A Day in the Life of a Working Mom

Hello CustomFitWorkplace followers! So many of you enjoyed the CT Working Moms recent series about toxins that I want to share our latest series with you, A Day in the Life of a Working Mom (the brain child of our blogger Christa). Each day for the next 2 weeks one of our bloggers will take you through her typical day. Today we are on day three! My day was yesterday so I posted it below for you. What’s your typical day as a working mom like? Let us know and follow along!

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Good morning all! I’m happy to share what a typical day in my life is like although I admit that towards the end of the day, I was too tired to take lots of photos! So, I’ll have to walk you through it mostly with words

Lills (my 9-month-old) gets up around 5:15 AM. Lately, my hubs and I have been sleeping in separate rooms because our mattress has been hurting his back (we are waiting for a new one to arrive). So, I usually am woken up by sweet little noises coming from the nursery. Today, as usual, those noises started at 5:15. I laid in bed a little while longer, wishing she’d sleep in a little bit, but she doesn’t so I get up to go get her. I walk into her room and she’s always super happy first thing in the morning, which is totally adorable!

I pick her up, we snuggle, then I change her overnight diaper and get her dressed for the day. The hubs alarm clock goes off at 5:45 and he usually strolls out 5 minutes after that. Our mornings are really crazy, as I’m sure yours are too! (Below is a photo of our neglected but totally loved cat.)

Because I have a ton to do before heading to work, we usually put her in her exersauser and/or her jumper. This morning she was happy in her jumper for about 5 minutes…

And then this happened:

I was making my breakfast at this point (eggs with avocado & ham) so she had to cry it out for a few minutes until I could pick her up. I quickly ate my food while checking out the web…

…and then it was TV time. I always said before I had kids I would never let them watch TV at such a young age but that went right out the window. Here she is watching one of her favorite shows while I get my lunch together and get dressed:

I should mention that my hubs does help in the morning but he just went back to school and is juggling full-time college with a part-time job. So, he showers, eats and is out of the house by 6:45.

I manage to get everything done that I need to do (sometimes I can’t fit in a shower, I’ll admit) and get her in her jacket by 7 am. Ok, that’s a lie. I wish I got out the door at 7 am but it’s more like 7:15. Then we head off to daycare. Here she is in the driveway of our daycare provider:

I take her out of the car, run in and drop her off. Drop off usually goes really well and then I race off to work. I’m usually at my desk by 7:30 (sometimes 7:45!). Usually by the time I sit down at work I’m already tired. Did I mention I gave up coffee a few months ago? Yeah. Smart idea.

Then I work until 4 pm. Here is a photo of the wall next to my desk:

During the day I have a LOT on my plate. I do my agency’s event planning, social media, website maintenance & design, research, and am a key part of our legislative work (and legislative session just started so it’s my really, REALLY busy time).

Another view from my desk

Here I am working at my desk, very tired:

I head out around 4 to pick the baby up at daycare. This particular day, I walked in to get her and she cried when my daycare provider gave her to me. Yep, that’s really fun. Ending my long day by picking up my baby that wants to stay with her daycare person. At this point I remind myself that I want my daughter to love her daycare provider and she obviously does, so I should let it go. We then head back to the car and make our way home. (by the time we get her in her car seat, she’s a happy camper again giving me lots of smiles)

Then my evening consists of playing with the baby, attempting to get her to nap around 5:30 (which always includes a lot of crying) and waiting for the hubs to get home so I can have some kind of a break. He gets home around 6:30 and helps out right away. She’s been teething so she’s quite grumpy at night and needs a lot of TLC.

The other day I managed to do two loads of laundry however I haven’t had time to put it away so it’s been sitting on the other side of the bed (remember my hubs is still sleeping in the guest room). I still didn’t have time this particular evening because of how fussy the baby was so the laundry stayed there.

Around 7 pm we start solids with the baby which is followed up with a bottle. My hubs and I tag team this – one of us eats dinner while the other either does the solids or the bottle. Then we anxiously await her bedtime so we can both have a break. She heads to bed at 8:15 and then we both relax a little.

By 9 – I know it’s early but hey I’m tired – I head to bed and pass out pretty quickly. Hubs snapped this photo of me:

Then I’m up the next morning, bright and early to do it all again.

Michelle Noehren is the Events &  Special Projects Manager at the Connecticut Permanent Commission on the Status  of Women and is the founder of www.ctworkingmoms.com,  an online community for Connecticut working moms. In addition to her career, website, husband and baby girl, she also serves on the National  Mothers & Caregivers Economic Rights Advisory Committee.