A local newspaper or magazine (can’t remember which) runs articles about the day in the life of celebrities and high level executives. It gives a detailed account of their day minute by minute and hour by hour.
Mainly, the point of these articles is to humanize these figures – they, too, read books to their children – and to highlight how much they do in one day. I have read a few of these articles and thought, “Ha! A working mom can fill that same page all before 9 am.”
So, here is how a day rolls for this (part-time) working mom:
4:45 am: Husband’s alarm goes off. He works for a company based in New York City, so he works on east coast hours (unfortunately, he does not leave the office at the end of the east coast day). I usually get up with him. Yes, it is early, but there is a lot that needs to be done!
4:50 am: Make a cup of coffee – the day CAN NOT start without one!
5:00 am: Feed the cat. Read my personal e-mail ,check Facebook, read the day’s World Moms Blog post, then generally get distracted by other things on the internet. Most importantly, enjoy that first cup of coffee which is always the best.
5:30 am: Quietly as a mouse, so as to not to wake up the sleeping girls, take a shower.
6:05 am: Depending on time (sometimes I get to this step closer to 6:30 am), do a yoga class in the space we created in our basement and try to set a calm tone for the day in a sea of rushing.
7:05 am: Hear Little Girl yelling for “Momma” at the top of her lungs, obviously waking up Big Girl.
7:10 am: Do one more thing before picking up little girl, like make my breakfast to take with me to work, and if I have good leftovers, my lunch, too.
7:15 am: Get Little Girl from her crib, pretend Big Girl is still sleeping, go downstairs and make some warm milk for both.
7:30 am: Everyone is up! Turn on an episode of Dora the Explorer, or something similar, so I can get dressed for work.
7:50 am: Help the girls get dressed for the day. Big girl is wearing a dress as always and loves to pick out Little Girl’s outfit. They must all be laid on the floor to make sure they match – she didn’t learn this from me.
8:00 am: Make breakfast for the girls – oatmeal or frozen waffles on days I work.
8:15 am: Babysitter arrives. Give her the download of the day ahead (ballet, preschool, etc) and confirm that she can come Friday night, so husband and I can go on a date.
8:20 am: Send a text to other mom trying to set up a morning play date for Big Girl with her BFF (Best Friend Forever).
8:25 am: Make sure I have everything I need – cell phone, bag, scarf, coat, shoes. Yes, I need to check to make sure I have my shoes on, as one day I almost left in my house slippers.
8:30 am: Grab my bicycle and ride downtown to the office, approximately 5 miles.
8:55 am: Pit stop at the Ferry Building and pick-up a cup of coffee – because the coffee they brew at work just won’t suffice.
9:03 am: Listen to the bells of the clock chime 9 and know I will be on time.
9:05 am: Lock-up my bike in the garage and take the elevator up to my desk on the 3rd floor.
9:10 am: Greet my co-worker and done with a big sigh of relief. I made it safely, dressed appropriately, and on time–at least for me.
9:15 am: Let the work day begin!
Do you feel like you have put in a full day before 9am? What time-saving tricks and tips do you have for getting out the door in the morning successfully?
This has been an original post to World Moms Blog by Angela Y of San Francisco, California.
Photo credit to Daquella Manera. This photo has a creative commons attribution license.
4.45 – egads, you might as well stay up and not bother going to bed. I get up at 5.30 and that’s bad enough, well okay the alarm goes off at 5.30 and I hit snooze till 6. Some mornings I’m good and if I get up straight away then I’ll do a 15 minute stint on the treadmill. Alsa, this isn’t a regular occurence.
I’m out the door by 6.55, however my boys are teenagers and are fairly self sufficient, I’m not sure I could do as much as you do with little ones. Your morning makes my head spin 🙂
I am looking forward to the day my girls are a little more self sufficient. Although I am sure there are other challenges with teenagers. My husband often tell the story of trying to get his little brother out of bed on time in order to get to high school on time.
This sounds pretty close to my mornings (except instead of my husband’s alarm clock – which goes off at 6:30 – I am woken up by the baby wanting to be nursed at 5 am…oh and I don’t make it to the office until 9:30 🙂 ).
My time saving trick is that hubby warms the milk and makes the kids oatmeal on days that he doesn’t need to be in the office by 7 (he usually leaves at 7:20) and that helps me tremendously – since I am usually found nursing or putting baby on the potty). 🙂
I could only wish that my husband was at home in the morning to give me an extra hand. Great that you have found some time saving tricks. Nursing a baby definitely adds complexity b/c you absolutely can not multi-task while feeding. Hopefully you are able to sit down comfortably and enjoy that special time with baby and not have to rush too much.
Angela, that sounds like a full day already!! It’s amazing what mothers can get done at the crack of dawn.
I save time by setting out my clothes for the day, the night before. I also do that for the toddler (who doesn’t get to choose his own clothes – yet).
Setting out clothes always helps! This is something my husband does otherwise he would be trying to match is outfit in the dark 🙂 My big girl now dresses herself – which helps a lot – but is not always weather appropriate. Today, for example, on one of the more chilly days in Northern California, she came downs stairs in shorts and a tank top. At least she was dresses 🙂 Oh, and she loves to pick out little sisters outfit, too.
Angela, that was hectic. I bet a full day gets over by 9 AM..!!! 🙂
By 9 I am usually ready for a nap 🙂
I’m tired now.
Bravo busy mom! This is impressive. I really applaud your waking up with your husband. It makes such a different to have a little time for your stuff before having to dive into the kids’ stuff each day. I am all too often tumbling out of bed when my little guy is yelling for me, and then it’s frantic from minute 1. And way to bike to work. I love that!
As for your questions, I feel like I do put in a full day before 9AM, as my kids are earlier risers. I am up before 6am daily, but it gives me enough time to make a good, hot breakfast for the family, clean up, pack school lunches, play with the kids a little, and get us all out the door to the bus stop for school. I don’t work outside of the home, so the nice thing is that even if I am running behind and have to shuffle out to the bus stop in pj’s, I can come back in to regroup before facing the adult world 😉
Having a little me time makes a big difference in the morning. The days I “sleep in” until one of the girls wakes me are the hardest morning. I feel like I run, run, run all day. If I get up early, I am a lot calmer by the time they wake up. Biking here is part of our lifestyle – I wouldn’t trade that in!
Angela,
I think once I became a mom I found my inner multitasking abilities. I see that yours are above and beyond. Way to get it all done!!
And, I love the part about reading your daily World Moms Blog post — yeah!!
Jen 🙂
Multi-tasking is key. Although you don’t know how many times I tell the girls that I am just one person. Sometimes I wish I had a clone 🙂
Wow – that is an impressive morning! My morning goes like this: Wake up at 6am , leave house at 6:30 am – very quietly so nobody wakes up, get to work at 7am. That’s it! (My husband takes care of the mornings, they normally get up between 7 and 7:30am)… I am exhausted, and quite impressed, after reading your post!
Wow, I suddenly feel inspired to do a lot more with my mornings! Great to hear about how you make it all work. Our mornings start much later, but that will soon change — thanks for the good multi-tasking tips. Definitely envious of the SF bike commute 🙂