A Day in the Life – January 2018.
[This is one random day in the life where we spent the ENTIRE day at home (hello stir crazy!) and I’m so glad I wrote out notes about the day as we went… because what was a very normal, real life, boring day ended up being super exciting at the end, and if I had sat down to write it all at once, I think the tone would be completely different! This is 100% real life, unedited, horrible quality pics straight from my phone!]
6:30am: I really wanted to get up super early and work out before Eddie left for work. I told him the night before that I was going to! This way, if the kids woke up, I wouldn’t be interrupted. Welp, I didn’t. Emilia was up from 3 to 4 and then I was wide awake for another 30 minutes (and going through my damn phone! THE WORST.) and while I should have probably just got out of bed then to do it, I fell back asleep.
I woke up to feed Emilia again at 630 and decided I had to work out then or it wouldn’t happen – definitely wouldn’t happen. I grabbed Emilia and put her in the pod so I could see her while I worked out. She just slept on and off!
7am: I did a quick workout of 20 minutes on the elliptical and some lunges, squats and steps up and probably won’t be able to walk tomorrow. (ETA: I’m hurting)
The MOMENT (seriously the moment!) I finished, Max woke up. We made him some breakfast (peanut butter toast with bananas that he essentially makes himself because HE CAN DO IT! omg toddler life is hard.) and while he ate, I stretched a bit and played with Emilia on her play mat. I have a babysitter (she is so much more than that!) that comes for Max on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (this is how I was able to write, recipe test and photograph my book with a 1-2 year old!) and she is coming today. She is my LIFESAVER! And I adore her. So does Max.
8am: Once Alex gets here, I make some coffee and do about 45 minutes of morning computer work – the things that I HATE to do, you know? What’s this called – eating the frog or something? I get the worst out of the way quickly so I don’t have to do it at night. Respond to urgent emails, etc. All that jazz. This has to be 45 minutes of straight work and I can’t get sucked into the internet vortex. I also make a quick breakfast (2 eggs, toast) and at this point, Max is getting dressed and they are going downstairs to play for a few hours.
8:45am: I take Emilia upstairs with me and get a quick shower, then actually GET READY. This is one of my 2018 resolutions – getting ready early on in the day, shower + a little makeup – it just makes me feel better and more productive. Emilia hangs out in the Bjorn bouncer while I do this.
9:30am: At this point, she is ready to eat again so I feed her, play for bit, then get working for the day!
This is a much later start than I prefer, but since I worked out late (yay for doing it!) and still have an unpredictable schedule with Emilia (yay for still getting used to that!), I’m trying to not focus on it and get done what I can. I start three different recipes to test. I have to use the time wisely when Alex is here and prioritize ruthlessly. Right now it’s simple since Emilia still sleeps so much, but in a few weeks this schedule will change big time! This is my first week back in the kitchen for work purposes and I’m super BLAH about it. Hahahaha. I obviously adore my job but like, why can’t I just be independently wealthy?
My computer is open on the counter so during this time I also respond to any emails or do things that… need done!
Max comes upstairs for some yogurt and asks to hold Emilia and my heart melts into a huge puddle. OMG.
Emilia is back to snoozeland.
11:30am: I’ve been moving along and photographing some recipes but now I have take a break for a work call. Also time to feed Emilia again!
12ishpm: I eat the overnight oats for lunch that I forgot I had prepared for breakfast! #mombrain
I completely forget to take any pictures of anything because I forget that I’m writing this day in the life post.
I also made smoothies for Max and Alex (a version of the one that’s on the blog today!) and I drink a bunch of the leftovers too.
2pm: Take a quick break to film an Instagram story for Sweet Peas Meals, our meal planning program! We had a new year’s promotion with thousands of new members signing up and I’m doing a quick smoothie pack prep. In turn this gave me a few smoothie packs for the rest of the week! Yessssss.
2:30pm: Emilia break! All babies do is eat eat eat.
3pm: This is Max snuggle time! We always snuggle around 3pm when Alex leaves since we’ve spent some hours apart. I love it! If Emilia isn’t sleeping, she gets in on the snuggless too. P.S. the kitchen looks like a bomb went off at this point but I’m not worrying about it because in 20 years I won’t care about that and will miss snuggling my kids.
