A Day in a Life of a Working Mom

Posted by Analyse at 4:23 PM

Monday, July 16, 2007

She woke up at the irritating sound of her phone which she set at 6:40 am the other night. It’s Monday. She turned carefully and gave a warm kiss to her daughter then moved out of bed slowly, wary not to wake her up. She decided to sleep with her daughter last night, longing for her daughter’s presence after few weeks of business trip.

It would be a long day today. She had to move double time. The usual 20 more minutes of sleep extension is not for today. Her husband left early this morning for a week-long business trip. She had to do everything alone… and for the next 4 days.

She hurried downstairs and had the usual toasted bread topped with Nutella and a mug of café au lait for breakfast. She tried to eat faster but the only way to do it is to eat less - she only had half of her usual dose. At 7:00 am, she was already brushing her teeth, ready to take a quick shower afterwards.

7:20 am. She poured 210 ml of fresh milk in the feeding bottle, placed it inside the microwave oven and pushed quick-start. She hurried again upstairs while saying ‘Good morning baby.’ repeatedly. She starts to hate the stairs which seems to take minutes of her precious time everyday. She peeped inside the room and checked if her daughter started to move. She smiled. She suddenly remembered her daughter when she was younger. Mornings had always been a pleasure.

After a morning ritual of hugs and kisses, she instinctively looked at her watch. 7:25 am. She carried her daughter up and zoomed downstairs to give her daughter her bottle, checked if the flow is okay, then ran again upstairs. She started preparing herself while her daughter took her breakfast.

At 7:35 am, she settled her daughter on her potty chair and she continued dressing up. Oppps, she forgot to give her daughter a toy. Potties are boring places for busy toddlers.

7:40 am. She started to change her daughter’s diapers. Her daughter just discovered playing boxing with her feet so dressing her up is all the more difficult. Add to that that her daughter wanted to put on her own shoes and didn’t want to brush her hair.

At 8:00 am, doors and gate closed, she started buckling her daughter up inside the car. She needs to be at her Nanny’s place before 8:20 am, or else, she would need to take the road to the school. In fact, the Nanny had to bring her son to the school at 8:30 am so she, together with the kids, needs to leave the house before 8:20 am. Too much constraints. At the fourth day, she was reminded that it’s summer vacation and rushing in the morning was not really necessary – Mommies forget things.

She arrived at the office before 8:30 am. Life went on as usual. At 5:30 pm, she was already preparing herself to leave the office because at 5:45 pm, the clock would start ticking overtime pay over at the Nanny’s place.

After a quick update on how her daughter was during the day, mother and daughter geared up and hit home at 6:00 pm. Their day has just started. Upon arriving at home, she placed her daughter on her potty chair while she did her potty too. Mothers and daughters do things together. Bonding and learning starts from there. They then started to play mommy-baby role-playing. Her, as the baby, her daughter, the mommy. At 7:00 pm, it was bath time. Bath time with toddlers always takes time - her daughter had this good habit of brushing the tub floor and wiping the tiles during bath time lately. And she just can’t tell her daughter ‘Stop that baby. That’s bad.’

At 7:30 pm, she was already preparing dinner while her daughter continued playing. Her husband called up and after a quick update of how the day was, she passed the telephone on to her daughter who took the phone and started talking while walking. Exactly like what her Dad does. She’s a copycat.

At 8:00 pm, it was dinner time. Her daughter is a good example of a toddler with a good mealtime manners – she eats on her own neatly. She’s a real breath of fresh air.

After mealtime, she started cleaning up the kitchen while her daughter continued playing. At 8:45 pm, it was toothbrush time for both mother and daughter. They went upstairs afterwards. After the potty, they both headed to bed. Her daughter took her favourite Dora the Explorer book and she started to flip on the pages with her. Yes, her daughter will again sleep next to her.

Her daughter started to doze off. She checked her phone. It was 9:00 pm. The alarm was still set at 6:40 am. She needs to rest too. Tomorrow is a promise of another long day.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Napagod ako ah!

JO said...

kaya ang tawag sa atin ay "supermom"!

Anonymous said...

Ana, we almost run the same sked except that Evan eats 2 hours earlier and the I pick up food from the floor, instead of cleaning the bathroom (Evan doesn't splash that much...yet).

Being a working mom with no maids is no joke. I don't know how you do it. I am just grateful that I only work part-time, but then again a job like yours is so hard to give up.

Christianne said...

Hindi ko kaya maligo with Annika sleeping even when she used to nap in her playpen, I'm too worried na she'll wake up and look for me. :D

Is Louna's potty in the bathroom? Ang galing talaga na na-potty train siya kaagad. How did you get her to stay on the potty when you started?

Hailey's Beats and Bits said...

hay! a day in a life of SUPER, DUPER BEINGS like us - MOms!!!!

