I was a teacher for seven years before my first baby was born.  Once Meghan made me a mama, I became a stay-at-home mom.  The first year and a half of her life was riddled with so many mixed emotions. On one hand, I loved that I was able to stay home and be with Meghan all day. I’m a control freak, and the thought of handing her over to someone else while I worked killed me. I wanted to be the one to teach her the names of her body parts, how to throw her hands up in the air and say soooo big when someone asks, How big is Meghan?!  I loved spending my days with my baby.

Somehow, even though I felt blessed to be able to stay home with Meghan, I missed my work life. I missed using my brain in challenging ways and the purpose work brought to my day beyond laundry, cooking, and playing with a baby.  It was a confusing time because I didn’t expect to miss working the way I did.

Then I discovered a little thing called blogging.  And it changed everything.

For a long time, my blog was just a hobby.  While I wasn’t making money from blogging, it still gave me a sense of purpose beyond motherhood. Sometimes, I feel guilty for even wanting that.  For needing that.  But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t.

I am passionate about my blogging topic, healthy living, and finding a way to share that passion and help other people has been an incredible experience. My blog has evolved from a hobby to a business and I’m so grateful I found this outlet. It gives me the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom and still have something else for me.  Something that brings purpose to my day, challenges me, and allows me to use my brain in different ways.

While I love that I’ve found a way to stay home with my children and have a work life, there are days when I wonder why on earth I’ve chosen this.  Running a blog while balancing my role as a mom and wife is not easy. I have to squeeze my work into every available space I can find in my day, and there’s never enough time.

This very long-winded introduction is bringing us to my second A Day in the Life post.  This is what my days are like as a work-at-home mom.  If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to be a blogger and mom, here is a very real look at what it takes.  Blogging is hard work.  Motherhood is hard work.  Put them together and sometimes we’re bordering on complete chaos.  🙂

A Day in the Life of a Blogging Mom

5:30 am

I’m awake thanks to a new app I’ve been trying, Sleep Cycle.  It’s supposed to help you wake up easier by waking you during your lightest sleep cycle (which means you have to give it a time range during which you’d like to wake up).  I think it would work better if I went to bed earlier. 😉  I woke up feeling tired.

Things I try to get in before the kids are up:

• prayer
• coffee
• breakfast
• blog work

What the blog work is depends on the day.  This was Monday, so I was working on a post that I want to get published that day.  In a perfect world, I’d have the post done and scheduled to be published before the day I want it published, but that rarely happens. I also want to get my Facebook posts scheduled for the day, so I’m working on that as well.

6:15 am

Luke wakes up early and cuts my morning alone time short.  We got Luke this “OK to Wake” alarm clock that we scheduled to light up at 7am, but he rarely makes it to that time these days.  I am absolutely terrible at being consistent and making him go back to bed. I think it would work well if I weren’t such a softie.  I get Luke his breakfast (these Banana Strawberry Yogurt Muffins) and we chat while I try to squeeze a little more blog work in. Not much gets done and I realize the post won’t be published in the morning like I hoped.

I also make my own breakfast during this time, which was sautéed sweet potato, onion, and kale with two eggs.  I had the veggies chopped ahead of time so I just had to dump them in the pan to cook.

7:00

I make Meghan’s lunch (peanut butter and jelly sandwich, carrots, bell peppers, and a clementine). Tim is up so I make him a smoothie for breakfast. He plays chess with Luke for a while and I run upstairs to get dressed. 

I wash my face, brush my teeth, get dressed, put some make up on, and fix my hair quickly.  It takes about 10 minutes.  I am volunteering at Meghan’s school later in the morning, so I have to look presentable at least. I look tired, but I think I accomplished presentable.  I hate selfies. 

7:30

Meghan is up and I get her some breakfast.  Unlike Luke, Meghan needs the alarm clock to wake her up.  She gives me a why-on-earth-are-you-taking-a-picture-of-me look. 

I have to force her to stop reading and eat or else she’d never finish her breakfast.  After she eats she gets dressed and I help her fix her hair and both kids get their teeth brushed.

8:00-9:30

I drive Meghan to school.  Luke and I stop at Kroger after because I forgot to get a few ingredients for a recipe I need to make later.  Then I bring Luke to school and head home.

9:30-10:30

I have one hour to work on my blog before I have to head back to Meghan’s school.  I try to finish my blog post and publish it, but I still don’t get it done. I post to Instagram and finish scheduling my Facebook posts.

10:30-11:30

I drive to Meghan’s school and walk her class to computer lab. I stay in the computer lab to help the teacher.

12:00

Luke is home from school and I make him his lunch.  I make my own lunch, avocado tuna salad, while he’s eating his.  Then I let him have some screen time while I take some pictures of my lunch as it’s a recipe that I’ll be sharing tomorrow.

I usually do my photo shoots while Luke is at school so I can spend more time, but today it didn’t work out that way. After I take the pictures, I eat my lunch.

1:00

We’re finally getting some warmer weather! I take Luke out to play. He rides his bike for a while and we play with his “boomerang.”

2:15

Lately Luke is wanting to skip his naps more than take his naps.  There are some days when it’s okay, but I know when he definitely needs a nap. This was one of those days.  I find he’s more likely to fall asleep if I lay with him for a minute, so I do that today to make sure he falls asleep.  Probably the best part of my day.

I dozed for about 15 minutes (glorious!) and when I woke up Luke was fast asleep.  I felt refreshed and went downstairs to get some green tea and get to work.

2:30-3:30

I have one hour to work on my blog again.  Tim is picking up Meghan from school, so I can use that time to squeeze in more work. I finally finish and publish the blog post–hooray! I also wade through my endless email inbox (both personal and blog email) and answer a few emails and try to delete what I don’t need.

3:30-4:30

Meghan’s home and I get her a snack and help her get started on her homework.  While she does her homework, I make dinner (which we will eat later). I’ve been working on a system where I create recipes that I can prep ahead of time to cut the time I need to spend at dinnertime down.  So far, it’s been working fantastically.  Life lately is so hectic that I don’t have as much time to spend on dinner, but you know I won’t compromise having healthy homemade dinners.  So the dinner takes about 20 minutes to make and then I let it cool and put it in the fridge for later.

4:30-5:00

I head out for a quick, slow-paced run. I don’t know why but I just can’t seem to run very fast lately.  I’m just happy to fit the run in.  My Garmin watch tells me my distance and pace.

5:15-7:00

Meghan has her first track practice tonight.  I help her get ready and drive her there, wait for her to finish, and drive her home.

7:00

We are home and I quickly heat up the dinner.  We eat dinner as a family.

7:30-8:00

Tim cleaned up the kitchen while I snuck upstairs to get a shower in. Then I helped clean up/declutter the main living area.

8:00-8:30

We’re trying to get the kids in bed by 8:00, but it’s tough! We do the bedtime routine and they are in bed by 8:30. I put Meghan to bed and Tim puts Luke to bed, something we switch off nightly.

8:30-9:30

I’m basically toast by this time, so any substantial blog work does not normally get done after the kids are in bed.  I work on scheduling my Pinterest pins for the week, which is mindless work. I do that while hanging out with Tim and watching TV. Multi-tasking, as usual. My eyes can’t stay open a minute longer, so I am off to bed.

I have a cool bonus for you today!

Some of my work-at-home friends have also shared a post with the story of their days!

Stop by their sites and see how what their days look like!

Jen Rudd The Halfway Homemaker

Elaine Mingus RadicalChristianWoman.com

Sarah Mueller Early Bird Mom

Laura Smith I Heart Planners

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