Being a stay-home mum to 2 kids under 6 years old, with no live-in maid or part-time helper and no village help (no grannies/relatives to count on), plus a hubby who travels out of town for work frequently, I must constantly challenge myself to handle plenty in very little time.
On top of this, I have my weekly classes at From Tiny Acorns. With the kind of hours I am putting in, it is really like a part-time job (except that it is better in many, if not all ways).
My typical day now looks like this (kids are 5.5 ad 3.5 years old):
7 - 9am: Rise, breakfast with kids, morning chores, quick emails
9 - 11.30am: homeschooling and/or play, a little more chores
11.30am - 3pm: lunch, work, errands, socialising, exercise and more cleaning/tidying
3 - 6pm: snacks with kids, homeschooling and/or play, chores or quick emails
6 - 8pm: dinner and family stuff
8 - 11pm: bedtime routine (which takes too long nowadays!), chores, blogging/work/whatever else
So it is hardly a 9-5 day at all!
Yesterday was a fairly typical day. I woke at 7am and haven't stopped running around doing all sorts of stuff till 10.30pm.
Boys had a really productive day - each did a fair bit of learning with me separately before school and straight after school, we met with K and gals for our Chinese session, before heading out for 2 hours of sand play. Then piano lesson for M and more indoor play with N.
Sometimes I do wonder if I am working myself too hard. But I am a typical Type A personality (try this test to find out if you are!) and leopards will never change its spots! Not that I want to ever become a Type B personality anyway! But I should learn to relax a bit more.
A part-time helper would probably buy me some time, but because of our current routine, I can't find a stretch of hours for cleaning to be done while boys aren't home. More importantly, I do get extremely annoyed at most PT cleaners' low standards of cleaning, so I choose not to depend on one. For now at least. After all, I have survived without any help for two years now.
Perhaps I should better utilize the child labour available, like the way E did (by offering M $2 to help working on 200 pieces of his gadgets) *o*
Above: 14 months old M cleaning our floors for FREE!
At the end of a long day, while I am mostly physically tired and mentally drained, I do feel extremely good knowing that we (boys and I) have had a productive day. And everyday, I do try my hardest to make each day a good one. The days are long, but the years are short!
Very soon, I will have a new routine which will probably be tougher for a start, but I like the challenge. I can't wait! So bring it on, baby!
3 comments:
It's tiring but it absolutely rewarding! Don't you think so?! Carry on your good work, I reckon your boys are really proud of you!
I guess that makes our daily life more fulfilling and accomplished, knowing it's given to our loved ones.
Alice and Handydog, my sentiments exactly!
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