By far, the most requested post for Olive and Tate is a Day In The Life style snapshot of our day to day happenings. To be honest, I wasn’t exactly sure when the best time to track a day in our life would be in order to share a fair representation of it all – it’s Summertime, so our schedule is different, some days I work, some days I don’t, no day really looks the same, etc. I figured why not now, today seemed as good a day as any: a non-school, non-work, SAHM day, full of Target and pediatricians and one thousand snacks kind of day that many of you will relate to. Soon I’ll document a work day for you so you can see what it’s like during the hours that I’m handling all things Olive and Tate! But for now, enjoy this little slice of crazy:
Thursday, August 9
7:30am 
Wake up in my 4 year old’s bed, thanks to a thunderstorm/falling out of the bed incident the night before. It’s actually the first time I’ve ever slept in his bed, typically he climbs into ours, but my husband had to work out of town today, so I took one for the team and let him sleep well. 
7:32am
Open a breakfast bar, pour a cup of milk, leave 4 year old in the kitchen and climb back into my real bed just to stretch out and pretend that I slept there.
7:35am
Scroll through emails, social media, answer the DMs that came in overnight, text my best friend because that’s what we do.
7:45am
Hear the baby stirring in her crib, cross my fingers that she’ll play in her bed for a bit and drag myself out of bed to get ready before she’s over it.
8:00 am
Brush teeth, assess if I can get away with no make up, spray dry shampoo
8:15am
The baby is over it, grab her out of her bed, snuggle her fat cheeks while she ignores me, because that’s what we do. She lights up when she sees her dad and leaps for him, I pretend not to care that she blatantly prefers his company, thankful that her fat cheeks make up for her sassy attitude. And I say that with love, she clearly got her sassy attitude from me and I can’t even pretend to be mad about it. 
8:20 am
Plop the baby in her highchair, feed her breakfast, tell her not to stand up in her highchair 100 times, check in on my big boy who is slowly waking up in the playroom with his trains. 
8:30am
Get baby changed and dressed for the day in the cutest seersucker romper, pack Gray’s bag for swim camp, decide that I’m wearing my pajama top and leggings for the day. Get Gray dressed in a much less adorable Paw Patrol bathing suit and rash guard combo. 
8:45am
Load everyone and everything up, slather Gray in sunscreen with a patented process I call “Noodle Arms” that involves me wiggling his arms and legs aggressively while also rubbing in sunscreen. I won’t lie, it’s one of my finer parenting inventions. 
8:47am
Pull out of the driveway, sad that I won’t have time to hit the Starbucks drive through pre-swim camp drop off.
9:05am
Swim Camp drop off, big boy is so excited, his friends from school will be there and he loves the pool these days.
9:06am
Pull out of carpool, decide to skip the local Starbucks and head straight to my next destination: Target. 
9:30am
I don’t super love the Target in Charlotte but I need a random assortment of things so I pull into the parking deck and consider downsizing my giant SUV to a normal sized SUV. Scroll through DM’s, comments, emails while we’re parked.
9:35am
Baby is loaded into her stroller because the double harness contains her better than a cart, I’ve already handed her a cup and snack keeper and am prepared to order her a snack at Starbucks to keep her happy for a minute or two.
9:45am
Coffee in hand. 
9:47am
Run the aisles of Target, picking up super fun things like paper plates, allergy meds and baby pouches. Decide to finally buy a new vacuum thanks to a sale, also pick up containers to make car emergency kits for the kids, a first aid kit (the Oh Joy collection is super cute) and take a quick spin through the new clothes section that is a dead ringer for Madewell. Only useful things end up in the stroller basket and, quite frankly, I’m proud of myself.
10:30am
Load in the car, debate skipping the baby’s morning nap and going to Trader Joe’s since it’s across the street or heading home to let her have a shorter morning nap while I get stuff done. She immediately starts fussing, so home it is.
10:40am
Baby in her swing, paci/baby/blankie in hand. Time to make waves or it won’t happen for the rest of the day. Also, shove in a snack, because the breakfast bar I ate earlier didn’t cut it. 