3:30pm Literally microwaved sharp cheddar in half of a tortilla and ate it because, starving mom status.
From now until about 8ish, I don’t want to be on my computer doing any work! I want to soak up the time with these babies because it’s going by so fast and I’m having a heart attack over just how fast. I’d rather be up half the night doing work so I can spend the daytime with them.
Around 4ishpm is when I really start to crash and feel the effects of little sleep! Kombucha to the rescue. This is always my afternoon treat.
Max makes us a very large (and eclectic) family room floor picnic and we play with this for about an hour. It’s so fun.
5pm: I clean up the kitchen and start dinner! I’m making what Eddie calls my cop out meal because it’s SO easy. Just balsamic roasted vegetables, smoked turkey sausage and brown rice. It’s the only kind of sausage I actually like. I’ve tried to photograph this recipe three times over the last few years and it looks like GARBAGE in a blog post. I might make it one more time next week, do the photos and post it because it’s so easy, simple and fairly good for you too.
See? Not very 2018 food blog worthy. Whomp whomp.
5:45pm: While dinner is roasting in the oven, I feed Emilia and then we give her a bath! Max LOVES to help with this. He gets out the soap, brings in her tub, grabs towels and washcloths. He asks if we can give her a bath multiple times per day! All he does is stand on a chair, talk to us both and pumps soap onto the washcloth. I have loved these moments over the last eight weeks.
6:15pm: Emilia is snuggled up and Max is eating dinner at the kitchen counter (the turkey sausage and leftover mac and cheese, of course), so I try to do a 20 minute clean up of the tornado around our house. I see a ton of packages outside of our front door and have no clue what they are because I didn’t order a thing. Not even from amazon. I swear!
6:30pm: While opening the packages, I open one that had been delivered earlier in the day and am in complete shock. IT IS MY BOOK!! Holy crap. Was not expecting it at all, was totally surprised and equally just as thrilled. I spent the next 30 minutes freaking out and being an emotional basketcase. This made my entire day!
7:15pm: Eddie gets home, we eat dinner and freak over the book a little bit.
7:30pm: I run upstairs and get a few things ready for the night (humidifiers, swaddles, PJs, water bottles, etc), wash my face and do my nighttime skincare routine.
8pm: Eddie puts Max to bed and I feed Emilia.
8:20pm: I have tons of work to do tonight!
I work on a bunch of book promotional things. Can’t even BELIEVE that the book will be out soon! Last year at this time I was photographing 200+ recipes like a freaking lunatic. It feels like yesterday and a million years ago all at the same time. I do a ton of other work like prepping my blog post for tomorrow, editing the photos from earlier, writing recipes, preparing this day in the life post, responding to comments, emails and anything else that is on my list.
I obviously have on the TV while I’m doing these things but nothing good is on at the moment!
10:30pm: I feed Emilia again and hope she will sleep until about 4 or 5am. That has been her routine recently! It’s amazing.
10:45pm: I work a bit more and then also loosely schedule our day for tomorrow, because I have a meeting and Emilia has her 2 month checkup and before, during and after will be one giant whirlwind. I also realize that I didn’t do the Headspace meditation that I started last week (another one of my goals) and am super bummed that I forgot.
12:30am: Finally make it up to bed, where I inevitably look at my phone for 15 minutes (the worst habit, but it’s my alarm and Emilia tracker so it’s going nowhere) before falling asleep, only to be woken up with a jolt as the phone falls onto my face. GOODNIGHT!
56 Comments on “A Day in the Life – January 2018.”
GURL i wish i could operate on the amount of sleep you get! i will never get over this. you. are. superwoman. the end. (not the end bc i’m SO excited about your book. ok the end.) xo
hahaha i love you! i’ll sleep when i’m dead. i think.
