently so that I can eat lunch and clean up anything around the house. Sometimes, I start to prep dinner if I know it will take a while.
3/3:30pm We head to the afternoon activity. Sometimes Evan has soccer, gymnastics, or TBall and other days we ride bikes, play in the backyard or attempt to play in the house.
5:30pm I get dinner ready. The boys either continue playing in the house/backyard or sometimes they get to watch one more show.
6pm Husband gets home from work and we all eat dinner together.
6:30pm Bath time and getting ready for bed
7pm I usually read stories and put the youngest to bed while my husband does the same for my oldest.
Once the kids are in bed, my husband and I try and watch a show together and catch up on each others day.
9pm My husband heads to bed and I get some time to myself. Sometimes I fold laundry and clean up, others I read a book or get to watch one of my shows that my husband does not want to watch with me.
10/10:30pm I finally head to bed
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- Name: Meredith
- I am a… : Nurse, Working Mom
- Child’s age and Name #1: Madeline, 7 months
I work three 12 hour shifts per week, usually Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. I have a nanny come Mondays and Wednesdays and on Saturdays my husband, Sam, is home with Madeline. A typical day when I am home with her is as follows.
6am: Madeline usually wakes up somewhere around 6. Sam or I will go get her from her crib and bring her in bed to breastfeed. At this time I’m usually half asleep so I feed her side lying in bed. After she finishes her feed she falls back to sleep (and so do I!). Sam will usually put her back in her crib after she falls back to sleep and she’ll sleep in until usually 830-9
8:45am: Second wake up call! I change her diaper, feed her again, get up and make coffee and pump. We like slow mornings in our house. We usually hang out in bed for a while, and bring some toys and books into bed, chill out, drink coffee, and stay in our pajamas. Around 10:30, she starts to get sleepy and rubs her eyes (its so cute) and I feed her for a few minutes to get her to fall asleep.
11am: Nap time! Morning naps are at least an hour. This is the time I shower, get dressed, clean up the house, make myself breakfast, etc.
12:30pm: Madeline wakes up from her nap, we get her dressed, feed her brunch! She’s on twice a day solids now. Common day meals are pureed fruit with yogurt or baby oatmeal. I’m looking forward to expanding her foods more over the next couple of months as she gets more skilled at gumming things!
1pm: breastfeed, then we finally get out of the house!
1:30-2:30: Take big brother Kevin for a walk! (He’s a dog). We’ll go for a hike in the ergo carrier or a street walk in the stroller. Madeline usually cat naps towards the end of our walk for 30 minutes or so. If she falls asleep in the stroller I’ll leave her in there and sit in the back yard, or if she falls asleep in the car I sometimes park in the driveway, recline my seat and take a little rest myself!!! (I used to try to sneak her into the house when she was asleep but she would almost always wake up).
3-5pm: This is the time of day that tends to go by the slowest. Each day is different, often we’re out running errands/ going to the grocery store, sometimes we’ll take a walk down town, sometimes hang around the house, facetime with her aunts, play in the bouncy, tummy time, books, toys, etc. Once a week we have a music class in the afternoon that we love! She breastfeeds again around 4/5.
5pm: This is Madeline’s fussy time! She is generally a very chill happy girl but she has a short fussy period in the evening. She almost always naps at 5 but we’ve got to work for it! Lots of rocking, shushing, and singing (and crying). Eventually she’ll go down for a 30-40 minute nap while I clean my (constantly messy) house.
6pm: Madeline sits in the bumpo on the counter while I cook dinner and she tries to knock everything off the counter that she can reach. RIP to all of my wine glasses, we are now down to ONE. We drink wine out of plastic cups or champagne flutes. I give her a little toy she can chew on but she loses interest in it after a little while.
7pm: Dada gets home, we eat dinner, watch a warriors game if its on TV, and Madeline eats her dinner. Her favorite is a sweet potato. Other dinners can be pureed veggies, lentils, beans. I haven’t tried meats yet (not sure how to prepare those). I was pretty hell bent on making all my own baby food but last week I bought some pouches and jarred stuff (and WOW it was nice and easy). We’ll see how much longer I last with all the steaming and food processing.
8pm: Bath time, pajama time, breastfeed.
8:30-8:45: asleep! We have a later bedtime than most babies for a couple reasons. One is that mama likes to sleep in, and later bedtime = later wake up time. The other big reason is that when I am working I get home usually around 815pm and I want to see her when I get home and put my baby to bed after being away from her all day. I have to shower as soon as I get home (I am a nurse so no holding until I wash all the germs off of me). By the time I feed her and get her to sleep on the nights I work its close to 9 which is pushing her a little but it’s worth it to have some time together each night.
On the days that I work…
5:30: Wake up, get ready
6: Breastfeed
6:20: Leave for work. Sam stays home until the nanny arrives at 8am. While I’m at work Madeline gets four 4-4.5oz bottles and a little 1oz bottle before her morning nap.
