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A Day in the Life: Working at Home with a Preschooler and Toddler

Last time I shared a day in the life post I was still pumping milk and Violet was drinking bottles and just starting to eat solid food. Now that I have a big kid and toddler on my hands, I thought I’d do another one to show what our life looks like these days. Just like last time I’m sharing photos from a day I’m working at home (my days at the office look pretty boring). Here is one photo every hour from a couple of weeks ago on Friday.

{5:15 am} I usually wake up at about 5:00 and read for 20-30 minutes before I need to get up and ready. I usually read on my Kindle so I don’t have to turn the lamp on and wake Aaron. On this day I was reading The 5 Love Languages, which I’ve since finished. 

{6:15 am} After I get dressed and ready for the day, I eat some breakfast before the kids get up. This week I bought some honey pecan cream cheese to have with bagels, which was a bit of a treat. Usually while I eat breakfast I read the verses and devotion from the She Reads Truth daily email I get. Once I’m done eating breakfast I try to log in and get started on some work before the kids get up. 

{7:15 am} By now both kids are typically up, but on this day Violet slept until about 7:30 (woohoo!). While Violet slept I fixed breakfast for Jona, which this morning was a peanut butter graham cracker and some “squeezy” applesauce. Jona’s monkey Bongo usually joins him for breakfast (and just about everything else). 🙂 

{8:15 am} By now Violet is up and has eaten her breakfast (usually oatmeal and fruit), and both kids play for a bit while I work. I set up my laptop on our dining room table and the kids play in the living room right by me. Violet came over to “vrooom” her car. Jona’s toys are always preferable to her own. 

{9:15 am} Around this time I usually go upstairs to have the kids change out of their pajamas. Jona can get himself dressed, although I usually stay nearby or the process takes a ridiculously long time. I change Violet and then bring her into Jona’s room. They love playing on his bed with his stuffed animals and blankets. If I have a lot of work to do I’ll sometimes put the baby gate up and let them play up there for a bit while I work. 


{10:15 am} Both kids eat a snack around 9:30, so they’re typically pretty happy to just play for a little bit after that. Violet has really been loving her books lately, and she was looking at The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a current favorite. It wasn’t long before she brought it over to me and insisted I read it to her (I complied…books are my kryptonite). Of course, that was followed by several others. 

{11:15 am} I finish up some work before lunch while Jona builds a Lego creation. I make him sit at the table to do his Legos to keep them from his sister’s grabby little hands. She has earned her nickname of “the destructor” on multiple occasions. 

{12:15 pm} After we eat lunch, the kids play for a few minutes before nap time. Violet is down to just one nap these days, and that usually happens around 12:30. We head to her room to read a few books before I lay her down. Once she’s down I read to Jona and he takes a (short) nap as well. If he complains that he’s not tired he just has to stay in his room for some quiet time. 

{1:15 pm} Ah, both kids are asleep so I have a little treat. I’ve mostly been good lately about eating healthy snacks, but on Friday afternoons I eat a bowl of ice cream. While the kids nap I catch up on work and do household tasks like laundry and dishes. If I’m not too busy with work I take a few minutes to do blog stuff or read my book. 

{2:15 pm} Look who’s up! Now that she’s just taking one nap, Violet usually sleeps for at least a couple of hours, if not more. However, on this day she was up at about the 90 minute mark, and I tried to go in and give her the pacifier that she lost. However, after several minutes of hearing her say “mama, dada, Jojo, Ellie, want down!” as well as lots of gibberish I couldn’t understand, I finally went in and got her up. She was pretty happy to see me. You can see that we still haven’t managed to get rid of that dang sleep sack yet. She’s pretty attached to that thing. 


{3:15 pm} Jona is up from his nap a little after Violet, and he gets to have a snack and watch some cartoons. Right now his show of choice is a Star Wars cartoon. On days I’m working at home I let him watch more TV than I would otherwise. However, sometimes you do what you have to do to get stuff done! 

{4:15 pm} I try to go to the grocery store on Friday afternoons once I’m done working so it’s one less thing to do over the weekend. Sometimes I go by myself once Aaron gets home, or maybe take one of the kids with me. On this day though we decided to all go together. This was the best photo I could get in the car!

{5:15 pm} I shop at Aldi but can’t find everything I need there, so typically end up making a stop at another store afterwards. By this point, at store number two, the kids are pretty done with the whole process and are ready to get home. Violet has said repeatedly “want down!” and Jona has done his fair share of whining and was less than thrilled at me taking a picture. But, we’re in the check-out line and will be done soon. 

{6:15 pm} Dinner time! Most Friday nights we have pizza. Sometimes we make it with naan bread or refrigerated dough, every once in a while we’ll get it delivered, and fairly often we eat the frozen variety. Tonight was a frozen pizza night. Very fancy. 

{7:15 pm} It’s the night of the Olympics Opening Ceremony so I watch that for a little bit before I put Violet to bed at about 7:30. She goes to bed a little earlier during the week but we’re more relaxed about bedtime on the weekend. Jona will go to bed around 8 or 8:30 on the weekend, and between 7:30 and 8 on weeknights. 

{8:15 pm} Ugh, all I can think about when I see this photograph and the one before it is how much I hate this room. We’ve done virtually nothing to it since moving here (over 2 years ago!) and I can’t stand the ugly TV, cables, and makeshift table/cable box holder. But that has nothing to do with any of this… Now that Violet is in bed I’m watching more of the Opening Ceremony, having a glass of wine, and responding to blog comments. 

{9:15 pm} The kids are in bed so I take a shower and put on my pajamas. I usually listen to an audiobook in the evening after I shower and while I’m doing end-of-day tasks like picking up toys, making coffee for the next day, loading the dishwasher, etc. At the time I was listening to The Futilitarians

{10:15 pm} Before I head to bed (I know, I’m a real Friday night party animal), I write a few notes in my planner. Then I grab my book and go upstairs to read for a little bit before going to sleep. 

Well, that’s our day! What does a day look like for you? 

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