Today I’m linking up with Erica and Shay for the Let’s Look link-up and the topic is “a typical day”. My days look different depending on the day of the week, and no two days are the same, but I’m excited to share a little of our crazy, so here we go!

So, full stop disclosure– I didn’t really prep for this. I didn’t stay up on my blogging/ link up calendar, and this caught me a little by surprise, so I don’t have tidy pictures and planned words for a specific day in our life. But– day in the life posts are my favorite to read, and I didn’t want to miss out on jumping in! So, this is a little generic taste of my day (s). This is a random assortment of new/ old pics for documentation, and just know- if you were to shadow me during a day, it would more than likely be different than this!

I did a Day in the Life post a year or two ago, but this was while I was pregnant with Olivia, so life looked a lot different then! You can click here to check it out!

For the last 3 years, up until July 1, our life and schedule varied depending on the residency rotation Steven was on. Ward service meant he worked about 6:45-5:30/6 ish, medical ICU rotations were 6 AM- 6PM (so really 5:30-6:30), nights were anywhere from 5 PM- midnight all the way up to 7 AM depending on the year, clinic days were 8-5. Each week was something new, so it was hard to create a lot of routine and consistency because what worked for one week didn’t work the next. BUT– all that is different now because July 1 marked the start of GI fellowship! Now he’s in the clinic either in the morning or afternoon, and scoping the opposite time (and sometimes again after clinic because he wants to take every open scope he can). This means a pretty consistent 7:30-5:30 ish (again, sometimes later if there are still open scopes on the board), and SO many free weekends! (He is only on call/ hospital consult service for 9 weeks/ weekends through the year, which is like a fraction of how many weekends he worked in residency!)

All that to say- what time he goes in to the hospital typically affects when I get up. I’d like to be one of those people with a morning routine, but I’m just not there right now. I’ve finally gotten to the point that I’ve realized that I don’t have to be a morning person and get all the things done in the morning. So, on a work day, I typically get up about 6:15-6:30 (maybe a little earlier if he’s getting up earlier), shower, get dressed, and do my hair and make-up. There’s some coffee thrown in, typically some podcast listening, and some chatting with Steven before he grabs his lunch and coffee to go and heads out. About 7:45 ish, I make Olivia breakfast and get her up (sometimes she’s awake and talking to her llama and lab that she sleeps with, and sometimes she’s still asleep). Her nanny, the sweet and wonderful Grand Betty, arrives about 7:50. I usually chat with her for a few minutes, and then head out to the office.

I actually just (also on July 1) moved to a new office. I’m doing the same job (audiologist specializing in compensation and pension exams for veterans) for the same company, but we opened another office in our town, and I moved over to it! I’m back to having my own office (I was sharing with another girl at the old office since we both were there part time), and I really like the location, set up, and other girls working there! Here’s a little peek at my space…

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On work days, I see patients from 8-12, typically run home and have lunch with Olivia and Betty (sometimes Steven and sometimes Wayne, Betty’s husband, too), and then come back from about 1-4:30.

When I leave the office, if I have any really quick errands that are harder to do with Olivia, I usually try to knock those out while she’s at home, like picking up orders from Target, grabbing dry cleaning, picking up groceries (although now all of those things are drive-up or drive through, so I guess it’s not that much harder with her… haha!). I get home usually between 4:30-5, and usually rest a few minutes before starting dinner, or if Steven gets home before I start dinner, we typically go out/ get something to go.

After we eat, sometimes we head to the park to work the dogs. Livy and I sit in the grass and watch them work while we play. If we don’t go to the park, we hang out at home and play with Livy.

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Livy goes to bed about 8-8:30. I usually then pick up the house, clean the kitchen, and maybe read a little. Steven usually studies every night, right now both for IM boards in August and GI material to help with clinic, scoping, and their upcoming in-training exam. Around 9, I like to ride the Peloton for 30-40 minutes, and if I’m feeling super ambitious, I’ll do a Pure Barre on Demand workout after (I’m very rarely super ambitious 😉 ). Around that time, Steven will also lift weights in the garage and ride the Peloton. After that we typically get ready for bed (including feeding the dogs and kenneling them for the night), and try to be sleeping by 10:30-11:30.