5:30/6: Sam gets home to relieve the nanny. In the evening, Sam gives Madeline her last bottle, feeds her dinner, gives her a bath and puts her in her pajamas.
8:15: I get home, shower, feed her and put her to bed.
Because I don’t see our nanny when she comes and goes, I write a little note each day in a notebook going over anything I want her to know about the day (what to feed her, if there’s a music class that day, if there’s a baby story time at the library, anything else I want to tell her). I’ve asked her to write up a summary of all they did that day, what time she had her naps and bottles, anything cute she did that day etc. I love reading it when I get home and knowing exactly how she spends her day. It makes me feel like I’m not missing as much when I work.
When I’m at work I pump every 4 hours or so. Sometimes when it’s really busy I can’t stay on top of it as much. I shoot for 10am, 2pm and 6pm and usually get between 3-6oz per pump.
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- Name: Hollen
- I am a… :Mom who works – at home and in the office. I have two full-time jobs :)
- Child’s age and Name #1: L, 3.5
- Child’s age and Name #2: R, 10 months
5:15AM – Alarm goes off. I’ll be honest, it’s a toss up if I snooze or not but I try to make it work a few days a week. Booking a class helps to hold me accountable or I’ll run outside now that it’s lighter or do a ClassPass Live class. Post workout, it’s coffee and quickly get ready. Dry shampoo is my savior to save time. I pack my lunch, then move onto L’s and start to hear noises coming from the girls rooms.
7:00AM – Both girls are up. Assuming my husband is home and not traveling, we’ll divide and conquer. I get R and breastfeed her, while my husband gets L. We’ll play (read books, play with toys, puzzles) all together, then start to get breakfast together. Our nanny arrives and we have a quick overlap. I head out for work and am back around 6:30PM. Door to door, it’s almost 1.5 hours – eeks! Have to be super efficient with how I use the time. My husband and I commute most days together so our time to catch up and talk through to-do’s. On train I’ll order groceries, amazon orders, etc. I try to WFH one day a week to do school drop off and get a little more time with the girls. Our nanny works 11 hours a day, 5x a week.
8:15AM – Breakfast wraps up, then the girls get dressed. It’s a mad dash to get both ready before school drop-off. R plays on the floor while L picks out her clothes. If it’s going slowly, we try to give two options vs. all to speed the process up. Then onto the bathroom to brush L’s teeth and hair (fingers crossed she doesn’t ask for two braids like Elsa). Get both girls into the car for drop-off, then head home.
9:00AM – Reese naps. Time to tend to laundry and clean up the toys and breakfast from the mad dash earlier. Pack L’s ballet clothes (2 options) for after school and snacks (yup, two options to preempt any issues). R gets up from morning nap. Give her bottle, play, take a walk, then some snacks (berries and cheese are faves right now).
12:30PM – Time to get L, then onto ballet straight from school. She has activities or play dates most days. When R was little, tried to limit to make the transition easier and not interfere with naps and feedings.
I pump in the middle of the day at work. Now that R’s almost 11 months, we have started the transition to whole milk so I mix the two together and supplement with the freezer stash when my supply started to dip. When I went back (R was 4 months) I was was pumping 3x day, then went to 2x, now 1 as of a few weeks ago. On the weekends I still only breastfeed and she’s good because she eats a ton and I’ll offer her whole milk if she wants some.
2:00PM – Give R a bottle and put down for a nap while L plays in the room and constantly remind her to try not to talk. Once R is down, onto L. At least three books later, L is down for an afternoon nap. While they sleep, clean up lunch box, prep dinner. Our nanny will send photos and updates to me at work during this time (the best).
4:30PM – Girls are up by now. Have some snacks and play and dance until it’s time for dinner. Girls take a bath together (the cutest) and then L picks out R’s pajamas (she always wants them to match, melts my heart).
6:30PM – Walk in from work! Love that the girls are already ready for bed so that we can play and get as much time with them as possible. It’s a game changer. Now that it’s nice out, will play in the backyard and if L ate all of her dinner, she usually convinces us that she should have dessert.
7:30 – Divide and conquer again for bedtime. I’ll breastfeed R while my husband and L start the books. After I put R down, I’ll join the bedtime routine with L. After a few books, she uses the bathroom and brushes teeth, then back for more books and snuggles.
8:00PM – Both to bed while we get dinner together. L continues to sing and tell stories while in bed over the monitor. On Sundays we try to prep a lot for the week to have easy meals – grilled chicken, salad stuff, quinoa, etc so that we can each just grab whatever we’re in the mood for. After we eat, back online to catch up on work. Work for a few hours, then try to disconnect (the Ali Wong special is a much watch).
11:00PM – Dog goes out one more time before bed, then try to have lights out.
