Anyway, on this lovely thank goodness the election is over day you get a little peek at a day in the life of Jenny. I hope you enjoy it! Have a good one.
***
Well hello there. My name is Jenny. But I'm guessing Ashley already mentioned that, huh?
Hmm, what has she not mentioned? I'm a stay at home mom, I have two kiddos {I call them J#3 & J#4 on the blog-not usually in real life though} and a fabulous husband. A husband who's job has brought us to Scotland. We've been here a year {after being in the Netherlands for a year} and have one more year before we'll move back to Minnesota, where we both grew up.
Since this is all about a day in the life, this is what our every day looks like. The days when we get up and J#1 {that's the husband} goes to work. There are days on the weekends where we get to do fun stuff...but the thing about expat life is that you still have the whole 'same ole, same ole' days that you do anywhere.
Most mornings I wake up at about 5:30 a.m. and get my work-out on. You caught me on a day where I didn't. Oops!
Instead I slept in a bit, until 6 or so. Wow. Hold me back, right? I hung out checking email and instagram {I'm obsessed...and jenlives...come find me there!} and then got myself up, showered and ready for the day.
And somewhere around that time J#3, my fun and energetic three and a half year old boy got up too. He usually hangs out with Daddy until I am ready for the day and then we head downstairs.
A few cartoons for him. He LOVES Team Umizoomi. {and this is where I become ultra grateful for the fact that the U.K. is much more like the U.S. than the Netherlands was--tons more kids t.v. to choose from}
Breakfast. But of course.
Sometime around 8:30 or 9 my little miss, J#4 decides she wants to wake up.
She's really awake. J#4 will be in two in February. I'm a little in shock that she's grown up so fast.
And this is probably one of my favorite times of the day. Smiling, happy girl. Kisses and hugs. Sigh. Awesomeness.
We get her dressed, head downstairs with some clothes to get J#3 into, and get her fed too.
Then? Playtime. Some days there is cleaning for me mixed in. Today I wanted to spend some time with my two favorite people though, so from around 9 until 11:30 we are...
Focusing on playing.
Young man is the pickiest eater ever. So, this one of about six things I make him for lunch. So, you can be quite sure I won't be offering you advice on eating or cooking at the end of my post. {smile}
After lunch, it's time for J#3 to head to nursery {or pre-school to my American friends} school at 1 pm.
This would be one of our rare sunny days in Scotland, which made the walk to school quite pleasant. We are lucky enough to be about a block from the school, so we walk every day. In fact, we just got rid of my car last week-so now it is required that we walk!
J#3 goes to school, and then J#4 and I head home. J#4 naps. Daily. Thankfully.
I have my few hours of 'down time' where I'm usually either doing blogging stuff {for either my blog Living a Listful{l} Life or the other blog I contribute to, Intend to Live}, checking Facebook, watching reruns of Parenthood, exercising... you get the idea.
Then we head to pick brother up, come home...and from about 4:30-6?
Play. But of course. This was a day where one of J#3's little friends came over for awhile.
While they are playing, I'm getting dinner ready, usually starting around 5 pm. Tonight was a ranch chicken in the slow-cooker; which is supposed to take about four-five hours. BUT we have the slow-cooker of all slow-cookers so it took about two hours. Yeah. Nice. {Lucky I'm a stay at home mom!}
This was about five p.m. Dark. Grr. By the middle of December, evidently the sun will be going down around 3:45 p.m. Oye.
Then comes our favorite time of the day. Really, I think it is my husband's favorite, my favorite AND the kid's favorite. Daddy comes from work. Usually between 5:30-6.
We eat dinner around 6:15 or so, and then have some family time.
Then? Tea for me. Usually along with some Ugly Betty reruns.
And? A sigh of relief. Another awesome, fun, sort of long day comes to an end.
What is the most surprising thing to you about being a mom?
This is a hard question! I guess probably that it just keeps getting better and better. And better. A little harder too, but definitely better. And that would be the other part that surprises me, is that it does get harder...I would have thought that the midnight feedings, spit up and dirty diapers would be the hardest part. No...having your heart literally outside of you and out in the big, bad {but beautiful} world is definitely harder. But still. I sit here all the time, and turn to my husband saying, "this just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?"
What advice would you give to new or soon-to-be mamas?
Do what YOU want to do be it nursing or bottle feeding, attachment parenting or crying it out, cloth diapers or disposable. This is YOUR baby. YOUR decision. As long as there is love, that baby is going to have a good life. Don't listen to all of the opinions, unless you are really looking for advice. YOU know YOUR baby best.
And if you are having your second, don't even worry about whether or not you'll have enough love for both. You will. It grows.
If you are having your third? You need to give me advice. {wink}
What are your top three baby products?
#1 is most definitely a camera or phone that takes video. Pictures are awesome {I LOVE photography} but videos are priceless. We don't nearly take enough video {note to self...take more video}.Seriously, treasure every moment because time flies by.
#2 would probably be the Halo Sleep Sack. We LOVED these. A way to make sure the babe is warm enough, without worrying about the blanket falling off in the middle of the night.
#3 and the other thing we used that I liked was the breathable mesh crib bumpers.
***
Thanks for sharing your day with us Jenny!
No comments:
Post a Comment