This month, Healthy Living Blogs‘ Healthy Tuesday Feature focus is “A Day in the Life,” in which several HLB members chronicle an entire day, from that annoying morning alarm to bedtime. Other HLB members can also play along and we’ll link up our posts today. I thought this could be a fun (and potentially eye-opening) challenge exercise, since I feel like my days are so carefully choreographed. There’s not much wiggle room when you’re trying to squeeze in exercise, work and mommy duties into a 12-hour day.
P.S.: This “A Day in the Life” actually took place last Wednesday; as many of you know, we were all stuck home yesterday waiting out Hurricane Sandy.
4:40 a.m.: Alarm goes off, drag myself out of bed and change for 5am Body Pump class.
Ever wonder what a gym looks like at just before 5am? Here you go. I think there were two cars in the parking lot when I arrived:
6:05 a.m.:
Return home – chaos ensues. For the next hour or so, the following events occur: shower, get dressed, look for watch that is inexplicably missing, get Mimi dressed, get Buddy dressed, corral everyone downstairs, sort out who wants what for breakfast, make said breakfasts, let dog outside, let dog back inside five seconds later, make breakfast smoothie for myself (strawberries, almond butter, almond milk, vanilla protein powder, small handful of kale), pour coffee in travel mug, get Buddy a drink, get Mimi a drink (after she flips out seeing her brother with a cup), get lunch bags out of refrigerator, pack up Mimi’s daycare bag, make sure Buddy has his snack in his backpack (God, I love the days when he buys hot lunch!), get my lunch and work bags ready, put coats on kiddos, load kiddos and all our gear into the car, try to ignore sad eyes of dog who knows she’s not coming with us, try to ignore dirty dishes and mess left in kitchen, look for keys, realize keys were in work bag all along, drop Buddy off at neighbor’s, drop Mimi off at daycare.
Whew.
8:05 a.m.: After a 30 minute commute (during which I down both my smoothie and my coffee), arrive at work.
10:30 a.m.: Time for a snack! Grab a banana that I threw in my lunch bag.
12:02 p.m.
Lunch time. Today I brought a spinach salad with Gardein crispy tenders, walnuts and balsamic dressing; a few slices of ciabatta bread for toasting (I have to eat bread with salad or soup; it’s a strange little quirk); a Chobani lemon yogurt; and Polar black cherry seltzer. And, because I also like to have a little something sweet after a meal, I have a teeny, tiny box of yogurt-covered raisins. I may have bought a big bag of these for Mimi but have now claimed them as my own. Sorry, sweetie.
12:32 p.m. Run downstairs to get my flu shot and purchase a greeting card. Exciting stuff, right?
2:24 p.m. Stomach growls. Time for a few almonds.
3:13 p.m. One side effect of getting up at 4:30am: I need afternoon coffee.
4:30 p.m. High tail it out of work to go pick up Mimi at daycare. But first make quick pit stop at Wrentham Premium Outlets, which I pass every day on my commute (so tempting!!!), to get Buddy a pair of (groan) fur-lined Crocs. Yes, we have gone there. But he needs a pair of shoes he can slip on easily when he goes to karate.
5:40 p.m. Mimi has been picked up; make quick stop at town library to pick up books that are on hold!
5:50 p.m. Return home. Dr. G. and Buddy are already home, since Buddy has karate on Wednesdays, and dinner has been started already! Cold Soba Noodle Peanut Salad ala Vegetarian Times. Yum. Meanwhile, I make Buddy and Mimi a more kid-friendly meal of carrots and chicken.
6:45 p.m. After dinner, give Buddy and Mimi each a small dessert, then it’s bath time for Mimi, followed by shower time for Buddy.
7:05 p.m. I love bath time with Mimi. She has such a fun time in the water, playing with her bath toys as we groove out to the Toddler channel on Pandora.
7:55 p.m. Both kids in bed! Hurrah! Work on blog, answer emails, etc. for next hour.
9:05 p.m. Collapse in bed, attempt to read for maybe five seconds before giving up and falling fast asleep.
Yes, I realize a 9pm bedtime makes me sound like a middle school student, but I am so wiped out on the days I get up early for the gym. But it’s well worth it to be able to spend quality time with the kiddos while they are awake.
I have to say: seeing it all written down is pretty crazy – it truly is amazing how much you can fit into a given day when you’re motivated and determined. Sure, I could give up by 5am workouts and get an extra hour of sleep, but as I’ve said here many times, exercise and fitness are two of my vices: they help keep me sane. And there’s something to be said for starting off your day knowing you’ve already done your work in the gym.
Have you ever thought about how much YOU cram into a given day? Try mapping it out like this – it really is eye-opening.