Mod Apron

All the hours in the day

Lately, we’ve been experiencing some scheduling challenges here at Chez Apron. More accurately, our schedule has been in flux and I’m having some difficulty managing our time.

I am one of those mothers who firmly believes that kids thrive when they’re kept to a solid, predictable daily schedule. I’m not so militant that we can’t roll with the surprises that come up along the way, but I am pretty strict when I can be.

Henry is at an odd stage where he probably should be taking two naps a day, but will often take only one. The result is a kid with a seriously cranky disposition for much of the afternoon and evening. And, after a whole summer of attending day camp from 9:00am to 1:00pm every day, Maya is starting her second year of preschool at the end of the month and her new school schedule will be 1:15pm to 4:15pm. Basically, her day is turned upside down. We are a family in transition.

To top it all off, I’ve been making it a point to get to the gym almost daily. Which is great for my ass, but bad for our schedule. This means that somehow, I’ve got to fit an entire hour of gym time into a day that never feels quite long enough to get everything done in the first place. This has resulted in my dropping the ball somewhere - typically the laundry, the chores, my photography practice, or my blogging.

What’s a busy mama to do?

I wrote out a daily schedule today, which has helped to give me a picture of what an ideal day should look like. It goes something like this:

—————

6:30am - Mama wakes up, makes breakfast for Dennis

7:00am - Mama showers, gets dressed

7:30am - Mama wakes up the kiddos, gets them washed and dressed for the day

8:00am - Breakfast time for the kiddos (and coffee for mama)

9:00am - Kiddo activity (i.e. trip to the park, playdate, library, walk, or project at home)

9:45am - Kiddo snack time

10:00am - Henry’s first nap (approx. 1.5 hours)

12:00pm - Lunch time for mama and the kiddos

1:10pm - Walk Maya to school

2:15pm - Henry’s snack time

2:30pm - Henry’s second nap (approx. 1 hour) / Mama cleans, household chores

4:10pm - Pick Maya up from school

4:30pm - Prep dinner

5:30pm - Dennis arrives home; Family dinner time

6:30pm - Mama cleans up from dinner, Dennis plays with kids

7:00pm - Henry’s bath time, bedtime routine

7:30pm - Maya’s bathtime, bedrime routine

8:00pm - Adult time (reading, blogging, gym time, movie, etc.)

10:00pm - Bedtime

—————

I’d like to start implementing this schedule as soon as Monday. I hope it works as well in reality as it does on paper. The kids really need it. I really need it. Family life is so much easier (and everyone’s so much calmer and happier) when our time is well managed.

All the days in the week

Further to my last post, I thought it made good sense to set out a weekly schedule is well. Why stop at a daily schedule? Let’s look at an ideal week! You know I just love to be splendiferously organized!

Maya’s preschool schedule this year is a little funky. That is, she’s only in preschool on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she’ll be taking part in some extra-curricular activities (soccer and ballet/tap). Additionally, Henry is enrolled in a baby music and baby gym class once or twice a week as well.

Also, I’ve recently discovered that our local library has a ton of free activities that both Maya and Henry can attend together. The library schedule is posted the previous week and features activities such as puppet shows, story time, rhyme time, family movies and more. Most activities happen before lunch, and there is a delicious park behind the library so we can pack a picnic and have lunch in the park before preschool. Ideally, we’ll fit a couple of library mornings into our week as well.

All this, coupled with my housekeeping schedule, means that I’ve had to move my grocery shopping day to Sunday (instead of Monday) for the foreseeable future. Our family’s weekly schedule is looking like this:

—————

Mondays:

• Maya - preschool
• Henry - gym class
• Mama - cleans kitchen

Tuesdays:

• Maya - soccer
• Mama - cleans bathrooms

Wednesdays:

• Maya - preschool
• Henry - music class (either Wed or Fri)
• Mama - cleanse kids’ bedrooms

Thursdays:

• Maya - ballet/tap
• Henry - gym class
• Mama - cleans master bedroom

Fridays:

• Maya - preschool
• Henry - music class (either Wed or Fri)
• Mama - cleans dining room/living room/hallway

Saturdays:

• No scheduled plans

Sundays:

• No scheduled plans
• Mama - grocery shopping

This schedule will be implemented starting tomorrow. Which means that, going forward, you can expect to see my weekly meal plans posted on Sundays from now on.

