What do moms that stay at home with their babies do allllll day long? It must be nice to be at home with your kids and do nothing all day, right? Yeah….nothing. BAHAHA! I’m going to share a little bit about how our days go as a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) Blogger.
I don’t get comments like this much, but I do see other people who deal with these comments and I’m sure it can be super irritating. Stay at home moms are moms too, and they work hard just like working moms do. Working moms sometimes tell me that they don’t know how I do it, being at home with the kids all day, having no adult conversations and having to wipe noses and hineys. The truth is: I love it and find it to be one of my biggest blessings.
Before staying at home with Laikyn, I taught Kindergarten for 4 years. I loved that too, but just found myself longing to be home to teach my babies once she was born. I never dreamed that I would be out of the classroom, and it’s just funny how God changes your heart for you to do whatever it is that you need to do.
Once I made that decision, it was a bit of a transition. I felt like I was on a realllllyyyy long summer, and I had to figure out how to navigate the waters of staying home all day everyday. I had been blogging for a few years, but just did it intermittently whenever I had time or had something to share. After a few months of being a mother at home, I felt like God put several things on my heart to share and I started to blog more. It wasn’t easy, and I had to find certain times to make it work. Not everyone understood why I would share photos of myself or my kids so often, and not everyone would have something nice to say. It’s just part of it.
I invested in a good camera (oooorrr my sweet husband bought one for me) and took a few photography classes to know how to use it. I found myself really looking forward to taking pictures and learning how to incorporate those photos into words that I wanted to share and emotions I was feeling. It was blogging. I was blogging almost full time…and then I got pregnant with my second. I tried to keep it up throughout the pregnancy, but I was so super sick that it was hard. It once again became whenever I felt like it and wanted to share certain things. I am so glad that I kept up with my weekly pregnancy updates because it’s so fun to go back and look at each of them and how I was feeling/what was going on.
Now that the girls are both here and we have our little routine, I am able to blog more. I am able to make a little income working from home with my babies by my side. I’m not taking as much time as I probably would need to take to be super successful at blogging, but I’m taking enough time to enjoy it as well as make some money on the side. It’s been a blessing to us as a family and the girls have benefitted from some pretty cool swag that we wouldn’t have had otherwise.
So, I guess why I am sharing this is because it was on my heart. If you think you might want to blog; do it. But do it for YOU. Don’t do it for the money (because it’s not enough to start a blog for) and don’t do it because you want free stuff (because, CLUTTER!!!) but do it because you want to make a difference in someone’s life. Do it to share experiences. Do it to help a friend. Do it to help yourself.
How do you do it? Well, I’m going to save that for a different post that I can go more in detail with, but I wanted to share a little bit about how our days go while I’m blogging from home as a stay-at-home-mom.
I don’t always follow this schedule, and every day is flexible…
7/8am :: The girls wake up sometime between these two times. I sleep until they do! I just love sleep and can’t make myself get up before they do. We all wake up together, I nurse Lennyn and then we all have breakfast and watch cartoons.
8am-10am :: I’m usually doing chores around the house, playing with the girls, watching them play, etc. I will occasionally respond to some emails if they are playing well and don’t need me so much. I just take my laptop into the playroom or outside to wherever they are. I try not to do this, but sometimes I just have to. Most of the time they are helping me with unloading/loading the dishwasher, starting laundry, etc. Nothing glamorous.
10am-12pm :: This is usually Lennie’s nap time. I let Laikyn mostly decide what we do during this time. It’s when we get paints out, playdoh, etc. If I have a deadline I need to meet, I can quickly get it done during this nap time. I also sometimes work out during this time because I only have one baby helping me lift weights then. Ha!
12pm :: When Lennie is up, I nurse and then get lunch ready. We usually have leftovers or something easy for lunch and the girls help me clean it up. I usually take the time after lunch to clean anything I need to before they nap…like vacuum or do loud things. They help me do that (so you can imagine how clean my house is…haha) #groupeffort.
