Before we were married, my husband and I had talked about me being a SAH mom. But after our wedding, I was deployed to work from home full time. If I worked in an office the conversation about childcare would have gone differently. We were fortunate to find a lovely woman to work for us 40 hours a week though Care.com. Although more expensive than traditional daycare, there have been a lot of benefits. My son is seldom sick, I was able to breast-feed instead of having to pump during my workday, and just the benefit of being able to see him during my workday far outweighs any expense.
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I do know some SAH moms and let me tell you, they are always on the go! I'm so impressed with everything they do. My low-key weekday at home with my son may not typical of a SAH mom, but it's what we usually do on my occasional weekday as a full-time mom.
Unfortunately, it was rainy and damp this Friday which kept us from going walking or out to the park. We definitely would have taken those excursions had the weather been good.
We started the day around 7:30. He had some bad bedhead and I'm embarrassed to admit, I did not fix his hair all day!
My husband usually plays with our son for around 30 minutes in the morning and gets him dressed while I get breakfast ready and prepare to start my workday. Since I had some extra time this morning and hadn't planned breakfast the night before...I started some quick oatmeal (old fashioned/rolled oats) on the stove. I made 1/2 cup of oats and also three scrambled eggs which fed the two of us. (My husband doesn't eat breakfast during the week.)
Henry was dropped off in the kitchen and he drank some milk and poked around the dishwasher while I finished cooking.
Henry had his oatmeal mixed with yogurt and mashed banana and his egg separate. I had my oatmeal topped with my egg and some shredded cheese.
I got him started eating and made myself a decaf tea latte. They key to making a tea latte is to seep the tea before mixing it with milk. Just boil some water and start your tea seeping in around 1/2 cup water. I love Earl Grey tea but it has caffeine. Since I'm pregnant, I drink Roobios tea which has a nice dark color and robust flavor to stand up to the milk and is naturally caffeine free. This morning I had an Apple Roobios tea from Trader Joes (I like their Roobios & Honeybush too!). I heated 1/4 cup milk with a dash of cinnamon and then added the seeped tea plus enough hot water to fill my mug. Delicious!
Henry headed straight for the stairs after finishing breakfast. He plays mostly upstairs in his room. He stopped at the coffee table in our loft area to peruse some books on his way. The loft is also home to the couch the dog is allowed to be on and Frisco immediately hopped up and went to sleep. Henry just loves to turn pages, this second book is a coffee table book (not a kids book) and he loves his "big book."
Once he wandered into his room, I closed the baby gate and grabbed the baby monitor. He entertained himself while I threw in a load of laundry, emptied the dishwasher, and did the breakfast dishes. He had pulled down quite a reading selection when I got back to him.
Then we did some puzzles. He loves the Melissa and Doug puzzles and received the Vehicles Puzzle and Safari Animals for Christmas.
When we were reading before his 10:30 nap, the garbage truck came down the street so Henry had to get up and watch it's progress.
He napped from 10:30-11:45. I put the laundry in the dryer and sat down for a few moments!
Back up for lunch. He had hummus toast, avocado, and cottage cheese. This was pretty much a self serve lunch which allowed me to quickly fold the (now dry) clothes in the family room.
Henry played in the family room after lunch. One of his favorite activities is opening old video game cases and taking out the booklets and flipping through them. This is good practice of fine motor skills, right?!?
He was also agreeable to get in his pen (sometimes it's just a no go with the play pen) and played with his Smart Shots Sport Center (also a Christmas gift) for a while. He was less agreeable about staying still so I could get a picture!
Then it was back upstairs. He's pretty good at climbing the stairs (up only) himself now and at 32 weeks pregnant I'm more than happy to not have to carry him!
Upstairs he needed a diaper change. He's been fussing about diaper changes for the past couple of month. The Honest Company has a new "Whale" print out and Henry loves whales. I kept a few of the diapers to use for distraction and now each time I put him down to change him, he asks for the whale diaper and then is apparently so fascinated by it that I can change him without any fuss whatsoever. I'm not sure how long this will last, but for the moment it is great, and I feel it's more hygienic then giving him a stuffed animal!
He went out to the loft to see Frisco and play with his black dog. Frisco wasn't impressed.
Then we played with these Uncle Goose Chinese Blocks my sister bought him for Christmas. On the different sides there is: an animal outline, the English word for the animal, the Mandarin word for the animal, and the simplified Chinese character for the animal. I'm really impressed that my son learned to identify these animals so quickly. It is pretty difficult with just the outline and there are some obscure animals: Emu, Hedgehog, Salamander... They also make great stacking blocks.
Snack was Beet Puree mixed with applesauce and two Mini Muffins. Frisco searched under the high chair for crumbs.
Henry went down for his second nap from 3:30-5:00. During that time, I prepped some Brussels sprouts for roasting, cleaned up the dishes from lunch and snack, put away the laundry, and grabbed a few minutes on my iPad.
My husband arrived home around 5:15 and we ate dinner by 5:30. We had leftovers from earlier in the week and the Brussels. Henry had brown rice, steamed pork and tofu, cabbage, carrots, and Brussels.
My husband did the dishes, I'm at that stage in pregnancy where doing more than a very few dishes at a time is just agonizingly painful for my back. Then he played with Henry while I exercised, 30 minutes on my spinning bike followed by some stretching and yoga. After I showered, I found them curled up with this very long Dr. Seuss book which Henry has adopted off my shelf as his own. He doesn't usually make it through it. He got excited when he saw me.
Following bath, it was story time with mommy and then off to bed at 8:00! Luckily he still fits to the side of my baby bump! He sucks his thumb at bedtime. Everything I have read indicated there is not much point in trying to stop that habit until after age 2. I'd welcome any advice from moms of thumb suckers!
My husband and I settled in with some Netflix and watched an episode of A Series of Unfortunate Events. I read the book series years ago and don't remember most of the details which is great as we are really enjoying the show. Then it was off to bed for me too!
Being a SAH mom for even one day is a lot of work! Kudos to all the wonderful SAH moms out there!
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