A day in the life . . .

On a whim, I decided to take photos with my phone one day this week to document what a day in my life actually looks like, in terms of balancing the whole fitness-mom-job-wife thing. It isn’t always pretty, but it (mostly) works and that’s what counts right?

5 am: Alarm goes off, snooze is hit

5:05 am: Haul myself out of bed before the alarm goes off a second time so I don’t wake up Darrell. Get dressed to run, have some cereal:

I tried Shredded Wheat with bananas for breakfast pre run. I’m normally okay with oatmeal before a run, but was experimenting. And coffee – always coffee (in my favorite Dr Who mug)

And go ahead and get the Crock Pot started for dinner:

Real Simple’s vegetarian chili with sweet potatoes

5:45 am: Finally get out the door for my 7 mile run and realize I’m pushing my time frame for the morning. Decide I can cut the run short at 5 miles and pick up the last two in the evening if I need to, but I want to keep it easy and not push the pace. It’s foggy and humid this morning and my glutes are still sore from wearing heels all day Monday!

Foggy 7 miles

Turns out, shredded wheat didn’t sit very well on my stomach for the run but I did like the Espresso Love Gu I tried. I came back up the hill to the house at around 7:15 (12:25 pace, a little slower than my usual easy run but I’ll take it since I got all 7 miles done) and got flagged down by a neighbor who’d seen me on the news and wanted to chat about it a bit.

7:25 am: Back inside, a hot sweaty mess! I jumped in the shower, got ready for work (thank goodness I’m low maintenance in the hair/makeup department) and got everything gathered up so that we were on our way out of the house and to daycare by 7:45. Thank goodness my husband took care of getting O breakfast and getting him dressed while I was running and getting ready.

Heading to school, with our favorite SpiderMan hat

I brought string cheese, grapes and a bottle of water for post-run refueling on the way in to work.

8:10 am: Finally on the way to work after a rough drop off at daycare. Some days my guy just does not want me to leave and it is so hard as a mom not to get upset by it, but I know he needs me to be calm and okay with it all so he can be calm with it. I remind myself it will be hard to convince him to leave school at the end of the day because he’s having so much fun and hustle to the car for the next step of the drive!

8:40 am: Into work, only a little later than I planned and with enough time before my first meeting to swing by the coffee shop. I’ve earned it! I typically check my email and schedule for the day on the phone as I’m walking from the parking garage to my office, which gets dicey with all of the construction around my building!

12:15 pm: Finally get to sit down for lunch after a really busy day. Sitting down for lunch means really sitting down in front of my computer to start on the next thing. It’s no wonder I feel like I inhale my lunch without really noticing it – it would be a lot more satisfying if I focused on it instead of the next task!

Turkey sandwich, sugar snap peas, edamame, grapes

535 pm: Looked at the clock and realized I was late leaving work! Not an unusual occurrence when I get busy on a project, sadly. Hustle myself out and up the steps to the top of the parking garage. After a day with far too much sitting and working, at least I’m getting a little activity in on the stairs!

610 pm: Got to daycare to find a kid who was too busy playing to leave and a teacher who wanted to talk about how O wasn’t wearing his “listening ears” today and how that was out of character. We talked with O, did some trouble shooting and made some plans for consequences about some naughty words he’s learning from a friend (the same kid who bit him and pushed him and yet my guy continues to play with him – Grrr!). It was nice to know that his teacher was pretty sure I wouldn’t be happy with that behavior and would want to work with them on a plan to curb it, instead of some parents who deny that there’s anything wrong their perfect angel. Because of all of this conversation and an ornery kid who didn’t want to leave, it’s 6:30 pm before we leave daycare. No time for the quick stop at the grocery store to restock on produce. Grrr again.

6:45 pm: Dinner as a family, thanks to the CrockPot meal I made early this morning. It’s a new recipe, so hubby and I had to spend a few minutes calculating calories for MyFitness Pal and Weight Watchers Points while O was picking through the chili for the biggest beans.

7:15 pm: Bathtime for O, which is Daddy’s domain but I sit on the counter to watch and chat.

7:30 pm: Bedtime, also Daddy’s domain most nights. I pass out hugs and kisses and love yous (seriously the best part of the day!) and then head out for the grocery store run I missed due to the delays at daycare.

Grey and rainy night for a grocery run

I almost grab the firetruck cart out of habit, but then remind myself that I’m shopping without O so I can get away with a boring cart. 🙂

I’d probably look pretty funny wheeling around this cart without a kid in tow.

On the plus side, without O tagging along, I zip through produce and checkout and back home by 8:15.

8:15 pm: Clean up from dinner, prep breakfast and lunches for tomorrow. I remind myself that taking the ten minutes to do this now saves a ton more time in the morning (because everything always seems harder in the morning!)

Tray with breakfast supplies in the corner, ready to go!

Lunch bags filled with non-perishables, with sandwiches and fruit ready and waiting in the fridge to be tossed in on the way out the door in the AM!

8:30 pm: Settle in for another hour or so of work (not normally part of the routine, but will be for the next few weeks)

9:30 pm: Get in bed and tell myself I need to go to sleep early because I got up so early. Get sucked into Facebook and Feedly and don’t fall asleep until 10:30!

This was an interesting exercise because it made me really notice things like where I eat my lunch and how little I move in my office some days and how much of a time suck social media can be at night! Those are definitely areas for improvement, as is the whole “wife” part of the equation which was largely missed in this tag-team parenting day. I did really appreciate that small window of dinner and bath time where we all three got to hang out together and chat – quality trumps quantity on crazy weekdays. Every day can’t be in balance, but it’s good to check and see where the imbalances are periodically so we can course correct.

What’s a day in your life like?

 

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