If it seems like I am a little too crazy militant enthusiastic about keeping us on a tight schedule, I’d agree that you’re probably right. But, as far as I can see, it’s the best and only way to keep an organized framework in place. My family seems to thrive on routine and honestly, it makes my life a lot easier too. There will always be days where the schedule falls apart, and that’s okay; it’s to be expected. But, maintaining a schedule is my only hope to keep this machine running smoothly. And more often than not, the day flows effortlessly and naturally through our scheduled activities and when that happens, it certainly makes for a peaceful and happy existence for everyone.

Keeping a schedule like this is certainly not glamorous, but it’s real and it’s a slice of our lives right now. And it keeps this mama (somewhat) sane and balanced.

On keeping house

Now that Henry is old enough to join his big sister in destroying order around the house, I really need to step up my game to maximize efficiency. Some days I feel like I could literally clean morning, noon and night and never feel caught up.

At one point a few months ago, I came up with a “chores schedule”. It worked - sort of - but it was kinda complicated. I had everything divided up into daily, weekly, monthly, and “as needed” tasks, and it was loosely based on this method. My intentions were honorable, but admittedly, I found this housekeeping routine to be slightly too laborious. That, plus our variable schedule and my littlest one suddenly becoming super mobile, has forced me to rethink how I should spend my cleaning time.

When it was just little Maya (long before Henry came along), I would bomb around the house first thing in the morning, doing all my chores before she woke up. This worked well, and it was lovely to have everything completed before the day really got started. Flash forward a few years and another kid later, and now I feel like I can barely keep up. I swear on all that is holy that my kids seem to follow me around, immediately undoing at least 85% of my cleaning progress as I complete it. So I run around in circles re-doing chores whilst constantly trying to keep on top of the scattered Cheerios on the kitchen floor before somebody steps on them.

Efficiency? Uh, not so much.

I think at this stage of my life (and the kids’ lives), there will always be some element of constant clean-up. I will likely never get to sit back and bask in the glory of my perfectly clean house, at least not for more than 5-10 minutes at best. The laundry never ends. The dishes never stop. And oh, the Cheerios. Please don’t get me started on the Cheerios.

Currently, I run around cleaning up little messes all day, and then I do a major clean-up on the weekend when Dennis is home to help wrangle the kiddos. Yes, this approach gets the job done, but it means that I’m ALWAYS cleaning. Every single day. And in my opinion, that’s just not fair!

So how does a busy mama manage?

Simplicity. And acceptance. I’m realizing these concepts go hand-in-hand, are the keys to keeping an organized home. Simplicity and acceptance are paramount for survival.

THEREFORE.

I have divided my chores into very general categories, based on each room/area. For each room listed, I will complete a basic, no-frills clean-up. This means declutter, wipe, dust, polish, mop, sweep, vacuum, etc. I will also choose ONE drawer, cabinet, closet, etc. at my discretion, from that room, to thoroughly clean.

For example, if it’s Monday and “Kitchen” is my room for the day, then I will likely:

• remove any toys, books, mail, etc. from countertops
• wipe counters, stove, windowsills, windows
• polish stainless steel appliances
• mop floor
• and ALSO perhaps clean out the cutlery drawer

The idea is that each room/area gets my attention once a week, and most long-term cleaning projects will be negated as they are always constantly, slowly in progress. So something like a major kitchen cupboard re-org will happen, but probably take several weeks to fully complete. Make sense?

