My mummy routine is a crazy mess of never ending chores from start to finish. On some days it can get so ad-hoc and on the fly - I'm not even sure it's called a routine. You will see later, just how back to front my routine really is as a night owl. I sometimes surprise myself how I'm able to stay semi-coherent by the end of the day.
My mummy routine usually start early than expected!
Prior to this life was pretty mundane, but ever since I started working from home it's been a mad rush to adapt to less sleep and really just making that deadline.
8-8.30am
My day starts when my toddler wakes up. I'm so glad I am not doing early school runs like my husband who wakes up at 6.15am to get our eldest (Jayda) ready and off to school - bless him! My toddler, Jean (thank heavens) isn't an early riser too.
8.45am
Done with cleaning up and all dressed up, I start prepping breakfast for myself and Jean. If I haven't hung the laundry the night before then I would hang them right about now as well, before I even start breakfast preparations. We sit, we eat. I would check the meat I defrosted in the fridge the night before to see if has thawed through. I start mentally preparing what I would be cooking for lunch.
If we're needing small petty things like milk and eggs, sometimes I take Jean out for short walk to a small tuck shop in the condo area. Then both of us get to stretch our legs and have a change of scenery.
9.30am - 11.30am
I turn on some nursery cartoons for Jean and I start up the laptop. I would look at key notes I did the night before and I try to get as much work in, in between monitoring, getting interrupted by Jean for various reasons and needs. Nursery cartoons normally only keeps her attention for about an hour.
After that it's a mix and match of reading her favourite Charlie and Lola series, playing tea party and Lego Duplo while still furiously trying to get work done on my laptop. This is not inclusive of her toilet breaks, breast feeding breaks, snack breaks and tantrum breaks.
11.30am
I start cooking rice for lunch and minor lunch prepping - I start prepping for dinner right about now too. When I'm done, I head back to do more work on the laptop, if her royal highness permits.
12.30pm
I stop everything and start cooking. Husband and Jayda would due home about 1.15pm. I bring in Jean's cooking things with me to the kitchen and she can play pretend cooking on the floor. On occasion if we have french beans on hand, I would let her prepare the beans.
1.30pm
Lunch is served. Late huh? And Jean eats like a snail. I dread lunch and dinner because most times I am just sitting there waiting for her to be done! In between I try to clean up the kitchen and empty the sink of dirty dishes.
2pm - 2.30pm
Jayda's homework.
2.30pm
Everyone showers.
3pm
Nap time. As soon as Jean is asleep fire up the laptop again which I have left on sleep mode, and get more work in. If I get too tired, I crash nap when Jean wakes up to nurse.
5.30pm
Awake and prepping dinner
6.30 -7pm
Dinner. Pfft!
7.30 - 8.30 pm
Leisure time: TV, Skyping family members, random play unless there's more unfinished homework or the odd spelling test. Jayda learns 3 languages in her preschool: English, Bahasa and Chinese. I'm a banana Chinese, clearly you can already tell which spelling test I dread teaching the most.
While the kids are having leisure time, I'm in the kitchen cleaning up yet again and preparing Jayda's snackbox for tomorrow. I check that her bag has all the books she needs for the following day, and I clean and refill her water bottle.
8.30pm
Last call for milk/snacks and it's off to brush their teeth, a quick shower, a bed time story, short prayer and off to bed. We aim for 10pm a the latest. Well, we try. I also start the laundry just before saying goodnight.
10-10.30pm
I come out of the room. Kids are both in lala land, the laundry is done, but I leave it. I finish the last of my work, and call it in before 12am if I hadn't submitted in earlier. I take a short break, iron Jayda's school uniform and hang it near the clothes she has set aside for tomorrow. I put the kettle on so that we have ready boiled water to drink in the morning.
12.30am - 2am
Finally hang the laundry. And if I'm up for it, I would try to get some research done for the following day's article. If I'm not then I retire early. And just before I sleep, I subconsciously think about how many more times I'm going to wake up for night feeds (Jean has eczema and is off all dairy), and how I'm going to do all this all over again in the morning.
I'm sure you're wondering: WAH! No life meh? No other house chores to do meh? Plenty. You should see my mountain of a laundry unfolded. How to have time for my Korean Dramas? How about family time and all that. I slot anything and everything in whenever I can: ad- hoc remember? Bearing in mind every time I make time, I also sacrifice time to work and I will have to make up for it later.
Aiyoh! Why work so hard? Need to earn money mah! But, do not fret. Unless you put your body through a lot of crap, the human body is quite capable of adapting and thriving,