For today's installment of 'a day in the life,' you get a peek at what Heather is up to. Enjoy!
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Hi everyone! My name is Heather and I blog over at Hold My Heart. I've been married to my husband Jared for the last 3.5 years, and we have a sweet little boy Rowan who is almost 17 months old. I'm also pregnant with our second child, a baby girl named Briar - and she's due in July. I'm so excited to share what our days together are like with you! Being a stay at home mom isn't glamourous but it's so rewarding, and I feel really blessed to be able to experience this.
So here is how our Monday went, but it could be any old week-day...
7:00am- I hear Rowan wake up on the monitor. But he's happy and just talking to himself so I let him roll around for a bit while I try to wake up.
7:35- Rowan gives me a huge smile and hug around the neck...perfect way to start the day. I change his diaper, and grab the wet bag of dirty dipes from yesterday and bring them downstairs with us.
Then I get Rowan his cup of milk, and load all the coffee cups from bible study last night into the dishwasher. My nesting is in full swing...one dirty sock on the floor is enough to drive me batty. My house is never usually so clean!
While I'm loading the dishwasher and cutting up fruit, Rowan is splashing his milk out of his sippy all onto the dining room floor and chairs. I have him clean it up, and then go back to getting us breakfast.
Thankfully, last night I made a hashbrown/egg/ham/cheese bake so I don't need to cook this morning.
8:10- I go get R to eat. He's playing with his water table (no water in it) in the playroom. I take his beloved keys and put him in his high chair, turn on Curious George and say "eat your food" five thousand times. He's not a big breakfast eater.
He's crying for the car keys... kid plays with them ALL day, pretending they're a tool to fix things.
9:00am- Rowan is finally done eating. I turn on Pandora so we can listen to some music, and then bring him over to the sink to wash up. Once he's dried off and running around, I go back and clean off the high chair and sweep the floor.
Our house is a split level, so the foyer, playroom and laundry room/half bath are on the first level. There are two short sets of stairs leading up to the living, dining and kitchen. Then a long set of stairs up to the four bedrooms and two baths. We let Rowan run around the first two levels and gate off the long stairs.
So after I get the breakfast mess all cleaned, we go down to the play room, and I fold laundry off and on while we play.
It's 30 degrees out and he's already begging to go outside for the day.
So we pretend we're outside instead ;)
I fold laundry, we blow bubbles, read books, and play cars for the next hour.
10:15am- I take R upstairs, he goes pee on his potty and gets a new diaper, and we look at another book. I change his clothes, brush teeth, and he lays down for a nap.
10:30- He's not asleep, but he's not crying... so I go wash my face, brush my teeth and hair, and get dressed.
Comfy clothes and no make up for being home all day are the usual around here.
Rowan is still playing around, so I figure he's done his morning poop and is waiting to get changed before he'll go to sleep. I was right. Once I go flush the liner (yes, even poop in cloth diapers can be THAT easy!) and check the video monitor, I see he's asleep.
11:00am- I get my notebook and Bible, sit on my bed and read 1 Peter 4, which was what our pastor taught on yesterday in church. I spend some time in prayer, and then in half an hour I'm ready to take a quick nap myself.
Jared is on his lunch break at work and texts me, so we end up texting for the next half an hour instead. I love getting to talk to him for a little bit while he's at work! We talk about a difficult family situation we've been dealing with for a few minutes, and about how next week is our dating anniversary from high school, NINE years ago. Woa! How has it been so long?? We also decide we need to spend some more quality time together, and J told me he was thinking we should go to an orchestra concert at a near by college. For now, we decide a bubble bath together once the baby is asleep would be awesome.
12:30- Rowan's awake! I get more happy hugs, and we go down stairs and I start lunch.
Rowan gets some pizza muffin, some mac n cheese, and a nutrigrain bar. I eat a bowl of peanut butter Captain Crunch, because that's the only thing that sounds good to me at all. Then I peel a few apples, and pop them in the oven with some cinnamon and brown sugar for a snack later.