Also, I have one rule: When my room of the day is complete, I AM NOT ALLOWED TO CLEAN ANYTHING FURTHER. No exceptions. I’m all done for the day (except for the ongoing daily chores listed below, no escaping those, I’m afraid.)

So this is what my housekeeping schedule will look like going forward:

• Mondays: Kitchen
• Tuesdays: Bathrooms
• Wednesdays: Kids’ Bedrooms
• Thursdays: Master Bedroom
• Fridays: Dining Room/Living Room/Hallway
• Saturdays & Sundays: Weekends OFF!
• Ongoing Daily Chores: Make beds, laundry, dishes, toy clean-up, garbage/recycling/compost, Cheerio management.

I like this cleaning schedule. It’ll keep each room looking tidy while simultaneously allowing for the completion of larger-scale tasks. Plus, I get weekends off from cleaning! Sounds awesome to me!

Likely there will always be a few chores that I will need to schedule separate time for. These will probably be “one-offs” and I’ll have to tackle them as needed. For example, at some point, I’d like to organize our storage locker down in the garage and this might just have to be a weekend thing.

As for acceptance, I’ve just come to the realization that messes are a part of my life right now. We don’t live in a museum. We have real lives and little kids. My inner neat freak just has to let go and unclench. Some days are just going to be messy and that’s OK. Years from now, I probably won’t remember that the Toy Story toys got mixed in with the Barbies, or the night I left some dishes in the sink. But time with my young family is precious, fleeting and indelible.

Productivity report

So how’d I do with the ol’ to-do list today?

Well, in case you’re wondering, not too bad. Here’s what we’re lookin’ at as of 7:30pm on Sunday evening:

• climb Mount Laundry (laundry = dominated)
• clean kitchen (sparkling!)
• clean out aquarium (the fishes say thank you)
• make meal plan/shopping list for next week (I’ll do this first thing in the morning…actually, second thing…coffee will be first)
• deep clean blue bathroom (nope, didn’t happen)
• clean off [my mess from] Dennis’ desk(Den’s desk: she is tidy once again)
• sort through and file miscellaneous paperwork
• go through backlog of HOA emails
• pay a couple of bills (paid! feels so good!)
• general cleaning
• dust
• vacuum bedrooms
• attack the box of ironing
• re-org cabinet in blue bathroom
• pack up box for donation pick up on May 30th
• vacuum under dining room table
• posterboard project (I’ll post on this soon)
• make a large batch of granola
• make a large pot of soup
• bake some bread (will do tomorrow AM)
• bake some banana bread

Honestly, not bad for an eclipsy sorta Sunday. I swear if I’d not spent so much time trying (and failing) to get a picture of this celestial event, I might have actually got more done! Ha!

On to-do listing

I really am a list maker extraordinaire. And lately, I’ve given my to-do listing a whole new direction - I’ve been separating what I’d like to complete immediately and what can wait. The reason for this is purely emotional; if I put too much stuff on my to-do list and I don’t complete it all, then I feel sad and disappointed in myself. And the things I actually did accomplish somehow lose a bit of their glory.

The key to to-do list satisfaction is to keep the items for immediate completion to a minimum. Maybe 3 or 4 things per day, at most. This might seem way too easy and it’s tempting to add a few more items, but I have learned this practice is a grave mistake. I can always dip into the lower-priority tasks if I’m feeling jaunty, but I can never regain the self-empowerment earned from completing the things I set out to complete today.

Yes, this is without a doubt, a silly little game I play with myself. But striking tasks off of a never-ending to-do list affords no sense of accomplishment. It’s like throwing pebbles into a lake; it’s nice to throw them in but no matter how many you throw, it’s not ever really going to decrease the number of pebbles on the shore, nor will it shrink the size of the lake. In other words: The laundry never, ever ends.

I like to feel happy. I like to feel productive. Therefore, to save myself from frustration and the sheer immobility that comes from feeling totally daunted, I can’t look at my never-ending to-do list in its entirety. Marking and aiming to complete a few achievable items is the only way to go. Complete them, cross them off the list, and move on.

