Everyday Life…

Well, let me just say that I feel like I haven’t sat still in 2 days straight! Sunday night I decided that I would get this whole “2011 goal thing” underway so I got out my cleaning schedule, put it in a sheet protector, and hung it on the fridge. If I see it everyday, I will do it! If it’s in a binder, I will never open it! :) For those of you wondering what a chore list is or what I do each week, see below… And, these are just my weekly chores. I also have a list of daily and monthly chores as well, but I’ll try not to overwhelm you all at once! … P.S. – Sunday chores usually get done on Monday, which might be why I’m so overwhelmed come Tuesday. :) Just a thought!

Mom's Chore List: Weekly Chores

Sunday

o Pantry inventory

o Coupon/Grocery List

o Plan menu for week

o Check "Master To-do List"

Monday

o Linen laundry

o Baby laundry

o Grocery shop

o Windex sliding glass door

Tuesday

o Clean toilets

o Windex bathroom mirrors

o Wipe down bathroom sinks & counters

o Vacuum upstairs

Wednesday

o Clothing laundry

o Vacuum stairwell

o Dust living room

Thursday

o Sweep front and back porch

o Dust master bedroom

o Dust Cori's room

Friday

o Vacuum upstairs

o Mop

o Update budget

Saturday

o Pick one thing from monthly chore list

o Wash dog

 

Remember, this is supposed to help me NOT feel overwhelmed because “if I do a little everyday, I won’t have to do it ALL in one day.” And, actually, I don’t feel overwhelmed, I just feel like I’m constantly going and going and going and going! I guess when you throw a one year old into the mix, there’s really no break. Let me just give you a peak into my Monday…