We’ve learned over the years that we’re just night people. Even if it takes a short 30 minute nap in the evening, we are much more likely to get a lot more done at night than trying to wake up early in the morning and do it, which is why we both work out at night. If there’s anything I’ve learned over the last several years, it’s that it’s good to get an idea of how other people do things (especially successful people, or people you admire), but what works for them won’t always work for you, and that’s okay. Decide what your goals are, what your requirements are, and what makes you most successful, and do those things however you want/need to! And ending your day with a milkshake is always a good idea. 🙂

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So, that’s a Monday-Wednesday for us. A lot of the time, it’s survival mode/ auto pilot around the house to get to Thursday-Friday when I have more time to block off to get stuff done.

Thursdays and Fridays have flexibility, which is nice. I typically try to group all our out of the house stuff on one day (errands, play dates, pick ups, appointments, etc.) and have one day completely at home to knock out home stuff (charting, laundry, chores, etc.). This bounces back and forth between the days depending typically on when charts are due and when our out of the house stuff is scheduled.

Most of the time, I still wake up when Steven does, but sometimes I go back to bed for a little bit if it’s still early, or I go ahead and get up for the day. When we’re at home for the day, I get straight to my laptop so I can get as much charting as I can done before Livy gets up. I have a gorgeous refinished secretary desk in our little office nook off our bedroom that I typically don’t use because I end up at the dining room table so I can watch Livy when she does get up. I’ve also been known to work from the couch, the recliner, the floor, and kitchen counter in an attempt to multitask and keep an eye on the munchkin, haha!

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While I chart, I try to start running loads of laundry through the washer and dryer. My most successful days of laundry are when I can wash and dry everything, fold it all at once, and put it all away at once instead of load by load, so I try to keep that cycle going through the morning so it’s all finished by the afternoon. Right now, doing one full day of laundry a week keeps us running, and this is more successful for us than the often recommended one load a day. We don’t generate enough for a full load a day, so it gets me all off track trying to hit every few days and get the wash, dry, fold, put away cycle done on random days. (I know, all this laundry talk is just downright riveting, right??).

Those days are home are to get the house in order, but to also enjoy my time with my sweet girl. When she first wakes up, I try to get some snuggles, and then she has breakfast. I’m a sucker and I typically let her eat on a plate in the living room while she watches cartoons instead of in her high chair.

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Livy usually plays for a while in the morning (and is really good at entertaining herself), and she typically takes a morning nap, then lunch, then plays for a while again, then afternoon nap, then she’s up and ready to see Steven when he gets home.

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Then dinner, play time and bedtime (similar to a work night). We throw baths in there every few nights, too. We don’t have a set bedtime routine- sometimes we read stories, sometimes she is so clumsy tired that she goes to sleep on her way to the bed. She’s so good at rolling with anything and she is very low maintenance! Our night time routine is the same as well- studying, working out, feeding the dogs, and hitting the bed between 10:30-11:30.

For out of the house days, we don’t usually spend the entire day out, more like the morning or the afternoon (because at least one nap is still a requirement!). Through the summer, we’ve been meeting with our young families’ group from church at different places one morning a week for the kiddos to play. It’s usually a walk at the park, playing at the playground, or fun at the splash pad- nothing overly planned, just meeting up at spots around town and having fun with friends!

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I try to keep it pretty low key in the afternoon if she’s been out all morning. She usually takes a good nap, so that gives me time to do house work, too. Thursdays and Fridays are nice days to get caught up and get set up for the next week’s stretch of work days!

And that’s a very chaotic, vague, random look at our “typical day”! There are plenty of days that things look a lot different at the end of the day than I planned for them to be, but I’m learning that a plan is a guide, not set in stone and to go with the flow while being as productive as possible. I’m hoping as we transition further into fellowship that we’ll get even better at routine, but for now, we do pretty well with what we have and enjoy the spontaneity of whatever adventures pop up!