A day in the life of a working mama

Hey y’all,

As we all know, working or not, parenting is HARD. Since I work all day as a teacher, I’m constantly on the look out for ways to optimize my time, especially with the little time I have with my kids. Between work, grading papers, planning, blogging, working out, and, you know, actually wanting to hang out with my family, it can feel like I have my whole day scheduled out down to the minute. I finally feel like I’ve gotten down my schedule, though, and thought I’d share what a day in the life looks like! Now, disclaimer, I already know some of you are going to be like, “LUCKY! You get off at 4!” and yes, that’s one of the perks of teaching, but just look at that wake up time, will ya? 😉

A day in the life of a working mama

• 4:45 a.m.: Wake up to work out
• 5 – 5:30 a.m.: Work out (Usually a 30-minute workout like 21 Day Fix or T-25 in the basement)
• 5:30 a.m.: Shower, while Mr. R is cooking breakfast and/or prepping lunches (though we usually do this the night before to save time in the morning)
• 5:45 a.m.: Head downstairs to help Mr. R get ready (sometimes the kids are awake, throwing a real wrench in the morning schedule… it’s hard getting everything ready AND dealing with a still-too-sleepy baby that just wants to cuddle!) “Getting things ready” includes packing lunches, making coffee, packing the diaper bag, taking bags to the car.
• 6:00 a.m.: Scarf down coffee and breakfast (I am SO spoiled in that Mr. R cooks me a *good* breakfast every single morning!)
• 6:15 a.m.: Wake the kids up to leave for the day
• 6:25 a.m.: Head to Mimi’s! (We are blessed in that my mother-in-law keeps the kids 4 days a week and then my dad keeps them once a week!) This is essentially the only time I get with the kiddos in the morning, which really kills me, but I know they need the sleep in the mornings!
• 6:40 a.m.: Drop off, hugs, and kisses, head to work. How do I not cry dropping these faces off every morning?

• 7:15 a.m.: Arrive at work, prep materials, grade papers, plan, make copies etc. before school starts. I’ve always liked to get to work an hour before school starts because I’d much rather prep in the mornings than afternoons. As soon as the afternoon bell rings, I’m done, which helps me leave on time. However, twice a week we have 7:30 meetings so those days are a wash.
• 8:15 – 11:00 a.m.: First block. We are departmentalized in 5th grade, and I teach Language Arts, so I have two classes of kiddos and two 2-hour blocks
• 11:00 a.m.: 15 minutes of quiet to scarf down my food a.k.a. LUNCH!
• 11:30 – 1:40: 2nd block
• 1:40 p.m.: Recess! We all get some fresh air!
• 2:20 p.m.: Planning period. The only other time that I have to prep stuff, plan, check my email, etc. Twice a week we have a meeting at this time but the rest of the week, these 40 minutes are golden.
• 3:10 – 3:40 p.m.: Dismissal
• 4 p.m.: WE OUT!! Like I said, I usually don’t like to stay late unless I have a meeting, otherwise I’m rushing to see the kids for essentially the first time that day. BUT, this year, I am teaching after school tutoring on Tuesdays and Thursdays until 5:15, and on Wednesdays I have a yoga club till 5. So let’s just pretend this is a Monday 😉
• 4:30 p.m.: Pick up the kids! Woo hoo! They love staying with Mimi, and as soon as I pick them up, Anissa always has lots of stories for me.
• 5:15 p.m.: Arrive home. Usually, Mr. R will either be cooking or have dinner on the table (I know, I know, dream come true!) Then it’s dishes and prep lunches for the next day. I’m going to do a whole post on how we prep our food, but Mr. R is reeeealllly good about prepping and cooking all of the food we’ll eat for lunch that week, so “prepping lunches” is really just putting them in the correct containers or packing up leftovers.
• 5:45 p.m.: After dinner, we’ll usually do an activity of some sort together, like walk to the park (we try to go 2-3 times per week), watch a movie together, or just play with the kids. Besides eating together (which we do, every night, at the table together), this is really the only other “hang out” time we get with the kids.

 

#FridayVibes courtesy of #AnissaMarie

A post shared by The Accidental Mrs. (@theaccidentalmrs) on Feb 24, 2017 at 3:24pm PST

• 7:00 p.m.: Bath time! This is the kids’ favorite time! They love our whirlpool bathtub and would probably want to live in it if they could!

• 7:30 – 7:45 p.m.: Tino’s bedtime. I usually get him out of the bath and dressed, while Mr. R gets Anissa dressed. Then, I take him to his room, give him his milk, and put him down (usually about 15 minutes). By the time I get back, Anissa’s having her medicines before bed (thanks, asthma!)
• 8 p.m.: Anissa and Mr. R watch a movie, while I sneak downstairs to blog. I hate this, but Anissa likes to lay with us to fall asleep, and usually, Mr. R falls asleep before she does. She likes for me to lay with her, too, and of course I want to, but this is really the first time I have all day to blog, so I try to sneak down and do a little before I crash.
• 9:30 p.m.: Head upstairs to get ready for bed, and they are both usually passed out. Pick out my clothes for the next day, and lay out workout clothes.
• 10 p.m.: PASS OUT! Gotta be up at 4:45 a.m. to start it all over again!

So tell me, what does your day look like? Is it pretty similar or completely opposite? I’m so interested to find out!

XO,

Amanda