A Day in a Parenting Blogger's Life - Stressy Mama

Who else is looking forward to the weekend as much as me? It is actually a bank holiday in Ireland which means we are getting an extra day off. I didn’t want to spend that time in Naas so we booked a night away in Wexford and have planned a few sights to see.

This week on the blog series “A day in a parenting blogger’s life” is Sam who blogs at Stressy Mama.

First of all, tell me a bit about yourself.

I’m Sam; I live in Oldham with my partner Chris and our three year old daughter Molly. I used to be an ICT and Employability tutor but I decided to take a career break after having Molly and have never really wanted to return to teaching. I am a SAHM but have recently started freelance writing and I am really enjoying it. And as it is freelance I can work around Molly’s schedule.

How many times were you woken last night?

Surprisingly, none! Molly has been a terrible sleeper since the day she was born so I am often woken several times a night. She is prone to night terrors and appears to be following in the sleep talking and sleep walking footsteps of her dad! She hasn’t actually been quite as bad with her sleeping over the last few months though so we’ve had a few full night’s sleep.

Do you co-sleep?

Not usually. As Chris is a sleep walker he moves around quite a lot in the night. I have been on the receiving end of a stray arm a few times when he’s been moving around so co-sleeping was never really an option. Molly did go through a stage a few months back of wanting to get in our bed all the time but she seems to have gotten over that now.

What time do you normally wake up?

We usually wake up between 6am to 6:30am. On a very rare occasion Molly might let us sleep until about 7am but that doesn’t happen very often.

How much average sleep do you get a night?

I usually get between 6 and 7 hours. Sometimes though, if I am up and down with Molly in the night I am lucky if I get a couple of hours!

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?

The first thing I do when I wake up is to go downstairs with Molly and make us all a drink.

Tell me about your typical morning routine.

Typically, we get up about 6am, go downstairs to have a drink and Chris plays with Molly until he leaves for work. After that me and Molly will have some breakfast and then get ourselves ready. We would then usually play out in the garden for a while or go out for a walk or to the park. If the weather is bad and we had to stay in we would usually get the paints or PlayDoh out.

When and how often do you prepare the family dinners? Give us a few examples what you would cook.

I prepare dinners every week night and Chris cooks at the weekend. I am not much of a cook so my dinners aren’t usually up to much! I tend to make easy things that I am unlikely to burn like pasta with a vegetable sauce, spaghetti bolagnaise, sausage casserole, or chilli and rice. My speciality is Meat and Potato Pie, which is about the only thing I can make from scratch! Chris is a really good cook. His chicken dinners are a firm family favourite. His roast potatoes are AMAZING!

What’s on the menu for lunch?

I try to mix things up a bit at lunch times. We have things like a ham or tuna sandwich, bread sticks with houmous, tuna pasta or beans on toast. If the weather is okay I make a little picnic lunch and we take it into the garden.

What activities have you got planned for the day for the kids?

Depending on the weather I plan to take Molly for a walk and to the park on the way home. Later on in the day we are going to be doing some painting and messy play activities.

Do you generally eat dinner together as a family or get the kids fed first?

We usually eat as a family because Chris gets home from work about 5:30pm. If Molly is tired or hasn’t eaten much lunch I would make her dinner earlier and then we would eat when she was in bed.

What do you do after dinner?

As soon as Molly goes to bed Chris and I sit down with a cup of tea and watch Emmerdale. After that I usually try to get some blogging done. We have just started watching Game of Thrones though so we are watching a couple of episodes of that each night. It is so addictive!

What is your bedtime routine?

We take Molly upstairs for a bath between 6:30pm and 7pm. I read her a story in my bed, and then Chris reads her a story in her bed. She knows it is time to go to sleep after that. She usually drops off before the end of the story.

Most importantly, when and where do you normally blog in those 24 hours? Do you have a schedule?

I don’t really have a schedule because it all depends on Molly. She goes to nursery for a couple of afternoons a week so I try to do as much blogging as I can then, but the time is mostly taken up by running errands, cleaning etc. I try to blog as much as I can in the evenings too.

Thanks for giving us the insights in the day of your life Sam. I wish I had a husband that cooks but it’s all on me unfortunately.