Juggling Work and Family

Here's what Monday-Friday typically looks like for me.

7:00 am - Erin wakes up. Ken is already at work by this time. He wakes up around 4:30am to get to work by 7:00 am (he commutes from LA to OC!). So I get the mornings with the little one. I get her changed and ready first. I give her some milk and a morning snack and get myself ready for work. I get her lunch ready and get the car packed. (Monday's are always the most chaotic) We usually have about 10 minutes to just sit and play before actually heading out. She's been such a staller (is that even a word?) these days. Takes me about 5-7 minutes of convincing before she lets me put her shoes on. 

7:45 am - We leave for daycare. I get the joys of dropping Erin off at daycare. Not.Kool. Doing the drop offs suck. It's harder to say goodbye. Every now and then Erin has little meltdowns when I drop her off and that just breaks my heart.

8:45 am - 5:15 pm - Work 

6:00 pm - I get home as early as 5:40 pm or as last as 6:00 pm. Ken does the pick ups at daycare around 5:15 pm. Lucky. He gets to see happy Erin. He's usually finishing up making dinner by the time I get home (he's Mr. Mommy).

6:30 pm - Dinner time. Erin is always antsy about eating dinner. She's so eager/impatient to eat so if we happen to eat after 6:30 pm, we have ourselves a VERY hangry child.

7:15 pm - Bath time/Wash up. We get Erin ready for bed. We play with her a little and read her a few books. This is really the only time both Ken and I have to interact with Erin together.

7:30 pm - Bedtime for Erin. I get Erin's lunch ready for the next day. Since Ken cooks dinner, I'm in charge of clean up.

9:00 pm-10:00 pm - Both Ken and I start winding down around this time. Ken tries to sleep by 9:30 pm and I usually sleep around 10:00 pm. These days we've been watching an episode or two of Friends before sleeping.

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I went back to work full-time when Erin was just about 3 months old and she started daycare at 6 months. It's crazy to think that we've had this routine for almost a year now. I'm lucky because I don't ever have to take work home and over-time isn't required, but It's still tough trying to spend good quality time with Erin and/or Ken during the week. It used to make me so sad thinking about how I get to see my co-workers more than I get to see my family, but that's just how it has to be right now. What sucks the most is that I've missed many of Erin's milestones (e.g. first time crawling and taking first steps). Her caretaker at daycare got to witness a lot of firsts for Erin. No fair.

But to be completely honest, I actually like working and I don't think I'm quite ready to let it go, if ever. But working while being a wifey and mommy definitely has its challenges. There's so much I need/want to do, but I can't seem to find the time to do it and when I do have some spare time, I end up just vegging out. Here's just a few items on my to-do list:

1. Watch X-men: Days of Future Past and Godzilla
2. Take a cardio barre class
3. Start mommy and me classes with Erin
4. Start running again
5. Do some crafting
6. Clean out the closet and donate to Goodwill
7. Hit up some yummy restaurants with Ken
8. Watch Season 4 of Game of Thrones
9. Organize Erin's room
10. ...and the list goes on.

How do moms do it all? The crazy part is Ken actually wakes up earlier than he needs to so he can hit the gym (?!). No way I'm doing that (HAH).  I'm still learning to balance it all and it's been a learning experience. I think there's been progress though (Korean dramas have set me back a little so I'll have to cut down on that). I'm definitely motivated to do more this year so we'll see how things are like when 2015 comes to an end.
*I'm just trying to imagine doing all this with more than 1 kid. Props to all the working parents out there!

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My big girl at daycare.

My mornings with Erin :)