What Do Stay-At-Home Moms Do All Day?

Before having Greyson, I would always agree with people when they said that being a mom was a full-time job.  "Yes, being a mom is so much work,"  I'd say.  I had no idea what I was talking about, but it felt right to say.

Now I can say for sure that being a mom is a full-time job.  Atleast at this stage of motherhood, where my baby is almost 7 months old and he's with me all day.

I thought about this because I started tracking Greyson's sleep patterns yesterday.  I haven't tracked his sleep schedule in atleast two months, but it's something I've done on and off since he was born so I could see the sleep/wake patterns (since sleep is so important).  Greyson's naps last week were all only about half an hour, which is really short, so I thought I'd start tracking to see what was up.  I thought his naps might be weird because he had a cold and was congested, but I wanted to write it all down anyway.  While I was tracking his sleep, I decided to write everything we did during the day down to see what our day was like.

What this stay-at-home mom of a 6.5 month baby does all day after the jump!

We just got back from a weekend in Atlanta on Monday night, so Tuesday was just going to be a chill day to get back into our routine.  Usually I try to accomplish much more than just doing chores around the house.  But, when I look at the below schedule of what we did yesterday, I'm like, how do I even do more than chores on most days? 

Tuesday, January 24, 2012:

6:00 AM:  Greyson is awake (He went to bed at 6 pm the night before after returning from a weekend in Atlanta.  We didn't hear him cry once overnight.)
6:00:  Nursed
6:15:  Greyson went back down to sleep (I made smoothies, prepared Rob's breakfasts and lunch)
7:30:  Woke again for the day crying (Greyson and I walked Rob to the subway, walked the dog)
8:00:  Fed solids until 8:30, played together
9:00:  Nursed
9:15:  Put in crib with pacifier and mobile on.
9:55:  Greyson is asleep (I read the paper, ate food, checked email, posted Greyson pics on Tumblr, showered)
10:55: Awake and calm
11:40:  Nursed, went to grocery store, made salads, had lunch with Pamela at home
1:00:  Put Greyson in crib.
1:10:  Greyson is asleep (I put away clothes and stuff from trip, did dishes)
1:45:  Awake and calm (Put Greyson in the jumperoo while I was checking email)
2:15:  Went out (saw apartment with broker)
3:30:  Story time at the YMCA (we left class at 3:50 because Greyson was clearly wired and tired)
4:00:  In crib.  Fussed then was quiet then cried then wailed (I sat and watched the monitor, cringing)
4:30:  Greyson is asleep (I started preparing dinner)
4:51 :  Awake and crying (Got Greyson out and we hung out and played)
5:40 :  Started bedtime routine (bath, nurse, bottle, book, baby journal)
6:10:  In crib for the night
6:15:  Greyson is down for the night, asleep

Being a mom to an infant really makes you get organized.  If I want to accomplish anything besides just taking care of my family, I really have to plan it out.  You can't just wing it, that's for sure.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try and dedicate some time each day to do the things that I'm interested in, that's just for me.  Like, studying Portuguese, studying photography, reading, going to the gym, writing in my journal, studying whatever subject is currently on my mind like personal finance and our apartment hunt.  I have my Google calendar set up so that each day, it reminds me that OK, on Mondays, I try to dedicate 30 minutes to an hour to Portuguese.  If I even get 15 minutes, that's pretty good, even though it's not even enough time to develop any momentum.  I think it's important to find time to keep up with my own interests even if it's for a short amount of time.  Maybe on another day, I'll have more time, but it's the routine and the dedicating some time to myself that matters.

Note:  I'm blogging (and eating banana bread for breakfast) while Greyson is down for his morning nap.  I chose to do this instead of doing the dishes or showering because this outlet is important to me.  I'll just take a shorter shower and the dishes might have to wait.  Being a mom is about making choices!