Being a teacher I get the best of both worlds- maintaining my career and passion, while also being a SAHM two and a half months a year. It is kinda the dream situation(minus the pay). I can honestly say there are pros and cons to both, and have felt the oh sh*t moments in both scenarios. Being a special education teacher my work day is very routine oriented and scheduled, it typically flies by because we’re so busy. The hardest transition to staying home with my daughter has been figuring out what the hell to do all day! She is adorable and delicious, but now that she doesn’t sleep and eat all day, the days can dragggg. She can only do so much mentally, physically, and her attention span in short. With all this talk of NO screen time for babies it stressed me out! ( I actually allow a little TV time, us 80’s and 90’s babies are just fine) I wanted her to have a routine, but didn’t want to be the person that made us be home all day to accommodate her nap schedule.I want her to be flexible, and able to handle change, because life is unpredictable! These are my favorite activities to both engage her, and make the time go by. At the end of this post you will find a daily schedule we follow for the most part. Like I said we LIVE our lives, so we do veer off a bit from time to time. To all my new and veteran mamas out there, stay sane!
- Go for a walk.
Before I had Averly I ran about 3-4 times a week, By no means was I a “runner” but I ran a few half marathons and thought it was a fun way to stay in shape, and clear my mind. Once I got pregnant I started walking more and running less (my anxiety is crazy, even though my doctor said it was totally fine to run). Now that I have her it’s so hard to find time to work out. She LOVES being outside as most babies do. So I use our walk time as a great way for me to get exercise. I have a BOB jogger stroller so it’s perfect for runs with the peanuts. If it’s raining out or just too hot (NC summers are brutal) I will put her in her jumper or walker and i’ll do a tiny workout. Self care is important mama’s you got this!
2. Read books.
My husband and I are avid readers, especially my husband he is a book hoarder. So when Averly was born we bought a bunch of books and were gifted tons. Over the past few months she has shown such a huge interest in them! My early education spirit comes out when we read them and from a seriously early age I started prompting her to turn the page, and attempt to point to objects. Now she turns pages in board books independently! She loves to sit and read books with me! We pick about 5 every two weeks to really focus on. I read somewhere to read the same stories over and over to your infant, not sure if it’s true but it is working for her! We only read board books now, she especially likes books with flaps. I found some with felt flaps so she can’t rip them and they are amazing. They sell them on Amazon.
3. Play with “think toys”.
These toys are mainly cause and effect toys. We have tried a few montessori toys and she enjoys them, but we also use light up and colorful(plastic) toys, hand me down toys, and free toys! As much as I would love to have a full on montessori playroom in my house, it’s expensive and not realistic for us at this point. I also am such a STRONG believer in imaginative play. At some point I’m just like give that kid a damn Mr. potato head—
These are some of our favorite think toys(montessori and not!)
4. Play with “movement toys.”
Averly is crawling like crazy, and I swear she started pulling up the day she started crawling. If there is any object in front of her she will propel herself on top of it. I make sure to give her plenty of opportunities to explore her surroundings, and get her wiggles out. I use her activity table, her crawl car(this is amazing), our living room ottoman, and her large Averly chair from pottery barn. Your possibilities are really endless with this.
5. Jumper/exersaucer time.
I don’t have a cleaning woman, or a million dollars so I obviously cook a lot of home cooked meals. That being said I do have to put Averly in her jumper and exersaucer from time to time. Does this make me a bad mother—hell no. Now that she is crawling she wants to be in them less and less. She still likes her jumper, but only for a little bit at a time. A lot of times i’ll give her a snack while she is in these. Our exersaucer is from SKIP HOP and converts into an activity table when she gets older. It is also the easiest thing to take apart and put back together, so we bring it on a lot of our trips!
6. Kitchen time.
When i’m cooking/ cleaning the kitchen, sometimes Averly likes to explore the kitchen too. I usually just get a blanket (try to create some form of boundary haha) and put a bunch of kitchen items for her to play with. Babies have a billion toys but I swear they only want what adults have. I usually just put some plastic bowls, cups, spatulas, and tupperware out. She stays entertained for a while!
7. Daily outing.
This one is pretty important to me, getting out of the house absolutely makes our day go faster, and is a little bit of excitement for both Averly and I. We typically will go to the beach, the pool, the park my sisters or moms, TARGET(our fave), etc. We tried the free trial at the little gym, but I didn’t really think we needed to spend that kind of money each month. So I did a little research and found some adorable library baby groups that are FREE 2 days a week at several different libraries in my area. Do a little research mama’s because your town probably has this service. The babies are 0-18 months, they do music time, story time, dancing, and bubbles! Averly loves it!
8. Music time/toys.
We don’t have kindermusik in Wilmington! I checked! I am not an athlete and my husband isn’t either even though we are both freakishly tall. So we are hoping Averly loves music! I put together a small bin with a drum (she loves to bang on anything, it doesn’t have to be a toy, maraca’s, xylophone, etc. This is a great place to put homemade instruments too! Babies love noise and sound. I basically always have music playing in my house as well!
9. Bath time every damn day.
Averly Grace has crazy reflux. So naturally we see a lot of vomit, ALL DAY! In that case she gets a bath everyday. We only use soap every other, but she definitely needs a wash down. It also is a past of our bedtime routine. She loves to be in the water, and it’s one of our favorite times of the day!
10. Free Play.
In my opinion free play and Averly being able to entertain herself is so important. It builds independence, and gets our babes thinking. I have a play pen( I know people don’t use those anymore) but this one is an outdoor pack and play, it’s big and I can feel sure she can’t hurt herself in it. She is crawling and pulling up on everything! I typically will let her have free play in her play pen and I get a few things done around the house. She is always in eye sight, but it gives us both some independence!
11. Get outside. (weather permitting)
If the weather is nice, and you live where you can take advantage of being outside DO IT! Averly loves to be outside. When she was really little, just walking outside would typically calm her. I love to put a blanket out back a few toys and we just play for a half hour. It is SO nice to get outside. If it’s late enough mama has a glass of wine too!
12. A teeeeny bit of TV.
Guilty! When we are reallyyyyyyy out of things to do, and Averly is just restless I will sometimes play a little TV! I mean sometimes it’s been raining for 3 days, she has a cold, mama is having a dinner party and little baby bum just cures all, am I right! You guys, it is okay to let your babe have screen time in moderation. We by no means watch TV all day or even everyday, but, heck yes she knows what is, and she loves it, and so do I!
Here is a typical day in the life at our house!