A Day in the Life of a Twin Mom

Okay y’all. Are you ready? Are you ready to see my riveting play by play through a day as a twin mom/stay at home/work at home mom? You ready? Cause I’m pretty sure there’s a photo of vacuuming coming up here which I know is just going to like – blow your mind. 😀

Truth is, I juggle a lot. I primarily stay at home with my almost 3 year old twin boys, I have a brand new business baby called Sara Dear Photography, I run a blog (Sara Dear), and I run my home, I try to keep a social life… oh and there’s that other dude that lives here (my hubby…. 😉 ). But aren’t we all doing a lot and juggling a lot? I know that busy is nothing new to you, friend, so I’ll avoid the run-on sentences of the stuff I’m juggling in my day right now, which honestly feels pretty jam packed. But I’m surely blessed, and pretty darn happy. And oh so freaking excited to share with you a day in our life. Our crazy, fun, busy, blessed life. 

6AM – Wake up call.

I know it’s early but it’s the only time I get to have productive alone time every day. First thing every morning – I make my bed and I get myself dressed and put a little makeup on. Putting makeup on in the morning is like the one thing that takes me from a grumbly sleepy mess to awake and ready to tackle the day. It’s amazing how a mascara wand has become my light saber, but here we are. 

7AM – BuJo 

BuJo equals Bullet Journal and 7:00 equals time to plan my day, write my to-do lists and drink a hot cup of coffee. Also, breakfast if I have time before the kiddos are up which is usually around 7:30. 

8AM – Breakfast + Get Kids Dressed

My boys have had this obsession with cereal and milk in bowls with spoons like big kids. Super cute because they want to be big, but it makes a giant mess. Whatevs. They eat in their pajamas, then it’s time to get dressed and ready. We let the dogs out, throw the dishes in the dishwasher, and I spend approximately 30 minutes trying to convince my kids to get their shoes on. Then when one kid has shoes on and I’m putting shoes on the other, the first kid takes his off. And we go around that merry go round until I’m sweaty and annoyed and wondering if they actually need shoes, or if it’s too early to make a margarita. And contemplate putting it in a to-go cup. Because we do actually have somewhere to be. 

9AM – Target Run 

I’m not sure whether I’m proud or a little embarrassed that this is literally a staple of my week. Like, we’re at Target A LOT. Or Trader Joe’s. Or sometimes Costco because they sell snacks by the truck load and the sample ladies (AKA Costco Angels) give my kids all the cheese they want so I can load up on coffee in bulk and those delicious little cheesy bread ball things in the freezer section. Anyway, today it’s Target. To get light bulbs, and toilet bowl cleaner, and about 50 things from the Dollar Spot I never knew I needed.

10AM – Home

Most days we have a play date or something else to do in the morning, but days like today – I’m glad for a little bit of a breather and some flexibility. And so are my boys. So we head home to put our #targetfinds away and play the “watch this mama” game where I stay in a somewhat nerve-wracking state between “Aw look they’re being cute” and “What’s about to get broken?” 

11AM – Pre-lunch Dance Break.

While our Trader Joe’s Boxed Mac N Cheese boils (#wefancy), we play some Billy Joel and twirl around the living room. One of my best parenting tactics are dance breaks. Whenever the boys are antsy, upset, in need of distraction – Stop. Hammer time. 

12PM – House Chores

I try to round out my morning with the boys with a post-lunch clean up. Fill the dishwasher, wipe down the table, get laundry going, and quickly vacuum the floors. The boys “help” and we keep the music going. It’s a good way to work off lunch and get the house ready for quiet time. As much as sometimes I don’t want to clean up at this point in the day (cause I’m feeling kinda tired and kinda like just scrolling through social media and kinda like just sitting the heck down), I also know that mess is a big distraction for me. And since nap time (AKA work hour) is coming up, I turn up the tunes and push through. Like literally, push the vacuum through the house. It’s really pretty cathartic.

