Welcome back Amber so happy to have you write again for this series.
My name is Amber and I blog over at Life with the Wallace’s when I have a spare moment, which as a working mom does not happen so often. I did a guest post back in 2011 when Melissa did the Working Mommy post and enjoyed the series then and really have enjoyed it this time as well!
I am a Digital Media teacher (I get to teach Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Final Cut (video), Graphic Design and whatever other creative things that go with it) to 10th-12th grade students in Mississippi. This is my 7th year teaching, but my first year at the new job. I feel like in some parts I have more flexibility which I really love. I absolutely LOVE my job but it wears me down some days for sure. 9 months out of the year I work and 3 months I get the great benefit of being a SAHM.
I am married to my wonderful husband Chad. We just celebrated 10 years! We have one little girl, Morgan who turned 3 in May who hates anything in her hair. If its a bow, headband, or anything else she pulls it straight out!
A Day In Our Life
My alarm usually goes off around 6 to 6:10 depending on how many times I hit the snooze button. I usually get up take a shower and then try to get myself dressed before Chad and Morgan get up.
I usually get Morgan up around 6:45-6:50. We get a few moments of cuddles and watching one of her favorite shows (Jake and the Neverland Pirates or Dora). She finally gets up and then I usually get her ready.
Some mornings Chad brings her and some mornings I bring her to school. If mommy brings her we try to leave by 7:20-7:25 and when daddy brings her its closer to 7:40ish I think they leave. We both have a 25-30 minute commute to work and her school is right in the middle for both of us. Morgans school is on both of our way to work so its definitely very convenient. We just moved her to a new school this year (love Catholic school education!) and she has been loving it and we love that it is now on our way to work instead of 20 minutes out of the way (10 min there and back). I never was able to bring her before since it was so far out and being a teacher I had to be there so early, but this year I do not have to be at school nearly as early as in the past.
I usually arrive to school around 8 to make sure I have everything in order before school starts at 8:45 (yes its a late start!). I have 4 different classes that last 2.5 hours. My first class starts at 8:45 and ends at 11:20. I have a lunch break and my next class does not start until 12:40. Its nice to have a lunch break being a teacher. The last class of the day ends at 3:15 and we are allowed to leave. Most days I end up staying around till 3:45-4 (just depending on how much is going on).
I pick up Morgan around 4-4:15 on most days. We head home and are usually home by 4:30. Morgan loves to help cook so we begin fixing dinner on most nights and then spend the rest of the time playing and being silly (color, dress up, throwing the ball, playing in the pool, eating Popsicles, etc.). Chad gets off at 5 and is usually home by 5:30ish.
We usually eat shortly afterwards and try to make time to sit at the table and just talk about our day together. Some nights its easy to do this but other nights its TOUGH!
After dinner, we play with Morgan and then start bath time around 7:45-8. We usually read a book of Morgan's choice before heading to bed. She is usually in bed by 8:30-8:45. One of us still lays down with her to go to bed and while I know that she is old enough to lay down by herself I love that sweet time with lots of cuddles!
How do household tasks get done (laundry, dishes, bills, errands, etc.)
I know that I am definitely in the minority here but I do not mind doing the laundry on Saturday. It keeps me home on Saturday and I would rather do it then so I can just relax a little during the week. If we are going to be out of town or have something to do on Saturday then I try to get it finished between Thursday and Friday nights.
Dishes are all Chads duty while I give Morgan a bath. He is usually pretty good about doing it and then picking up the little odds and ends. It helps to try to keep the house clean through the week so we do not ever have much to do on the weekend. Morgan has gotten in that Chad can not give her a bath since he is a boy and she is a girl so baths are always a mommy thing.
Bills are really easy for us because everything is on auto draft and I never have to worry about them. It has taken me a while to get everything on it but I can finally say its done! Before I got them all on auto draft I sat down the first day of the month and paid them all.
Errands get done in many different areas depending on what it is. I can do errands through the week if its a small one near my school or sometimes after school, Morgan and I will run some. Then if its something else, Chad sometimes run some of them as well. Again it just depends on the area that we need to go.
Spending quality time with Morgan
I feel like even though I do work I still get to spend a lot of time with her. On a daily basis, I get to spend around 4-5 hours with her which I love. I try to soak in every little moment to make sure that my time with her really counts. I try to get things done at school and sometimes even stay a little later just so I don't have to take it home and spend my time with her. It does not always happen, but most days. I love the fact that 3 months out of the year I get the great benefit of spending every day with her.
Spending quality time with Chad
This is definitely an area that we have tried to work on but is so very tough! My parents live about 10 minutes away from us and usually every 1-2 months she will spend the night on Friday. We try to talk about our days on a daily basis though. I have the option to have lunch out and usually once a month we are going to try to take advantage of this and have lunch without Morgan.
Spending time with friends
Most of our friends are from church. We have Wednesday nights which I love because it gives me a night off from cooking and always gets to enjoy good friend company before the service, every other Sunday night we have community group, and I am also in a small women's bible study group that I cherish the time to just go somewhere and talk to these lovely ladies. One of our best friends (who do not go to our church), we try to meet up with them twice a month for either dinner at one of our houses or dinner out. Its hard to find time to do much I must admit though without Morgan. Our time is precious!
Finding balance with life
I am still trying to re-figure out the balance in life right now since school just started back and I have gotten to do things on whatever time frame I wanted. I think the key to success for us is preparing the night before (lunch, outfits, etc). If I try to do it all the morning of, its a complete disaster usually and we would always be late. I also have to remember that I can not do everything and sometimes things just do not get done and its quite ok! My time with my family is much more important.
Follow Along
If you want to read more of the craziness, when I do find the time that happens in our house, you can keep up with us, at http://wallacefamilyblog.wordpress.com/, find me on instagram @amberwallace03, twitter@amberwallace03, pinterest@amw211.
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