4:10am – Wake up to daughter yelling (she can’t find her blankie)
5:30 – Wake up to daughter crying (bad dream) / Begrudgingly get in bed with her (because she won’t stop crying) / Slam knee on her bed / Fall asleep for a bit
6:15 – Back in my bed
7:10 – Up with son: Read books and play for a while
8:00 – Breakfast with son
8:30 – Go to TJ’s with son (Yay for iPad games!)
9:00 – Head to Costco / Wait for it to open
9:17 – Costco opens its doors early! Yay!
10:25 – Drop crazy money at Costco / Head home
10:40 – Unload car and put stuff away
11:30 – Leave for work
12:00pm – Get gas / Grab lunch for later
12:25 – At work
7:00 – Leave work (too late to run — frowny face)
7:30 – Home in time to help put kids to bed
7:40 – Son’s bedtime routine: milk / pj’s / read stories / snuggle
8:10 – Take over bedtime with daughter: brush teeth / read Capitán Calzoncillos / snuggle
8:45 – Reheat pizza / Start this post
9:00 – Enjoy pizza and a cocktail
10:15 – Still up watching TV and drinking cocktails with my husband / Sure we’ll be heading to bed soon
I just went back and read the comments on your precious time logs. I found it fascinating how many commenters said you seemed so busy. Not that you’re not, of course – you are! But through all of them, I’ve just basically been smiling and nodding. It sounds so much like my day! There are differences, of course. I work longer hours during the day but don’t have to do work outside of that. My commute is slightly longer. And I do my kids’ bedtime routine together, reading them both stories at once. But it takes forever, probably the same amount of time you’re taking with two. Most significantly, I dont seem to be woken up at night as much as you (C wakes once, I go get her and bring her in our bed. It takes 5 minutes and I fall right back asleep). But overall, the outline and the constant motion and being wedded to the clock is very much the same. It’s exhausting!
Your previous time logs, I mean! Not precious!
Yeah, it seems like what make it so hard is the lack of sleep. But you’ve mentioned that you do ok on little sleep. I wouldn’t be able to function on your sleep schedule for more than a week.
On Fbk I saw aa link to “Scary Mommy 2” labeled The One Phrase I Wish We Could Ban From Mom Conversations
It was “Can’t you just…” Totally made me think of all of you ~ because I think most moms (in your age group with children the ages yours are) are walking this same tightrope of too much to do and no time left over. What particularly struck me was that it all sounded/sounds so familiar to what I watch my children do (and each has only one child) and to what I did at the same timeframe in my life (2 children and single). No, I do not have solutions. You legitimately are very constrained by demands on you and the 24 hour reality of a day. And, actually because it is all about routines and ‘wash, rinse, repeat’ I do not think being single versus partnered makes it harder (often financially more constrained but not always) just slightly different. I am really glad you got to have those hours to put in on work stuff, burt know the time came at the expense of being with your children and spouse. There are no complete total wins in this game.
It changes over time. That is the only promise I can make. Most of us make it through and our children do too. Hugs and support to each and every one of you!