1-2PM – Work work work work work. (you should be singing RiRi right about now)

Even though I’m not actually moving, this feels like the most intense part of my day. I try really hard to not work in the evenings, (not always so successful) so I try to get as much done as possible within the next 2 hours or so. This includes blog photos, emails, Instagram stuff, full posts, and most all of my photo editing and photography work, which I’ve found that if I do too tired I end up making people look like they have spray tans. So I don’t do that anymore. It’s a lot to shove into a couple hours but that’s why I keep lists to lower my distractions and I don’t allow myself to open up Facebook or Instagram unless it’s for a specific purpose and I’m on a timer. I’m horrible about falling down the rabbit hole into my IG feed, and online shopping, so I have to keep myself accountable.

3PM – Back to Mommin’

The boys wake up usually between 3 and 3:30 and nothing squashes my working from home mode like two kids running around post nap yelling about snacks. Just being honest. So I wrap up when I know I’m at a stopping point and get back to Mommin’. So I settle into those couple loads of laundry I started earlier and fold, while the dog supervises and I drool over Joanna Gaines’s impeccable style. My hubs gets home about 4:30 so I try to tie up anything I had going on during the day so we can have family time when he gets home.

4PM – Flex Time

We all have this time during the day right? Like it’s not just me who has and hour during the day that you feel like everyone is running around making messes, cleaning messes, checking mail, coming home, this and that then all of the sudden it’s 5? I can’t plan things from 4 to 5 because that’s the Bermuda Triangle in our house. Also the reason there’s no photo here. I literally looked up at the clock and went, “Well there goes 4:00’s photo” *insert eye roll*

5PM – Dinner Prep

I’d like to pretend this is “me” time where I get to sip on a glass of wine and listen to Jazz music and leisurely cook dinner… pretend the entire family is going to eat and definitely not throw food to the dogs, it’s just not the case. This is usually time when I’m in the kitchen with a dog laying on my feet, twin toddlers both shouting at me for a banana and/or cheese stick, and my hubs is doing stuff around the house so I suddenly have an out of body experience as I watch my mind evaporating out of my ears and try to channel bedtime to come faster.

However… Or on this particular night, I actually got to read because we had a freezer meal in the oven. I do a monthly swap with my friends and I end up with 5 meals I can just throw in the oven and walk away. It’s pure bliss I tell you. I’m currently re-reading The Great Gastby (my fav of all time, and this is probably my 15th time through it) and the boys got some quality time in with Mater’s Tall Tales – for probably the 1500th time. Somehow they still think it’s funny.

6PM – Dinner and Bath Time

 

Dinner first – mmmm casseroles, then off to the bath. Hubs has done bath time with the boys solo for a long time. It’s their time to hang and have dada/kiddo time, and my time to tidy up from dinner, steal a piece of the chocolate, and scroll through Instagram mindlessly for a little bit. 

7PM – Kids to Bed – Mama to Craft Room

Like I said, I try my hardest to not work in the evenings. I was working on finishing up a dress I made for a friend for her birthday, and did some vinyl for a couple birthday gifts I needed to send out. Sometimes I color, other times I go out with friends or go out for date night. Evenings are my time to recharge and fill my cup. And as much as I would love to show you pictures of the next 3 hours… they all pretty much just show me, taping patterns or cutting fabric or browsing the internet for more fabric. So instead, I’ll show the finished product of the dress I made, which my friend loved and I’m super happy with. 

10:30PM – Unwind

Because we get up really early, and are hoping to get up earlier soon, we have a lights out at 11 policy. Seems silly sometimes to have a bedtime as a grown adult, but I thank myself when I’m awake before the sun is, which as motivated as that may sound, I really don’t speak for those first couple of hours. I just squint at the world, drink a lot of coffee, and cherish a little silence before the minions are awake.

Anyway… At 10:00, we gather ourselves, do the nighttime routine of lights off, dogs out, make up washed, and we hang out in bed. Lately Tomas has been reading to me which I LOVE and feels so romantic. We’re in Lord of the Rings right now (#nerdcouple), and we talk about our days and how we’re doing. It’s lovely to have time to just unwind, not be staring at a screen, not be talking over the kids or each other, and round up our day. 

And here we are now. Right this minute, I’m finishing up another day, a lot like this one. And seeing that last photo of the bed has me yawning and ready to wash off my now 15 hour makeup, and go to sleep. Here’s to hoping the dog doesn’t snore too loud. 😉