A Day in the Life of a Working Mom


A Day in the Life of a Working Mom
I always knew I wanted to be a working mom, but nothing could have prepared me for the craziness it entails. The busy schedules. The juggling. The feeling of always being pulled in different directions.

But there’s also the good stuff, like my wonderful friendships with my colleagues, the satisfaction I get from my career, and the chance to model for my kids a truly egalitarian marriage.

We couldn’t make it work without dividing the home and childcare responsibilities equally!

We also couldn’t make it work without some high tech gadgets that save us precious time and effort: smartphones to keep us organized, kitchen gadgets that make whipping up dinner a breeze, and feature-rich appliances that make household chores more manageable.

Let’s have some fun and take a peek into the average day of one particular working mom: yours truly.

(And for the record, I do believe that all moms are working moms! No aspect of parenting is easy.)

A Day in the Life of a Working Mom

5:30am – Alarm clock sounds (and by alarm clock, I mean the baby). Turn over and whisper a silent prayer that today is the day she goes back to sleep.

5:45am – Realize that today is not the day. Kick my husband to get up and bring her to me so I can nurse her without getting out of bed.

6:10am – Consider going for a short jogโ€ฆthen reconsider in favor of a (hopefully) less rushed morning routine. Hop in the shower for a whopping 5 minutes.

6:15am – Put on some business casual attire and a touch of makeup, then blow-dry my hair. Pat myself on the back for getting ready in record time.

6:35am – Baby is contentedly playing with Sophie the Giraffe and toddler is still sleeping (WOO HOO!) so I fix a quick bowl of yogurt with fruit and a mug of coffee. Hmmmmmmm coffee. I sip it while sitting on the floor with the baby, making her laugh with some Sophie antics. She’s so cute my heart splits open a little.

A Day in the Life of a Working Mom

6:40am – Toddler is awake!

7:00am – Divide and conquer. Husband gets the baby changed and dressed while I wrangle the 3-year-old.

7:15am – Uh ohโ€ฆBaby has a diaper blowout. Strip off her onesie, wipe her down, and toss her soiled clothing immediately into the washing machine. Make a mental note to browse new washer-dryer combos next weekend. The one I really have my eye on? The Mega Capacity Top Load Washer and EasyLoadโ„ข Dryer from LG Electronics. A Day in the Life of a Working Mom The top load washer has the largest capacity top load washer in its class*; you can wash a king size comforter plus a full set of sheets in a single load! The washer also incorporates LG’s time-saving TurboWashยฎ, which they say saves 30 minutes per cycle. Oh, the things I could do with a spare 30 minutes!

7:30am – Top the baby off with another quick nursing session before heading out the door. She doesn’t spit up on my work clothes, which I believe means it’s going to be a good day.

7:45am – Take one final swig of coffee and begin the process of loading up the car with all bagsโ€”purse, laptop bag, lunch bag, diaper bagโ€”and children. This always takes longer than I anticipate.

7:55am – We’re off! Toddler requests we listen to “Shut Up and Dance With Me” while we drive (although we change it to the more kid-friendly “GET Up and Dance With Me”).

8:15am – Drop children off with their caretaker for the day, which varies between grandmas and a family friend. Long for a more sentimental goodbye, but look at my watch and realize it’s time to GO. Quick hugs and kisses and I’m out the door.

8:40am – Get to work. Work, work, work. Colleague stops by to ask about my children, so I show off some recent photos of them on my phone. We joke about sleep deprivation and our mutual love of coffee. (Side note: How am I this far into the post and it’s not even 9am yet???)

10:30am – Break to use my breast pump, eat a snack, and consider another cup of coffee. Check phone for updates from caretaker. Daydream about napping.

10:50am – Work, work, work. Mind wanders to signing up for swim lessons, making a grocery list, and scheduling haircutsโ€”you know, that running to-do list that constantly lives in the back of moms’ brains.

11:30am – Finish a work project and it turned out great. Feel very satisfied with my accomplishment!

12:00pm – Work through lunch so I can leave a bit earlier. Mindlessly eat a microwaveable meal at my desk while staring at a spreadsheet and immediately regret it. Why didn’t I give myself a true lunch break?

2:00pm – Another breast pump session. Simultaneously sort through photos of my kids on my phone. Decide that my kids really are the cutest ones on the planet. Would rather go cuddle them than go back to work.

A Day in the Life of a Working Mom

2:30pm – Back to work. Dive into a project that I’m really excited about. Get a nice afternoon boost of energy from it!

4:00pm – Wish I had time to get a little more finished, but caretaker is waiting. Time to pack up and try to put work out of my brain.

4:25pm – Pick up the kids. Baby is very happy to see me! Toddler is less enthusiastic because he’s in the middle of playing with trains and doesn’t want to leave. I persuade him with the promise of macaroni and cheese for dinnerโ€”no shame.

5:00pm – We’re home! Nurse the baby again and chat with the toddler about his day. Ruffle his soft blonde hair a few times.

5:30pm – Daddy’s home! Quick kisses all around.

5:45pm – Everyone’s hungry. Daddy volunteers to make the promised macaroni and cheese so I can vroom cars around with the toddler for a few minutes while simultaneously bouncing the baby on my knee. We smile and giggle and I try to stay present in the moment.

