Hello and welcome back to my third installment in the new year 2017 of “A Day in a Parenting Blogger’s Life”. I hope you all enjoyed the installments so far every Friday. Guess what.. tomorrow is a special day. I am turning thirty. Can you believe it? I certainly can’t because I still feel like twenty. Ha
Today I have Victoria on the panel from Lylia Rose.
First of all, tell me a bit about yourself.
My name is Victoria and I blog at Lylia Rose. I’m a mum to two littles; Reuben 21 months and Bella 4.5 years. I’m a vegetarian who is passionate about healthy eating and leading a more wholesome life all round. I love to walk, especially long countryside walks or beach walks. I work evenings as a cleaner (great exercise!) and also run my small business (online fashion boutique and blog) in all my spare time.
How many times were you woken last night?
Oh gosh. Maybe once or twice. The days and nights just blur into one! My daughter has just started school so is finally sleeping through as she’s so tired. Now she is sleeping through, Reuben has decided it’s his turn to wake up 1-2 times throughout the night! I’m not sure we’ve had a patch where the both of them sleep through yet!
Do you co-sleep?
I try not to as I don’t want it to become a habit. If Bella is really having a disturbed sleep (nightmares/growing pains) and keeps waking up, then I’ll sleep in our bed with her just so everyone can get some sleep! This is rare though, less than once per month.
What time do you normally wake up?
Just before 6am.
How much average sleep do you get a night?
Hmmm hard to know. 6-7 hours of broken sleep, so maybe less.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Check my phone to see what time it is, hoping it is almost 6am and not 3am!
Tell me about your typical morning routine.
My husband wakes up and showers and the kids usually climb all over me in bed! I sometimes get them dressed. If not, my husband will do it once he’s showered. I’ll jump in the shower once he’s out. As soon as I’m out the shower my husband will leave for work (7am latest). The kids and I will have breakfast. The children will play or watch Milkshake for one hour whilst I work from home. Then we’ll get all the school things ready, coats and shoes on, snacks/water bottles prepared, and leave by 9.45am for the school run.
When and how often do you prepare the family dinners? Give us a few examples what you would cook.
I cook Monday to Friday evenings for 4.30pm. I work at 5pm, so we eat dinner quite early. My husband is home at 4.30pm so we have a quick 15 minutes together to start eating as a family before I have to leave. I like to use a lot of vegetables and always wholemeal ingredients. Favourites include lentil ‘cottage’ pie with sweet potato mash, vegetable fajitas, veggie sausage and mash, mixed bean chilli, tofu green thai curry, pasta bakes, pasta pesto, cauliflower cheese (or a whole mix of veg in cheese sauce!), homemade wholemeal pizzas. I try to get my husband to cook at the weekends, but we’ll usually have one night as a ‘treat night’ which will be a takeaway or an oven cooked pizza.
What’s on the menu for lunch?
Me and Reuben usually have a light lunch of Ryvita crackers or rice cakes, with cheese, soft cheese spread, cucumber and tomatoes. I love soup too, but can’t convince Reuben to try it yet! He’s much fussier with food than his sister. Sometimes we’ll cook leftovers from the night before.
What activities have you got planned for the day for the kids?
Bella is at school now, but me and Reuben always go for a walk and play at home as much as possible. It’s too wet/cold now, but in the spring/summer we’ll play in the garden and go to the local parks every day.
Do you generally eat dinner together as a family or get the kids fed first?
Together as a family. I think family meal times are important which is why I try to squeeze it in before work.
What do you do after dinner?
I’m at work already in the week, but the hubby plays lots of games with them. At the weekends we’ll play, do homework and have bath time.
What is your bedtime routine?
My husband has to do it Mon-Fri as I’m at work. I do it Sat/Sun, but the children aren’t used to me doing it now (sad face) so they always play me up! I usually end up falling asleep with Reuben as he doesn’t want me to leave his room. Reuben will have a warm milk downstairs before going upstairs. Once upstairs it’s pyjama time, brush teeth and into bed. We bathe them every other night unless they are super messy! They have stories in bed with night lights on. Then it’s sleep time (hopefully!).
Most importantly, when and where do you normally blog in those 24 hours? Do you have a schedule?
It’s impossible to have a schedule as it depends when my littlest is happy playing and how much house work I have to do! I usually prefer blogging in the morning, so before school or after the school run. I occasionally blog in the evening after work if I’m not too tired and weekends are a good time to blog if we have no other plans.
Thanks for sharing a day with us Victoria. That must be tough going, working in the evening/night time. But it’s nice to see how involved your husband is.
Blog URL: http://www.lyliarose.com/blog
Everyone loves a follower more. What social media platforms can we find you on?
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lyliarose
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/lyliarose
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/lyliarose
If this is something you might be interested in, why not drop me a quick email to be featured as well and I will get back to you. schnurri87@msn.com