10:41am
Unload car, drag giant trash can over to car, toss out all of the cups, broken breakfast bars, misc happy meal toys that I can find. Unpack everything from Target, load up the emergency car kits (diapers/changing pad/wipes/hand sani/onesie for her, undies/change of clothes/dino band-aids/allergy meds for him), start a load of laundry that I’ll prob forget about, unpack my new vacuum, vacuum the kitchen/family room/dining room/playroom/playroom sofa, promptly fall in love with my new vacuum. Clorox Wipe the high chair, kitchen table and counters and feel pretty damn accomplished. 
Open my laptop at the kitchen counter and turn on The Great British Baking Show for background noise. Scan work emails and pull up the Willow Crowns site to see what’s changed over night in prep for the launch on Friday. Text Megan, text with the Willow Crowns team, check the time and wonder if I’m going to have to wake the baby to go pick up Gray.
12:15pm
Waited until the last possible second but had to wake the baby for swim camp pick up. I hate doing that to her and she was out for the count, sweet baby. Change her, put her in the car with pre-packed snacks in her cup holders to keep her happy. Thankfully, she doesn’t seem too mad to have been pulled from dreamland so I’m relieved.
12:35pm
Pick up Gray from swim camp, he is still in his wet bathing suit, his hair is a crazy mess, he has to go back in for his lunchbox and he is adorable. I love his little face so much. Wave to my fellow swim camp/preschool mom in car line behind me, laugh to myself that times have really changed since we were college roommates. 
12:40pm
Tell Gray that we can get a (diet) lemonade from Chick Fil A as a post swim camp treat because I really want chicken strips for myself. Also break the news to him that he has his 4 year old check up later on and we talk about what a “check up” is. I fib and say that I need to go have my 34 year old check up and mentally make a note to find a GYN here in Charlotte. 
12:45pm
Our Chick Fil A has the most aggressive drive through process ever, we’ll be here a solid 15 minutes, certainly long enough for Gray to ask to play in the play place more than once. I snag a kid’s meal with nuggets and the prized (diet) lemonade for the kids to split (the meal, not the lemonade) and a strips meal with a salad and the world’s largest Diet Dr. Pepper for me. I immediately start handing out fries to the back seat.
1pm
Pull in the driveway, set parameters for the next few minutes. Gray takes a “quiet rest” for 2 hours every day. He chills in his room with his tablet, plays with his legos, reads and sometimes snoozes. He loves the down time and so do I. We start unloading and he gives up carrying his bag halfway to the back door, I pick up the slack like the rock star mom that I am. He changes into dry clothes while I feed his sister chicken nuggets and manages to snag a handful of fries on his way to his room.
1:20pm
Sister and I head to the playroom where I’ll try to convince her to walk and she’ll try to convince me to let her dive off of the couch head first. She’s currently into shoes and she looooves to take my shoe off of my foot and put it back on one million times. She also loves to eat chalk from the chalk table, so you gotta keep your eye on her. 
2:20pm
I lug out the printer and set it up so that I can print the kids school forms to take to the pediatrician, change the baby, let her crawl around emptying the kitchen cabinets while I pack my bag with all kinds of entertainment since I assume we’ll wait at the pedi for an eternity. 
2:40pm
Feed the baby a snack, wonder how Gray is going to handle the impending vaccinations….
More time on emails/DM’s/social media. 
3pm
Gray gets up and I get him dressed since he currently prefers to only wear undies. 
3:10pm
Pull out of the driveway, bag packed with snacks, toys, cups, headphones etc, realize I forgot the school forms, go back in the house. The neighbor kid pops his head over the fence to say hey and scares the living crap out of me, consider getting my blood pressure checked at the pedi. 
3:11pm
Decide to tell Gray that he might be getting a shot at the doctor’s office. He seems ok about it, we talk about how it might hurt for a minute but that it will keep him safe. I also bribe him with a treat after if all goes ok.
