Day in the Life..

After many many many requests, I've finally done it.  I snapped a few pictures to capture 'A Day in the Life' as a daughter, wife, employee, mom, and I can't forget, blogger.  At first thought, this was simple enough - snap a few pictures here and there and call it a day- literally.

I was wrong.

I was halfway through my first Day in the Life documentation and forgot all about it.
Whoops.

I am a 'part-time' working mom (although my job is technically a full-time position..), and a part-time SAHM (stay-at-home-mom).  This day in particular was one that I had a busy day at work. I'll have to share a day soon when I'm home with Parker and Jolie all day.  Always fun, but definitely my hardest days of the week.

So, take two on this documentation of my day -  and here we go.. Day in the Life

5:00AM: My alarm goes off..SNOOZE.
5:08AM: My alarm goes off again, and as much as I want to snooze, AGAIN, I get up and at 'em.
5:10AM: COFFEE.  Love it. I drink decaf most of the time, but usually start my early mornings with a caffeinated cup.

5:11AM: While my coffee is brewing, I unload the dishwasher from the day before (we run it every night after dinner).
5:15AM: My Quite Time.  I talked about my Quiet Time {HERE} about a month ago.  I always start my day here.  Better attitude, perspective, and reminder of what I am called to do and be when I start in The Word.  Right now I'm reading 'Lets All Be Brave' {HERE}, and read a chapter or two every morning, time permitting.

6:00AM: Blogging & Breakfast.  I recently moved my time spent on the blog to the morning while my house is asleep. I am much more productive than when I do it at night after Parker and Jolie are in bed.  I typically eat breakfast while I 'work' in the morning- tried to get a picture of my peanut butter on 5 grain toast with sliced banana.. but it was too dark, as I work with just the light of the computer screen.  This or Greek yogurt and granola are what I stick to most in the morning.

 6:50AM: Time to get ready for work! Babes are still asleep at this point, and I can usually get my hair done before they start moving around.

 6:55AM: John Mayer Radio on Pandora.. and the curling iron is hot:)

 7:30AM: GOOD morning, little bits!

 7:32AM: Time for rise and shine (Parker is usually slow to rise)

 7:33AM: The hollers from this child over the monitor to 'come get me out!' usually is what wakes the other one.

7:40AM: Potty and panties for these two- While I try and finish getting ready.  They rarely leave my feet.

 7:42AM: Class is assembled in my bathroom.  Miss Parker finds joy in this sort of organization.

 7:42AM: Get my face on whilst babies run amuck my closet and cabinets.

7:47AM: BB arrives!  Most often Jordan leaves the house before me, where it be for the fire station for 24 hours or to do part-time work under his own business Massey Enterprises.  This day he left the house at 5AM for part-time work.  Bree watches them during these days until I can get home.  She walks in and takes over while I can finish getting ready and dressed to walk out the door.

8:17AM: Time for good-bye sugars! I usually attempt to walk out the door after just one good-bye, but always return for more sugar demands.  NO complaints here.

8:20AM-9:00AM: My morning commute.  It is probably strange to some (or most), but I enjoy my commute on most days.  I drink my coffee and listen to music.. my time to decompress from 'mom' and step into 'dietitian'.

 9:02AM: My office.  I love my office at work.  

I usually always have a candle burning, and it smells up my entire office and then some.  The copy machine is directly outside my door, and I usually get some kind of compliment for the smell I've chosen this week.  FALL is here, you guys.  Warm, sweet smells are in the air!

9:10AM: First thing's first- checking my email.  I get them on my phone, but usually leave all pertinent replies for the next day at work.

9:12AM:  It takes me about 30-45 minutes to get through my daily emails and figure out tasks that need to be addressed for the day.  I had several meetings to set, and prep for the wellness seminar I was hosting during lunch today.

10:15AM: SNACK time.  There is some string cheese there somewhere.. but I usually have a stash of Goldfish in my 'snack drawer'.  Greek yogurt is also a regular at this snack time.

10:30AM:  Thank goodness for interns.  I love my intern and she helps me tremendously with daily office duties that often fall by the wayside with my travel schedule and time spent away from the office on meetings.  These are my wellness prospect books that I take on meetings with me, and for lunch and learn seminars.

11:30AM-1:00PM:  Time to chat wellness!  The month of September kicked off a wellness challenge for over half of my groups, so I basically spent the entire month of August giving the same talk on 'Clean Eating'.

This group in particular was the last of all of them.  

1:11PM: Quick lunch!  Best part about the lunch and learns.. the food.  I usually have a say-so in the food served at my wellness seminars.  Chicken fajitas on whole wheat tortillas with fresh salsa.

1:44PM: Made it back to the office to answer a few more emails, and set my calendar for the next day.

3:00PM: Time to commute home!  This is also another SNACK break for me.  Since I had a later lunch, I stuck with a Greek yogurt to eat on my way home.

3:54PM: HOME..and in my comfies within about 4 minutes of walking out the door.  Bree was rushing out, because my sister-in-law was in labor with her second- so she was eager to get to her quick!