So without further ado, here is the my current running to-do list:

(The bolded items are the things I’d like to complete today - Sunday May 20th. Note that some of the items have been carried over from last week’s to-do list. As I say, it never ends.) 

• climb Mount Laundry
• clean kitchen
• clean out aquarium
• make meal plan/shopping list for next week
• deep clean blue bathroom
• clean off [my mess from] Dennis’ desk
• sort through and file miscellaneous paperwork
• go through backlog of HOA emails
• pay a couple of bills
• general cleaning
• dust
• vacuum bedrooms
• attack the box of ironing
• re-org cabinet in blue bathroom
• pack up box for donation pick up on May 30th
• vacuum under dining room table
• posterboard project (I’ll post on this soon)
• make a large batch of granola
• make a large pot of soup
• bake some bread
• bake some banana bread

The 5 bolded items above make for some pretty ambitious marching orders. That said, it’s a beautiful sunny Sunday and we have no deadlines and no place to be, so I’m confident I can get it all done.

It should be noted that just as I typed that last sentence, Henry knocked over Maya’s cereal and now soggy Cheerios and milk grace my kitchen floor. Additionally, Maya has run into her room to change her milk-soaked pants with such haste that she’s tripped over a stack of baby books in the hallway on her way and is now weeping over a stubbed toe. Henry followed Maya into her room and now she’s yelling that he’s spit up his applesauce and brown rice breakfast all over her bedroom floor. And I just noticed a discrepancy on one of our utility accounts that I have to look into. Oh, and I just heard the condensing pump on our furnace trigger on but it didn’t sound quite right and I think it might be acting up again (which means I’ve got to climb up into the crawl space and have a look). And Hen needs a big-time diaper change. Ug, and I just stepped on a wet Cheerio. This is why I aim low when it comes to getting things done around here.

#mamaneedsacuppateanowplease #canigobacktobed? #everydayisanewadventure

The sleep vs. efficiency showdown

Whoa! I didn’t blog at all yesterday! What the heck is going on?

Well, I’ll tell ya, I was a very busy little bee! I was extremely productive all day and by the end of it, I’d been awake for so long and got so much accomplished that I was completely wiped out. I could hardly form a coherent sentence.

But I did have a coherent thought.

Actually, it was a revelation.

Wanna hear about it? Of course you do.

Okay, here it is:

I am convinced that the earlier I wake up, the more smoothly the day goes.

I woke up really, REALLY early yesterday morning. Had my shower, made a big pot of coffee and got to work before the family woke up. Laundry, cooking, cleaning, it all got done. I had everyone fed and dressed, plus a clean and organized home all before 9:00am. This meant that I had more time to actually play with the kids and I didn’t feel so rushed. And with that, the tone was set for a really enjoyable day.

By lunch time, I was so ahead of schedule that I told Maya to go invite the little boy who lives upstairs down for lunch. More kids? Sure, why not? Bring it. While the kids ate, I cleaned all the lunch dishes and prepped dinner. By the time we headed off to school, the kitchen was spotless and dinner was half done.

And because of all my savvy preparations, dinner was a breeze to put together and I had it hot, ready and on the table as Dennis was walking in the door from work. Oh snap!

Since it all went so well yesterday, I thought I’d try the whole “waking up at the ass crack of dawn” thing again today. And you know what? Today was my bitch. I totally owned it. LIKE A BOSS.

I blew my own mind and shattered my record: I got breakfast on the table, kids dressed and dishes clean, this time by 8:00am. By 8:10am we were at the bus stop, on our way across town to attend a concert at Maya’s former preschool. That’s what I’m talking about.

And my efficiency didn’t stop there. After the concert, the kids and I stopped for hot cocoa, ran errands and came home for lunch before heading back out to go to school, then I came back home for a meeting and conference call, then out again for more errands, then back to school, then to the bank and then finally, home again (jiggedy jig). Once home, I balanced our budget, made a card for our neighbor, sent some emails, called my mom, washed all the diapers and made a huge batch of baby food. All before dinnertime. Blam-o!