Anonymous said...

KK, haha, di pa nga nakakapagod yan e. That's smooth sailing. I haven't added that I need to go to the grocery too once a week.. but during those times, Louna will only have her bottle.


JO, can I be called "supermom" but with more time with my daughter???


Geri, in fact, Louna's not really splashing water everywhere, she just loves to wipe everything, kahit walang kalat. So sometimes, even if we finished bathing, she would still want to stay in the tub to clean the bathroom.

You said it right, working mom with no maid is no joke. I once told Frenchguy that 'if I were in the Philippines, life would be more comfortable' and he thought I was criticizing the kind of life he could offer me.. well, sometimes, I just cant help myself from complaining, i'm just human, and I'm subject to fatigue too.


Christianne, try to take a bath with the bathroom door open.. with Louna kasi, she's got a loud voice all the time, di ko pa nahahanap yung volume control hehe, so I know when she's awake or not..

Louna's potty is in the bathroom/toilet. So every morning, we do it together (esp when we just started to train her). These kids are copycats, don't forget that. In order to keep her sitting down, I give her her fave toy all the time. In fact, Louna's not yet fully trained. So she's still with her diapers during weekdays, and diaper-free during weekends. We manage by anticipation. So almost every hour (during the weekends), I ask her if she wants to go potty. She would answer me yes or no. So if it's yes, then we have to run fast because she couldn't control it 100% yet. In case of 'accidents', it's inevitable, then we don't hesitate to tell her it's not good, that she had to inform us next time.. because if me or frenchguy would start telling her that it's not a big deal, then she would not learn her lessons.

Anonymous said...

brain beats and bits, Mom power! ;) thanks for visiting.

Francine Ann said...

ana good day.are you free on october 13 of this year? pls drop me a message or your yahoo messenger or any email. I will tell you why i ask you this question

Anonymous said...

Your schedule is like ours too. Except we have two small children and they get to stay with me at work (3days/week) since it is a pediatric center. We don't have a helper so we just make do with what we can do. I usually prepare the things we need before bed: snacks in the lunchboxes, thawed food to be cooked for baon of my eldest daughter, clothes in a bag, water in water bottles. Food, esp meat, to be cooked are already measured and cut. Less hassle. Most of the times though, kakapagod. Hay...good luck to all of us.

auee said...

woohh did you peek at my routine??
:-P

Grabe 'no? I live around the clock, too. Oh I can picture you sleeping with the angel, sarap 'no?

Analyse said...

Francine, I just did. ;)

Julie, you've got more complicated sched. It's Louna's nanny who prepares lunch for her while Frenchguy and I eat in the company resto everyday.. i dread the day when I'll have to prepare lunch too..

Auee, know what, great to hear that i'm not alone.. i could complain less now hahaha..

Anonymous said...

ang ganda nang routine ninyo. mine is quite similar, except for the part where he eats dinner. it's a battle for us, and his bedtime is earlier, at 8 pm!

it's so hard when you have so little time, huh?

Analyse said...

Kat, hehe, we're just having dinner by that time.. some people here thinks that 9pm is already too late for a 'normal' child, but what is normal anyway..

Anonymous said...

amazing how working moms do it specially those with babies. and with that we are very grateful...

Wenchie said...

hi analyse, very busy huh. that's what i call multi-tasking supermom.

Analyse said...

Now, a Dad talking! Thanks Pepe.

Rowena, super duper busy ;) i'm sure you are too.

Anonymous said...

When I hear stories like this, I'm so thankful that I'm a stay-home mom kahit minsan ay namimiss ko rin ang magtrabaho sa office.

duke said...

Ana, you are a super mom! Such a hectic sked!

so, hubby also walks when he is talking with someone on the phone? Is this a french thing? My otehr half does that too!

Anonymous said...

Wow! potty train na si Louna. Ang galing. Si Abby once in a while lang. Ayaw ksi minsan mag cooperate. Sabi nila when she's ready she will do it automatically. I don't really know!
She sleeps in our bedroom too with her own bed beside ours. I'm worried ksi pag nag-isa lang sya sa room nya.

Analyse said...

Ann, you're lucky to have that luxury to be a SAHM.. and hey, WAHM ka di ba..

Duke, haha, probably.

Agring, she's still a work in progress.. not yet fully trained.. but i want to keep the progress constant, so we keep our routine.. dati kasi mas automatic na, and then, she stayed a week with her grandparents, ayun, nawala lahat ng pinagpaguran ko.. kaya restart kaming dalawa :(

Anonymous said...

oh the life of a mommy....stressful yet rewarding!

Reminds me so much of how my day goes.

Anonymous said...

Kaya idol kita eh.

Btw, you're tagged. Only if you can...

Anonymous said...

HATS OFF ANA ! That's what I call time management and organization of a REAL SAHM !!!

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