4:13PM: He's HERE!  Got word, and this sweet picture of my nephew Truett Roy Vineyard!  I'm an aunt, again:)

4:17PM: Cranky.  Parker is my hip-hugger.  She rarely leaves my side on the afternoons when I come home from work.  She was fussing because I was attempting to organize myself for dinner prep and **gasp** wasn't carrying her!  and thennnn I made her take a selfie.  How dare me.

4:30PM: Snack time for the little birds.  Usually they get something right when they wake up from nap around 3PM, but warm afternoons here in Texas call for a frozen grape break.

 4:35PM: Laundry.  It is always much easier when I have a helper (or two).

 4:36PM: Potty breaks come at the most inopportune times, if you ask me..

4:44PM: A quick Google search of tonight's dinner recipe.  Little fingers are everywhere.

4:47PM: Like I said - my hip-hugger.  Such a mama's girl, and never leaves my side.  EVER.  Perfectly content if I'm within arms reach, and I don't mind much at all.  Jolie is much more laid back, and plays independently most of the time.

4:59PM: Daddy is home!  Jolie hopped up on the counter with me just before Dad walked in the door, but the perfect height for big 'ol neck hugs.

5:10PM: Dinner prep is in full swing.  Daddy rough houses quite a bit, and its their favorite thing to do in the evening.  Plus side- is that I have about 22 minutes to get dinner prepped and ready to cook without whining or fussing at my feet.

5:14PM: potty break..

5:22PM: Dinner making with the little birds. {See the full recap of our dinner & our special sous chefs HERE}

6:00PM: DINNER time!  We sit down as a family around this time every night to eat together.  Recently Parker and Jolie started using booster seats to sit at the table with us, making it much more real 'family dinner' feeling.

6:44PM: Momma has to snap a few pictures of her BBQ White Cheddar pizza for the WE EAT blog series:)  Natural light is the only way to go.

7:05PM: BATH time!  This is about that time when my hair goes on top of my head and my sleeves get rolled.  I'll spend the next 25 minutes sweating bullets from chasing banshees in and around the bathroom and their nursery.

7:15PM: After a little while of independent play, its time to bubble up!  They are really into helping wash away each other's suds, and it is the cutest thing ever.

7:25PM: Post-bath lotion and jammies!  Thankful for evenings like these to have Jordan around to help me finagle two through this.  On days when Jordan isn't home.. one baby just has to run around naked while I pray 'please don't poop on the carpet' the entire time I'm dressing the other.  

7:28PM: Running away.  Always finding every reason to delay to dressing process.

 7:29PM:  Comb the mop and a little snuggle time before bed.

 7:32PM: Time to get ready for bed!  Our nightly routine is the same every night.

 7:33PM: Sister sugars. Repeat 42 times.

 7:35PM: In bed, finally.

 Good night girlies!

8:00PM: Time for a shower.  Pre-babies I always said that I could NEVER take a shower at night.  I also said I could never go longer than a day without washing my hair.  Two young toddlers have proven both statements wrong.

8:33PM: My nightly routine (for the times I actually wash my hair).  My FAVorite lotion for summer.  Its about that time to whip out the Vanilla Bean Noel.  I can feel it.  

 8:47PM:  Potty training has created very small loads of laundry on a nightly basis.  It is those 'pay-play-play-OH NO I have to potty' moments that cause all this.  Little tinkles call for a fresh pair, every time.  

9:00PM: Straighten up the rest of the house (if Jordan hasn't already), and get ready for the next day.  This is the time I usually take to check emails, answer a few missed texts during the dinner-bath-bed chaos, and throw my lunch together for the next day.

9:12PM: lunch prep for tomorrow

9:50PM: Quick check of the monitor.  Babes are SNOOZing.  No matter how tired I am, these are the moments that I die to wake them for just one more snuggle.

10:08PM: Time to sit for (another) snack.  Greek yogurt and Friends reruns is the best way to end my day.

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As you can see from the above- I am BUSY.  I thought I was busy, but after attempting to document it (with a failed attempt) I found it to be down right exhausting.  It is tough to fit everything in my day, and sometimes (a lot of the time) I don't.  I have weeks when I am running on fumes to keep up with every thing, and 'extras' fall by the wayside (like the week before last week).  

It is for these reasons that I've decided that I will no longer be a main contributor to Twin Talk.  When Meredith and I decided to start blogging on this little web space called Twin Talk Blog, I hadn't a clue the effort it would take to keep up with all of the above, and my own personal blog as well.  This blog, through your reader support and input, has proven such a success, I am overwhelmed with where we have come and what we have accomplished in such a short amount of time.  From the beginning, I had zero intention of leaving 3 Ladies and Their Gent behind (it has been documenting my married and now family life for nearly 10 years), and planned to continue it, along with writing material for Twin Talk Blog, but that proved to be tougher than I thought, especially when things at work picked up and started to consume much more time at home that not.

It took some serious evaluation of what needed to change and this was one of among several places I needed to reassess my commitments.  I HATE doing that, but my accountability partner (Jordan) provided excellent support in my decisions, and gave great feedback to help me make these, rather difficult, decisions. Although I am sad to leave Twin Talk Blog, I am confident that it will be just as amazing with Meredith's sole expertise behind the scenes.

As for this little blog- Its here, and will always be.  I have super fun plans ahead, and cannot wait to share!  Thanks for the love, support, and understanding.

Love you guys!