Dinner was easy peasy because I just pulled it out of the freezer and reheated it. I cooked a pot of brown rice and tossed a salad to go with it and that was that. After dins, I cleaned the kitchen, folded the laundry and then we put the kids to bed. Ka-pow!

For the second day in a row, I’ve been ahead of the game all day. It’s been such smooth sailing. I could definitely get used to all this smoothness. Like buttah.

But, here’s the thing: I’m tired. Really tired. These very early mornings have certainly taken their toll. Even as I type this, I’m yawning and my eyes are watering. I don’t know how long I can sustain this pre-pre-dawn rising schedule. I suppose I could try to go to bed earlier, but the truth is, if I don’t get some quality “me” time after the kids go to bed, mama gets downright cranky. The exhaustion factor is the only hiccup to my efficiency plan!

So from where I’m standing, I’ve got 3 choices:

1. Wake up super early, be exhausted, and have a kick-ass productive day.

-or-

2. Wake up at the usual time, feel rested but rushed, and never truly feel caught up.

-or-

3. Go to university. Study engineering. Acquire a doctorate in robot-building. Build me a sweet ‘bot. Program it to take care of all the household chores. Beta test robot. Fine-tune robot. Repeat until perfected. Unleash robot upon aforementioned chores while I sleep in. Pray that robot does not evolve and develop desire to extinguish human race.

It’s a tough one. What would YOU choose?

Saturday

So here’s where the to-do list stands as of 7:45pm on Saturday evening:

• general cleaning
• finish laundry
• vacuum bedrooms
• clean bathrooms
• mop floors
• repair bathroom light fixture
• sort through and file miscellaneous paperwork
• clean off Dennis’ desk
• clean out the aquarium
• wash everyone’s bedsheets
• polish stainless steel in the kitchen
• BABYPROOF EVERYTHING and box up Maya’s tiny toys
• make brownies for Monday’s HOA meeting
• make a large batch of granola
• bake some bread

Honestly, I was not as productive as I would have liked, BUT it was a really good day anyway. What I did get done, I did with a lot of care because I took my time.

My morning took an unexpected turn, as I volunteered to help my neighbor move some furniture. I didn’t mind. And I know he really appreciated it.

Later, Dennis and Maya went through her whole bedroom boxing up all her tiny toys. This was part of our Saturday babyproofing project and was necessary because Henry has just entered the stage where he is putting everything in his mouth.

I am so proud of Maya. She was such a good sport and a great helper all morning. We gave her a toilet paper roll and let her test out all her small toys. If the toy fit through the toilet paper roll, then we had to pack it away (for now). She dutifully tested all her toys and kept telling us how important it is that we do this in order to “protect Henry”. Not once did she complain that her some of her favorite things were being boxed up and put away. God, I love my kid.

And since we had to run a few errands this afternoon anyway, we decided to stop by the toy store to reward Maya’s total awesomeness with a “not tiny” toy of her choosing. This is what it looks like when you spring an impromptu toy store trip on a child:

She chose a stuffed wooly mammoth. Or, as she calls it, a “mammiff”. Did I mention that I love my kid?

I’m not sure how the rest of the to-do list will fare. We’ll be out for most of the day tomorrow having fun at the California Academy of Sciences so I seriously doubt I’ll get much (if anything) done. But ya know what? I’m okay with that. Because let’s face it: The to-do list never ends, but Mother’s Day only comes once a year. Plus, I’m pretty sure the sun will still rise and set even if I don’t get around to making granola.

A day in the life

5:00am: I’m awoken by Henry crying. He’s caught Maya’s cold and, for the past two nights, has been especially fussy. This is the fourth time he’s been up crying tonight. I tiptoe into his room and nurse him back to sleep. Then, I put myself back to sleep for a precious few minutes longer.