Wake up at 7:00. Throw in a load of laundry. Read the bible and journal until 7:45. Cori starts crying. Maverick runs to her door and begins wagging his tail ON THE DOOR and it’s so loud you can’t think! Greet Cori and pick her up. She smells AWFUL and you immediately change a poopy diaper. Take off her PJ’s and find something for her to wear. Dress her while she wiggles around like a worm. Sing the Hokey Pokey because it helps her focus on putting her clothes on. Put her in the high chair and listen to her wail while you make a scrambled egg for HER. Shovel cereal into your mouth while she eats her egg. Then, make her a bowl of oatmeal. She reminds you that you didn’t pray and so you pray before feeding her oatmeal. Wipe her hands and face with a wet rag while singing “wash your hands” to a tune you made up yourself. Put her on the floor with her Sippy cup of milk, hoping she will finish it while playing for a few minutes. Brush your teeth. Put on gym clothes. Take Maverick outside with baby on hip. Put on your shoes and Cori’s shoes. Make sure the diaper bag has diapers, wipes, an extra paci, your wallet and your cell phone. Search for cell phone. Find cell phone. It’s 8:50 and you’re headed for the car to go to gym class. You have to stay in some kind of shape! Arrive at the gym at 9:13. Hurry, class starts in 2 minutes. Drop off Cori in the nursery. Katie (gym class instructor) kicks your butt for an hour and 15 minutes. Pick Cori up from the nursery. Put her in the car. Drive home. Upon arriving home, Cori is asleep in the backseat. Carefully take her out of the car, up the stairs, and put her into bed without waking her. It’s almost 11:00 am. Take a shower. Get dressed for the day. Dry your hair. Put on makeup so you look halfway decent. Add some jewelry to that outfit so you can sport your business in public. Move laundry to dryer and throw in another load. Sit down at the computer (ahhh… sit down!) and pull up southernsavers.com to find the newest weekly deals at Publix. Base your dinner schedule for the week off what’s on sale. Search for coupons (online & in weekly newspaper add) to go with sale items. Make grocery list. **Usually takes an hour!** It’s 12:30 and Cori is waking up. Greet her. Change diaper. Make her lunch – possibly left over broccoli and chicken pasta from last night. There is only enough for her. Grab a yogurt for yourself. Get all coupons and grocery list together and packed in diaper bag. Double check you have everything. Search for cell phone. Find cell phone. Cori is crying because she’s finished and you’ve left her in her highchair. Wet a paper towel to clean her face and hands. Sing “wash your hands” song. Wipe down her hair as it’s full of broccoli. YUM! Let Maverick lick the remainder of her lunch off the high chair. Grab Publix bags and head for the grocery store. Arrive at the grocery store by 1:30. Wipe down cart to disinfect. Put Cori in cart. Buckle in. Throw bags and diaper bag in the back of the cart. Pull out grocery list and coupons. Stop at the bakery to get a cookie for Cori. Begin shopping. Stop multiple times to remind Cori to stay seated. Stop and take Cori out of the cart to let her walk for a bit. Put her back in. Tell her you are almost done. She has no clue what you are saying. Finish shopping. Head to checkout. See bill after groceries have been rung up. Freak out. Hand the cashier your stack of coupons. Sigh relief when you see your new total. Pay in CASH because you are now on a cash system. Pray there will be enough left in your grocery envelope to make it through the month! Put groceries in the car. Put baby in the car. Drive home. Upon arriving home, make 3 trips up and down the stairs holding Cori and taking the groceries up. It’s almost 3:00 pm. Cori is getting fussy because she’s hungry and tired again. Quickly put away perishable items. Make Cori a 6 oz bottle of warm milk. Feed her. Put her down for her second nap. Finish unloading the groceries. Pull dry laundry out of dryer. Throw on the couch. Put wet laundry in the dryer. Fold dry laundry. Realize that some of it needs to be ironed. Pull out iron and ironing board. Iron. Put clothes on dining room table because they are Cori’s and you can’t put them away until she wakes up. Put ironing board and iron away. Windex the sliding glass door. Put away toys that are spewed all over your living room floor from Cori playing earlier in the day. It’s 4:15 pm. Pull out ingredients needed for dinner. Start dinner preparations. Beep. Laundry is done. Pull dry laundry out. Throw on couch. It’s only linens so nothing needs ironing. Fold. Put away. Cori is waking. Greet her. Change diaper. Make her a bowl of blueberries and turn on her Praise Baby DVD. Finish dinner preparations and put it in the oven. Put Cori’s clothes away. Turn off TV. Spend some time purposefully playing with Cori while dinner cooks. Read books over and over and over and over again while Cori listens and turns the pages with delight. Do a puzzle. Read another book. Play with baby dolls. Pretend to talk to one another on fake cell phones. Cori crawls all over you because she loves you. Smile. Tickle her and listen to her contagious laughter. Roll the soccer ball back and forth. Watch her walk from place to place. Smile. Read another book. It’s 6:00 pm. Dinner is ready. Sit down to eat at 6:30. Bless the food. Eat with Cori at the table. She thinks your food tastes better than her food, even though it’s the same. Show her it’s the same. She decides to eat her food. At 7:00, dinner is finished. Wash her hands and face while singing “wash your hands” song. Pull her out of her high chair and tell her it’s bath time. She immediately runs for the tub. Leave the dinner mess on the table to clean up later. Spend 30 minutes playing and washing Cori in the bathtub. Dry her off. Lotion her up. Put a diaper on. Put on her PJ’s. Sing “Hokey Pokey.” Clean her ears. Read books on the floor for a few minutes. Make a 6 oz warm bottle. Feed Cori. Say goodnight prayers. Put her in her crib with her baby doll in hand. Turn out the lights. Clean up the dining room table. Wash dishes and load dishwasher. Put left overs in Tupperware and into the fridge. Wipe down counters. Put away toys that are once again, spewed all over your living room. It’s 8:30 and you can finally sit down! Whew! It was a long day!

 

Wow. It’s interesting to put your day on paper. Dave has been working nights in the ER so on this particular Monday, he had lunch and went grocery shopping with us. That was a nice added bonus. We also typically go to Family Group on Mondays which makes for a little different evening schedule. I tell you what though, staying at home is a full time job! I commend you working moms who have to do all the above AND work. I am so thankful to be able to stay at home. Although, some adult interaction would be nice! :) Thanks to all my wonderful stay-at-home mom friends, this gets taken care of on most days. Mondays seem to be the longest. I think it will be interesting to look back on this post one day and see what our schedule was like. Just wait until baby # 2 comes … I can’t even imagine my day then! HA!

One of my friends posted this hilarious link on facebook about what it’s like to add kids into the mix of everyday life. I was cracking up!! If you have kids, you will TOTALLY understand! If you don’t, you may think this is a little far fetched, but it’s NOT. It’s so true and so funny!! Check it out here. Enjoy! :)