We love sharing what day-to-day life looks like for different moms. Here, Jenna shares what two different days a few weeks apart looked like for her as a work-from-home mom. We may get Jenna to share a follow-up soon, as she recently transitioned to being a full-time stay-at-home parent, and her days probably look even more different now!
I have been afforded the opportunity by my employer to work from home and only going into the office two half days per week to be available to my team and serve in my team lead responsibilities. I am so thankful for the chance to be home with my little boy as much as possible and also have him enjoy time with his babysitter and her sweet children for 10 hours a week. It is a great arrangement in many ways but it does have days of serious challenge; juggling two full time jobs, Software Quality Analyst and mom, is harrying some days. Our most “normal” days are the days I’m home the whole day...the two days I go into work are their own special kind of hectic!
This is my “normal” day at home. And as a disclaimer and as any mom can tell you, there is no “normal” day. We also operate on a looser rhythm/routine than a set schedule, which I know will probably change upon our second child but with only one baby boy to handle right now, I love the loose routine that flows with his needs and my work and mommy duties.
Between 6:30-7-Ezra wakes up to nurse and be changed
7:30-Ezra in the high chair, me making coffee and getting breakfast ready for us, saying morning prayers, giving Daddy kisses and sending him off to work
8-Log on to my computer to start work for the day, typically this happens on the island of our kitchen while Ezra and I finish eating and cleaning up from breakfast
8:30- We move to the living room where Ezra plays on the floor or crawls to every room of the house. His mobility has made working from home a bit more challenging. It has also been a blessing because he is very good at entertaining himself and I get to see what he’s doing and praise him when he does something new or redirect him when he’s playing with the bolt covers on the toilet, his new favorite toy.
9-Ezra goes down for his morning nap. Usually. Although that sometimes comes with the challenge of laying him back down because he’s able to pull himself up to standing in his crib now! Once he’s sleeping I try to workout, using Blogilates on YouTube, which has been a God-send. Workouts usually are 35-45 minutes and I’m able to keep my laptop next to me to respond to emails and chats. Working out every day is something that I have found always gets my mood up and is great “me” time.
11- Ezra is up from his nap, nurses again and then we eat lunch. We have practiced Baby Led Weaning which has worked great for us. He eats absolutely everything, is getting better at using utensils and the mess is usually easy to clean up. If it’s a pasta-sauce type of day, a bath rinses off anything!
12- More playtime, work and breaks for discipline, praise and kisses.
2-Ezra is down for his afternoon nap and if I haven’t had a chance to workout during his morning nap, I workout or keep up with chores while keeping up with work.
4-Ezra is up from his nap, more nursing and more playing.
5- I sign off of work and make or finish dinner. It’s always great when I’ve been able to make a big dish one day so that all that is needed is reheating dinner but usually I try to have something relatively easy to put together and that is well-balanced….key words being: I try.
5:30- Daddy comes home and we eat dinner together unless Ezra’s tummy gets too hungry before 5:30 and he’s already eaten.
6- We get Ezra ready for bed, read his Bible or some stories and then put him to bed by 6:30.
7- We do our nightly chores, hang out or have productive time, being adults and such.
10- We try to go to bed by 10 but as of late, it’s been 1030….11….12. Late nights usually end up being a regret in the morning but we’re working on it. Little by little we’ll get more disciplined, right?
That’s our day. It’s full, it’s sometimes crazy, but it’s a wonderful life (thank you Jimmy Stewart).
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...That day in the life was written a little over a month ago and it was fun to see how quickly things change.
Now our schedule looks more like this. (Sleep Regression Week!!)
7:15-The husband and I wake up and start getting ready for the day. I wrap up whatever needs to be done with packing the hub’s lunch, make pour over coffee for him in a travel mug, and sometimes if we have time, make a smoothie for both of us.
8-Ezra gets up, we give Daddy hugs, say our morning prayers, give kisses and send him off to work.
8-9-I start up my computer and get caught up on work while I make breakfast and Ezra entertains himself in his high chair.
9-We move into the living room where Ezra plays on the floor or cruises along the furniture and gets lots of hugs and kisses from Mommy. He’s been in a more clingy phase recently, a combination of growing independence and needing reassurance as well as just having gotten over a cold.
9-11-More playing in the living room, working out if that’s on the schedule for the day, doing chores and keeping up with work.
11-Lunch time for Mommy and Ezra.
12-Clean up from lunch and naptime for Ezra. His transition down to one nap a day has been tough on everyone. It also has corresponded with Ezra wanting a later bedtime so the days sometimes get long, but back carrying Ezra in our Ergo during those times has made all the difference.
12-2-Ezra naps, I keep up with work while taking time to read or keep up with chores, usually a quiet activity to ensure that Ezra sleeps as soundly as possible: like today, writing this!
2-Ezra wakes up. Sometimes he needs a few minutes to transition to waking up so we’re just snuggly and ease back in to playing.
4-Ezra is usually tired but doesn’t want to go down for a nap so I usually have strapped him to my back at this point. The Ergo is the best invention! Ezra likes to snuggle but also look around without feeling like I’m keeping him from getting down. Before I went back to using the Ergo, he would want to be held but then put down, on repeat for a long time, and it would just be upsetting to him so the Ergo has made life so much easier! (and hey, I’m getting a good leg workout!)
5-Daddy is on his way home and we have started using a new feature on our phone that lets us see where he is on a map on his way home so that we can go outside and wait for him on the front step.
5:30-Daddy pulls into the driveway much to the delight of Mommy and Ezra. We come inside and catch up on our days while I finish up dinner and Daddy either plays with Ezra in the living room or holds him in the kitchen while we talk.
6-Dinner time for us as a family. We have been sitting at the dining room table a lot more lately which I absolutely love. Ezra sits in his highchair feeding himself and Daddy and I can talk and teach Ezra how to be a part of a sit-down meal together.
6:30-8-This has been an interesting part of our day for at least a week now. If we put Ezra down at his normal bedtime of 6:30 he usually will take a nap and then get up and is raring to go for an hour or two or like, we tried last night, we kept him up until 8 and he slept through the night again until 8 this morning. That was a good day. With his bedtime at 8, it doesn’t give as much time for me and the husband to have down time before our bedtime at 10 but just like everything with parenting, we’re trying to be flexible and learn as we go. Even writing this update has taught me that so much can change in a month, and I’ll look back on this in a month and realize that it didn’t take that long to hit our stride.
8-10-The husband and I hang out or have productive nights, it varies night to night but over the course of a week we usually have 2-3 hang out nights and 3-4 productive nights and some nights end up being a mix of both.
10-We head to bed and thankfully after working on it we usually end up in bed on time, do some reading and fall asleep. Reading before falling asleep has been something that both my husband and I have noticed is something that really rejuvenates us and is a nice break from looking at a screen (which honestly we spend far too much time doing.)
I am sure this schedule will switch up as the weather changes and I can’t wait for Ezra to start walking so we can spend more time playing in the yard with our dog, going on walks, or going for runs with the jogging stroller. For right now while the weather is still pretty cold; we spend more time indoors and that works for us. These are precious, fleeting days and I want to soak up all that I can of my sweet baby boy who just loves his mom and all of the fun memories we get to make every day!