Sunday, May 25, 2014

The Average Day For This Mommy....

Because recently, inquiring minds want to know: "Julie, how do you get so much done in a day?" I figured I would FINALLY update my blog with a nice 'rundown' (as 'they' say) of what exactly my day is like. This will be done in the form of an itinerary.  So, if you're reading this and you're thinking, "Ugh! That sounds so boring!" Then, you should probably stop reading riggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhht abouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut........NOW!

Okay, so now that I have lost all the readers who would find this entry to be unnecessarily boring, I can continue on.

My Day.................

5am- WAKE UP
**For the next two hours, there are several things I may choose to do. It might be some kind of housework that needs to be done or caught up on, but rather recently, what I do in this time frame is school work. I begin reading chapters or taking notes, taking quizzes, writing papers, etc.  I find that this early hour time frame is the best for me and getting school work done because the house is almost completely silent and I can truly focus all of my attention on the task(s) at hand. **During this time period I also ingest several cups of coffee, water, and eat my breakfast**

7am-8am- KIDS
**On a normal day, the boys will get up around 7am.  On a good day, they will sleep in til 8am. This is when I stop the school work (or whatever it is I was doing before they woke up) and I focus on them.  Making them breakfast, changing diapers, helping them make beds, getting them dressed and ready for the day, etc.

9am - SCHOOL AND GYM
**I normally get my biggest boy to school no later than 8:50am each day.  From there, me and my youngest head straight to the gym for my first workout of the day. Here, I get 90minutes of "child-free time" which - as any mother will tell you - is very VALUABLE time.  I also use this time to just not think. After doing school work or cleaning or chasing after the kids to get them out the door, this 90minute window is really just what I need to kind of de-stress, first thing in the morning. Now, school is almost out but I still fully intend on hitting the gym with both my boys in the morning every day this summer (except on my rest days of course).

10:30-11am HEAD HOME
**I usually finish up at the gym by about 10:30, sometimes 10:45.  On a day that I'm running behind, I'll be done by 11am or shortly thereafter.  This is when Jonah and I head home.  I take a very very VERY quick shower, and Jonah usually sits on the bathroom floor pulling everything out of the sink cabinets to entertain himself.  Of course, this means I just have to clean up the mess when I'm done in the shower, but hey, if it keeps him occupied while I'm getting clean, then I'm okay with that.

12pm - PICK UP
**This is when I get to the school and pick up Jeremiah (the big boy).  Of course, Jonah (the baby) tags along for this as well.  I usually get to the school around 11:45-11:50am and we wait in the classroom (Jonah plays with toys and I follow behind him, picking up his little disasters).

12:30 - LUNCH
**By this time Jonah is taking his afternoon nap. I lay him down as soon as we get in the door from school.  Jonah is a big eater, so I don't bother to feed him an actual lunch, as he has been eating and snacking the entire morning as it is. Jeremiah usually prefers just a sandwich, chips/crackers, juice box and some fruit snacks for lunch.  This is also when I eat my lunch and relax for 30-45 minutes.  (Relaxing = watching Youtube videos, commenting, responding to comments, scrolling Facebook, online shopping, etc).

1:00-3:00pm - QUIET TIME
**In my house, I have created "Quiet Time".  Jeremiah understand that this is a time when Mommy is working on school work and is not to be bothered unless he really, really, REALLY needs something. (He's almost 5, so that means he still bothers me about every 20minutes or so. But its not too bad). During this time, he is allowed to watch shows on his tablet, play games (educational games) on his tablet, or take a nap, or play with his toys in the play room.  He normally likes to combine all of the aforementioned choices into one. (Not joking, at all.) I use this 2 hour block of quiet time to my advantage. I do whatever I need to get done. Recently, that means schoolwork.  But it could be folding laundry, cleaning my room, cleaning out the car, doing the dishes, etc.

3pm - DINNER PREP
**The husband usually is home around 3:30pm, so I usually wait until he gets home and then I start on dinner, depending on what it is. If its a meal that takes some time to cook, I start it now. If its a quick and easy meal, I may put it off and continue to get things done while the baby is still napping.  Jonah usually gets up from his nap anywhere from 3-4pm. (Yes, I am aware that this is a rather long nap...but hey, I have been blessed with some great nappers. Jeremiah napped like that too!)

4pm-5pm -  DINNER
**This is usually the time when we eat dinner. Anywhere from 4pm to 5pm.  We eat dinner early because the Husband is usually pretty hungry when he gets home and doesn't like to wait too long for his meal. The baby is also awake by now and is running around causing chaos.  Jeremiah is now done with his shows and is playing with his brother until dinner is ready.  Most nights (I would say about 5 out of 7) we eat dinner as a family at the dinner table. This is important to me, but I will admit that some nights it just doesn't happen.