At 5:45am, the alarm goes off and I hit the snooze button. Five minutes later, Dennis puts on his shorts and goes out for a run. I stumble like a drunk zombie into the kitchen and take the bread out of the bread maker. Then, I hop in the shower and let the hot water rain down on me until I start to feel a little more awake.

6:00am: I put the kettle on and get dressed while the water boils. Then, I grind some coffee and pour that, and the hot water into the french press.

While the coffee brews, I make the bed, put on my makeup, turn the radio on to NPR, and start the first of many, many loads of laundry. I’ve come to learn that if I don’t get the laundry started nice and early, I will regret it.

Usually I’d start making some breakfast for the family at this point, but since the kids have been fighting this cold, I decide to let them sleep in. I do, however, make breakfast for Dennis - oatmeal with raisins, walnuts, strawberries and almond milk. I can’t think past coffee right now so I don’t make anything for myself.

7:00am: The caffeine has kicked in and Dennis has left for work. The kids are still asleep so I take the opportunity to do a bit of blogging and read some blogs that I follow. I answer emails and reschedule a lunch date. It’s already quite hot outside, so I open the windows around the house.

Around 7:30am, Maya, sleepy-eyed and wild-haired, comes and finds me. I put her on my lap for a few minutes and I ask her what she dreamed about. I also ask her what she wants for breakfast and, upon seeing the loaf of bread on the counter, she asks for that. She puts her head on my shoulder and we cuddle in near silence for awhile. Then, I tell her to go potty while I finish typing out my train of thought, and then I’ll make her breakfast. “Hot cocoa too please, mama” she adds.

8:00am: Henry is awake now too.

I nurse him, change his diaper, bring him out to the kitchen and plop him down on the floor amidst a bunch of toys. He plays while Maya slowly finishes her bread and hot cocoa. She asks for a banana so I give her that too. I call my mom and have a short chat with her while I make Maya’s bed. I empty the dishwasher. I carry on with the laundry. I do a load of whites.

9:00am: I feed Henry some breakfast (apples and oatmeal) and then get the kids washed and dressed. Well, actually, I get Henry washed and dressed. Maya is having a meltdown about not being able to find a very specific toy cat and decides to crawl under her bed to have a cry about it.

I let her have her moment while I fold some laundry.

10:00am: Maya is still refusing to get dressed until she finds her toy cat. She enlists my help and we search everywhere, and to no avail. She starts crying again and I tell her that I’m not going to help her anymore until she stops crying. It’s now nearly 11:00am, and she finally agrees to cheer up and get dressed. I brush her teeth and wash her face. She picks out some clothes and insists on getting dressed all by herself. Now Henry, who suddenly finds himself hungry and tired, has his turn to melt down.

During all the chaos, my friend Cristin arrives for a visit and her timing could not have been better. She plays with Maya while I quickly feed a sobbing Henry a mashed banana and some rice, and then nurse him until he settles softly into a much needed morning nap.

11:00am: Time to make some lunch for Maya. I ask her what she wants and she says “strawberries.” So, I make her a strawberry-themed lunch: A peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich (without the crusts please), a strawberry yogurt and, of course, strawberries. I try to arrange it all fancy on the plate.

Maya and I have a very “Jack Sprat” relationship when it comes to sandwiches. She hates the crusts, yet they’re my favorite part. Go figure. So I ate up her PB&J sandwich crusts and it occurred to me that this is the first thing I’ve eaten all day.

12:00pm: I chat with Cristin for awhile and we sip some of the homemade lemonade that Maya and I made yesterday. Maya eats (most of) her lunch and now it’s time to head to school. I snatch a cozy, sleeping Henry out of a lovely, peaceful nap and shove him in the stroller (so unfair for my little guy). I sunblock everyone up and off we go. Cristin walks part of the way with us before she has to head home.

The kids and I continue on to school. Maya flashes peace signs at the people we pass on the street.

