A Day In The Life With A Three Year Old Toddler and Two Month Old Baby

It’s been a whirlwind two months since my status as a mom of one changed to mom of two. And well…here’s what an average day in my life looks like right now with a three-year old toddler and two-month old baby.

6:15AM: The day always begins with me dreading the early wake up time of my baby — bright-eyed and hungry — while I’m struggling to keep even one eye open. Because that’s all I can do at this ungodly hour (I am NOT a morning person. Anything before 11AM is ungodly to me).

7:00AM: Time to wake up my son for school. I do not understand how he goes from being totally passed out one minute to suddenly popping up with a smile the moment I open the curtains and let the sunlight in. What is this superpower kids have to wake up happy and smiling? I want it. No, I need it.

7:00-7:30AM: Family chill time aka when I have a moment to use the bathroom while my husband wrangles the kids. My son likes to hang out with his “baby sister” and she likes telling him all sorts of things with her incomprehensible yet equally adorable coos. His reaction is confusion because he has no idea what she’s saying; I think he thinks her coos are proper words and he’s wondering why he doesn’t understand any of it. This free source of comedy makes the morning struggle a little easier to bear.

7:30AM: Breakfast. Also where I show off my mom ninja abilities of being able to do two things at once. My son is sitting in his high chair chatting up a storm while my baby girl is chilling in her bouncer. I’m in between the both of them — reminding my son to take a bite while bouncing my daughter simultaneously. I’m getting in that exercise wherever I can.

8:00-8:30AM: My son gets ready to leave for school with my husband while I take baby for her first nap of the day (I totally forgot that babies sleep four times a day!). My daughter has this beautiful gift of not being judged for sleeping so much and yet she chooses to waste the gift by not sleeping right away. So away I go rocking her for almost 30 minutes before she’s out. I wish someone would do that for me.

8:30-9:15AM: I sit down with my morning coffee –reheated, of course — because parents never get to enjoy their coffee fresh and hot. This is a fact. I revel in the brief period that the house is totally silent and enjoy my coffee ‘peacefully’. I usually catch up with the news, my messages/emails and make a ‘plan’ for the day. And I used the term ‘plan’ loosely because I’m pretty much at my baby’s beck and call right now. But I like the idea that I have ‘plans’ for the day so I make them anyway. 😛

9:15AM: Has it already been three hours? Baby’s up and hungry again. Time for another feed.

10:00AM: Baby’s morning spa routine begins complete with a dedicated Spotify playlist. She enjoys a lovely full body aroma massage with coconut oil because, you know, being a baby is hard work. Followed by a luxurious warm bath. After which I am rewarded with shrieks and screams while I try to dress her. Maybe being dressed is cramping her diaper diva sensibilities. What do I know? I’m in an unflattering nursing nightie with a crooked mom bun.

10.30-11:00AM: Baby’s done screaming and is now having a very important boardroom meeting with her stuffed animals. I’m not invited. I have to go tidy up her spa set-up.

11:00AM – 12:30PM (ish): Time for the second nap of the day: it’s the long one yay! Her long naps make me feel like I want to do 18 things in two hours. So I try to be a hero and over ‘plan’ this chunk of time. I usually end up doing one or two of the following: quick workout, run errands, content planning, take a shower or just take a nap myself.

12:30PM-1PM: Baby wakes up hungry again. Every. Three. Hours. Moo. Depending on when her little royal highness actually wakes up and feeds, I’ll have my own lunch before or after.

2:00-2:30PM: Time to pick up my son from school and listen to his excited monologue about what he did in school the whole ride back interspersed with calling out the vehicles we see on the road: “Mama! Cement truck! Mama! Delivery Van!”. He’s talented but clearly didn’t learn about run-on sentences at school today. I try to match his excitement levels but all I can think about is…taking a nap.

