Next up in my “A Day in the Life of a Working Mom” series is Katherine of Little Miss Rylee . I love her, and I love how honest her post is, and how she isn’t afraid to admit that, much like myself, she isn’t designed to be a SAHM. Rylee is the cutest, and I can always count on Katherine to back me up when I’m freaking my freak all over the interwebs.

So read about her day to day, commiserate and give her some comment love, then head on over to her lovely little blog and look around. I cherish her quote “It may not always be blue skies, but there is always a silver lining”, and I absolutely ADORE the Rice Family Rules she’s set out and put on display.

Happy Wife, Happy Life

Here’s the thing about guest posting…your friend Brandee says she needs some more guest bloggers for her first week back at work and you think, well crap, I’m a working mom, I could so be a guest blogger for her. So you offer, then she accepts and tells you to write about “ a day in the life” and then you think, oh crap, I have to write about our weekday routine and sound like I’ve got my ish together? This should fun…::side eye::

I started out by writing out our normal routine in 10 minutes increments…Do you guys know how long that takes? And how lame it is? Yea…I may be a bit Type-A…I opted instead just to give you the quick and dirty rundown…You’re welcome.

Friends, I am not wired to be a stay at home mom. No way. No how. I’ve been back at work since my wee one was 3 weeks old. Yes, I said weeks. In fact, I was practically running out the door my first day back. I went back full time when Rylee was 7 weeks old. {Now before you get all judgy on me for that, I know myself and I know Rylee and I would both be happier if I didn’t attempt to be a stay at home mom. And you’ve heard the saying “Happy Wife, Happy Life” right? Also? I breastfed until Rylee she was 11.5 months old…so there.}

But I digress….Ry’s now almost 3, so we’ve had some time to dial in a routine.

Every morning I’m up before 5:45 AM so I can get showered, dressed, make-upped and hair fixed before the monster is awake. {Don’t be fooled, by “fix” I mean 3 out of 5 days in the week I’m pulling it back in a messy bun while it’s still wet.}

The hubs wakes Rylee up right before he leaves for work about 6:30 AM. If I’m not done getting ready, Dinosaur Train on PBS comes to my rescue.

Assuming I have a cooperative toddler {ha.}, I get Rylee fed and dressed and we’re out the door by 7:15 AM.

Depending on the day of the week I’m dropping Ry off with my in-laws, my mom or daycare by 7:35 AM and then I’m off to work.

By the time 5:00 rolls around I wrapping up whatever project I’ve been working on and shutting down my computer. I go pick Rylee up and we’re home by 6:00 PM.

If we’re lucky, by the time we get home the hubs has started his 45 minute commute home. We settle in, make a fire and after a little bit of playtime, Rylee and I start dinner.

We eat dinner, as a family, by 7:30 PM nearly every night. Sometimes bath time follows, sometimes it doesn’t. PJ’s go on the monster around 8:00 PM and then we rock-paper-scissor for who has gets to take her to bed. {I’m kidding, we don’t actually rock-paper-scissor but that idea is now noted for future reference.}

Then by the time 9:30 or 10 rolls around I’m about racked out and giving myself a pep talk to do it all over again the next day!

There are a few things we do to keep me from going crazy set us up for success {and by success I really just mean as little stress as possible}:

I plan out our full week’s meals and do all the grocery shopping for it the weekend before…not having to make a mid-week grocery run is a huge help.

For my lunches, I either take leftovers from dinner the night before or grab a Lean Cuisine out of the freezer…whatever is going to be fast and easy to pack.

Sometimes, when Rylee is being a typical 2 year old monster, I don’t even bother trying to get breakfast in before we leave the house…instead I will grab her some yogurt and a banana to eat because it’s not worth the fight.

Sometimes I’m carrying her out of the house in her PJ’s…stop judging, I make sure she’s dressed on the days she goes to daycare.

After dinner, there’s nights all we do is rinse the dishes and leave them on the counter…it all depends on what time we actually sit down for dinner.

We have tacos every single Tuesday…it’s our favorite night of the week!

I go to bed by 10:30 every night. It may sound lame, but I know myself…if I get any less sleep than that I am a grumpy B the next day. And let’s be honest…nobody likes a grumpy mama.

Happy wife, happy life…am I right?

Like this? Check Out These!

• Making it all Work…
• One of THOSE Days….
• A Typical Nothing Day
• The Great Sham: Parenthood
• Working Moms Need Sex Too!