Saturday, October 16, 2010

Typical Day

My friend Jessie inspired me to do this. She typed out a day in her life recently. When I thought about it, I realized that each of my days during the week are scarily similar. The deviation occurs if JT has something going on after work - volleyball (which is done for now, thank god, a work happy hour, or just needing to work late. Usually once a week there will be something and I’ll handle dinner/bedtime – but for the majority of the time here is the day in the life of the Traftons...

5:25 – Alarm goes off. I turn it off and climb back into bed.

5:40 – Second alarm goes off (same clock – 2 alarms). I hit snooze.

5:46 – snooze alarm goes off. I get up and tell JT it’s time to get up. Push him out of bed a bit.

Head downstairs to feed Leinie and shower. JT gets his clothes together and shaves. When I get out of the shower, he gets in (I actually love sharing a bathroom/getting ready together – it’s our alone time in the morning before the chaos of the day). I brush my teeth, start to do my makeup, etc. Put my PJs back on.

6:10 – head upstairs to wake up Bella. Pre-3rd trimester I’d do this myself. Now I wait for JT to join me as I need a little extra manpower with Bella. She greets us with “Good morning Mama and Dad” in her sleepy voice. We take few minutes to get her up and get morning snuggles.

JT carries her down into the kitchen and lets her pick out cereal, her bowl and what cup she wants. I get my own cereal ready. Bella and I sit and eat while JT finishes getting ready. I ask if she had a good sleep (she always says yes) and listen to any dreams she had. I tell her what day it is and where she is going. I start to think about dinner for the night and snoop in the fridge and cupboards to see what we have.

At some point, JT comes back into the kitchen and we swap. He doesn’t eat, but will sit with her until she’s done and I’ll continue to get ready for the day.

Around 6:30-6:40 – Bella is done eating. She gets dressed and brushes teeth.

7:05-7:10 – out the door, even though we always try to leave by 7:00 it never seems to happen. JT takes Bella. I head to work.

7:45 – arrive at work, head straight to the cafĂ© for a cappuccino (decaf) and a muffin or bagel for my second breakfast (yup)

8:00 – at my desk, connect my laptop, wait what seems like forever for it to power up and connect to email/internet. It’s quiet as many people aren’t at work yet or just quietly working at their desk.

Once email/internet finally loads I check email and my calendar for the day. Decide if there are any meetings that I can cancel or move. Read through new emails and take action on ones I can.

If I have time, I’ll take some time to check Facebook while I eat my breakfast and sip my coffee. Say hello to people as they walk by. Respond to a question from a team member who stops by.

9:00-12:00 – Meetings. If I’m lucky, a 30 min slot of open time for email. Hope that meetings will end early letting me check/respond to email in between meetings.

12:00-1:00 – lunch and desk time. I buy lunch from the cafe and eat at my desk. Get through new emails, check facebook again, read blogs, talk to a team member or my manager if they stop by.

1:00-3:30 – more meetings and desk time when I can manage it.

3:30-4:30 – finish the day at my desk, respond to more emails, answer voice mails, organize my notes/to-do list from meetings throughout the day, make sure there isn’t anything urgent I missed. Leave to pick up Bella.

5:00 – 5:30 – Pick up Bella, chat with the in-laws or my mom (depending on where she is)

5:50 – home. Get dinner going. Let Bella help me do things like dump water in pots and stirring to keep her entertained and distract her from wanting to eat yet another snack (she typically has just finished one when I go to pick her up, or eats one in the car on the way home). Let her watch The Wiggles DVD or get her settled downstairs to play while I clean up the kitchen and put things away (diaper bag, my purse, mail, etc) and check my email (can’t access my personal email at work) and facebook (yes again).

6:30 – JT gets home. Force, I mean ask, Bella to turn off the DVD or, even better, watch Bella greet JT at the door and ask him to come play with her. Let Bella and JT play for a bit while I wrap up dinner.

Once dinner is ready we eat, talk about the day, answer a million questions from Bella (where does milk come from? What are you eating? What day is it tomorrow? What are you doing now? What are you eating now? What are you doing now?..... Now? Where do beans come from? )

7:00 – clean up dinner. Bella goes downstairs to play with JT. I join them when I’m done cleaning up. JT takes this on if I'm too tired or Bella wants me instead.

We play with her Dora house, we practice trick or treating, we dance to Raffi, Wiggles, Alvin and the Chipmunks and other random nursery rhymes we have on our computer…. Participation from me depends on how I feel – I need a lot of breaks/couch time.

7:30 – Convince Bella to brush her teeth. JT helps her while I putz around on the computer some more. I have nothing to do on the computer, but the important thing here is that I’m sitting yet I can see/hear them in the bathroom so I feel like I’m at least present.

Once done with teeth, Bella gets a horsy ride upstairs from JT. I hobble my way up the steps to her room, by this time of night my body is exhausted so it takes me a while. By the time I get there, they are already in PJs and done with the diaper change.

She decides who picks out books – me, JT or herself. She climbs into bed and we read 4 books alternating between JT and I. Lights out and sing one song (rock a bye baby, twinkle twinkle little star, you are my sunshine or love grows best in little houses)

8:00 – Collapse into my new La-Z-Boy. Kick up the feet. Pull out my laptop to check email (work and personal) and general internet activity.

8:15 – JT hooks up his laptop to the TV and we stream an episode of something good from HGTV.com. If I decide I can handle it, we’ll watch a second episode. Or if something is actually worth watching on our basic cable we’ll watch normal TV.

9:00 – get ready and climb into bed with my book. JT comes in to tuck me in :)

9:15 – can’t keep my eyes open. Set my book down and fall asleep.

10:00-10:30 - JT comes to bed, double checks the alarm and turns off my lamp.

Goodnight!

2 comments:

Sarah said...

I loved reading this! It was interesting to learn what a typical day is like for a family. Thanks for posting!!

Melly Mel said...

Wow, it's so interesting to see how different everyone's typical day is. But one this is consistent, we're all way too busy and going non stop!!