A Day in the Life of One 5-9 Mom

I cannot say I envy the life of a full-time mom. 

For one, I cannot spend 24-7 with any person/thing, let alone with a baby, however much I love him. But as reality has it, our family cannot afford a stay-home mom, and therefore it often come at the expense of my time and career advancement. (What career?! You said.)

In case you are curious, this is what my typical (good) day looks like:

• 530-6am – Woken up by the Little Guy 
• 6-610am – Trying to wake up (or stay asleep?) while the Little Guy crawls all over you 
• 610-730am – Feed, clean, change the Little Guy while still trying to wake up. Also prepare Little Guy’s lunchbox, if that wasn’t done the night before. Often around this time Ah-Gong and Ah-Ma (grandparents) will call a billion times to get a 2-minute (so they said, it usually end up to be 20 minutes) Facetime with Little Guy. 
• 730-8am – Take turns with Dad to shower while keep Little Guy out of the toilet and away from toilet paper. And get ready for school/work. 
• 8-830am – Daycare drop-off. Often times get pushed out the door before you even get a proper kiss goodbye from Little Guy. 
• 830-9am – Commute. The true alone time you have. 
• 9am-5pm – Work work work. Dealing with other whinny babies who are not related to you. Oh yah, sometimes I need to use lunch time to run an errand, buy grocery, or participate in the seems-like-once-a-week parent-teacher conference that always happens during work hour. 
• 5-540pm – Commute. Not as leisurely this time as it often involves battling traffic and trying to make it to daycare before Little Guy becomes the last to be picked up. 
• 6-610pm – Pick-up. 
• 610-7pm – Grocery shopping or playground. I feel like I go to Trader Joe’s daily. And always to get organic whole milk. 
• 7-730pm – Change out of work clothes within 30 second. Let the Puppy go out to potty and play. Unpack Little Guy’s lunchbox, make Little Guy’s dinner, wash bottles, unload dishwasher, load dishwasher (with new dirty dishes), feed Little Guy, have Little Guy reject your food, make more food, coerce/bribe with the feeding, clean the house, make fresh bottles, play with Little Guy. Oh, and don’t forget to feed the Puppy. 
• 730-8pm – Bath Little Guy. And lots of play. 
• 8pm – Put Little Guy to bed. 
• 8-830pm – Prepare and eat dinner. Often fast food or quick meal, hence the unhealthy weight gain. 
• 830-10pm – Work if needed. Otherwise laundry, prepare Little Guy’s lunchbox, cuddle with the Puppy, read books or do 10 minutes of Pilates if lucky. 
• 10pm-6am – Exhausted. Sleep, unless woken up by Little Guy demanding to eat every 2 hours or hysterical cry due to gassy tummy or constipation, then you can kiss sleep good-bye. 

Now now, don’t get over-excited about the 8pm-6am “free” time. This is the best case scenario. It is when Little Guy is HAPPY AND HEALTHY, Dad is not traveling, and work does not require after-hour meeting or dinner. 

Wash, rinse, repeat!