Since I’ve lived with two kiddos for nearly 4 months now, I figured it was time for us to chat about it. Taking care of two is certainly different than taking care of one. It’s more time consuming, more tiring, more work and yes, more difficult. BUT, I do not say this to insinuate that my life is automatically busier than that of a parent that has only one child. Someone with just one child (or even no child at all) might possibly be just as busy, if not busier, than me. It’s not a contest. All I’m saying is that for me, comparing life with one child versus now having two, things are pretty darn hectic at times. My oldest is 3 and my baby is 4 months old. I work a part-time job at my family’s business, therefore I am able to take the baby to work with me (not always an easy task, but still convenient). I take care of certain things at home (my husband and I split things up pretty evenly). And last, but not least, I try to keep up with my creative ventures – this blog, theater, acting gigs, etc. We live near most of the grandparents, so that plays into our schedule on a regular basis, which is nice. My 3-year-old is in preschool part-time, but the baby is with me every single day most of the time. As you can see, my schedule is full, but not too horrible. That’s the way I like it. I like to have things going on and to have a routine. But if there isn’t any down time at all, I get stressed. Lack of sleep also stresses me out horribly. But that’s getting better with the baby (thank god). Since today was a Sunday, I was able to spend the entire day at home with both kiddos and my husband (whom spent most of the day doing algebra homework – no fun). This is basically how our day went:
7:30am – 3-year-old comes into our bed and asks to watch Mickey. Baby wakes up.
8-9am – Mommy feeds baby a bottle. Daddy and 3-year-old go to pick up some breakfast.
9am – Breakfast!
10am – Baby takes a nap. Daddy and 3-year-old go outside to do yard work. Time for laundry.
11am – Baby wakes for bottle.
11:30am – 3-year-old is ready for lunch. He eats a sandwich, crackers and grapes while watching The Sound of Music with Mommy.
noon – Time for Mommy to have lunch.
1pm – Baby takes a nap. 3-year-old watches Mickey while mommy runs 3 miles on the treadmill. Daddy does algebra.
2pm – Baby wakes for bottle. She’s cool with mommy being stinky and sweaty while feeding her.
2:30pm – 3-year-old wants to take a nap. Doesn’t happen every day, but sounds good to Mommy.
3:30pm – Baby takes a nap. Mommy works on organizing the closet. Daddy is still doing algebra.
4pm – Mommy starts making spaghetti sauce. Daddy takes a break from algebra.
4:30pm – 3-year-old and baby wake up (yes, there was a 1-hour time span where they were both sleeping – yay!).
5pm – Mommy feeds baby oatmeal and a bottle.
5:30pm – 3-year-old and Daddy eat spaghetti dinner.
5:45pm – Baby is done eating so Mommy eats her spaghetti dinner.
6:15pm – Mommy and baby leave to take 3-year-old to grandparents’ house to spend the night.
7:45pm – Back at home, Mommy gives baby a bath (yes, Daddy is doing more algebra).
8:15pm – Mommy gives baby her bedtime bottle.
9:15pm – Mommy puts baby to bed, then drinks wine. 🙂
10pm – Daddy puts away the algebra and goes to bed so he can wake at 4am for work. Mommy writes a new blog post.
11pm – Mommy goes to bed (hoping for 8 hours of sleep!).
WOW. Seeing all of that written out is pretty wild. But that’s life, right parents? And if you’re not a parent yet or just have one so far, hopefully this paints a good picture for you on how a typical weekend day at home might go. It’s certainly busy, especially with my husband taking a math class this semester. But if we work together, we know we can do it. We are always working hard on our children, our home, our jobs and our dreams. Balancing everything is simply something that must constantly be tended to. It takes a lot of effort, hard work and passion. So far we’re handling things pretty well, and we plan on getting better and better. Life is supposed to be an incredible journey. That’s what we want for our kiddos and for ourselves. As long as we have each other (and some wine), we’re ready to conquer this parenthood thing and have a good time doing it. 🙂
I could go on and on about the difference between caring for one child versus two, but it’s time for bed. We’ll chat plenty more about that later. Cheers. Goodnight. Fingers crossed for some good sleep, right? 😉
Kind Kiddo 