Day in My Life (Laura)

With less than 30 days until Veronica and I are in Orlando for the Disney Princess Half-Marathon Weekend, we're currently in training and preparation for the Glass Slipper Challenge. What does this look like? If you glance in my backpack - a pair of running shoes, my iPod or iPad (road versus dreadmill run), banana and peanut butter sandwich and if I can remember, a headband for starters.  If you took a look at my kitchen floor, a glitter bomb.  If you've been following us on Facebook, you've glimpsed some of the sneak peeks we've been giving of our two costumes - one for the 10K, one for the half.  Every 50 likes, another sneak peek.  At this moment, I can't say what I'm working on but it definitely involves glitter. Lots of it. Glitter and glue, and a million other crafty goodies.

I decided to take a break from the crafting (the glue still hasn't dried) and catch up on a few of the blogs I follow.  Cynthia over at You Signed Up for What?! linked up with a few others to see what a typical day in the life looks like for one another in the midst of our running, triathlon-ing (not sure if this is an actual word, but go with it) and training.  As some of you may know, I don't get the chance to train nearly enough or properly as I would often like.  I'm hoping to rectify this in the coming week thanks to a Craigslist find and my amazing husband who will be driving to pick up a free treadmill for me this weekend! In the mean time, I figured, what better way than to give you a glimpse into a somewhat typical day in the life of.

5:00 AM - My alarm goes off. The first time.

5:15 AM - If I'm lucky, I'm up or telling myself, I REALLY need to get up. I stumble to the kitchen and get the coffee brewing. If the kids are still asleep and I can trick my brain, I throw in my PiYo DVD or Yoga with Adrienne and try to get in at least 20 minutes.

5:45 AM - I'm hopefully in the shower or showered and beginning to get ready for work.  Sometimes it's a matter of getting a little one settled down with the iPad or Disney Junior cartoons if they're awake before Daddy gets home.

DISCLAIMER: As a parent who whose work schedule is opposite of their spouse, parenting during the week often resembles a tag team wrestling match. My husband works overnights - he's gone by 9:30 at night until approximately 6:15 the next morning. I'm on my own with our boys through the night and most of the morning. My hat is off to any parent who is doing this on a regular basis without a partner in any circumstance.

My "Holy Trinity": Coffee, Shakeology, Water...

6:30-7:00 AM - I pack my lunch, pour my coffee into my thermos and blend my morning Shakeology. I've been drinking Shakeology for over 6 months now and it's my breakfast - easily the healthiest meal of my day and easiest. My absolute favorite - blending in some frozen mango and fresh banana with my vanilla.  It's helped me stop snacking on not so good stuff and keeps me full well until lunchtime.  I am out the door no later than 7:00, depending on my morning.

7:45-8:05 AM - I arrive to work after a commute no less than an hour long. I live on Elliot in the Morning or a book on CD.  Just finished Neal Patrick Harris' autobiography.  Do yourself a favor and pick it up. Better yet, listen to it. It's narrated by the man himself and hilarious.

This book is: wait for it....LEGENDARY.

8:30-4:00 PM - School. I work in a neighboring county teaching students who are deaf/hard of hearing in a program-based elementary school.  My caseload and grade-level changes yearly, so I have to learn to be quite flexible...I've taught K-5th and I won't lie, the primary grades are my favorite and the kinders have a special place in my heart.  This year I'm teaching K/1 students - I case manage 5 students in two grade levels but three separate placements; I have to juggle instruction/support for three locations with the support of two para educators. It involves a lot of scheduling, color coding and great time management.  I don't always get to everything I intend to, but I plan for it.  My kids have a lot of academic, physical, social-emotional factors to contend with on a daily basis. Sometimes I'm working 1:1 on a reading or math skill, sometimes I'm modeling language, and sometimes I'm just listening. I can't say too much about my kids at school but I will say this...they're something special and they're mine.

My color-coded week...sometimes it works.

4:00-5:30 PM - The commute home begins.  Typically I try to leave at 4:00 to beat as much of the traffic as possible.  This does not always work however, so my drive home ranges from an hour to two hours, depending on my luck.

You don't even need to get into the tub?!

5:30 PM - If it's been a good drive, I arrive either at home or at the babysitter's to pick up my two little guys, ages 4 and soon-to-be 2.  I wrestle them back into the car and head home, which is thankfully only a ten-minute drive.

Laundry...it multiplies faster than rabbits.

5:30-6:30 PM - Dinner. My husband and I have gotten much better in the last year at alternating meal preps.  I've been quite spoiled this last month since he has been off from classes.  Once his semester starts back up, I'm back on dinner duty while trying to resist the begging for snacks, fighting over the toy of the day/hour/week, and putting things away.

6:30 - 7:30 PM - After dinner, the boys get their bath.  This is the time I usually TRY to throw in a load of laundry if I can and get the dishwasher going if I haven't already. Odds are, I won't remember that it's full of clean dishes and needs to be unloaded first. Damn. This late in the day I usually remember all the the things that I have forgotten to do and start generating another To Do list for the coming day/week. I love lists a little too much.

7:30-9:30 PM - Bedtime for the boys... Lately, this is my weakest area of time management and am continually working on developing a better bedtime routine for us all.  There are times where we read books together in bed and we're asleep by 8:30. There are nights where someone isn't asleep until 10:00.  There are often nights I fall asleep laying down with said child(ren) and wake up beside a (please, please) sleeping angel and sneak out of their bedroom.

9:30-11:00 PM - I try catching up on a few things online, check work emails (if I feel self-abusive), or veg out and stretch. I sometimes I fall asleep in the midst of whatever task is at hand and find myself dragging myself to bed when I could've gone earlier. Note to self - go to bed earlier.

I'm sure by now you're asking...when do I run?! Well, therein lies my predicament.  This has been an ongoing battle of mine and unfortunately, given the opposite work schedules that Dennis and I have, the majority of my runs occur on weekends or days off. Some weeknights, I'm luckier and I can run before or after dinner, weather permitting. We also have friends with treadmills that allow me to come over and run.  But finding the time that works for all four of us isn't as easy as penciling it in some days.

Thank you, Craigslist. As I type, Dennis is on his way to pick up a treadmill for me.  A little bit of off-task web-surfing and I will soon be the proud owner of my very own "DREADMILL", although I'll be sure to give it a prettier name.  I love running outside and in a race a MILLION times more than running on a treadmill, but I also know, I love running and what it does for me. Come on, I run to burn off the crazy.

So...that's a glimpse into a typical day in our house.  It's not a perfect science, but it's ours.  How do you balance your days? Do you HAVE to complete certain tasks on certain days or do you throw it all to the wind?

Final Yoga position of the day: Sleeping Between Children