A Day in the Life of a Working Mother

Here’s a day in the life of me on my craziest day of the week, which just so happens to be Wednesdays.  Jeff works his 12-hour shift on Wednesdays, so it’s just me with the babies on a work day.  Here goes:

• 6:30 am – Alarm. SNOOZE.  Repeat every 9 minutes.
• 7:00 am – I look over and the babies sleeping soundly next to me.  I thought we trained them to sleep in their own room, but they made their way over into my bed sometime in the middle of the night.  I don’t mind.  They look so sweet and peaceful when they sleep, it makes it so incredibly hard to get out of bed.
• 7:30 am – Shit.  Too much alarm + snooze. I get up and start getting ready.
• 7:40 am – A&Z wake up crying so I stop getting ready and turn on Barney.  Thank God for Barney.
• 7:55 am – I get A&Z ready and throw on socks, shoes and coats over their PJs.  Breakfast is to go, so I throw some muffins in a plastic baggie.
• 8:00 am – I dial-in to a conference call.  Everyone curses out the person who scheduled the conference call at 8 o’freakin-clock and then I apologize in advance for the babies screaming in the background.  When my speaking portion of the agenda is over, I mute the phone for the remainder of the call while I get the babies in the car.
• 8:20 am – We’re finally on the road and we’re off to pick up the nanny.
• 8:40 am – I drop off the babies and the nanny at the house.  I instruct the nanny on what to prepare for lunch, let the dog out, kiss the babies goodbye and I’m off to work!  I’m so relieved every time I leave for work and they are not crying.
• 9:00 am – Work.
• 11:00 am – Sample store!  It’s the highlight of my day.
• 11:30 am – Work.
• Noon – I eat my lunch at my desk and work some more. People come and talk to me even while I’m shoving food in my face.  It’s ridiculous.
• 2:50 pm –  I grab my second cup of coffee of the day before the café closes.  I need it or I’ll pass out.  Where has the day gone?
• 5:00 pm – I call the nanny because I’m running late and apologize. I work a little more.  Seriously, where has the day gone?
• 5:30 pm – I send out last-minute emails, and then call it quits for the day!
• 5:45 pm – I sing at the top of my lungs in the car on my way home.  I hope Bruno Mars is playing on the radio.  Is it weird that I look forward to the car ride home?
• 6:00 pm – I’m home.  I make my grand entrance and the babies and Coconut greet me with hugs and kisses.  Then they cry. Why?! Every time I come home, all they do is cry. 
• 6:15 pm – OMG, I HAVE TO PEE!!!!  I realize that I haven’t had time to pee all day, and all of a sudden I have to pee so very badly.  A&Z follow me in the bathroom and watch me pee.  Arielle asks about a million questions about me being on my period.  I start to explain, but just end up telling her that I’m wearing a diaper, too.
• 6:16 pm – I wash my hands.  (I had to make sure I included that minor detail because of what happens next…)
• 6:30 pm –  I start cooking dinner.  The nanny keeps the kids occupied while I cook and tells me about their day.  While the food is cooking, I get a head start on the dishes.
• 7:15 pm – Dinner + tantrums. I ignore the tantrums so I can eat; otherwise, I’d probably snap.  My cooking is actually good today – beef & broccoli.  YUM!  I make a mental note that I really am SUPER MOM.  Once I’m done eating, I help the kids eat the rest of their food.
• 7:30 pm – We get the kids ready and head out once more to take the nanny home.
• 7:35 pm – I forget to pay the nanny.  This happens every stinkin’ week.  We turn around and go back home or go to the nearest ATM.
• 7:50 pm – We drop off the nanny.  I call my sister to catch up with her on our way home.  She’s my bestie!
• 8:10 pm – Home.  Jeffrey is home now, too.  Thank goodness.  I feel at ease knowing that we’re all together and home safely.
• 8:30 pm – We get the babies ready for bed.
• 8:50 pm – A&Z are sleeping. I catch up with Jeffrey and we talk about how our days went.
• 9:00 pm – Ugh.  Dishes, laundry, bills, or blog?  Blog it is (at least for today).  Dishes and laundry can wait, I’ve done enough for today.

So that’s my day in a nutshell.   Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays aren’t as bad because I don’t have to pick-up/drop-off the nanny or cook since Jeffrey is home.  On Fridays, I work from home.  We are very fortunate to have flexible schedules and a nanny so that we don’t have to take the kids to daycare full-time.  It just gets a little hectic on Wednesdays, so much that I forget to pee.  I’ll just have to set reminders on my calendar for that.