I loved reading this! Please do more of these posts. I have a 10 1/2 week old and also live in Pittsburgh. I’m going pretty stir crazy with this cold weather. I was wondering how you got Emilia on such a predictable eating and sleeping schedule? I feel like I’m still feeding my baby constantly, but her nighttime sleep is getting better. Thanks!!
i will definitely do more! i don’t have emilia on any kind of schedule yet – i’m just feeding her when she is hungry! she sleeps SO much better than max did though. i honestly have not done anything special, she is just a sleeper! it is huge for us because max never slept more than 2 hours at a time until he was 24 months, so i completely understand. i’ve written a little more in depth about all of this over on my baby page if you want to look. :) https://www.howsweeteats.com/baby/
Love these types of posts so much!! And I agree with everything Jess said. You are superwoman!!
thanks girl!
I really love this post! It’s is very inspiring to see how hard you work and how you manage to get it all done with two kids at home. I’ve been in a bit of a rut working and momming and you have totally inspired me! Thank you for sharing!
thank you lauren!
I’ve been reading your blog forever and this is like my favorite thing you ever posted. My daughter is a couple months older than Max and I’ve always wondered how you do it and how much caffeine you consume. Because I need like 36 ounces of coffee a day to maintain wahm life and I don’t blog nearly as often as you but balancing the blog with freelance clients and personal projects. Yikes. Can you post one of these on a day when you don’t have Alex come? Curious to see what wahm life looks like wo a helper for you. Also it is literally the HARDEST thing ever to fit time in for working out or just relaxing. Like the hardest. I’m glad you got your workout in though! Go you! Also (again last one I swear!) I feel you on getting ready earlier in the day. I’ve been doing that this week and I actually feel like a real live functional adultish person instead of princess of the pajama people that should never leave her house bc she forgot to shower again. So much better with the morning get ready even though I’m living in leggings and yoga pants versus pajamas.
yes yes yes, i am absolutely dying and LOL-ing over the princess pajama people… DEAD. hahaha. i will do one when i don’t have alex here for sure. i try to not do ANY kitchen work/photography/styling when max is here alone because it’s just so hard. but i do still have to do other work obviously. it’s just so tricky in general when you work from home because you’re NEVER disconnected!
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When did you decide to get a babysitter/ How did you find her? I also work from home and my son is 9 months. I am getting to the point where I know I need help but am so sad to give up time with him. Also I am SO nervous about leaving him with someone I don’t know/ finding the right person.
i get this 100%. honestly i still hate that i have anyone else watch him and that i can’t do it all – be with him every waking moment AND get all my work done. it kills me. i got a babysitter for him in oct of 2016, so he was 22 months. i found her on care.com (which i was hesitant about but ended up being an amazing experience for us), interviewed her and we did a day or 2 trial run. it was SO hard for me at first, but also much better than me leaving the house – you know? like they are still here while i work, which has made it so much easier. i managed to do my regular blog for those 22 months with him here, but once my next cookbook came into play there was no doubt that i needed help because it was such an undertaking.
i recommend care.com so much. the girl we found is also an elementary art teacher (3 days a week) so she does so many fun things with him and has taught him so much! all of that info is on care.com (like their backgrounds, etc) and made the process easier – at least i think so!
i hate saying i have mom guilt because it’s not that – but i really do hate any time i don’t spend with my kids! time just goes so fast and i hate missing any moments. that probably makes me so weird but man, it’s true!
I love this post! I have a 3.5 year old daughter and 1 month old son and can relate do much! Aldo my go to easy dinner is the same but with potatoes instead of rice! Any meal that can cook without my attention wins these days!
that’s the best dinner, yes!! xo
Loved this post! You are a super woman! My daughter is 22 months and in daycare while I work outside the home and I struggle so much with fitting in a workout. You doing all this and making dinner is so impressive!
thank you!! i definitely don’t get one in all the time, it is so hard!
Where is Emilia’s towel from???? Thank you!!
it was from nordstrom but it doesn’t appear to be on the site anymore. it’s the little giraffe brand, similar to this one! https://shop.nordstrom.com/s/little-giraffe-luxe-hooded-towel-baby/2998945?contextualcategoryid=2375500&origin=keywordsearch&keyword=little+giraffe+towel
hey girl- love the post! Great pics!
thank you!
Super impressed! You were really productive! Kudos, mama!
thanks shannon!
Oh my gosh, I loved this so much! I especially appreciated your honesty. It’s motivating and relatable!
thank you ashlyn!