1:30- We're done with lunch. I rinse and repeat the clean-up routine, and switch the cloth diapers over to the dryer. While I'm doing that- Rowan is escaping out the front door. Thankfully, I catch him just as he's walking onto the front porch. We need to get some dead-bolts for our doors, because he is SO obsessed with getting out!
It's warm enough, so we get on our shoes and hats and head across the street to the play ground. We're blessed to have a head start right on our road so we can take advantage of the play ground almost every day! It's still super windy though, which is so irritating. It's April and it's still so cold!!
R is thrilled to get to go out!
Thankfully, even though I'm pretty big, I'm still able to run around with him. We go down the slides together...even the biggest twisty slide. I basically let him choose where he wants to go, and let him run as he pleases.
2:30- We head back home. It's still pretty chilly with the wind and the preschoolers came out, so it was time to go!
We play some more down stairs. Rowan asks to color but gets bored with it fairly quickly. He's starting to get crabby, so even though I doubt he'll take a second nap I bring him up to try. He goes pee on the potty, and then lays down.
3:15- Jared calls me on his way home from work and we talk for a few minutes until he gets home. Rowan isn't going to sleep (big surprise...) so I get him up. He plays with J for a few minutes, and then we give him a snack in his high chair so that we can continue our conversation in peace for a little longer.
Then we all snack and play and make a big mess for a few hours. Today, we pushed all of the couches together, got out a ton of pillows and blankets from the linen closet and jumped around on the couch.
Watching the rain...
5:30- I look at the recipe I was planning to make on my phone, and realize that I don't have some of the ingredients I need. I tell J that means he can make us something instead :) J makes us pirogues.
6:30- We sit down to eat. Rowan refuses to even try one bite of his dinner. We give him some other veggies to try... and he spits them all out. I give in and make him grilled cheese, which he eats. With a lot of silly faces and pretend snoring. He's such a ham! But man, this stage of picky eating is not so fun. He used to be such a great eater... now he basically just wants cheese. Ugh! I'm hoping it's just a stage.
7:30- Jared and I do a quick clean up together. He unloads the dish washer while I take care of Rowan's radius of food hurricane left around the high chair. Then I reload the dish washer, and do a quick sweep and wipe down counters.
We go to the play room and play for an hour. J rolls around on the floor with Rowan and they're ridiculously silly together. It melts my heart.
8:15- Bed time! Rowan sits on the potty (won't go this time) and then gets his night time diaper on. That just means I add a hemp insert into the pocket for overnight absorbency. He gets his binky, picks a story, and lays down without a fuss. By 8:30 he's out. :)
Usually, at this point, Jared and I head down stairs and turn on one of our shows to watch... How I Met Your Mother, Friends, or anything else interesting on netflix (usually nothing!) and we talk, go on our phones, snack, and fall asleep on the couch.
Tonight, I'm blogging and then getting into a bubble bath which I've been looking forward to all day.
What is the most surprising thing to you about being a mom?
Hmm.. I guess the most surprising thing is just how drastically your life changes! You KNOW that having a baby will change things, but you really have no idea who that little person is going to be or how they're going to dictate every minute of your life for a while. You have to find new ways to run your house, communicate with your husband, take care of yourself, and maintain outside relationships. and it's freaking hard! But it's overwhelmingly worth it. Being a mom is the most amazing thing I've experienced.
What advice would you give to new or soon-to-be mamas?
Not to make so many plans. Don't have so many ideas about the things you think that you'll NEVER do. Looking at other moms and thinking you'll never be that way. Just be open to doing what works for your family, and figuring out what that is as you go.
- We love our video monitor!! We have the Summer Infant brand, and though it's not great and we're planning on upgrading, it's seriously been so useful even at this point.
- The jumperoo is also awesome. R would still be jumping in it if we let him!
- We have a Baby Trend Jogging stroller that I adore. It maneuvers so easily and is light weight and easy to fold up. Love it!
Thanks so much for letting me share our day with you! I hope you'll head on over to my blog if you want more updates on our little family and pregnancy posts :)
Thanks so much to Ashley for hosting me!!!
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Thank you, Heather, for sharing your day with us!
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