(no shoes for him to get his height, no shoes for her because she kicked them off)
3:20pm 
We are in the exam room, Georgia is already trying to break out of the stroller, I am nervous about how long we’ll be expected to sit in this room. Text my husband about our children and how we need to teach them to regulate the volume of their voices. 
3:40pm
Shot time, he doesn’t even cry, I am so surprised and impressed. He did remind me of the Oreo I promised him before the nurse even left the room and I’m sure she made a note of that in my Permanent Motherhood Record.
4pm
We are loaded up and headed home and I want an Oreo, too
4:15pm
The kids play in the screened porch while I find the Oreos, fill up cups, remember that load of laundry and pack away the printer. Text my husband with my daily “when will you be home today” message.
4:30pm
Gray plays with letter and number magnets on the fridge and Georgia unloads the pantry, as she does on the regular. 
4:45pm
Georgia has found a bag of pistachios and seems desperate for me to open them. So desperate that she takes her very first steps in an attempt to bring them to me! Gray and I are both watching her and I think our reactions probably scared her! Gray yelled out “big girl!” and I yelled out “oh, Sissy is WALKING!”. She’s refused to do it since, so I hope we didn’t scar her. 
5pm
Start snacking and planning dinner, pour a glass of cheap read wine. 
5:05pm
Feed Georgie, she just can’t make it much longer and is antsy this time of the day. She eats while Gray runs around the kitchen, telling her about numbers and magnets. 
5:15pm
She’s out of the highchair again and crawling around under my feet. He’s playing in the playroom and I’m texting everyone about her first steps. I keep trying to get her to do it again so I can snag a video but she is less than impressed with my antics. 
5:30pm
Justin should be home around 6:15 tonight so we hang out in the playroom, waiting for him
6pm
Gray is desperate for his Dad to come home so he can show him the letter magnets, so we sit outside on the front porch waiting for him to get home.
6:02pm
Potty break.
6:10pm
Justin is home. Gray is over the moon, Georgia refuses to walk for her Dad, which frankly surprised me. 
6:15pm
Justin, Gray and I eat dinner, Georgia eats her second dinner. Gray tells Justin about swim camp and can’t remember what arm got the shot but can remember every detail of the Oreo. 
6:30pm
Justin puts Georgia to bed – no bath tonight, just jammies and a book and off to dream land.
6:35pm
Justin really makes an effort to spend quality time with Gray after Georgie goes to bed so he lets Gray “help” him install the new baby gates in the playroom. Gray helps by using the measuring tape to measure everything in sight, telling us how many inches everything is. I clean the kitchen, bust out my new vacuum again, clorox wipe it all again, unload the dishwasher, re-load the dishwasher and run it. 
7pm 
Gray and Justin are playing trains in the playroom, I run away to write this post. I used to write every single night, after Gray went to bed, but that changed once we had two babes and Gray stays up until 8. Now I write when I can, a lot of times early in the morning before the kids are up. 
7:30-8pm
Justin gives Gray a bath, does his bedtime routine which involves a pit stop to me for hugs and kisses. They read a book every night and Gray is always given the option of the “regular version or the remix” and tonight he chooses remix. I can hear Justin making up a random, silly version of Little Bear and the Little Boat and it makes me laugh from down the hall. Gray’s lights are out at 8pm and we cross our fingers that he won’t be up tonight. 
8pm 
Justin is watching preseason football in the family room and I’m in our bed, still writing this post. I just head the pantry door open and all I can think is “he better not be eating the last Oreo…”
I’ll finish up this post, publish it and then pop it onto social media, will answer all of my DM’s from this evening, will check my emails and Facebook page one last time tonight and then Justin and I will watch our current TV obsession: Treasure Quest. We’re basically closeted shipwreck treasure hunters and can’t look away. 
My goal is to be asleep by 10 but it’s usually more like 11 when we finally turn it all off and go to bed.
And there you have it, a non-work day, Summer style day in the life!