a day in the life of

So lots of bloggers have been writing "a day in the life of" posts lately so I thought I'd hop on the band wagon and give you a glimpse into our daily life. Here's an example of a typical weekday for us.
Morning alarm goes off at 5:45am and ready or not I hop (or roll) out of bed, throw on some clothes, brush my teeth, put my contacts in, and head into the office. Jimmy gets up a little before me and heads out the door as I start my work between 6:30 and 7am. Most days I make my way down to the kitchen before him and make us both an iced coffee and some breakfast - usual toast, a banana, and/or some yogurt or cereal. Then he's out the door and I'm back up to the office to get some work in before Lily wakes up.

 Lily wakes up between 7:30 and 8am and I get her changed, fed, dressed, and back to the office we go. She plays on the floor while I work some more. My "typical" working hours are 6-10am but depending on meetings and and other things I'm involved in those can fluctuate somewhat. Around 9ish Lily lays down for her morning nap and I finish up my work for the day while she sleeps. On mornings that I have conference calls and/or just have a lot I need to get done we have Jimmy's younger sister, Jalissa, come and watch Lily. She goes to Hawkeye and doesn't have class until 12:30 every day so it works well with her schedule and is very helpful for me! Generally speaking though Lily is at a really good age to allow me to get my work done in the mornings and have her here with me since she sleeps in pretty late, plays well by herself for a bit, and then lays back down for a nap. Our schedule may get a little (or a lot) more interesting as she gets older and more busy!



this is the sweet face i get to see every morning :)

My work is primarily spreadsheets and analytical work. My actual "title" is Market Analyst but I'd say my primary role/responsibility is forecasting for the Remanufacturing business for John Deere in North America, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Russia. Day to day tasks are lots of emails, reviewing forecasts, setting up reporting/tracking sheets, and/or preparing for upcoming meetings. I really like my job. It's a job that I kind of stumbled upon as I knew I was going to move to Springfield to live with Jimmy after our wedding and John Deere basically just found me something. It's been such a blessing to me at this point in my life - it's a little less hectic of a job than ones I've had in the past which works well for the chapter we are in as a new family. It's definitely challenging as I'd never done any sort of forecasting prior to this role and the Remanufacturing business is unlike any other area of John Deere. My boss is extremely flexible, supportive, and encouraging - which is always helpful. And the balance of part time, so far, has been good. Right now I seem to be working more hours than I signed up for but I'm hoping/thinking that will slow down a bit once I get caught up. So, that's my job - in a nutshell.

Lily wakes up from her nap sometime between 10:30 and 11am and I usually play with her for a bit - read her books, play with some of her little toys, "talk" with her, and just snuggle on her a bit before getting myself ready. I make a point to always get a shower in and get myself dressed at a fairly decent time - it helps me feel better about myself each day and I think it's important. I usually make myself some lunch then we either head out for some errands, I do laundry, get some cleaning done and/or get in some more work. Our afternoons are always a little different day to day. Lily is more of a cat napper in the afternoon so she takes several shorter naps more frequently.

I've tried to create a home schedule for the housework and so far it's working really well. I do all my meal planning on Sunday nights so I get groceries and do all laundry on Monday's, I have begun attending a women's Bible study on Tuesdays, Wednesdays is cleaning day - we have a 3 floor home so I am rotating between doing the main floor and basement or the upstairs each week, Wednesdays we attend a Breastfeeding Support Group of 1st time mom's at the hospital, Thursdays I attend a mom's group at a local church, and Fridays are our free day. I am also training for a half marathon next month so I run 4 days a week and do my runs in the afternoon. On the days that I don't have a training run we always get out and go for a walk around the neighborhood. I am big on getting outside every day with Lily to enjoy the nice weather while we have it! I manage to squeeze in blogging, making hair bows, catching up on DVR shows, decorating, reading other blogs and/or my kindle during nap time in the afternoon.

riding in the stroller like a big girl now (without the car seat adapater)

Jimmy usually gets home from work between 5:30 and 6pm (although lately it's been closer to 10 or 11pm but that's definitely not our norm). Once he's home he spends some time playing with Lily while I get dinner started. We eat between 7 and 7:30pm, spend a little more time together playing with Lily until her bedtime, which is between 8 and 9pm. Once we lay Lily down Jimmy and I typically just hangout - whether that's just talking and snuggling :) or watching some TV we really just try to spend some time together every single night. Neither of us are involved in night time groups and/or activities (yet) so it's nice to have our evenings together and some 1:1 time once Lily lays down.

lily & jimmy

Jimmy and I then head to bed between 10 and 11pm then we get up and do it all over again!

So that's a "typical" day for me and our little family. I'm excited about the groups I'm a part of this fall (more to come on those) and feel like it's going to be a great balance of work, time with Lily, and activities!