Here’s a peek into what our days look like around here. I love learning from others and a little bit of how they do life and if you’re the same way, you’ll probably love this. If not, you probably think its super weird.

I’ve actually attempted this several times — you’d be surprised how difficult it is to remember to snap pictures of random things throughout your day. I’ve started this so many times and gotten to 3 pm and realized that I didn’t have a single photo since 8 am. I can’t say that I did a great time this go-round but I’m determined to get this one up.

Ok, on to our day. Here’s a look back into Tuesday, March 21.

⏰ 5:30

David leaves the house before 6:30 every morning so we’re early risers compared to most people. I really enjoy starting the day off with him. We do a devotion together and sometimes this is when our best conversations happen. We’re often making plans for later that day, too. I’m able to get a little work done from the bed and you literally cannot beat that.

💪🏻 6:30

When David leaves for work, I start a workout. Last fall, I implemented this as part of my daily routine and I love it. (Here’s more on how my workouts came to be.) I mean, sometimes I there’s nothing I want more than to stay in that bed but once I get up and do it, I feel so much better. When I first started working out, I was using a 90 day challenge from Bikini Body Mommy. I love the idea of a set of workouts that increased in their intensity every 30 days. It gave me a plan, the workouts were less than 30 minutes, and it was geared towards moms. I credit that series with getting me into a habit and getting my rear in gear. I don’t love the idea of working out so that you have a bikini body. In fact, it’s kind of the opposite of my mentality. Since finishing that 90 day challenge, I’ve been using a variety of YouTube videos but my favorite is Fitness Blender. They have more than 800 videos at different intensity levels but I do miss having a plan. Sometimes I feel like I’m haphazardly choosing cardio, or lower body, or upper body. I don’t know that I’m selecting correctly so I do miss that guidance that the 90 day challenge gave me.

From being out of town the week before and then working all day on Monday, whew! Getting back into the grind on Tuesday was really tough. I think that’s one of the reasons I’m able to stick with it. Working out sucks if you haven’t done it recently. Even if I take Saturday and Sunday off, Monday feels harder than it should.

Ari slept until 7:30 and I was able to squeeze in 25 minutes of work. It was really helpful since we have traveled so much over the last few weeks. I was really trying to get back into a normal routine when it comes to work and getting the house in order. An extra few minutes in the morning makes so much difference!

🍼 7:00

My routine once Ariana wakes up is to get back in bed. I love waking up, being active, and getting things done before she wakes up. But then I love starting our morning together in snuggly way. She still nurses twice a day (bedtime and morning) so I bring her to my bed and nurse her while I put the Today Show on and see what’s going on in the world. When she’s done nursing, sometimes things are slow and snuggly and we play in bed for a while. Other mornings, she’s ready to get going immediately and we hit the ground running. I kind of leave it up to her. (Perks of only having one kid!)

Ari wasn’t down with cereal or fruit or toast or any other normal breakfast food. So she ate crackers. #pickyourbattles

Mornings tend to be my most productive time. I almost always throw a load of laundry in. I make up the bed, straighten up, let the dog out, clean up from breakfast, and get just a little bit of work done. Getting ready in the mornings used to be really simple because I would sit on the floor and do my makeup and hair and Ari just played with anything she could get her hands on.

It’s gotten progressively worse. Now, she’s obsessed with makeup and wants to put it on. And she can actually open a lot of the makeup so I’ve found her a few times with eyeliner all over the her face. Makeup is straight-up disastrous.

I found the iPad! And I had my phone in my hand and I remembered to snap a picture so it obviously had to make it on this post.

⛱ 10:30

We met our friends at the park for some playground time and a picnic lunch and then a few other friends showed up too! If Ariana and I don’t have something scheduled, I attempt to make plans with friends. This day at the park was lots of fun playing with lots of friends.

We were at the park until 12:30 or 1 and it was hot! Ariana got her first sunburn. We made it through her entire first summer without any pink on her porcelain little skin and then this year, she gets burnt in March. I wasn’t even thinking about sunscreen — I thought I was winning because I got us both to the park with short sleeves on!

💤 1:00

After lunch is the glorious time known as get shit done. I put Ari down and some days she goes right to sleep. Other days, she turns the light on and off and walks around her crib taking her socks off for 30 minutes. My “rule” for her is that she has to sleep for at least 2 hours before she can get up. So if she plays for a while first, that just means I have even more time.

During her 2+ hours, I start checking things off my to-do list. I email customers, post to social media, write, or brainstorm new ideas. I’ve been doing this job for exactly one year and I just love it. When I made the decision to stay home, my prayer was for something that I could do from home but I had no idea I’d enjoy it as much as I do. I’m crazy thankful for what I have.

Sometimes I can sit there and crank out three hours of work without so much as glancing at the clock. Other days, I need little breaks here and there so I usually do a small task around the house.

Since the laundry didn’t get folded before we left for the park, I took a few minutes to fold all those clothes that I had just dumped on the bed.

😍 3:30

After Ari naps, we usually just play at the house. When the weather’s nice, we’re out there. But usually we don’t have plans after naptime — we’re kinda just hanging on until Dada gets home.

But not on this day! Katrina and Gianluca came over and those days are always my favorites. He knows the drill — she’s still sleeping when they pull up so he gets to go back and help me wake her up. And she’s a slow waker-upper (😝) like her mama. So he has to be kind of patient until she’s like a real human being but it’s so sweet to watch him grab her hand and say, “Awwi.”

They play and the moms talk. It’s what life’s about.

As we walked outside to tell our friends bye, Ariana decided she needed her own chair… for about .017 seconds and then she wanted down. This girl loves being outside.

🌮 5:30

Dinner = taco Tuesday. And I didn’t snap any pictures so you’ll just have to imagine the goodness that was on our table that night.

I swear the time after dinner just zooms by. Does anybody else feel that way? It’s like get dinner on the table, eat, clean up from dinner, play and then bath and bed.  This girl loves the bath and will come running the second she hears the water. (Bath is “dada” just like everything else.)

💤 8:30

Bedtime for the girl which means we watch Fixer Upper before falling asleep too.

Most days look something like that. Our morning activities look different day-to-day and week-to-week, depending on what’s going on. Sometimes we have something in the evenings (seems like it’s been nonstop recently).

What do your days look like? I’d love to know… I’m weird like that.

PS: If the pictures are showing up sideways on your screen, I have no idea why! They’re correctly oriented in my edit screen but not in the viewing screen 😣