The word Mom is technically a noun, but it can also be a verb. As in: I’m a stay at home mom; I stay at home and mom stuff.

Babies love routine, I love routine, I thrive on routine and am a better person when life goes the way I want/need it to. I think that habits are formed very young in the brain and the best way to learn a habit is with repetition. I am a creature of habits, and I love it! That’s not to say I don’t love change as well, just change on my own terms. I do tend to lose my cool when things don’t go my way, but it’s something I’m aware of and working on being more flexible. If you’re looking for a way to get onto a routine, or just like to read about other people’s day (I know I learned a lot about babies routine when Joy was brand new) here’s a  look into our world.

Our routine changes often, but it’s almost always routine, if that makes sense?!

Life is SO much easier since she turned 7.5/8 months old. Before then her longest awake time was roughly 2 hours or she turned into a monster (figuratively, obviously), now that we have 3 or more (fingers crossed) hours of awake time we can actually enjoy our day instead of just getting to the next nap time.

Right now Joy is 8.5 months old and this is what our days look like:

Wake around 7/7:30 am. Nurse/feed/eat, whatever you call it. She’s teething right now, so if I  don’t feed her pretty quickly after waking, she gets a bit bitey (is that a word?) and then diaper change. Diaper changes have been SO freaking hard lately, she wants to be doing anything and everything besides getting her diaper changed when she’s getting her diaper changed. It’s exhausting. So, that takes a while.

7:30/8  am (because I’m a constant clock watcher) time to hang out in the kitchen while I  makes coffee and breakfast. If Mike is still home we’ll have breakfast together while Joy plays in by herself in her walker (idk what we’re gonna do when she doesn’t like that walker anymore?)

8:30/9 am (the hardest part of Joy’s day) I do my workout. I either do a YouTube video or some at home weight lifting and she acts like playing by herself is torture. Unlike when we’re eating breakfast and she’s just fine playing by herself…   I usually have to cut my cool down short while I tend to her needs, but I do the best I can to still stretch and whatnot. I sometimes think she’s hears the word “cool down” and feels the need to scream?

9:30/10 am Feed the hungry beast! Right now she’s really into yogurt, Cheerios, graham crackers and blueberries. This is also when I’ll try to catch up on emails, social media and text messages all while watching her eat/feed herself.

10/10:30 Diaper change (yaaaayy!) Usually she’ll get the rest of her wiggles out while playing on/with sweaty needs to shower mommy. Then its nap time. I usually try to wash my face and dry some sweat with some wipes…sometimes I just deal with it…

While Joy naps, I work. I almost always make myself popcorn first. It’s important to carbo load AFTER  workout right?  LOL jk, I just love popcorn. Right now I’m either working at my online part-time job or working on the blog (Ahem, what you’re reading right now) I try to focus all my energies on ignoring the mess from breakfast or that I need to shower and just work (Mama’s gotta pay dem bills right?)

She usually naps anywhere from one to two hours.

11:30/12:30 Joy wakes from her nap, feed/nurse/eat. Diaper change and clothes change cuz you can’t stay in your pj’s all day Joy, duh! Then while she’s still happy and content from nursing, we take pictures for our daily letter board pics. If you like cute baby pics, hop on over to my other Instagram for daily pics.

12:30/1 If we have any errands to run, we usually do them now. We do love a good Target run! If no errands we try to get outside, either for a walk or just a quick jaunt to the mail box or trash cans. Any kind of fresh air does both mama and baby some good! A good amount of play time here as well, this is when we bring all the toys out and make a mess! The louder and more obnoxious the better!!!

2/2:30 Lunch time! For lunch this chickadee loves her some oatmeal. I usually mix in a little fruit puree and peanut butter. Funny story, I used to eat oatmeal everyday for breakfast when I was pregnant. With peanut butter and brown sugar. (and sometimes butter too, don’t judge!) And oatmeal is one of the few foods that she actively gets excited about. The whole thing is funny, in a weird-science kinda way. I don’t eat oatmeal very much anymore, I’m normally more of an egg/omelet kinda girl.