5pm-6pm - CLEANUP
**Everyone is usually done eating by about 5:30 or so. On a bad night, maybe around 6pm.  I then clean up the dinner dishes and get the kitchen and dining room back in order.

6:30pm or 7pm - GYM TIME!
** This is the time I like to do my 2nd workout for the day.  I normally take both boys with me.  Some nights I might just feel like going for a run in our neighborhood, and I'll do that instead. It depends.  Again, this is a 90minute period that I get to myself. Kid Free = VALUABLE.

8pm to 8:30pm - BATHS AND BED!
**We are normally back from the gym by no later than 8:30pm.  The kids get their baths, pick up any toy messes they have, and are in bed by 9pm.

9pm - 10pm - FREE TIME!
** This is when I do whatever the hell I want. It might be watching a favorite show of mine. Or maybe finishing up more school work. I might even just hang out with the Husband and chat, catch up on the days events, etc.  I just do whatever I want.  I try to make it to bed no later than 10:30pm, as I get up again at 5am to start it all over again.

THAT is my day in a nutshell.
Here are a few things to remember:

1. Start your day out with a plan. - I am inherently, a Planner. I love to plan EVERYTHING! I find that if I have a plan of what I want to get done in a day and, more importantly, HOW I'm going to get it done, my day goes a lot better.

2. ITS OKAY if the plan doesn't work out. - I will admit to being more than annoyed when the plan for my day just goes to shit. The kids are being bad, the tire on my car blew, I locked myself out of the car.....I mean, there are so many things that can, and DO, happen that throw our days off. Thats okay. Take a breath. Deal with it. This too shall pass. Go with the flow and MAKE.IT.WORK!

3. Cleaning- I am a HUGE clean freak and neat freak. I love order opposed to chaos. I know it may seem like I never clean, given the itinerary above, but what you have to understand is this: I am cleaning on (almost) a constant basis. I am following my little 18month old boy around a lot, picking up after him, teaching him to clean up his own messes, etc. The trick is to start off with a clean house, then keeping it that way isn't too hard. When the laundry basket is full, run the load NOW. Get it done NOW. Putting things off til later just causes things to pile up. Get things done as they come. Also, I usually set aside one day a week (normally a Saturday) where I do all of my "Deep Cleaning". I scrub base boards, dust, clean out drawers, cabinets, closets, etc.  I try and get it done during the baby's nap time on Saturday afternoons when we're stuck in the house anyways.

4. Always remember: There are 24 USEFUL hours in a day. LESS THAN HALF of them are spent sleeping.  Use EVERY MINUTE to your advantage. < This is my own ORIGINAL motto. You can borrow it if you like.

5. There is another quote I love, "If you want to be successful, you gotta be willing to give up sleep. You gotta be willing to work off of 2-3 hours of sleep.  Somedays, you may have to stay up three days in a row, because if you are asleep you may miss the opportunity to be successful!" - Michael D.
This is something I agree with.  Maybe not literally, but in the underlying message.  Basically this quotes begs the question: How bad do you really want it? Julie, do you REALLY want to get your degree? Yes? Then get up at 5am, get your schoolwork done, get good grades, put in the work. Julie, do you REALLY want to have successful and well rounded children? Yes? Then spend time with them, teach them, love them, encourage them, put in the work. Julie, do you REALLY want to be healthy and lose weight? Yes? Then MAKE THE TIME to work out TWICE a day. PUT. IN. THE. WORK. Simply put. You will never get anywhere, if you continue to make excuses. I learned this quite a while ago and I try to remind myself of it on a daily basis.

6 comments:

  1. Damn Jules. Damn. That blog post was awesome. The end almost brought me to tears. (Am I overly sensitive and emotional? Yes. And has it been a very long day? Yes) ;) Thank you so much! There just aren't enough encouraging words to tell you how great I think that you're doing. You really inspire me, like seriously inspire me ;)

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    1. Soulcandy A.K.A SAHMMilitaryWife ;)

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    2. Well, thank you. But don't think I'm this perfect little go-getter who never has an off day. I mean, we all have those days when everything goes wrong and literally NOTHING that was on our list of things to get done, gets done. We stay at home moms have such a difficult job. We wear so many hats and its very easy to get overwhelmed. I have always had a personality of organization (sometimes it gets a little extreme) but I find that this personality is very conducive to getting shit done (lol). Anyway, I'm glad you found the last bit emotionally moving. That is my goal. I hope these words not only help you but others as well. We CAN do it. YOU CAN do it. Just believe that it is possible, refuse to accept defeat, and....PUT IN THE WORK! ;)

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    3. Would you mind if I quoted this blog post for "words of wisdom" in my vlog?

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    4. ps. Also would it be ok to give out your blog link?

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    5. Sure! You can do both! Quote it and give the link. I'm fine with that.

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