[A Day in the Life] Working Mom : The 11am Shift

Thursday, May 8, 2014

I did a [A Day in the Life] Weekend Edition post a couple months ago, but I thought it would be nice to document what our weekdays are like.

My schedule this semester (I work at a school) usually goes something like this :

Monday : 11:00am-7:30pm
Tuesday : 8:00am-4:30pm
Wednesday : 8:00am-4:30pm
Thursday : 7:00am-3:30pm
Friday : 7:00am-3:30pm

Friday's aren't as bad even though I work at the same time as I do on Thursday because Seth works only every other Friday (his schedule is Monday-Thursday (every week) 7:00am-5:00pm and every other Friday 8:00am-5:00pm and the other Friday off). Obviously, the Friday's that he's home are the best. I get myself up and ready and out the door by 6:30am and don't need to worry about what kind of schedule Mason is on that day since Seth will be home with him all day. And the Friday's that he does work, he works at 8:00am so that gives him the flexibility that I normally have on my 8:00am days, so again, I kinda just need to worry about myself.

Here is a day in the life of a working mom working 11am-7:30pm.
{Warning : this will be long and wordy... and sorry for the lack of pictures in the middle. I kinda forgot to keep taking pictures once I got to work lol}

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Ahh. The 11am shift. We have a love/hate relationship. It is definitely the shift that gives me the most flexible and laid back morning. But it is also the shift that takes me away from my family the longest.

The date is Monday, May 5, 2014. 
Mason is 21 months old. Seth is 32 years old and I am 29 years old. 

This particular day started off a little differently than most...

11:52pm (technically still May 4th)- I wake up on the couch. (A usual happening in this house. There's just something about our couch that instantly puts me to sleep when I lay down no matter how hard I try to stay awake or how bad I want to watch what's on TV). I check the time. Ahh. I still have a good 5 hours to sleep until my alarm goes off. I check the monitor and start to turn off the TV and lights and head upstairs and Mason starts making noise. I figure maybe he's just moving around and then he starts full on crying. This wakes Seth up (who is also sleeping on the couch haha. The family that sleeps on the couch together, stays together?). He asks me why Mason is crying. I think, I have no idea. I'm down here and he's up there. How could I know? But I just say "I have no idea. Can you go check on him?". Seth checks on Mason while I finish turning off the lights and head upstairs. I plug in my phone and the monitor and Seth comforts Mason.

Mason stops crying and I know Seth is holding him. It's only a matter of time. I've only been a mom for a short 21 months, but I know what's coming... Seth puts Mason back in his crib and...crying. Whaling. He is so comforted while we are holding him and then when we put him down, he starts crying again. Seth tries to comfort him by "shushing" him and rubbing his back and it works on and off but Mason still cries on and off. After I don't know how long, I go in there and see if I can help. By now, Seth has picked Mason up again and is rocking him. I take over and Seth goes to our room. I rock him a little and whisper to him "Mommy's going to put you down now. Mommy's here. But I'm going to put you in your crib. But I'm right here." thinking that maybe I can prep him for what's to come and he won't cry. It doesn't work and he starts crying again. I sit down next to him in his crib and keep telling him that's I'm here and rubbing his back and his head. He seems to like it when I play with his hair and rub his head so I keep doing that. He sniffles a bit and cries a couple times, but it seems to be working. I re-start his sleep sheep that Seth had turned on for some white noise. After I don't know how long, I think he is asleep enough for me to sneak out. It works.

I don't even know what time - I head back to bed. Seth and I talk for a sec, wondering why Mason was so upset. Neither of us have a clue so we go back to sleep.

5:00am - my alarm goes off. I think "no way, no how". Hit snooze.

5:09am - My snooze alarm goes off. I still think "no way" and hit snooze again.

5:18am - My snooze alarm goes off again. I still have no desire to get up but know I have to or I will make Seth super late for work. I turn off my alarm, check Instagram real fast (priorities), and then get up to go put in my contacts, brush my teeth, and take a shower.