3/3:30 Time for nap number two.

Time to get more work done and feed myself. I can eat when Joy eats, but it’s so much easier to eat with two hands. I eat plenty of snacks throughout the day so no worries, I’m not withering away!

4/4:30 I usually don’t let her sleep past 4:45 just so we can keep bed time to around 7:30. If she sleeps too late, she wont be ready for bed on time. So, baby wakes. Nurse/eat/feed. More diaper changing, (so many diapers). Some light mommy and babe time, aka sitting on the floor playing with toys and snuggling, if she lets me.

5/5:30 This is when I attempt to get dinner started, if it we’re not having a crock-pot meal. If it is a crock pot night, I usually throw it together during breakfast making. Joy is usually pretty good at playing by herself during this time. She still likes to hang out in the kitchen with me, which isn’t THAT big, but we make it work. Sometimes I have to break out the ring sling and prep dinner while wearing her, but everyday is a little different.

6/6:30 Dinner time for Joy and Mike is usually getting home too! Yay dad’s here! Mike will take a shower and we usually hang out in the bathroom bothering him and talking about the day! No private time for dad. Hahaha!

6:30/7 Mike and Joy time. This is when I try my hardest to clean all the things and put away all the toys. Make it look like we don’t just throw things around all day (which we do.) I’ll usually finish up some last-minute meal prepping too. I like to have dinner ready by now so that when it’s actually time to sit down and eat, we eat and not have to cook.

7 is bath time. We usually work together to tackle bath time. It gives us another opportunity to talk about work and our days. Plus Joy loves it. It’s our one moment all day that all three of us are together.

7:15/7:30 Tackle putting Jammies on the baby. OMG. That’s all I’ve got to say. OMG.

7:30 Mike reads goodnight moon. Then its lights out, white noise on and one last nursing/eating/feeding session.

7:45ish I FINALLY take a shower. I love a good hot relaxing shower, so I wait until I can do it in peace. Knowing that Mike is there to comfort the babe if she’s too fussy. I like to take my time. Which I usually never do, but I like to.

8ish We sit down to eat some dinner. It’s the one meal of the day we ALWAYS eat together. There’s usually some sort of cooking competition show going on in the background on the TV, but really we’re both just decompressing for the day. Sometimes we converse, sometimes we just stare at the TV and shovel food in our mouths. It’s pretty random.

8:30 ish If there’s more work to be done this is when I try to do it. Either finishing up a blog post, interacting with my Instagram peeps, finishing a work project or responding to emails.

9:30 ish I finish the cleaning up, dishes and whatnot. Make coffee and lunch for Mike in the morning, not because I have to but because I can. I like to take care of him as well!

10 BEDTIME. I try so hard to be in bed by 10. It doesn’t always happen, but usually pretty close. Joy is a pretty good sleeper but still wakes up at least once a night, sometimes two and it throws off my sleep, which at this point I’m used to it, but I still like to compensate by going to bed earlier. I don’t always fall asleep right away, but this is MY time! Either watch a silly sitcom or browse my personal social media, read articles about how to make your own baby food, etc. Things I want to do. Until I pass out and do it ALL over again tomorrow.

PHEW, I’m exhausted just typing all of this!

Like I’ve said before, I am a VERY schedule orientated person. Things like nap times and wake up times change from day-to-day, and some days it takes her longer to eat her lunch or a doctor’s appointment throws off the sched, but right now this is us. Day to day, until the next big leap and we’ll reschedule!

What do your days look like? Am I a weirdo for being so predictable? Sometimes I do annoy myself with how much I like the same thing everyday, is this weird? LOL. Weekends are a totally different story btw. Mike is home and I try to clean more and carve more time out for work. He kind of becomes the parent in control while I do things in the background. I love the weekends!