The list of things that I want to blog about is a mile long. The number of emails and texts that I need to respond to is embarrassingly high. The projects and work that need to be done around the house are innumerable. I didn’t even get to starting laundry or vacuuming today…ahhh!
Between a certain cute one year old, dogs, work and personal stuff…this week has been nuts. Two things. First, I am grateful to have this problem and I don’t want this to come across as complaining . Second, I do know that “balance” at this stage of life is impossible. It’s like, “how can I take it day-by-day and do the best I can?”
Here’s a day in the life at one year old as a single parent.
4:56a – I am awake and look at my phone because I feel like it has to be close to alarm time. It is, my alarm was scheduled for 5a so I go ahead and get up.
5-5:30a – feed dogs, make coffee, pack breakfast, get dressed, pack bag, put together pumping supplies and leave house.
5:30-5:50a – drive to YMCA and pump on the way.
6-7a – teach power yoga at the Y.
7-8a – get gas and drive to next location where I’ll be teaching. Sit in my car and eat breakfast while I respond to Instagram comments. Breakfast is FAGE plain Greek yogurt, honey, bananas, blueberries, granola, dried cranberries and almond butter.
8:15-9:15a – teach hot yoga at VIBE5.
9:30-10:30a – teach hot yoga at Charlotte Yoga. It is a mad dash to get from VIBE5 to CY but I make it happen. All of my morning are awesome and I emerge from the long stretch of teaching feeling happy and thankful for what I do!
10:45-11:10 – shower and get dressed at CY.
11:15 – leave CY and pump on the way to the grocery. Sit in the parking lot at Whole Foods while I finish pumping and post this flow to IG. I am so ready to be DONE with pumping.
View this post on Instagram
11:35-11:50a – run into Whole Foods and grab some things I have to have like fresh produce, bread, frozen fruit and a rotisserie chicken.
11:50a – head to pick up Finn at noon.
Noon – pick up Finn and drive home.
12:15-1:15p – nurse Finn (always the first thing he wants to do after picking him up), unpack groceries and make lunch. Finn has ZERO interest in his lunch and cries for me to hold him. I put him in my lap where he cuddles with me, sticks his hands in my salad and takes bites of my lettuce. I decide I’m okay with this because a least he’s trying veggies 😉
My lunch salad was romaine, tomatoes, cucumbers, dried mixed berries, rotisserie chicken, goat cheese, pistachios and Tessamae’s poppy seed dressing. Clean up kitchen after.
1:15-2:30p – hang out with Finn and the girls and play.
Around 2:30p I decide to try and assemble the Radio Flyer Wagon that my mom sent for Finn’s birthday. Well, let’s just say that putting together kid toys is NOT my favorite leisure activity.
3p – Finn needs to go down for a nap but fights it like crazy. I finally get him down around 4p. I waste the next hour trying to figure out the wagon part that was baffling me when I should have been working on my computer. I get so frustrated with it that I end up putting the wagon in my trunk in hopes that I will run into someone who could help me later in the day. #desperate
4p – One thing I left out of my earlier afternoon recap is that I was frantically looking for a sitter who could watch Finn while I taught at 5:45p. My regular sitter was not available and it seemed like no one could help. I was super stressed to the point of trying to sub out my class at the last minute but I also couldn’t find anyone to cover for me.
I wrote in a post a couple of weeks ago how important it is to ask for and accept help to stay sane as mom to a small child. It’s still something I really struggle with as I feel like I am putting people out or coming across as flaky and/or disorganized.
I reached out to one of my mom friends with a little girl a few months older than Finn and asked if Finn could hang out with them while I taught. I was so thankful when she enthusiastically said yes.
5:30p – My friend lives super close to the studio so I was able to drop Finn off right before my 5:45 class and scoop him up right after. This is a TERRIBLE photo but I just have to share it. She sent me the CUTEST video of Finn walking while her daughter crawled alongside and her pup followed in the background. It cracked me up. Finn had a great time hanging out with them and playing!
7p – pick Finn up and ask my friend for one more favor. I show her husband the wagon part I couldn’t figure out. He helps me and it’s done and ready to go in less than 5 minutes, I am glad it was easy to do but frustrated that I couldn’t do it myself!!! Can’t wait to share photos of Finn in his wagon. 🙂
7:30p – drop a couple of bags of maternity clothes by another friend’s house. She loaned me some and then I added everything I purchased in with it.
7:45p – Back at home…Finn had a cheese quesadilla and I had a deconstructed burrito bowl. Romaine, quinoa, half and avocado, plain Greek yogurt, cilantro, salsa, lime juice. Finn ate first, followed by bath and bed. I got to eat around 9p. I also eat tortilla chips with my burrito bowl.
9:15p – start editing photos for this post and writing.
10p – my mom calls so I take a break for 15 minutes to chat with her.
10:15p – eat half of a caramel sea salt chocolate bar and a few peanut butter Oreos.
10:40p – finish writing this post and ready to GO TO BED. I have so so many more emails that need my attention but my eyes are closing.
Can you believe this was one year ago? His paci was almost as big as he was!
The end.
I don’t know why it’s so hard as a mom to ask for help! I’m the same way. Next time you’re reluctant to ask a friend to watch Finn, take a second and ask yourself how you would feel if the rolls were reversed. You would absolutely say yes, and probably be so happy they asked! I’m sure that’s how your friend felt!
Ufda that was a long day! Yikes! I am usually in bed by 9-9:30 so 10:40 sounds soooo late to me! Ha! I hope you can be done pumping soon. Pumping is the ABSOLUTE WORST. I exclusively pumped for our son but was but had enough frozen at 10 months to feed him until about 13 months. If we have another and he/she doesn’t latch/transfer well, I will be DONE. There is no way I could exclusively pump again as pumping just sucks so much – literally and figuratively!
Being a mom is definitely super rewarding but at times super exhausting. I struggle with the ‘go go go’ nature of our life during the week as we leave the house with our son at 6:50a, get home around 4:45-5, and he goes to bed at 6:30. So our time with him is so rushed in the mornings and evenings. So I try to keep our weekends pretty unplanned so that I’m not rushing from one thing to another and can just enjoy the time with him. I imagine that is tougher for you as a solopreneur as you don’t have such a strict divide between working and non-working time. :/ Since I have a corporate job, I try to leave work at work. I can’t always do that but I really try not to check email in the evenings or at least until he’s gone to bed and I rarely have to work on the weekends. But I’m always away from him about 50 hours during the week between work + commuting which is really hard, too. :/
You are ALWAYS welcome to drop him by our house. We are always home at that time and Archer would love a friend to play with. Seriously!! <3
Awe this post is so sweet. You are an awesome mom!! Thanks for sharing, hope you’re having a great day.
-Kate
https://daysofkate.com/
Loved reading this. I love that you take the time to slow down and play with Finn and the girls. Hard to be present when there’s always something to do around the house:)