2ish :: The girls are ready for their afternoon nap. They sleep anywhere from 2-2:30 and will nap until about 4/4:30. I use this time for ME time. Sometimes I blog. Sometimes I catch up on a DVR and eat Oreos. Sometimes I take a shower (alone!) and sometimes I nap too. Usually, I finish my blogging/whatever I need to do and listen to my book while doing it. Then I do something for myself to decompress before the girls wake up. Today it was HGTV and animal crackers.
4ish :: Once the girls wake up, we hit the ground running. It’s play time until it’s time to clean up for the day. Swing, slide, play dress up, do puzzles, snack time, repeat. I try to have the house semi-picked up and supper planned before Daddy gets home. Does it always happen? NOT A CHANCE…but I try.
5:30 :: Daddy is usually home and we catch up with him/the girls jump all over him. I might pour myself a glass of wine, because, well…I deserve it. HA!
Then we just do dinner, clean up, baths, feed etc. before bedtime. We put the girls to bed at 8ish and then we are also in bed by a little bit after that too. We usually have shows to watch and try to be asleep by a normal hour. He has a few nights that he golfs/has poker tournaments so I blog late on those nights and try to schedule posts ahead of time, but other than that I try not to once I’m in bed.
All of this is just typical and depending how the day goes we’re just flexible. Sometimes I film live videos/tutorials, some days we have errands, some days photos, etc…but this is a typical day when we’re at home all day. We do fun things like pool and walks, but I just work that into the time we do play time. So before morning nap or after afternoon nap. Once Lennie moves to one nap a day, we will have more activities. Laikyn does gymnastics, MOPS, swim lessons and dance, but this is just a day in the life when we are at home.
Nothing fabulous or life-changing here…just keeping it real.
Monday- Friday I always check and respond to emails, take photos when I can, write when I can and edit/upload when I can.
I’m usually on social media daily, as I run a Facebook group and my Instagram. TIP: Turn your social media notifications OFF. You can always check them as you get time, but if you leave them on you’ll constantly be distracted by your phone going off.
I take pictures of the girls pretty regularly, and I also try to set up shoots with my photographer a few times a month for things that I can’t take pictures of myself. My husband is a pretty great photographer, also, so that helps.
I don’t get ready everyday. I only get ready when I have somewhere to go and/or photos to take. Most days I’m in my momiform and no makeup.
I don’t normally blog/do social media while my girls are awake and playing. I do sometimes have deadlines to meet and if it’s one of those days, I make sure that everything is up and running smoothly…but for the most part, I take time during nap and after they’ve gone to bed to blog/social share.
Lennyn’s adorable bibdanas are from Copper Pearl as well as the Multi-Use Cover which is a nursing cover/carset canopy/swing cover. I love to put it over her swing in the afternoon when the seat is hot so it doesn’t burn her little legs. Also, it’s great to take shopping and put over the cart to keep germs out. These bibdanas aren’t like any others we have! I love them so much because they’re super soft and minky on the backside and adorable prints on the front. There are also several different closures to adjust to fit around your baby’s neck comfortably.
I love these patterns because they go with everything and LOVE pattern mixing. Stripes and dots? Melt my heart.
I keep a few of these in the diaper bag as well as the cover so we can use them on-the-go. Bibdanas are perfect for teething babies and also double as a bib while eating! We get stopped and asked where they are from all of the time! Great quality and a perfect gift for baby showers, too.
Check out Copper Pearl for anything you might need for your babe. Their stuff is adorable and well-made! You won’t be disappointed!
I’d love to hear from you if you are a stay at home mama that blogs too! How do you make it work? Are you a working mom that blogs? I’d love to hear from any of you and know just how you might make it work and any tips that you have!
I’ll be sharing some tips on how to start a blog, soon! So if you’re interested in that…check back! Also, if you have any questions…please don’t hesitate to email me or comment here!
This post is sponsored by Copper Pearl and contains affiliate links. All content, images and opinions are that of my own.
