A Day in a Parenting Blogger's Life - A Mundane Life

Good morning everyone. Finally we are at the end of the week again. How is your summer going so far? I hope you all have nice weather and have something nice planned for the weekend. We are off to a play date, a Smyths Toystore reopening and we have booked tickets to Cars 3. Matthew is super excited.

This week’s “A Day in a Parenting Blogger’s Life”. features Sarah who blogs at A Mundane Life.

First of all, tell me a bit about yourself.

I’m Sarah and I blog over at A Mundane Life. I live in Leicestershire with my husband, daughter (who was born November 2015) and our Greyhound Chloe. My husband is a Motorbike Design Engineer, and I’m working on turning my blog into my career, alongside starting a blog design business. When I have a bit of spare time, I love gaming and reading.

How many times were you woken last night?

Elise, my daughter is pretty good at sleeping. We put her down at 6.30pm and she falls asleep by 7pm every night. She gets up at about 6.30am, but barely wakes in the night, and if she does it is just for us to give her back her dummy as she refuses to find it herself. My husband usually does this though, as due to being partially deaf I can’t hear her from her room unless the monitor sound is on (and my husband hates hearing her breath all night!)

Do you co-sleep?

We don’t co-sleep anymore as Elise is happy in her cot. When she was about 9-10 months old we did co-sleep because she kept waking up and crying. It was easier because the separation anxiety was making her so upset when she woke in the night. She did kick one of us out though, so we took it in turns sleeping on the sofa for a few months.

What time do you normally wake up?

Between 6am and 6.30am. Sometimes Elise falls back asleep until about 7.30am if we put her musical elephant back on.

How much average sleep do you get a night?

7-8 hours, unless I stay up looking at random things on the internet, or watching Netflix.

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

I take my Epilepsy, thyroid and asthma medication otherwise I forget.

Tell me about your typical morning routine.

6.30 am After taking my medication I go through to get Elise. I then change her nappy and get her dressed for the day. She then looks at a book whilst I get dressed. We then brush our teeth together before heading downstairs.

7.00am Elise will then eat a banana whilst having a beaker of soya milk. She will usually watch teletubbies whilst she has that, which means I can grab some breakfast quickly and feed the dog

8.00am Elise now has her breakfast. She sometimes has toast with marmite or peanut butter, or she will have some cereal or porridge. Again she will watch some music on the television or Hey Duggee

approx 8.30am Once breakfast is done, the television goes off and playtime starts! We usually play with Duplo, read books or play with her animal toys. We’ll sometimes do some stickers!

9.30am Elise will have some fruit as a snack

between 10.30 and 11.00 Elise will have a nap which lasts between an hour and two hours. We have baby ballet classes on a Monday so nap time is very random!

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

Elise will usually have food before us if I don’t cook a home made meal for her. Sometimes she will have a ready prepared meal because I’m too tired from my disabilities. When I do cook (about 4 times a week) we have things like spaghetti Bolognese, macaroni cheese, stir fry or curry. We love Japanese and thai food and this is popular with Elise too.

What’s on the menu for lunch?

Elise will have a sandwich, wrap or crackers alongside some fruit, vegetable fingers, sometimes a cube of chocolate or some crisps, and sometimes some fruit smoothies. She also likes to have chicken and cheese with her lunch. She will have water to drink, or some strawberry soya milk for a treat on a Friday.

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

We love to play with her toys, usually some Duplo or animal toys. Elise loves playing with dinosaurs too. We usually have a pretend picnic, or 5 during the day too! We usually do some colouring or drawing, and if she is in a very good mood we will attempt some arts and crafts. We like to take the dog for a walk in the afternoon or take a trip to the zoo, park, library or soft play. We also play music together and listen to Jazz (which she loves!)

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

It depends on the meal and what time my husband gets in from work. We generally eat together at the weekend for lunch though.

What do you do after dinner?

It’s bath time every 2-3 nights (Elise has eczema and can’t bath too often) or we will read our library books together until bedtime whilst she has a tiny bit of milk in her beaker. She usually plays with her Daddy before bedtime and he does the bedtime routine.

What is your bedtime routine?

5.00pm If it is bath night, Elise will head upstairs with her Daddy to take a bath. Sometimes I join her in the bath.

5.30pm Pjs on if it is bath night, and then downstairs for story time and a bit of milk.

If it is not a bath night, she will go upstairs at 6pm to get her pjs on and brush her teeth. She’ll brush her teeth just before bedtime if she doesn’t have a bath

6.30pm Elise is in her cot with her favourite toys and her musical elephant on. She will fall asleep by 7pm on her own.

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

I use nap time to send emails and do admin work for the blog, such as planning content in my google calendar and editing photos. I then blog in the evenings if I’m not too tired, or I will blog on a Friday afternoon as my husband finishes work early, and also on a Saturday. Sunday is our family day.

Thanks Sarah for giving us a look into a day of your life. Elise is a little cute and seems to be really content. I wish my 2 1/2 year old would be a good sleeper like her. Maybe one day. HA