2:30-3:00PM: The time of day I choose to play with fire because I have a hungry, tired toddler and a sleepy, cranky baby who are both on the brink of meltdowns. Mom ninja mode activated: I rush through a quick snack with my son while bouncing baby in the bouncer or strolling with her in the stroller praying that neither have a meltdown. We have good days and bad days. I’ll read my son a quick story and then dart to the nursery with baby to get her down for her third nap as quickly as possible.

3:00-4:00PM: Some days I literally jump for joy because both kids are asleep (!!!) and that means I get a nap too! Thank you to my two bosses for allowing me this incredible gift of quiet rest. Also, if I’m completely honest, by this time in the day I feel like I’ve had a full day and I’m sooo ready for it to be over 😛

4:00PM: Baby’s up. Hungry. Yup. Here we go again.

4:30-6:30PM: My son is with the nanny playing in the garden while I hang out with the baby and refuel for the evening with another coffee. She’s a bit fussier at this time of the day and not sure if she wants to bounce, rock, swing or be carried. So we’re experimenting until she’s happy.

6:30PM: Baby is taking her fourth and last nap of the day (seriously, I want this life!) while my son and I have dinner together. The sun hasn’t even set. My whole sense of time and what is considered “late” has shifted so drastically, so quickly. It makes me a little bit sad, to be honest.

7:00PM: Baby’s up. Hungry. Let’s go.

7:00-8:00PM: My son plays and watches TV for a while with my husband while I feed baby and then do her nighttime bath routine, which also includes another aroma massage. That’s right: TWO MASSAGES A DAY. She’s a lucky baby.

8:30PM: Bedtime! My husband and I split off and handle bedtime for our assigned kid. My son enjoys reading a few books before bed with his dad while I am in the nursery rocking baby to sleep while we also play a fun game in the dark: how quickly can I put the pacifier back in her mouth before she screams again. Suffice to say I’m getting some kind of workout in during this time too.

9:00PM: On a good day it’s lights out for both kids at the same time. YAS! I want so badly to celebrate every night with a glass of wine when the kids are asleep. But I don’t think that’s a good idea considering A) I want to do it every night and B) I haven’t drank properly in almost a year so one glass of wine actually feels like three right now. I can’t struggle AND be hungover at 6AM every day. I just can’t.

9:00-11:00PM: ME-TIME (and also catch up with my husband where we can have a conversation from start to finish without any interruptions — I honestly will never take this for granted ever again!). Sometimes I just sit still in silence because I can. And I like also taking the time to do something for myself — I think it helps me stay sane and willing to do all of this all over again the next day. So I’ll do my indulgent 5-step nighttime skincare routine. And if I have the energy I like to write. My blog is my sanctuary; I find writing and content creation very calming and therapeutic — and, boy, do I need it.

11:00PM: It’s been more than three hours! Baby’s still asleep! But that means I now have a date with Bertha — my breast pump — and it’s time to pump and watch beauty / skincare videos on YouTube. It’s my version of reality TV. It’s so good. I’m addicted.

11:30PM: I’m not an early sleeper or a deep sleeper at all. Before having kids my bedtime was 1AM most nights and now the earliest I can do is 11:30PM and the moment my head hits the pillow I pass out into a deep slumber…until baby wakes up for her feeds during the night. Haha gotcha! I’m just thankful being a mom ninja of two comes with the superpower of being able to function on less sleep.

So there you have it. A day in my life.

Please note that I have not forgotten about my dog, Milo. It’s just that he’s the kid I don’t have to stress about. He came sleep-trained and potty-trained and his idea of doing something is largely limited to: following me everywhere I go in the house; sleeping on various surfaces like carpets and beds (he’s currently napping on the bed while I write this); barking at the door bell; and stealing the kids’ toys (if given a chance). He’s always around (being weird/cute in his own special way) while I’m busy being a mom ninja and he probably wonders why I always wear an ugly and unflattering top bun. It’s the only way to survive, Milo, the only way.