What are your days like Mamas? I’ve always wanted to pin down what I get up to everyday in hopes of being able to see for myself why I deserve to say I’m exhausted.
My days typically begin around 6am. N gets up and we head outside into the living area where her toys are and there’s a large enough space for her to move about (and for me to lie down because truth be told, I can’t function 100% yet at 6am). I typically end up falling asleep there, while she plays by herself but recently I’ve been waking up to see her cuddled next to me or on me somehow and sleeping away too. She sleeps for another hour or so, usually around 7-8am. I consider this her first morning nap.
Once we’re both up I let her continue to play (she usually uses this time to poop too) while I get about my chores. Turning up the house includes opening all the windows, making the bed/cot, running the washing machine. Then I decide what N’s breakfast would be and if it requires quite a bit of prepping then I do that first. On easy days, she gets her shower first then I get her breakfast ready.
After shower and breakfast it’s back to playtime while I hurriedly try and sneak in a shower myself. Then we videocall my mom (thanks, Covid19) and they catch up while I clear the kitchen and hang the laundry out. If the meals for the day includes rice then I usually have that running early in the day.
Around noon she’ll start to get tired so I try to put her down for a nap. She only naps for 30 minutes so that’s the only time I have to prepare her lunch. Now that it’s Ramadhan, I cook her meals separately from mine. Most times I’m not done by the time she’s up so she’s back in her play yard while I have whatever on the stove running. She’ll want me to play with her so I have to be quick and jump here and there so I can play while I cook.
She usually gets her lunch around 1.30-2pm, with a feed either before or after. Once she’s done I plop her onto the floor so she can crawl/cruise to her heart’s content while I clean up the mess that is BLW. Then, we go to play again.
Her next nap would be around 3.30pm. Again, half an hour, so I usually rush to do Zuhr and check what I can give her for her evening snack. If I’m lucky I’ll have fruits or puree in pouches. If not, I’d make something really simple. I’d try to also bring in the laundry during this time but it’s rare that I get to do that before she’s calling for me from her room.
In the evenings, after her snack, she tends to get a bit more clingy. Sometimes we’d watch TV (shush), sometimes we’d lay around together. I’d make her watch me do Asr too. Tricky because this is when I’d need to cook for iftar.
5.30pm is the start of a whole new rush of busy. It’s when I prepare her dinner (nowadays it’s the same as lunch, except she gets a dessert during lunch and no sweet things for dinner), clean up the mess that is BLW, get her showered, then prepare for iftar. Recently she decided that she wants to sleep right in the middle of the azan so I usually don’t get to break my fast till later. No biggie, what’s 30 more minutes right?
I wish I could say this is when we go down for the night but no. While she sleeps I rush to shower, do my prayers, clear the dishes/pots, put away her toys, bag the trash, make sure the cat is alive. She sometimes gets up every now and then. H then comes home from work close to 9pm, and when he does I prepare his dinner and catch up for a bit before I head into the room for the night.
Not that I go to bed, no. By the time I head in, it would be 10pm at least. I use this time to scroll through social media, reply those messages, blog… or Netflix till I get really sleepy.
N would wake up around midnight (and she’s getting into the habit of staying awake for an hour or two), then again at 4am. H and I take turns, then comes time for sahur, and Fajr and then it’s 6am again.
That’s my life for now! She’s not yet at the age where I can make games or teach her to read or anything so her play time is really just that – play. We’d roar and chase each other, knock toys together, slam the piano, tickle, or I’d bring her to the window and she’d have the time of her life looking at the cars and people outside. We do lots of reading and she’s learnt to flip the page, so adorable.
I honestly can’t wait for this isolation period to be over because I haven’t gone out for for fun since March 16 and I’m really looking forward to making some plans beyond the gate of our home.
Like the dude with the sign said (or wrote): Okay Covid, wrap it up.