Welcome back to my blog series “A Day in a Parenting Blogger’s Life”. I can’t believe we are in the middle of November already. Not the slightest I would have thought this series would be making it this far.
Today I actually have one of my favourite bloggers sharing her daily routine. I have been following her blog for quite some time. It must be over two years at this stage. It’s Donna from What the Redhead said. I knew her even before she renamed her blog. Over to you Donna.
First of all, tell me a bit about yourself.
I’m Donna. I have two children – Athena and Troy – and work part time in a High Street bank. I’m married to a policeman, David, and together we’re a pretty happy family although our work/life balance could be better!
How many times were you woken last night?
Just the once. Athena and Troy love to have sleepovers at the weekends and so they take it in turns to sleep in each other’s rooms. Sometimes they share a bed, sometimes they sleep in their ReadyBeds and it’s their favourite thing. But last night Athena got upset whilst sleeping in Troy’s room as it was too dark and so she couldn’t see Troy! We put a night light on for her and she was happy to go back to sleep after that!
Do you co-sleep?
No, we’ve never co-slept. But, when the children were younger and I was breastfeeding, they would always end up in bed with us in the early hours of the morning. It was either let them sleep next to us or get up so we took the easy option!
What time do you normally wake up?
I am, nine times out of ten, woken up by the children before 7:30am. I’d love to get woken by my alarm clock but no, usually one of the children will come into our room before then.
How much average sleep do you get a night?
I’d love to say eight hours but really I don’t go to sleep until midnight most nights and then get up at 7am, so seven hours sleep maximum really.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Go to the toilet! Actually, I am usually helping Athena and Troy to get dressed before I’ve even been allowed in the toilet myself.
Tell me about your typical morning routine.
It depends if I’m working or not. If I’m off work I’ll be getting both the children ready whilst trying to get me ready too. Once the three of us are dressed and have brushed our teeth we’ll head downstairs to have breakfast. Once they’ve both eaten I’ll do Athena’s hair, everyone will get shoes and coats on and we’ll walk to school – with Athena scooting if the weather’s nice.
When and how often do you prepare the family dinners? Give us a few examples what you would cook.
When Athena was born we started batch cooking and freezing meals so that family meal times were easier and quicker. We still do that now and so five or six nights a week we have something home cooked, often a slow cooker meal, where we just have to reheat it and cook the pasta/potatoes and vegetables to go with it. The other couple of days a week we’ll have something quick from the freezer – junk food Fridays! – and at least once a week I’ll cook from scratch, often cooking double to freeze for another time.
What’s on the menu for lunch?
Our lunches are usually sandwiches, toasted sandwiches or a picnic style picky lunch of anything left in the fridge. Lunch doesn’t change much in our house but the children love to just have sandwiches, crisps and fruit. It’s easy.
What activities have you got planned for the day for the kids?
Now that Athena is at school and Troy is at preschool in the mornings there isn’t as much time for activities but when Troy is home after preschool we’ll have lunch together, watch TV and play together before Athena comes home. We usually play Lego, do jigsaws and read together.
When Athena’s home we do homework first and then we usually do something creative – like a craft kit, play dough or drawing before relaxing for an hour of TV before dinner.
Do you generally eat dinner together as a family or get the kids fed first?
We have always made a point of eating together as a family. Quite often Hubby or I won’t be there for dinner, as we work shifts around each other, but whoever is at home with the kids will have dinner and we manage a family dinner a few times a week.
What do you do after dinner?
Dinner leads straight into bath and bedtime in our house – we usually have dinner at 6pm so that we can go straight into the bedtime routine after that.
What is your bedtime routine?
We usually do a bath every other night and so if it’s one of those nights we have a bath straight after dinner where the kids will have a wash and we’ll wash their hair and then they’ll get to play in the bath for a while. We’ll then get dried and into pyjamas before having a bedtime story in one of the children’s rooms and the kids will then go off to bed.
If it’s not a bath night it’s exactly the same – but a lot quicker – and we’ll have a quick wash and clean teeth before putting pyjamas on and then playing in their rooms for a while before bed.
Most importantly, when and where do you normally blog in those 24 hours? Do you have a schedule?
I blog when the children are at school/preschool and when they’re occupied during the day – like watching TV in the afternoon. I’ll then spend the whole evening blogging after they’re in bed. I don’t have a schedule really, I just fit it in where I can.
Thanks for sharing a day with us Donna. I am glad we are not the only family who have junk food Friday.
Blog URL: http://whattheredheadsaid.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/genuineplacebo
Facebook: http://facebook.com/wtredheadsaid
Instagram: http://instagram.com/genuineplacebo84
If you would like to feature in my new blog series, you can do so by sending me an email to schnurri87@msn.com. I’d love to have you on board.
