A day in the life: stay at home parents

Hello! I’m Lauren, a stay at home mom in Orono, Maine. I’m a mom of two babies: Annabel Ruth who is going to be 2 in 4 months and the little munchkin we have yet to meet that I’ve been brewing in my belly for 14 weeks!  Also a mom of 2 dogs Maisy and Ozzy who were the first kids in our fam.  What’s unique about our situation is we both are stay at home parents.  We decided about 4 years ago now that we would do whatever it takes to create income/ build multiple businesses from home on our terms so we could truly enjoy every minute with each other and our growing family. I feel very blessed to be able to see every first and last in Annabel’s life.  I now babysit one of my best friend’s kids as one of my “jobs” and I feel that has helped them both lots as well as prepared me to have another little one!  I wake up every day and think “today is going to be our greatest adventure”. The best feeling is to have little to no agenda and think…what will we do to grow and make today memorable? Sam asked me to be a part of this series and I was very excited. I realized real fast how difficult it was to record everything as it was happening but it was great to review at the end of the day! Here is a little look inside a pregnant mommy’s standard Monday.

2:12 am: Wake up starving and stumble to the kitchen to grab a granola bar and chug some water... Prego life
4:35 am: Get up to pee
6:45 am: I wake up as John smooches me and wakes up to shower and get dressed for the day
7:05 am: Annabel wakes up and we hear her yelling “Mommyyy” from the other room.  John grabs her to come lay with me and cuddle for a few (my new fav part of the day)
7:30 am: Anna and I get up and let the dogs out.  I get her dressed and she hangs with John watching some of her fav shows while I take a quick shower & get myself ready
7:50 am: John goes up to the home office to work. Anna and I leave for Ampersands (a store up the street that we frequent for our fresh bread and baked goods every couple days) She loves going here now and decided since she knew where the pears and apples are she would grab one and start her breakfast.
8:15 am: Get back home and notice one of the dogs threw up on their bed.  Sit Annabel in her new chair at the table and give her the pear she didn’t finish from the store.  Throw the blankets in the wash and feed the dogs breakfast.  Quickly put away the groceries we got.
8:25 am: Make a smoothie because I feel like if I don’t eat something healthy right this instant I will throw up too.  Annabel requests “own smoothie” so of course I make extra ☺ Give her the smoothie and begin cooking some scrambled eggs with veggies for us.
8:35 am: Annabel and I eat our eggs and  then let out the dogs again.  When we come in Anna requests “treats” for dogs and I open the cupboard and notice we are all out.  Minor freak out.  Add dog treats to the list of things to grab in town today.
8:50 am: John comes down and eats a quick breakfast and decides he will go in town with us when we run errands.  I do the dishes and a fold the laundry in the dryer from last night and throw a load of laundry in the wash while Anna runs laps around the house and randomly brings me dolls to kiss and wrap in blankets etc.
9:25 am:  Pack up a diaper bag/purse in less than a minute. Leave the house as a fam.
9:30 am: Dunkin Donuts stop.
9:45: Bed Bath & Beyond errands.  Anna is so excited Daddy is with us she makes him zoom her around in the cart as I grab some random things for the house and some Christmas presents.
10:11 am: Hannaford.  I run in quickly while Anna snoozes in the car with John.
10:38 am: Home sweet home.  Annabel wants to color at her picnic table in the kitchen.  I give her supplies and use this free minute to unpack our stuff we just bought.  Join her when I finish until she is bored and runs to her kitchen to play.
11:00 am: Laundry again.  Start some chicken in the crock pot for later.  Annabel comes and notices I have food out and wants “help” and have a “snack”. Give her some berries and bring over a chair so she can feel like she’s helping.  (I really usually let her but raw chicken isn’t the best thing to help with haha)
11:15 am: Diaper change/ some Elmo on youtube to convince her to hold still.  She’s so busy!
11:20 am: Cuddle and read a few books to wind down (I can tell she is getting ready to crash since her 7 minute nap in the car earlier wasn’t enough)
12 pm: Nap time.  Lay her down and she falls asleep almost right away with a little chatter.  Research a few classes I wanted to check into for this winter for Anna. Start looking at Pinterest for nursery ideas since I literally can’t wait to find out if we are having a boy or girl. Fold some laundry. Eat again. Prep some lunch for when she wakes up.  Pass out on the couch until she wakes up. I’m always tired nowadays.
2:05 pm: Anna wakes.  I bring her to John to hang for a few while I get our lunch on the table.
2:15 pm: All eat lunch together. Finish off with some DQ ice cream cake left from my birthday yesterday.
3 pm: Get bundled up with Anna to go play outside.  Play ball in the lawn.  Visit our Auntie’s house down back and feed the kitty and fish.  She loves this and it’s so adorable.
4 pm: Come back home. Let the dogs out. Get our gear off. Throw the dishes from lunch in the dishwasher real quick.
4:15 pm: Play with Anna’s new puzzles in her room
4:30 pm: Prep dinner while Anna plays. Put away more laundry.
4:50 pm: Anna wants to water “plants” so we make our rounds and water all of them in the house while dinner is in the oven.
5:25 pm: Eat dinner with Anna.  Sometimes she eats so well and other times she is way too “busy”. Today she ate like a bird. I make her a smoothie to make sure she at least has some fruit and veggies with yogurt.
5:45 pm: Diaper change. She now is doing laps again. Clean up dishes and put leftovers in fridge while Annabel keeps herself busy.
6 pm: Feed dogs with Anna.  She loves to count the scoops and give them their bowls.  They are so patient with her it makes me proud.  Let them out together after & give them treats.
6:25 pm: Put clean sheets on bed & throw on Anna’s favorite Netflix show “Masha and the Bear”  so she can wind down and snuggle while I fold  her laundry.
7 pm: Tubby time.  Brush teeth with Anna. Lotion up brush hair and get her jammies on.  Read some books and snuggle her until she falls asleep.  Move her to her crib.
8 pm: Go upstairs to see John.
9:30 pm: Snack & let dogs out before bed.
9:45 pm: Episodes in bed with hubby til we crash.