I recently wrote about a surprising discovery in my one-year-and-counting of being a work-at-home mom (WAHM): It got easier with time. But what do I actually do all day? How do I fit in caring for an almost 15-month-old toddler and working on my own business? It's not easy! It takes a lot of juggling. I still haven't figured out how to do everything I want to do. But, I do the best I can, and I learn along the way.
Here's how today
went:
8:30 AM
I wake up. Usually I
like to wake up closer to 7:30, but Josephine has been sleeping very
poorly since I increased my efforts to wean her. So with multiple
middle-of-the-night wake-ups, I sleep in. I read email and news on my
phone from bed.
8:45 AM
Josephine, cuddled
up next to me, wakes up. I'd prefer not to co-sleep with her at this
age, but with her inability to stay asleep for long at night these
days, I'd rather hold her when she wakes in the middle of the night.
I breastfeed her for a short while in bed. I'm in the process of
weaning her and have her down to two feedings per day.
8:45 – 9:15 AM
I change her diaper
and clothes, do my morning routine, and all that jazz. Josephine is
(temporarily?) not fond of baths, so lately she has been showering
with me, though not every day.
9:15 AM – 10:00 AM
I relocate to the
living room, the only truly baby-proof area of the house. This area
also doubles as my home office. I work on the sofa with my laptop. I
put Netflix cartoons on and let Josephine run around and play with
her toys. I continually feed her snacks throughout the day: banana,
pretzels, Ritz crackers, Goldfish crackers, raisins, popcorn, baby
carrots, cereal, whatever keeps her happy. I also make sure multiple sippy
cups are full of water. If at any point she wants me, I stop what I'm doing and spend some time with her. I read aloud to her daily, usually whatever I'm reading such as daily scripture or an article related to my industry, sometimes one of her books.
10:00 AM – 10:25
AM
I leave Josephine
alone to enjoy her toys and cartoons. I go to a quieter area of the
house to take a 25 minute business call with a new client. I prepare
some newly cleaned cloth diapers while I'm on the phone.
10:25 – 10:40 AM
I return to the
living room to work and hang out with Josephine, who's happily
watching her cartoons, playing with her toys, and eating her snacks.
10:40 – 10:50 AM
I take a call from a
reporter to be interviewed for an article. This isn't commonly part
of my day, so I'm excited. Josephine doesn't even seem to notice I've
left the room again.
10:50 – 11:10 AM
I return to the
living room and work.
11:10 – 11:30 AM
My husband is home
sick today. He has been alternatively napping and watching Josephine
or doing his own thing. He suggests we go out to our local fast food
restaurant for lunch. I put make-up on, change Josephine's diaper,
and get us both ready for the cold outdoors. While waiting for my
husband to get ready, I follow Josephine around the house, cleaning
up after her as she goes.
11:30 AM – 12:00
PM
Usually I eat lunch
at home, but since my husband wants to go out, we go out. I follow
Josephine around the restaurant making sure she doesn't get into
anything, stopping her when she tries to grab someone else's food off
their table. We laugh as Josephine eats her chicken nuggets and dips
her straw in ketchup. We didn't make too much of a mess this time
out; just a few pieces of chicken nuggets and fries under her
highchair. I let her run around some more while my husband is in the
bathroom before we leave to go home.
12:00 – 2:00 PM
I work. Josephine
plays and eats her snacks. I'm surprised she hasn't had a nap yet.
2:00-ish – 3:10 PM
Josephine finally
falls asleep at some point. These days, she takes either one or two
naps, depending on how sleepy she is. I take this opportunity to work
in my home lab (where she's not allowed). I don't get as much done as
I'd like before I hear her waking up.
3:10 – 6:30 PM
On nice days, I'd
take Josephine out to the community tennis court with me to hit balls
around sometime in the late afternoon. But this week is exceptionally
cold, so I'm temporarily hibernating. Instead, I work. Also, my
husband can't find his keys, so we search the whole house for them.
We finally find them inside the living room TV subwoofer. Toddlers!
While we have the couches temporarily moved, we take the opportunity
to vacuum the floor.
6:30 PM
I pause for dinner:
left-over pulled pork and mashed potatoes from yesterday's big meal.
I give Josephine smaller portions of whatever I eat.
6:30 – 10:00 PM
Family time. I put
the laptop away (for the most part). My husband and I hang out, chat,
play with Josephine, and watch anything but cartoons. Somewhere in
this time I clean up after dinner, put clean dishes from the
dishwasher away, and run another load of dishes. Josephine runs
around the house as I clean the kitchen. At some point later in the
night, I breastfeed Josephine. Husband usually starts his bedtime
preparations around 9:00, but he has already decided to take tomorrow
off too, so he stays up until 10:00.
10:00 – 10:30 PM
Josephine watches
cartoons and plays with toys for a little while, then cuddles up on
the sofa with me and falls asleep. She usually falls asleep between
10:30 and 11:30, but because she only had one nap today, she tired
early.
10:30 PM – 2:45 AM
I watch my own TV shows, browse the internet, and work. This is the best time to work! So peaceful. Usually I go to bed between 12:30 – 1:30
AM, but tonight I was inspired to write. Josephine has been sleeping
poorly lately (since I stopped breastfeeding on demand in the middle
of the night) so she wakes up approximately every-other-hour for a few
seconds at a time. As long as she's cuddled with me, she goes right
back to sleep. Sometimes. Last night she screamed for several minutes
multiple times throughout the night, so I'm sort of dreading how the
rest of this night will go.
There you have it,
and fairly typical work-at-home-with-toddler day. It's hard to
calculate how many hours I actually work because I pause very
frequently to attend to my child or take care of something around the
house. Occasionally, I'll take Josephine out for a couple of hours in
the middle of the day to attend a playgroup. She's still too young to
take to library story-time and other activities that require her to
sit still. Occasionally I'll go out and my husband will watch her.
He's staying home tomorrow, so I have plans to meet a colleague for a
lunch meeting. Generally, our schedule is very flexible and fluid,
just the way we like it.
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