A Typical Snow Day for a Young Mother

On Saturday night we had a wonderful dinner and visit with our friends the Gonzalezes in St. George.  We absolutely love spending time with them.  Their kids are adorable and so sweet to our girls, Kelsey always feeds us like royalty and the conversations with Ever and Kelsey are always stimulating, honest, amusing and enjoyable.  So grateful to have them as friends!

So while we were visiting we had a discussion about working mothers and myself being a stay-at-home mom.  Kelsey has had the amazing opportunity to be able to get a job teaching biology at Dixie State University, something she has wanted to do forever.  I am so happy for her that she has been able to work out a schedule so that Ever or her Mom can be with the kids when she is teaching.  It's a great setup for them.  As the conversation evolved, Ever asked if I wanted to be working and seemed surprised when I said no and told him how much I love being home with the girls.  Later as I thought about our conversation, I realized that I had instantly felt a need to justify my decision to be home, as if saying that I would rather be home than working equated to laziness or a lack of ambition.  I felt that I was walking a delicate wire, trying to explain why I felt it was important for me to be home and keeping my career on hold without it ever coming across as judgmental of any other mother's choice to work.  It is not that I wouldn't enjoy working.  I am so excited for the day I can teach English again and feel like I am making a difference in the lives of teenagers before they embark into the "real world", but as I've said on here before, I have seen the effects of a mother in the home from my own family as well as Burke's family and I want to create that same environment for my children.

I was still thinking about this conversation as I began a new week Monday morning and had to laugh when I realized, even if I wanted to be working, I don't know how or when I would do it based on just one typical day at home.  So, I decided to do a little documentation of our day.  It wasn't glamorous and this is obviously just an outline, but it made me realize how crazy busy we are almost every day.  And this is only with TWO kids!!  Sometimes I am utterly blown away that my parents had EIGHT children.  I don't know how they did it and still managed to help us all feel loved and important.  I also was reminded while documenting our day how much I LOVE being a stay-at-home mom.  I feel so fulfilled and full of joy to be able to take care of my little ladies each day.  I love teaching them, playing with them and nurturing them.  The disciplining is certainly challenging and the house work (dishes especially!) can become tedious, but I love making our house a home filled with cleanliness, learning, love and laughter.

So without further adieu, here was our day!

A Typical Snow Day for a Young Mother

Monday, February 23, 2015

4:00 AM – Feed Darcie – try to get back to sleep and drift off around 5

6:00 – Burke rolls out of bed – try to get back to sleep and drift off around 6:15ish

6:30 – Daphne wakes up and comes in to greet me with lovies.  Send her downstairs where Burke is reading scriptures/exercising – try to go back to sleep and drift off around 6:45ish

7:00 - 7:15 - Burke dashes in from a shower to get dressed, I roll out of bed and we say prayers with Daphne.  Help get him out the door and wave bye-bye while Daphne blows kisses and calls "I love you! Buh-bye! See you next later!" as he drives away.

7:15 - 7:30 – Make Daphne eggs and toast.  Wash berries and put them on the table.  Finish  my own toast and eggs and bring it to the table.  Daphne says she’s full – toast has one bite, eggs have two and berries are completely gone.  She runs off to get her stuffed animals while I wash more berries and sit down to eat.

7:30 - 8:00 – Read scriptures with Daphne, explain what it means.  Read library books.  Look out the window and realize that with the blizzard of snow, I need to shovel or we may not get out of the driveway in an hour to get to preschool.  Miraculously Darcie is still sleeping.  Set Daph up with books to entertain her.  Throw on snow clothes, dash outside. 

8:00 – 8:45 – Brush snow off car, scrape windows, shovel driveway.  Repeatedly check on the girls.  Throw Daphne in clothes and pigtails, brush teeth.  Darcie wakes up.  Quickly change her diaper and buckle her in the carseat cocooned with warm blankies.  Take Daph to preschool 5 mins late.

9:15 – Return home.  Wipe up kitchen floor from puddles of snow tracked inside.  Feed Darcie, read her baby books and coo together.  Lay down on the floor with Darcie for tummy time.  Freak out when she almost rolls over and realize she will be somewhat mobile any day now.

9:45 – Do breakfast dishes, wipe down counters.  Listen to a general conference talk while cleaning.

10:00 – Change Darcie’s diaper, get her dressed, sing to her and lay her down for her morning nap. Personal prayer.

10:15 – 10:45 - Make our bed, tidy bedroom, tidy living room, tidy girls room, tidy bathroom.  Sweep kitchen.

10:45 – Check email.  No time to respond as… Darcie wakes up, put on coats, leave to pick up Daphne from preschool.

11:10 – Return home.  Wipe up kitchen floor from puddles of snow tracked inside.  Review what Daphne learned at preschool.  Help Daphne make bed, put away jammies and feed the fish.  

11:20 – LeeAnn arrives with Aubrey.  Visit for a few minutes before LeeAnn leaves to teach her class.   Wipe up kitchen floor from puddles of snow tracked inside.  Girls run off to play.  Mediate a toy argument.  Help Aubrey go potty.  Girls play piano and ask for a song.  Play a few songs from the children's primary song book while they dance and laugh.

11:45 - Prepare lunch and smoothies, try to feed girls. 

12:00 – 12:30 – Feed Darcie – try to feed girls.  Burke gets home.  Wipe up kitchen floor from puddles of snow tracked inside.  Make lunch for the adults.  Try to feed girls. Finally eat my lunch.

12:45 – Burke returns to work – try to feed girls.  Help Daphne go potty.

