A Day in Our Life — kendra

Life as a mom can sometimes feel like groundhogs day, and other times has you yearning for ground hogs day. We've gotten into a pretty solid routine (for now) so I thought I'd share a little day-in-the-life for us. If this makes you snore, I totally get it. You have my full permission to move right along ;)

The kids typically wake up between 7 & 7:30. Some mornings, I'll get up at 5:30 and work/get ready before they're up, and other mornings, I rely on them as my alarm clock ;) It just depends on how late we were in bed the night before. Collin is typically out of the house early so we usually don't see him more than one or two mornings a week. The kids play upstairs for a bit and sometimes will watch a cartoon while we all wake up.

Usually by 8:00 we head downstairs and start breakfast. They're pretty opinionated about the breakfast menu, so we range from smoothies to cereal, oatmeal, fruit & pastries, pancakes or french toast and at least once a week, we bail on breakfast at home and do a quick Starbucks run (obv my favorite option). I don't obsess about the breakfast mess, as I will tackle whatever remains while the kids are eating lunch.

Once breakfast is wrapped up, we head upstairs and spend the next 30-40 minutes trying to get ready for the day. This is typically the most frantic part of our day, and I've tried so many ways to avoid the mad rush, but it almost never fails. Baylor has preschool two mornings a week, and on those days, we have to be pulling out of the driveway by 8:40. Otherwise, we're usually out of the house around 9 to run errands, do ballet class, play at the park or meet friends for a play date.

We do stay home some days and have a jammie day, but I find that the kids and I are all much happier if we just leave the house - even if it's only for 30 minutes. And here's what I've found with kids: it doesn't have to be some big magnificent outing. My kids are entertained with Starbucks & the grocery store. I used to put so much pressure on myself to entertain them, but the reality is, they just want to be together!

We're usually back home between by 12:00 or 12:15. The kids eat lunch as soon as we get home and I make sure the kitchen is picked up, the dishwasher is unloaded & ready for dinner time dishes, and will try to cram in a quick snack/lunch. Everyone is in their beds for naps by 12:45 - something I'm totally hardcore about. The kids all still nap for the most part - Baylor will have a "rest period" one or two days a week, but otherwise still naps pretty consistently (he'll be 5 in June). He's always been my best sleeper and will usually nap until 3:30 or 4. The girls are up between 3 & 3:30. I almost always throw in a load of laundry before nap time. After that, I'm pedal to the medal: working on orders, projects or emails. I literally don't leave my desk until someone wakes up.

Once someone is awake (Bellamy is almost always first), I shut down my work for the afternoon and head downstairs to get snacks. The kids watch one show while they eat a snack & wake up and then we turn the tv off & play. I try to pick up the house, get things organized and switch laundry. They'll play outside if it's nice, otherwise, I try to fill this time with an art project, a craft, or playdoh - something that will keep there attention for awhile. They'll usually wander upstairs and play in the playroom for a bit or irritate each other as much as they can until someone snaps :)

I'm working on getting dinner going at this point and if all goes accordingly, Collin usually walks in the door right at my breaking point. Ha! He travels quite a bit for work so on the nights he's not home, I try to keep dinners quick & simple. If he is home, he'll entertain the kids for 15-20 minutes while I get dinner finished.

We usually sit down for dinner around 5:30 and eat together as a family. This is something that's really important to us and we do every night. We turn on some music, visit with each other & the kids and make a conscious effort to have uninterrupted family time. Even when Collin's out of town, the kids and I will sit together. Some always spills their water, Winnie is always a disaster by the time dinner's over, but it's always worth the effort.

After dinner, one of us does dishes/cleans up while the other does bath time with the kids. The kids love to shower so we let them all run wild in our big shower, and if I'm doing baths/shower, I use this time to fold/put away laundry, clean the bathroom or put random toys away that have wandered from their homes :) Once everyone is clean and there's a satisfying amount of water splashed onto the bathroom floor, we do jammies and quiet time. Sometimes, we'll watch a movie, other times the kids will play quietly or read books. Winnie goes down between 7 & 7:30 and the older kids are typically in their beds by 8:15.

Bedtime varies between total chaos and absolute peace - some nights are much easier than others :)

Once the kids are down, Collin and I will sit down together and catch up for at least 15 minutes. Then we'll turn on a show, work, or just go to bed (because...exhaustion). If Collin's out of town, I usually work for an hour, sometimes I'll take a nice hot shower without interruption and other times, I'll park myself on the sofa with a pint of ice cream and bury myself in the Real Housewives.

I will say this: the days feel long & sometimes I want to hide in the closet, but the little moments in between the chaos are worth it all. Being a mom has always been my passion and I really feel blessed.