5:30 am Alarm goes off, I begrudgingly climb out of bed. I wake up earlier than everyone
else in the house so that I can get a few things done in peace and quiet. I put on a kettle of
tea, check my email, publish a blog post, check the girls’ bags to make sure they
have everything they need for the day, lay out their clothes, and eat a quick breakfast.
I unload the dishwasher that I ran the night before. This saves me time later as the
dishwasher is empty and ready to go when dinner time arrives. I start a load of laundry. Yes,
I do laundry before the sun comes up. Why? Because I maintain our household laundry
by doing one load a day, preventing myself from ever getting too far behind. By throwing it
in before I leave the house in the morning, all that’s left to do when I get home in the evening
is to fold it and put it away. Working Mom time saver trick.
6:00 am I wake Isabelle up. She and I both get dressed and ready for the day. I offer
her breakfast, she almost always refuses. I sneak a granola bar into her backpack.
6:40 am I drive Isabelle to the end of the driveway and wait for the school bus with
her because it’s cold out. We read through her study guides, call out spelling words, talk
about whatever’s going on in her wild imagination. The bus pulls up and she makes me kiss
her really quickly so that no one can see. We’re in THAT phase right now.
6:55 am I pack my lunch for the day and load up my car. I run inside and wake Brees up,
get her dressed, vitamins and shoes and a jacket. Shawn is up now and we kiss him
goodbye and head out.
7:00 am I drop Brees off at the babysitter’s house. Our babysitter feeds the kids
breakfast every morning and for that I am so grateful, this saves me so much time! I kiss
my little one goodbye and she usually cries a little and protests as I walk out. This is one of
the worst parts of my day.
7:20 am I stop by my office to drop off paperwork, finalize my schedule for the day, give
a report on my patients to my case manager, and stock up on any supplies I might need for
the day. Our new office is small: there are only 6 nurses there total and we are a tight
knit group, a family. Someone almost always has breakfast prepared for us before we hit
the road. It is wonderful.
8:00 am I start seeing my patients for the day. My job as a home health nurse involves
me seeing patients in their homes, educating them on their disease process and
its management, performing wound care, drawing lab work, monitoring their
medications, communicating with doctors, and providing support to their caregivers.
I typically see between 5-8 patients a day, depending on what the patients’ needs are. I
love the autonomy and freedom my job allows. I also love the relationships I build
between my patients and their families.
2:00-3:00 pm I am typically done with my workday sometime between 2 or 3. Three days
a week, I head to the gym after work for an hour of stress relief and body slamming. The
other two days a week, I run errands after work. I meal plan and go to the grocery store once
a week to get everything we need for our meals. Shawn does most of the day to day
errands like post office runs and trips to the bank. He tries to pick up most of those
little things so that I don’t have to worry about them. What a prize. I keep a list in my car at
all times of phone calls I need to make, appointments to schedule, odds and ends that need
to be picked up. I try to squeeze those in either between patients or after work. By keeping
a running list with me, I stay on top of the madness, most of the time.
3:30 pm I scoop up Brees from the babysitter and get home just as Belle is getting off
the school bus. Here’s where it gets crazy.
3:40-4:30 pm This is my least favorite time of the day as everyone is a bit frazzled. This is
the time known as “the witching hour”. We get home and try to get settled with as little
drama as possible. Brees is in “I want my Mommy” overdrive, wanting to be held
constantly for the first hour I am home. Belle is a blur of “Sign this! Fill out this paper! I
need help with Math!”. Step one to maintaining sanity: FEED THEM! I fix them a quick
snack with Brees glued securely to my hip. Step two: double team them. Shawn sits down
to help Belle with her homework while I keep Brees busy with crayons or a puzzle. Then
we switch.
4:35 pm Once everyone has had a snack, homework is started, clothes are changed, babies
are rocked, and I’ve had a split second to kiss my husband, I start dinner. Meal planning is
a life saver: I keep a calendar posted in the kitchen with each night’s dinner penciled in.
Next to the calendar is my grocery list for the week, available for anyone in the household
to add to as they see fit. I try to cook things on the weekends that freeze well so that we have
a night or two a week where all we have to do is reheat. We keep the girls’ play kitchen right
in the middle of our kitchen so that they can play and “help” Mommy while I cook. Isabelle
is in charge of setting the table every night. Once dinner is going and homework is done, we
go outside to burn off some energy: ride bikes, swing, get dirty. Some nights we have
dance class, tutoring, or some other function our busy 8 year old must attend. Shawn and
I have a good carpool system down and keep all of those activities on the calendar as well.
5:30 pm We sit down together to eat. Finally, we can all take a few moments to talk and
catch up on our day. I spend most of the meal refilling drinks and serving seconds, but I
love this part of the night so much. My family is very gracious to me and they
always compliment my cooking, probably because they are scared that one day I will just
feel defeated and serve cereal for dinner to save time.
6:00 pm Shawn oversees bath time while I clean the kitchen. I fold the load of laundry
from this morning and put it away.
6:30 pm Family time in the living room. We may watch something on TV, dance,
read, whatever. They are full and bathed and in good moods at this point. This is one of
my favorite times of the day.
7:30 pm We head upstairs for bed time ritual. The girls are finally on the same schedule
for bedtime and it is great. We brush our teeth, comb our hair, get some water, etc. We
gather in Brees’ room first for story time. I still rock her to sleep every night: it’s our
special time together. She can now sing “Twinkle Twinkle” all by herself and it is
adorable. Next, we head to Belle’s room to say our prayers. The girls are right across the
hall from each other and can often be heard giggling and hollering back and forth for
quite some time after lights out.
8:00 pm Aaaaaahhh, do you hear that? It’s finally quiet. Shawn and I go off and take care
of business at this time. We agree to meet back up at 9 for US time. I do some charting on
my work computer, write a blog post, return phone calls. Shawn does much of the same. I
do a clean sweep of the house, picking up the various debris left behind by the
tornado children: shoes, barrettes, Barbie doll clothes. I take a hot shower and put on my
PJs, the moment I’ve been longing for since I first got out of bed this morning.
9:00 pm I meet up with my man. Sometimes we watch something on TV, sometimes
we lounge in bed and read books, sometimes we sit in the kitchen and sneak root beer
floats. We always feel naughty eating junk food after the kids have gone to bed for
some reason. We talk without being interrupted 25 times, his arms wrapped casually
around my waist. It’s the little things.
10:00 pm I force myself to go to bed by 10. So boring, I know, but a girl needs her rest. As
I lay in bed, Shawn already snoring before his head hits the pillow, my mind starts churning
as I think of all the things I need to do tomorrow. Picture day at Belle’s school, bring
diapers to daycare for Brees, dance class at 5, complete continuing education courses
for work….Goodnight moon, goodnight stars.