A Day in the Life of a Working Mom A Day in the Life of a Working Mom

6:00pm – Family dinner! Between bites of mac and cheese I feed the baby her pureed peas. They end up crusted in her hair and all over her clothes. Then I notice the toddler has painted the front of his t-shirt with bubbly melted cheese. My children are quite a messy sight, and I can’t help but laugh about it.

A Day in the Life of a Working Mom

We finish eating and both kids get stripped out of their food-covered clothes. I move the baby clothes from this morning to the dryer and start washing a new load of both kids’ stuff. Another reason I’m pining over the LG Mega-Capacity washer-dryer pair? It’s not just fast; it’s also super powerful. That means no worrying that my kids’ messy clothes aren’t going to come out clean! A Day in the Life of a Working Mom

6:30pm – Baths for both kids. Thanking God they both enjoy splashing around, so it’s not too much of a battle. Sing silly songs and goof off while washing them. My heart feels light.

7:00pm – Bedtime for baby. A final nursing session, a book, and some songs, then into the crib. She falls right to sleep and I do a happy dance.

7:30pm – Sip a cup of tea while negotiating with the toddler on how many pieces of candy he can have for dessert. Feel guilty for not caring about his sugar intake as much as I probably should.

8:00pm – Bedtime for toddler. We read two books, say prayers, and sing songs. After tucking him and kissing him goodnight, he continues to sing songs to himself for a good 10 minutes. I secretly stand outside his bedroom and just listen, smiling.

8:30pm – Time to finish the laundry! By this time of day, I’m looking for whatever will make this process easier. I love that LGโ€™s Dryer with EasyLoadโ„ข Door opens two waysโ€”from the top to make it easy to toss in wet clothes from the washer, and from the side to quickly unload dry clothes into a laundry basket. Genius, right?

A Day in the Life of a Working Mom

8:45pm – De-clutter the house a bit and get ready for tomorrow: prep bottles, pack lunches, restock the diaper bag, and on and on. Chat with the husband a bit about our respective days.

9:30pm – Hop on the laptop to tie up a few loose ends from work. Start to go cross-eyed while looking at the screen and decide that’s my cue to power down.

9:55pm – Prayers of gratitude for this crazy life. I’m exhausted, yes, but oh-so-thankful.

10:00pm – Sleep! That is, until the baby wakes up…

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*Based on manufacturers published specs of top load washers with a width of 29 inches or less.

What would you do with the 30 extra minutes in your day thanks to LGโ€™s TurboWashยฎ technology? Tell us in the comments for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card!

Entry Instructions:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: โ€œ#SweepstakesEntryโ€; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older (or nineteen (19) years of age or older in Alabama and Nebraska). Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 2 business days to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 11/24/2015 โ€“ 12/31/2015

Be sure to visit LGโ€™s brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggersโ€™ posts!


294 responses to “A Day in the Life of a Working Mom”

  1. I would catch up on visiting with my elderly Dad and also catch up on reading my good books I have not been able to read!

  2. With the 30 extra minutes a day, I would be able to better stick to a home workout routine. This would definitely be a plus to me because I have a hubby that works construction and fills my hamper alone everyday from work and has an ocd issue where everytime he does something at home he changes his shirt.

  3. What would you do with the 30 extra minutes in your day thanks to LGโ€™s TurboWashยฎ technology? I would use it to spend more time with my kids.

  4. I would love to say sleep.sleep.sleep,but chasing my 2 two yr olds around leave me little time for clean-up without them re-destroying things.lol On that note,I guess you can say i would use the 30 extra minutes for some cleaning time or spend it to get them both down to nap at the same exact time(always a hassle)lol Thanks so much for the chance,this is amazing.

  5. I would use it for meal prep time, I freeze a lot of meals to make it easier on days when I don’t have time to cook.

  6. I would spend some one on one time with my toddler. She’s been acting out a bit since the baby was born 11 days ago.

  7. I could choose between video gaming or going outside with friends, but I think I’ll go with friends ๐Ÿ˜€

  8. 30 extra minutes? I would probably use it to be able to run more errands in the day making my day more effective instead of having to wait until the next day to do things.

  9. I would spend the extra 30 minutes on some well deserved me-time.

    Thanks for the chance to win!

    wildorchid985 AT gmail DOT com

  10. If I had 30 extra minutes, I’d make myself a nice, hot cup of tea and browse through a couple of cookbooks to get some new kitchen inspiration.

  11. It would give me 30 minutes more to enter sweepstakes, Being tight on cash makes this just about the only way to obtain such luxuries as the LG Mega-Capacity washer-dryer pair, so here’s to hoping my time has gone to good use!

  12. I would definitely take a nap, especially since my young baby wakes up twice a night still~!! Mama needs sleep ๐Ÿ™‚

  13. I’d love to use the extra time to do some reading. I love reading and seldom find the time to read anymore. Thanks so much.

  14. #SweepstakesEntry- comment

    I would definitely relax! unwind with a hot cup of tea and just be still

    Kathryn C
    kacor7 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com

  15. I would plan for a nap but know that with a son that is impossible. So I would take that time to take a bath wile daddy has bonding time with our son. ๐Ÿ™‚

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