Sunday, May 6, 2012

12 of 30

Described a typical day in your life.

I think one of the hardest things of being a stay at home mom is that it never feels like there is a typical day.  I don't clock in at 8 and clock out at 5.  I don't have my meals at the same time every day.  I miss following my printed schedule five days a week at Challenger, I was able to get so much done.  I have tried to recreate something of a schedule, and it has helped me a lot, I just have to remind myself to be flexible with every hour of my day, because I never what surprises are in store for me on any particular day.  So my desired typical day assuming nothing out of the ordinary happens would go as follows.

6:30 -  wake up, pray, shower, dress, read scriptures, make bed, personal time for watching church media, writing in my journal, reading the Ensign or working on Personal Progress.
8:00 -  the boys are allowed out of their rooms (yes I said allowed - mean mom) we gather for family prayer, send Jared off to work and eat breakfast.  While the boys finish breakfast I unload and load the dishes.  When they finish we do "letters and numbers".  We work on flashcards, worksheets, handwriting, cutting, songs, memorizing scriptures and Articles of Faith, and learning games.
9:30 -  Fit Stop to train for my upcoming 5K while the boys go to the day care - LOVE this time of my day!
11:00 -  One, or several of the following; drop Brandon off at preschool, ASL with Grant and Ms. Mindy, Speech Therapy with Grant and Ms. Karen, visiting teaching, errands (recycling, bank, post office, shopping, etc.) or just play time at home with one or both boys
1:30 - One, or more of the following: pick Brandon up from preschool, more errands, lunch, chores around the house, walk the dogs, play outside
2:30 - One, or more of the following; read the boys a few stories, then put them down for naps, teach piano lessons, more household chores, make phone calls, prepare lessons and activities for family or young women's, work on projects (crafts, decorating, organizing, gardening, etc.) explore the Internet.
6:00 -  Make dinner
6:30 -  Eat dinner with the family (family style serving:) )  My other favorite part of the day!!
7:00 -  Play with the boys, or Family Home Evening, or go to meetings and mutual
8:30 -  Put one of the boys to bed by; brushing teeth, reading scriptures, saying prayers, reading stories, visiting, etc. etc. etc. (Jared and I take turns each night with who we put to bed, on odd numbered days I put Brandon to bed and Jared takes care of Grant and then on even numbered days we switch)
9:00 -  watch tv, update my blog, veg on the couch.
11:00 - get ready for bed, couple scripture study and prayer, personal prayer, and the inevitable but always enjoyable days end conversation with Jared.
12:00 -  Hopefully, going to sleep. :) (Right now it is 11:40 and I am still typing while Jared is reading a book outside with the dogs - midnight bedtime, yeah right, this needs to change.)

That is a very rough outline of my day, each day is joyfully interrupted by play dates with friends or family, phone conversations, doctors and dentist appointments, and everything else life can throw at you.  Keep things exciting, and unorganized :)

While I am on this topic of how I spend my days I want to share a thought or frustration I realized the other day.  With Grant's speech I read that the more one on one time I can devote to him the better off his improvements would be.  I mentioned this to my visiting teacher who just had her seventh baby a few weeks ago.  She offered (insisted) to take Brandon for me for a few hours here and there during each week so that I could focus on the one on one time with Grant.  It has been most helpful and wonderful and eye opening.  Because of her circumstances I don't feel like I can do anything else like; housework, blogging, etc, that I would like to do with Brandon out of my way, I am kind of forced to play with Grant.  While I am playing with Grant working on his speech and having so much fun with all his wonderful toys I find myself feeling guilty that I am "waisting" my time because I am not cleaning the house or crossing something off my to do list.  How messed up is that.  I wish somehow playing with, reading with, spending time with, or just listening too our children had a visible or tangible and immediate result; something so that at the end of the day I could say - look at what I did, I accomplished something.  It is silly, but still a reality.  I need to give  myself credit where credit is due and get past my check list nature so that I can really be a mom to my children.

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