A Day In The Life: Mom of 4, Dietitian and Food Blogger

I joining Katie from Moms Running Little Running Buddy for a fun link-up party where we share a “Day In The Life”. I have never done one before and I love reading about what people do all day, and although my life is certainly not the most exciting, it is definitely full to the max. Keeping the safety of my family in mind I am not listing every exact time we do something. So here we go, you might want to grab a coffee for this.

5:30 AM – 9 AM

• Kids wake up at various time in the morning and I try to sleep as late as I can until the first one is up, usually the baby (I absolutely hate waking up early so I try to avoid it whenever possible). When she’s up at 5/5:30am I can nurse her in bed and fall back asleep; then when I wake up again, I put her back in her crib and she sleeps a couple more hours. I am surprised that at 12 months she is still waking up that early, but she is cutting 4 molars RIGHT NOW. All 4- crazy! So maybe that’s way she hasn’t done the 7am-7pm schedule that so many babies do at this age. I am just thankful she falls back asleep so easily.
• Immediately go make coffee and quickly check email before everybody else is up. Unfortunately I only get about 10 minutes of quite time before someone sneaks downstairs.
• Get breakfast ready for them around 7:30am. If the older two are up first they can help themselves to cereal but they usually need me to get bowls or milk or something. Once all four are finished eating we get ready for school. At this point I usually eat a quick bowl of oatmeal (we make it over the weekend to reheat) or an egg with a corn tortilla (obsessed) or fruit and yogurt. My main concern is getting the kids ready for school and I can always eat when I get home. Coffee, on the other hand, is a must!

• Get myself dressed while everyone is getting ready, playing, fighting, etc. It is an madhouse in the morning. The baby is crawling around making a mess, while I try to get make-up on (I HAVE to “put my face on” before I leave the house) and get my 3 year old ready (the two oldest can dress themselves and brush their own teeth, often just need help with hair).
• Double check lunches and homework before heading out to drop off the 3 oldest at school (the two oldest are at the same elementary and my 3 year old does part-time preschool).

9 AM – 12:30 PM

• Return home, nurse baby E, play with her for a bit, clean up from breakfast, take out trash, sweep the floors, clean up the toys, respond to a couple emails, put her down for nap. I never have enough time to complete all of this, so at some point I just have to say screw it and move on.
• Exercise (either run on the treadmill, do some yoga or a workout video) and/or work. Work = blog posts, recipe development, edit photos, social media stuff. If I am cooking and photographing something, that is often all I can get done because it’s so time-consuming. Then I have more dishes to wash.
• If I workout I take a super quick shower at this point too. This is also the best time I have to run errands (grocery shopping, post office, etc), however if it’s an errand day I typically won’t be cooking/photographing food because I can’t fit all of that in the timeframe!
• Lunchtime for me and baby E, then head to pick up my three-year-old from preschool. Sometimes it’s leftovers or salad, but most of the times it’s me shoveling crackers, hummus and cheese in my face (no picture).

1 PM -3 PM

• Back home with the two little ones for a little bit of playtime, snack and a quick nap before we head out to pick up big brother and sister. While they rest (they usually nap for 1 hour, although my newly-turned 3 year old is starting to protest. Eeek!) I often clean up (again) from lunch and or cooking for the blog. I might have time to start editing photos or share the content of other great bloggers.
• I try to do some sort of meal-prep at this time too. Anything helps!
• If it’s a day the older kids have an activity like soccer (starting back in a couple weeks) or gymnastics I have to get their clothes, water and snacks packed. This time goes by super duper fast.

3 PM- 5:30PM

• I typically have to wake the 2 little ones up from their nap which I hate to do, but it’s time to go get the older 2 from school. I put them in the double stroller and we walk to pick up the older two kids from school (kindergarten and 2nd grade), then we come home for a snack, do homework with my oldest.
• By 4:30pm I start to prep dinner while the kids play and fight OR get in the car and head to whatever activity we have planned.
• Try to remember to post to Instagram or Facebook and respond to blog comments and tweets.

 

5:30PM – 6:30 PM

• Eat dinner as a family, then I start cleaning the kitchen and do dishes while the hubs gives the kids baths.
• By the time I am done cleaning up dinner it’s time to make lunches. Big kids help do theirs, I make my three-year-old’s lunch my husband makes his lunch. Clean up again.

6:30-8:30pm

• Time to put baby E down. I nurse her up in our room while everyone is finishing up the bed-time routine. Most relaxing part of the day!!
• After baby E goes down around 7pm, the big kids still have some time so they usually want to play, read or do something. I try to fit in some laundry if possible or sneak in some blogging. At this point I am so ready for my alone time. Sooooon!

8:30 PM – 11 PM

• Finally everyone is in bed. I make sure the kitchen is clean after all the lunch packing. Pick up toys. Then pour a big ol’ glass of wine (ok not always) and usually head to the office and surf the Internet, catch up on blog reading, write or edit any posts that need to go up. On a rare occasion watch a little TV (maybe once a week).
• Jot a few things in my planner and catch up on reading if possible- nutrition articles, , magazines, any book I am reading (Unbroken right now).
• I am typically in bed at 11pm and should be asleep short after that, but not always. I am trying to bump up the schedule by an hour so that I am in bed by 10pm. 🙂

Life with 4 kids is simply crazy and fun. As you can see between picking up after messes and meal prep and the little blog work I do, there isn’t much time for anything else. I definitely feel like cleaning up is my full-time job as well as doing laundry (4 kids produce so many dirty clothes, it’s insane!). I am so lucky that I get to stay-at-home with my crew. I get to be the faces that drop them off and pick them up every day and I love it.

I know these moments are fleeting and I will one day have the whole day to myself to work or play or whatever. I am also so thankful for a supportive husband who agrees that I am doing exactly what I should be doing. I am also thankful for this little piece in the internet where I can share what I love to do and get to know other like-minded food, health and fitness friends. As much as I want my little ones to stay little, I also look forward to working more.

Want to see what everyone else does with their day? Go check it out!

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