1:15 – 1:30 – Find winter accessories. Dress girls in snow clothes – send them out to play.  Change Darice’s diaper and put her down for a nap.  Check on girls.  Aubrey needs to go potty again.  Undo snow clothes.  Potty.  Redo snow clothes.  Check on Daphne and send Aubrey back  outside – Daphne’s gloves have fallen off.  Help her put them on again. 

1:30 – 1:45 - Wipe up kitchen floor from puddles of snow tracked inside.  Clean up dishes and kitchen from lunch.  Finally take a bathroom break. Realize I’ve never done my hair, throw it in a pony tail.  Track down all my winter gear, turn the baby monitor on and plug the other monitor in outside. 

1:45 – 2:30. Start to roll a ball for the girls’ snowman.  Hear Darcie crying inside.  Return inside, take off boots, sooth her.  Put boots back on.  Return outside.  Play with the girls for a good 30 minutes attempting to build a snowman.  Frequently put gloves and hats back on.  Dry tears when snow gets in faces.  Hear Darcie crying.  Return inside, take off snow gear, try to warm hands before picking her up.  Change diaper.

2:30 – 3:00 – Girls are cold.  Come inside and help them remove all snow gear.  Try to contain melting snow.  Help Aubrey go potty again.  Prepare a snack.  Feed girls.  Wipe up kitchen floor from puddles of snow tracked inside.

3:00 – 3:20 – Feed Darcie while girls play.  Try to moderate minor arguments from the couch while feeding baby.

3:20 – 3:40 – LeeAnn returns.  Visit for a few minutes – gather Aubrey’s things and say goodbye. Wipe up kitchen floor from puddles of snow tracked inside.

3:40 – 4:00 – Read books to Daphne and Darcie on the couch.

4:00 – 4:15 – Change Darcie’s diaper, but her down for a nap.  Realize I have a meeting at our house in an hour and am still a sweaty mess from shoveling and snow play.  Give Daphne permission to play “Reading with Zach the Rat” on the Ipad and jump in the shower.

4:15 – 4:45 – Get dressed, blow dry hair, get Daph off the Ipad, begin preparing dinner.

4:50 – 5:10 – Burke gets home from work.  Wipe up kitchen floor from puddles of snow tracked inside.  Send Daphne out to play with him in the snow.  Darcie wakes up.  Finish making dinner.  Apply makeup.

5:10 – 6:00 – Ladies arrive for Relief Society activity meeting/planning.  Delegate assignments.  Say goodbye.  Wipe up floor from puddles of snow tracked inside.

6:00 – 6:30 – Eat dinner, feed Darcie, clean up kitchen from dinner.  Leave dishes in sink.

6:30 – 7:00 – Family Home Evening Lesson.  Play “The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game” as a family.  Read more stories.

7:00 – 8:00 – Help Daphne clean up toys from afternoon with Aubrey.  Change Darcie’s diaper.  Get girls in PJ’s, brush Daphne’s teeth.  Daph says she’s still hungry.  Feed her a roll.  Brush teeth again.  Say bedtime prayer with Daphne.  Burke plays the guitar and we sing a couple of songs together.  Last hugs and kisses.  Tuck Daphne in bed.  Get changed into my PJs.  Daphne comes out of her room.  Put her back to bed.  Brush my teeth.  Hear Daphne’s lamp click on.  Go in her room, turn off lamp, tuck her in bed again.  Talk with her about her day for a few minutes.  LAST hugs and kisses.

8:00 – 8:30 – Darcie acting hungry again.  Feed her a supplementary bottle of formula.  Play with her as Burke and I begin our nightly study on the Ipad of the Old Testament (Mathew 25 with awesome supplements, cross references to the Book of Mormon, and conference links).  Get a few verses in and Darcie starts to stink.  Change her diaper.  Lay her down for bed.

8:30 – 9:30 – Keep attempting to read scriptures while taking turns checking on and soothing Darcie who is refusing to go to sleep and is having a freakout.  Finally Burke tries to give her another bottle.  She eats a couple of ounces and cries some more.  Finally falls asleep in my arms – we drift off too!

9:30 – 10:30 – Transfer Darcie to crib.  Wake Burke up to finish scripture study.  Say prayers together and individually.  Fall asleep around 10:00.  Wake up to Darcie crying again at 10:20.  Change yet another blow out diaper.  Wrap her up and cross my fingers.  She stays asleep!

10:30 – Snuggle with Burkie and talk a little about our days, how much we love the girls and all the cute things they do.  Feel so grateful for my wonderful husband and our happy life – tell him so.  Fall asleep.

The funny thing about this day is that we were home almost the entire day!  This doesn't include all the times we have to run errands, get groceries, etc.  This doesn't include serving neighbors, cleaning the house, teaching Daphne during our "tot school" every other day.  This doesn't include art projects, phone calls, updating the budget, paying bills, etc.  And it certainly doesn't include when I can squeeze in 20 minutes of exercise, showering/tubbies for the girls, actually doing my hair, etc.  And just to reiterate...this is with TWO kids, no homework, soccer practice, science fairs and more.  Major kuddos to all those moms who manage to work and take care of their families and homes as well.  I can't even imagine trying to juggle all those responsibilities.  

So...on a closing note, here is the video clip that had me laughing one instant and crying the next and sums up beautifully that we are all doing what works best for our family.  And for me, that is being at home, but for you it might be a completely different set up.

Seriously though...I just watched this again for probably the 4th time.  I know what's going to happen and I STILL have tears on my cheeks!  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me9yrREXOj4