There are quite a few posts, articles, TV segments, etc about what life is like for a "busy mom." Mostly I find these a tad unrelatable because they're done by wealthy celebrities or people who somehow have managed to make their lives flexible. So I thought I'd put mine out there. Here is an accounting of a day in the life of a mom of three small children, who can't afford a nanny.
6:00 am - Alarm goes off. Try desperately to pretend like it didn't. Lay there trying to figure out how many minutes it will actually take me to get ready and how many more minutes I can stay in bed.
6:17 to 6:30 am - Convince myself I really do have to get up now. Throw clothes on and brush my teeth as quickly as possible before the dreaded knock on my bedroom door.
6:30 am - There is a knock on my door. It is my three-year-old ready to get up and tell me all about something that I don't quite understand but is obviously very important.
6:32 to 6:50 am - Husband and I get all three children ready. Clothes are put on, teeth are brushed, diapers are changed, the same phrases (yes you do have to use the bathroom, please go find your clothes, yes you have to wear underwear) are repeated no less than 37 times.
6:50 to 7:20 am - I feed the babies and get their sweatshirts on, while Husband puts the lunches together, gets breakfast for the three-year-old, and walks the dog. Inevitably a baby has pooped and has to be changed again, or the three-year-old is refusing to eat breakfast (but I'm not hungry!), or the dog starts barking at everyone because a bird might have flown by a window; she's not sure but thinks everyone must be made aware.
7:20 to 7:30 am - Everyone gets in their respective vehicles and heads off for the day. Notice how breakfast for Husband or me wasn't mentioned at all? Yeah, that was because no breakfast was consumed by us.
7:40 am to 4:45 pm - Work. Try to be productive. Try to take lunch away from my desk if possible. This usually means running to the gym to work out as quickly as I can, or go to my therapist appointment, or maybe carve out a bit of time to have lunch with a friend since that's the only time I can finish a sentence without having to stop halfway through to tell someone to be patient.
4:45 to 5:30 pm - Pick up the kids from daycare. I get the babies first, pack up all their stuff from the day and put them and their stuff in the wagon I have for just this purpose. Then go get the three-year-old, try to find her water bottle, lunch bag, sweatshirt, shoes, socks, stuffed animal, and something else random that I'm sure I forgot but will still be here tomorrow. Put all the children and their various items into the wagon and out to the car. Load it all up and head home.
5:30 to 6:00 pm - Unload everyone and everything from the car. Turn the TV on for the three-year-old (don't judge me). Put the babies in their high chairs with some baby puff things. Wash all the bottles from the night before, that morning and the day. Feed the babies something solid while Husband walks the dog and makes dinner.
6:00 to 6:20 pm - Eat dinner (yay I can sit down!). Try to talk to my family about their days while making sure the babies don't choke on anything and that the three-year-old isn't feeding everything to the dog.
6:20 to 6:30 pm - Clean up from dinner. Tell the three-year-old 24 times to sit down and finish her dinner or take care of her plate. Try to clean up the babies.
6:30 to 7:00 pm - Bathtime. Load all the children in the tub and give them a bath. Or try to clean up something else and prep for the night while Husband gives them a bath. (Thank God we don't do bath every night, I think I might die)
7:00 to 7:30 pm - Turn the TV on for the three-year-old (again, no judgments please). Feed the babies, or fold laundry, or both. Make sure no one falls off the bed, or steps on anyone else, or puts the clean clothes in their mouth.
7:30 to 8:00 pm - Put all the children in bed. Husband reads books to the three-year-old while I put the babies down in their cribs.
8:00 pm - Try to convince the three-year-old that it really is bed time, yes it really is. Because that's what time of day it is. Yes it is. Because that's what the clock says.
8:30 pm - Try to watch something on TV that is made for adult humans without falling asleep.
9:30 pm - Fall asleep
That's a typical day. There's no room for anything extra. This is with the equal help of my husband. I don't know how single parents pull this off. I barely pull this off most days. But somehow everyone still has all their appendages so I count that as a win.