This was so fun to see! Thanks for writing it! I’m sure that felt like a lot to add into your day but it was great to read!
thank you emily! xo
Yes, the joys and guilt of motherhood! Just remember to go easy on yourself. You’re doing an amazing job handling all that you do, and it’s great that you’re prioritizing your kids over housework. I promise you won’t regret that later! It’s good that you schedule time to be with the little ones, because if you don’t make the time, it’s all too easy for that not to happen. But don’t forget to take care of yourself too! Schedule some down time for yourself as well, at least once a week: a nice warm bath, or a pedicure, or even put your husband to work with a nice shoulder or foot massage. That’s something else I promise you won’t regret later! :)
Congrats on the new book, and even bigger congrats on such adorable little ones! :)
thank you so much! xoxo
You are unbelievable. I cannot believe how much you get done in a day. I feel like I can barely get the housework, paid work, and relax work done every week! I finished my degree in Dec 2016, and for the last year have been living that #SlothLife. For the last 12 months all I have done is live my life, and work 40 hours per week. Prior to that I was in school full time, working 2 paid jobs (2017 was the first time since I got my first job at 14 that I have worked less than 2 jobs), and being a wife. So I know what ultra busy feels like, but now that I am a year removed I don’t know how I did it! And I can’t even pretend to imaging what doing that all PLUS having 2 chiclets around! You’re a dream. Honestly. #everythinggoals
i’m so surprised at the comments because i didn’t even feel like i got that much done!! maybe that’s because last year i think i was a lot busier? and you totally deserve that sloth life that does not sound like sloth life at all! hahaha! xo
I love this. I’m going to be a working mom in five months (!!!) and all I know for sure is that everything will change. I’m so glad to see other women out there rocking this!
it’s so unpredictable all the time! thank you katie!
Girl! You are amazing! And I just LOVE that you want to take time with your kids and not worry abut the kitchen!! That is such a great example and I love that! Keep it up! You’re a rockstar!
thank you mattie!
LOVED this post! I absolutely love your blog; and look forward to it every day! Not only do I get some awesome recipes I also get a whole bunch of “awwweee” moments when you share about your “Wee Ones”.
thank you deb!
LOVE this post! So great to read it and the comments and know that all of us mom’s are in it together. We gotta get ish done and soak up the time with our babes…oh, and pay attention to our spouse’s once in awhile, too ;) Thanks for taking the time to give us a sneak peek! Keep it up :)
thanks kelsey! xo
Love this! Cannot wait to see your beautiful book!!!
thanks love!
Jessica, Totally loved this post! Thank you for sharing your day. You are super women! I’m so bad at staying on schedule! I am also thinking about trying the sweet pea plan,
thanks so much amy!! xoxo
Oh, congratulations on seeing your book! Sounds like a manic but wonderful day
thanks chloe!!
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You are incredible! I’m exhausted reading all this, and have no idea how you get so much done. I’m a full time student/part time therapist and I feel busy all the time…and that’s while being single and childless! My nephew is 6mo and when I have holidays off sometimes I’ll take him for a day or two and I get NOTHING done. NOTHING, NADA, ZIP. Like, maybe half a workout while he sleeps, and then a shower during his second nap?
If I remember to feed myself on those days it’s an accomplishment. Needless to say, reading this was mind blowing. Also, motivating! I’m in the process of getting my own itty-bitty web-based business off the ground, and if I have half the hustle you do it would make a world of difference. Thanks for sharing all this and lighting a fire under my ass!
PS no idea how you survive on less than 8hrs of sleep and STILL get this much sh** done. I need 8+ hours or I am a zombie hobo person.
PPS mad jealous that you have an elliptical at home. #adulting goal right there. I would feel so bougie that I’d end up like drinking champagne at 6am while I worked out just because I could.
I love these type of posts!! Thank you for posting!
Love this post!! Have been reading your blog for at least 5 years and love the recipes but the glimpses into everyday life are the best. So nice to see that you are human and have struggles like the rest of us! Keep these coming:)
You are my hero.
Almost lost my coffee at “…microwaved cheddar and tortilla”. #resourceful 👏🏻👏🏻😆
The book is beautiful – what a fun end to the day (and post).
Your book cover is gorgeous!! Congratulations!!
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