[A Day in the Life] Working Mom : The 7am Shift

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

The dreaded, dreaded 7am shift. Or more specifically, the dreaded Thursday 7am shift.  The one that is the hardest to get ready for and the hardest to get everyone up and out and to their appropriate places on time. I always tell myself not to hit snooze on Thursday's... but as you will soon read, that NEVER happens. I usually need snooze the most by Thursday!

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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.

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The date is Wednesday, June 4, 2014. Mason is 21 months old. Seth is 32 years old. I am 29 years old. This day is a little different than my typical 7am shift. Since it is the summer and we open at 8am, I shift my shift to 7:30am. Don't be fooled - the extra half an hour means nothing in the morning when you're trying to get a toddler ready for the day!


5:00am - My alarm goes off. I freak out and think that somehow I turned off my alarm and it is way later than it is. Realize it's only (haha! only) 5am. Hit snooze.

5:09am - Alarm goes off again. Think about getting up....hit snooze.

5:18am - Alarm goes off again. I was too lazy to make mine and Mason's lunch last night so I know I need to get up right away so I have enough time to do so. (Right away as in hit snooze twice but don't check Instagram or Facebook before I get up lol)

5:19am - Get up and head to the bathroom to put my contacts in, brush my teeth, and shower.

5:41am - Turn off the shower and think I hear Mason. Think there is no way he is awake since he has been sleeping in so late these past few days. Head back in to my room to finish getting ready and see Seth on my side of the bed looking at the monitor. Sure enough, I was right. He's awake. I guess that's kind of convenient because it avoids me having to wake him up later, but I wish he slept just a little longer so I could finish getting ready. He seems fine though, he's not crying, so I leave him in his crib to play.



5:52am"Play" takes on a different meaning as I hear a loud THUMP on the floor. I click on the monitor and see him standing in the corner of his crib. He's pushed his changing pad down off his dresser and it crashes to the floor. This is his way of "nicely" alerting us to the fact that he is awake and wants out. 

5:54am - I'm done getting ready and go get Mason. I get him out of his crib and we go to the closet to decide what we want to wear today. He points to something and I ask if he wants to wear it. He shakes his head no. I ask him to point to something else. He does. I ask if he wants to wear that and he says no. This goes on for a couple minutes more and I finally decide what I want him to wear today.


6:03am - We head downstairs. I put Mason down and he immediately starts having a meltdown. I thought we could avoid this since he woke up on his own, but I guess this is an every morning thing now. I pick him up and get him some milk. I sit him on the couch and turn on Little Einsteins to buy myself a little bit of time to finish packing our lunches. I get Mason some Cheerios with some dried cranberries in them and sit him down at his table.



6:20am - I start to make our lunches. I go to the fridge and grab the blueberries and... drop them all over the floor. Awesome.



6:34am - Seth makes coffee and heads out the door to go to work. I'm done packing our lunches. I'm having yams topped with a little shredded cheese and some veggies and a greek yogurt with honey that I wanted to try. Mason's having : grapes/blueberries, chicken/edamame/olives, avocado, a Fig Newton cookie, some pea crisps, apple sauce, and cheese. I quickly make myself some breakfast (an Eggo waffle - the glamorous life of a mom), pop a waffle in the toaster for Mason and then go get changed into my work clothes.



6:48am - I cut up Mason's waffle, put it in a tupperware to-go, grab our lunches and head out the door.



7:00am - We arrive at daycare. 



Mason and I walk in and I let him walk up the stairs instead of carry him. I hold one hand and he holds the railing with the other. We get inside and I ask for a hug and kiss before I leave. He obliges and gives me a hug and a kiss. He starts to walk away and then turns around and gives me an extra hug, waves bye bye to me, and turns around and walks away to go play. MELT. MY. HEART. KID. An extra hug unprompted follow by a wave bye bye. This day is starting off excellently!



7:11am - I leave and head to work.

7:32am - Arrive to work...2 min late. And my desk is still like I left it yesterday... a mess.



7:54am - I walk to the front to unlock the front doors and to give the cashier a pay in and notice there are people waiting outside. Do the pay in and open the doors a little early. The first person to come in tells me that he loves me. Wow. Doesn't take much for that guy to love someone! Haha.

8:00am - 9:58am - Check and respond to email (manager and asm), answer questions, delegate tasks, attempt to clean. We're in the process of a big transition in the coming month so there's lots of cleaning, organizing, and throwing away going on. Checking reports, faxing paperwork, boxing stuff we don't need. Answering questions, questions, and more questions.

9:58am - Get back to my computer after talking with someone and realize that I am supposed to be on a webinar conference call in 2 minutes. Thank goodness for reminder pop ups.

10:00am-10:30am - Text conference call.

10:30am - 12:00pmCheck and respond to emails, answer questions, put out fires, and work on projects.

12:00pm - Sit down to eat lunch and get called to the front to talk to an angry customer. This specific situation takes a long time and I don't get back to my lunch for 40 minutes after figuring out how to solve the problem.

12:40pm - 1:10pm - Eat lunch and check Instagram, Facebook, and personal email.

1:10pm - 4:13pm - Enter start and end dates for the summer semester into our textbook program as well as if the classes are 4 weeks, 6 weeks, or 8 weeks. It takes surprisingly longer than I think it will. Check and respond to emails again. Answer more questions. Check and respond to email.


