You can read the first part here
A day in the life of.. Part Two
I wake up to my husband's alarm going off. He hits snooze for the third time and quickly falls back asleep. I surprisingly do the same. I must be extra tired. I also know better not to grab my phone and go down the instagram rabbit hole. 50 mins later I faintly hear the sound of birds singing. No not outside, it comes from my phone. Are you one of the people that hates the sound of the alarm too? Same. So now my alarm starts off as quiet chirping and gets louder until I either hit snooze or turn it off. Normally I hit snooze but lately I have been getting up before the kids and doing a quick workout. It's a butt work out and I swear at the woman on my screen telling me to do more squats. As a smith I sit for a lot of my day and my body isn’t feeling as strong as it used to. So I huff and puff my way through it, and as I do my cool down stretches I am grateful for this quiet time I have. Grateful I no longer have to rush out of my house with a sleepy toddler in tow to make it to my old bus driving job.
Feeling great from my workout, I make my smoothie and get the kids breakfast ready. Something simple as they won’t be fully awake to eat before we have to leave. Toast with peanut butter and strawberries will work just fine. I holler up to the kids to come and eat and I’m met with two sleepy eyed zombies who mumble good morning and give me a hug. They are 8 and 5 so they aren’t too cool for me yet. But both walk past their plates and go straight for the tablet and my phone. Nope, you guys need a break from screens. So instead I put on Al Green radio and make them watch my superb dance moves. Youngest gets up and shows off his best as well. My daughter is too sleepy to do anything but munch on strawberries. 35 mins later I’m making sure the youngest actually put underwear on under his jeans before we all get in the car for preschool. It just started up recently and I am glad to have one kid out of the house even if it’s just for a couple of hours. Pandemic has us on top of each other constantly. He’s learning structure and I am back home learning 3 grade again.
Why are we always the last car in line he asks. Because getting you two to move any faster in the morning is impossible I reply. It's finally our turn to pull up and have the teacher get him from the back seat. Where’s his bag she asks. Damn, I didn’t think to make sure he grabbed it this time. “At home of course” I tell her. She gives me a look. I’m totally that mom, the last one in line, my kid missing his shit, and I’m sure under my eyes my bags have bags because I can’t seem to fall asleep before midnight. She tells me to look around to see if we have warm stuff in there because they will be going out. And my back seat is a hot mess of all things kid so I manage to find a hat, matching gloves, and boots. Miracle? I think so.
So now I am back home with the 8 year old who should be in school but since it was all e-learning we pulled her. She was not thriving, in fact she was flailing. I couldn’t watch any longer as our sweet girl was being replaced by a crazy person from being on the screen all day. So I brew coffee, she asks for scrambled eggs as she grabs her math book and sits at the island opposite of me. She's a math whiz thank goodness because I am anything but and homeschooling new math is ridiculous. Don’t even get me started on the word problems. Another hour goes by and we hit history and language arts. I check the clock and it’s almost time to go pick up the boy. After that we will have lunch and do some science. He likes being there for that, he finds it pretty interesting.
At this point both kids are playing upstairs and it’s time for me to eat lunch and get to work. I check emails, dm’s, and double check where I am on my customs list. While I feel like sitting and watching hgtv makeover shows, I head to my bench, turn on some tunes, and get cracking. Or really I get busy filing, soldering, sawing, cleaning. I'm not going to lie, it’s hard being at home with two children and trying to work. They demand a lot of attention, or act out if they see I am busy trying to get work things done. I do what I can and always feel a bit of guilt. Am I giving them enough, am I working enough to make the bills I need every month? Finding that balance is key. I definitely wouldn’t change a thing, and this summer the kids will be doing 5 weeks of day camp. And I know that come fall when both are back in school full time (maybe) I will miss their noise and distraction. Then I will have to find a whole new balance and navigate a new set of feelings.