5:46am - Out of the shower and back in my room to get ready for the day. Impressed with myself that I hit snooze so many times, checked my phone, and made it back before Seth's second snooze alarm goes off (which is always my goal. since he never gets up before his second snooze alarm {clearly we're a "2 snooze alarm" family lol} I always try to be back before 5:48am so I don't make him late).

Seth gets up and goes to take a shower while I check the monitor to make sure Mason is still sleeping and do my hair (aka pull it up in a bun and put a headband on) and do my makeup.

6:05am - I'm done and head downstairs. I turn on the computer, check to see if our flex spending account reimbursement has been deposited, complain that it takes FOREVER to get reimbursed as it's still not there and then decide I should be productive and start to get my lunch and Mason's lunch ready.

6:35am - Seth leaves for work. I hop back on the computer and check bloglovin'.

6:45am - I start to hear Mason move around so I fill his sippy cup with milk, pop a waffle in the toaster, put some cheerios on his high chair, and get a yogurt out. Then I go upstairs to get him. He's happy as can be and is playing with his stuffed animals. I wonder what the heck happened last night since he seems just fine now. I get him out of his crib and we go to the closet to pick out his clothes. I pick out a shirt and ask him if he wants to wear it and he shakes his head no. I pick out a different one and ask if he wants to wear that and he shakes his head no. I say "No?!" and he shakes his head no. This is his new thing so I just pick what I want him to wear and we go change his diaper and get changed. I'm able to steal a kiss and we head downstairs.

6:53am - I put him down so I can get his food ready and he starts to cry. I tell him it's ok, I'm getting his breakfast, and he seems to be fine. I grab his high chair, put the rest of his food on it, give him his milk, and plop him in the chair. I tell him he can watch one Mickey before we get ready to go to daycare. Even though I don't have to be at work until 11am, I try to keep some consistency in Mason's schedule at daycare and try to drop him off at the same time as usual as much as I can. While this does keep me away from him longer on these days (I typically only work this shift once a week), it allows for everyone at daycare to stay on schedule and for him to have play time, snack time and outside time with his friends still.


7:09am - Mason is entertained for a minute so I hop on Instagram and see this post. It makes my heart hurt. I reach over and kiss Mason and tell him how much I love him. No parent should ever have to go through what this family went through.



7:13am - I'm trying to feed Mason his yogurt and he decides it would be funny to spit/blow at the same time that I put the spoon of yogurt in his mouth and this happens...




He finishes the yogurt, I clean him up and take him out of the chair, and then take his yogurt-ified shirt off. He dances to the "hot dog" song.


7:24am - Mickey is over and Mason and I go upstairs to change his shirt and change my pants (I was wearing my work shirt but PJ shorts still). I attempt to take a selfie with Mason and realize how horrible it was. Oh well. Practice makes perfect, right? Also, please ignore the mess in the background.


7:33am - We're out the door and on the way to daycare. We come to a stop light and I look to my left and see an older gentleman skateboarding while talking on the phone... well trying to. He falls off the skateboard but doesn't miss a beat on his conversation.

7:46am - Arrive at daycare. Get out of the car and knock on Auntie's window to her car to say hi since she is talking on the phone (my niece, Addison, goes to daycare with Mason). We head upstairs, say hi to Addie, and get Mason situated and then I leave.

7:54am - On my way back home.

8:09am - Arrive back at home. I turn the Keurig on, turn Good Morning America on, and then put away the dishes that were drying out overnight. I put my k cup in, hit the start button, unload the dishwasher and note to myself how much faster it is to unload when no little hands are trying to shut the dishwasher door every time I try to take something out.



However, even though it was faster and easier, it was way more boring and lonely. I re-load the dishwasher with the leftover dishes that didn't fit last night. I make my coffee and grab the Target ad and head over to the computer to start this post. I work on this post for a bit and then switch to the post I'm going to post tomorrow.


10:00am - I notice that it's getting late so I finish getting my lunch together, grab a snack, and make sure I have everything I need for work.


10:20am - Out the door.