4:13pm - Get a text from Luz at daycare. Love getting pictures of my baby while I'm at work.


4:13pm - 4:34pm - Finish what I'm doing, clean up, and end the day on the server. Set the alarm and head home.

4:34pm - Leave work. Hope the freeway is not toooooo bad. I was kinda right. We came to a standstill slightly after I anticipated. I consider that a win. As I'm driving home, I'm thinking about what I need to do. First stop is the bank to deposit a check. I remember that the ATM that I normally go to is closed now so I need to go to another one...one that just so happens to be next door to a new See's Candy. Score! It's been one of those weeks (and it's only Wednesday) so I think we deserve some candy.


5:00pm - Arrive at the bank. Deposit my check and text Seth to see what his favorite See's candies are. You'd think I would know this by now, but I just want to confirm I for sure get at least one of his favorites. Head in to See's Candy and am amazed at how big the store is and how few people there are in line. Only one lady ahead of me and she's paying. Double score. Now if only she would stop chit chatting about shipping candy and if it will melt in the heat... Finally done and it's my turn. I taste my free sample and am immediately grateful I stopped in today. I choose which items I want (which is secretly all of them (of course!)) and pay. Time to head home.

5:19pm - Arrive home. Drop my stuff off, take off my shoes, and start to jot down some notes from today's adventures (aka work). I take out the trash, turn on the AC (since it's 75 outside and supposedly 80 inside according to the thermostat), and get the mail. Seth and Mason should be home any minute. Run upstairs to change out of my work pants and into my pj shorts.

5:36pm - Hope I have a few minutes before Seth and Mason get home and start to work on a special little project I have coming up.

5:46pm - Seth and Mason get home. Mason and I play while Seth makes dinner. Mason opens and closes the bathroom door and tries to climb up the sink. We take a selfie. He takes out his shake and go cars and we run them back and forth in the kitchen, while trying not to trip daddy while he's cooking. Mason grabs the bag of chips and wants to eat some. Tortilla chips are his new OBSESSION.


6:15pm - Dinner is almost ready. I start to make Mason's dinner and shortly thereafter, Seth and my dinner is ready. Mason is having chicken nuggets, cheese, olives, edamame, raspberries, and some pirates booty. Seth and I are having a stir fry with Adell's pineapple/bacon sausage, zucchini, edamame, pineapple, and red peppers over white rice with some potstickers.


7:00pm - Bath time! I let Mason run around upstairs while I fill up the bath tub. He has a new found obsession with my eye lash curler (aka death trap according to Seth). He always runs into our room and picks it up and carries it around with him. This time is no different except for this time, it comes into the bath with us.


7:30pm - Done with bath and time for some Wheel of Fortune before bed. Mason gets bored halfway in and wants to play with his Wheels on the Bus app.


8:00pm - We turn on the CMT Awards and then a couple minutes later take Mason upstairs to go to bed. I brush his teeth, he picks up everything on the counter and chucks it on the floor, and then I hand him off to Seth who reads him his two bedtime stories. Tonight's stories are Barnyard Dance and  Little Blue Truck.


8:10pm - I head downstairs, grab the computer, and continue this post and watch the CMT Awards.

8:40pm - Check the monitor and see this crazy kid sleeping. Looks like he went to war with his stuffed animals.


9:22pm - Realize I better set my alarm for tomorrow before I forget.



10:25pm - Check the monitor one more time. I seriously love this kid. He sleeps so crazy. And this time he's hugging his zebra. Melt my heart again.


10:29pm - I decide to call it a night. I'm amazed I'm still awake and not asleep on the couch. The CMT Awards are almost over so I decide to finish watching before I head upstairs to go to bed. I check Instagram, Facebook, and my email one last time.

10:56pm - I head upstairs to go to bed. I take out my contacts, wash my face, and brush my teeth. Then it's off to bed for me. Good night!


10 comments:

  1. Wow what a long day! Mason really is all over the place when he sleeps... So cute!

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  2. I love these posts! You are one busy & hard working mama! Really killing the whole working mom thing! ;-)

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  3. I'm so tired. So so tired. haha, man 5am is an ugly wake up call. Mason is killing it in that hat btw, the train conductor looking hat. I've never heard of See's but I'm sold sign me up! Now I'm craving chocolate covered potato chips. I dumped the blueberries a couple weeks ago, I was so annoyed.

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  4. That's too early to get up!! I'm also impressed with how late you are still up then. Haha :) Do you and Seth take turns making dinner or is he usually the cook? That's hilarious that Mason loves your eye last curler. Looks like a busy but good day!!

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  5. What a day!! Whew! I love these posts. I don't know how you do it getting to work so early. I'm ALWAYS late and I don't even have to get Mac up, make a lunch or drop him off anywhere. You're Supermom! Otherwise, your day sounds so much like mine. Mac's now obsessed with my make-up brushes and I find them all over the house. Sometimes he has a thick layer of blush on his nose. :) Toddlers are funny.

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  6. Just reading about your day makes me tired. What do you do for a living at the school?

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  7. Sounds like a really long day!!! Lucky for you your husband cooks.

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  8. I love these posts (even thought I'm reading it like a week late!). That 7am shift must be really hard to get ready for! We're up at 5am here too but just because Callie wakes at 6 most days and I'm a better mom if i've had a cup of coffee before I see her :) I love his crazy bed moves!

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  9. Wow, what a day! Yay for See's Candies.

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