I drop Maya off at preschool and decide to take a different route home than I usually do. I see this and for a moment, I feel like I’m back in the suburbs of Vancouver, BC.

But then I see this and I remember that I’m still in sunny Cali.

1:00pm: I’m back home and I’ve got 30 minutes to prepare for an HOA conference call. I throw in some diaper laundry, change Henry and give him a snack (Cheerios). I eat exactly 3 crackers with hummus, half an apple and a handful of dried apricots while I read through my notes for the conference call. I clean up the lunch dishes, sweep the floor and pick up Maya’s room. I find the missing cat. I realize I have some bananas and rice from Henry’s lunch stuck to my shirt so I change my clothes. Then, I set up the dining room table with some toys and more Cheerios, which I hope will serve to entertain Henry while my neighbor and I take our conference call.

2:00pm: My neighbor arrives and we sit down at the table with Henry. We get started with our conference call and I am very impressed with how well behaved and content Hen is to just sit at the table with us and quietly play with his toys.

3:00pm: Our conference call ends and I need to run to pick up Maya from school. Just as I’m loading Henry into the stroller, a get a quick whiff of him and realize he’s in dire need of a diaper change. This makes us late (the teachers get really cranky if I’m late), so I literally sprint with the stroller to pick Maya up from school. Thanks to the running, I arrive one minute early! Just enough time to snap a picture of my sweet relief.

4:00pm: We’re back home again and it’s a whirlwind of shoes off, bags and books on the floor, potty time, diaper changes and all the business of getting settled. I nurse Henry and then set him on the floor to play. I hang the clean, damp diapers over the shower rail to dry.

I put in another load of laundry, and then make a batch of baby food (a puree of sweet potato, carrot and spinach) for Henry’s dinner.

5:00pm: I start putting together dinner. We’re having salmon, herbed cous cous and pan-seared garlic asparagus. Maya comes into the kitchen and asks if she can help cook. I tell her of course she can, and ask her to go and wash her hands and come back. She gets distracted by a toy on her way to the bathroom and I have to carry on cooking without a sous chef.

Dennis arrives home about 5:30pm and the kids attack him while I finish up dinner. Maya returns to the kitchen and is disappointed that she didn’t get to help with the cooking, so I ask her to set the table, which she does, and doesn’t do a bad job either. Dennis takes her to wash up for dinner and then turns on some music while I set everyone’s plates out on the table.

6:00pm: We eat dinner and talk about the news of our day. We chat about work and school. We laugh at the funny things the kids are doing and saying.

After dinner, Den plays with the kids while I clean up the table and the dishes.

As strange as this sounds, I really look forward to this part of the day. With the kids entertained, I can take my time and wash the dishes in peace and quiet. It’s very relaxing. After-dinner clean up is my time. (Yikes. How sad is that?)

7:00pm: I give Henry a bath.

Afterwards, I dress him in his pajamas and nurse him to sleep. While Henry is nursing, Dennis gives Maya her bath and then reads her a story.

I take the last load of laundry out of the dryer and put it away. Then, I go in to Maya’s room to help her feed her fish and tuck her in.

I lie in bed with Maya for a few minutes. We chat about our favorite things and why it’s not good to cry for no reason. I kiss her goodnight.

8:00pm: Den and I sit in bed and he finds a movie we’ve never seen before (The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain) on Netflix. I watch it with half my attention and write this blog post with the other half. I’m blogging, looking at the photos I took today and texting with my bestie.

Soon, I’ll brush my teeth, wash my face and go to sleep. Another day is on its way and I’ll probably live a similar, yet slightly different version of this day tomorrow. It’s been a very interesting exercise for me to record the minutia of a given day like this. It’s not glamourous or very exciting, but I see a lot of beauty in all the little details. Moreover, it will be quite something to read this in a year, or even twenty years from now, and remember all the small things I’d forgotten about this season of my life and the way I lived a random day.

I am so lucky that I get to be a mama every day and do all the things I love to do. This, my friends, is a charmed life indeed.