10:41am - Arrive at work. Notice that I'm a little early and decide to sit in the car and check my email, Facebook, and Instagram for a couple minutes before heading in.

10:55am - Head in to work.

(I won't bore you with the details of me being at work, mainly because I did about 2138728692 things all day (or so it felt like it) but will highlight a few things)

11:00am - 11:55am - Get settled, check emails, get asked questions, etc, etc.

11:55am - Get a call from my Regional Manager asking me to count all of the fixtures we have in the store... sign holders, gondolas, shelves, mannequins, tables, etc.

1:00pm - Finally done. Email her the list. And then try to work on some stuff before my meeting.

2:00pm - 3:00pm - Graduation Planning Meeting.

3:40pm - 4:10pm - Lunch.

4:10pm - 6:45pm - Try to work on the buyback schedule, get the temps training schedule done, print some returns work lists to see if we can return any more books, email my campus contact back, etc etc.

6:45pm - Head up front to take one of my cashiers off the register. Print her worksheet and wait for her to finish counting.

7:00pm - Closing time. Lock the doors and take my other cashier off the register. Count the first cashier's drawer, cash her out, then count the second cashier's drawer. Cash her out and do the deposit.

7:30pm - Done. Process "end of day" on the server and head home.


On my way home, as I'm driving on the freeway, all of a sudden people start slamming on their breaks, swerving lanes, and putting on their flashers. I hit the breaks too and pray the people behind me are paying attention. As I continue down the freeway, I see a car, stopped, in the middle of the freeway, taking up two lanes. There is a person sitting in the car, just sitting there. They look fine. I have no idea what happened. I think, if their car stalled, they should have put on their flashers. I thank God that I didn't leave work 5 seconds earlier and was 5 seconds ahead on the freeway.

7:50pm - Arrive home and note how early I got home today. Open the door and have Mason run to me. I put out my arms for a hug and he fakes me out and turns and runs the other way. It's nice to see you too, kid!


8:00pm - Put Mason to bed. Seth brushes his teeth and I read him two books before bed.



I ask for a hug and kiss and Mason obliges. He's gotten really good at kissing (on the lips!) and I just love it. I tell him that I love him and give him many, many kisses before saying good night, telling him I will see him at 6 zero zero and putting him in his crib. I head back downstairs. Seth is watching the Angels vs Yankees game.

8:30pm - I think about preparing Mason and my lunch for tomorrow but decide I have enough time in the morning to do it them. Instead, I turn on the computer to start adding details from the day into this post. I comment on what a bad game Ichiro is having for the Yankees tonight. Two errors in like 2 minutes...not good. (Sorry Yankees fans). Sometime later, the Yankees decide to let the Angels win the game by walking in 3 runs and the Angels win the game 4-1. We turned on Dancing with the Stars to see who got kicked off and end up watching the whole thing from the beginning. Sorry to see you go Danika and Val. We turn on The Amazing Race from Sunday.

10:50pm - I realize what time it is and wonder how I am still awake and not asleep on the couch. I comment to Seth the same thing. He ponders the same and then continues watching The Amazing Race we started after Dancing with the Stars ended. I decide that I am going to go to bed or I will regret staying up so early in the morning. I grab the monitor and my phone and head upstairs. I take out my contacts and get ready for bed.

11:00pm - In bed and of course can't go to sleep without checking my phone one more time (addiction much?) and checking to make sure my alarm is set (that's a legitimate reason to check your phone, right?). Good night!




3 comments:

  1. Whew, I'm tired from reading about your day!! :) I've been thinking about doing a post like this too, about our day/schedule, just to document and remember. I'm impressed you guys get out of the house so early, I should take notes. :) Don't feel bad, I check my phone that often (or MORE) during the day, I say you deserve it and it's your little break when you have down time. :)

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  2. Love these! What do you do? I feel like I know but can't remember...

    I'm tired looking at those alarm times though. Iced coffee in the am and iced tea for work?

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  3. Busy, busy! The more of these I read the more tempted I am to write on, even if just for myself to look back on years down the road! :-)

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