Our Day at a Glance – New Job, New Childcare

I’ve had the amazing privilege of beginning my role as a Coordinator at the hospital. There is so much to learn and so many people to meet. It’s been incredible. With this new change comes a new schedule for our family, and we’ve been really trying to plan and cooperate to make it work.

We were lucky to find an incredible home day care just down the road, run by a lovely woman with kids of her own, and a bus stop to Ollie’s school just outside her door. Because we already have care the other 5 days a week between Calvin, his mom, my mom, and myself, we only needed to find child care for Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

So gone are the days that I would have to work 6am to 6pm, but now I am working every weekday from 8am to 4pm (roughly). This coupled with Oliver’s school and Calvin’s somewhat inconsistent schedule, led to us needing a plan. Here is what a day at the Haus of Harrison looks like, on a child care day.

6:00am

I’m up with the phone alarm. Makeup, hair, outfit. Start breakfast.

6:30am

Oliver’s up. Outfit. Lunch into backpack. Start eating breakfast and watch cartoons.

6:45am

Dakota’s up. Calvin helps make sure both kids are dressed and fed now. Put my lunch into my work bag. Make sure I’m taking the car with car seats in it. Make sure I have a garage door opener in my purse. Make sure I have my house keys. And am wearing pants.

7:15am

I drop the kids off at Beyond the Stars Playschool. They have a snack and play with the other kids. Before Cal leaves for work he unloads the dishwasher and puts the breakfast dishes away.

7:50am

I arrive at work for the day.

8:35am

Oliver catches the bus outside the door with the other kids.

9:00 – 3:45pm

Oliver is at school. I am working away. Dakota has lunch, then nap time.

3:45pm

Dakota walks with the group to pick Oliver (and the other kids) up from the bus stop. They all have a snack together.

4:00pm

I leave work.

4:25pm

I pick up the kids and drive home.

4:30pm

We all work together to make dinner. While it’s cooking or if Cal takes over, Ollie and I complete his homework.

5:00 – 8:00pm

The evening routine begins. We eat dinner. We play. We finish any outstanding homework. We pack up any leftovers into containers for lunches.

If we have errands to run we’ll leave right after dinner to be back by 7:45 at the latest.

We head upstairs and run a bath. The kids wash up while I get their pajamas and toothbrushes ready. If they’re still playing in the bath I’ll get all 3 of our outfits ready and laid out for the morning. I might take off my makeup, paint my nails, do a yoga move. Then it’s pj’s and brushing teeth. Dakota goes straight to bed. Oliver gets a book and a Netflix show in his bed.

While this is all happening, Calvin cleans up after dinner. Runs the dishwasher. Sweeps the kitchen floor.

8:00pm

In the evening I have 2 tasks: set us up for the morning and laundry. I make sure Ollie and I have lunches packed. I gather up his library books, permission forms, etc and fill his backpack. Find his lost mittens. Write a note to his teacher. I make sure my bag is all set as well. Make sure the outfits are all laid out. Then if needed I run a load of laundry or fold and put one away. Once all the tasks are done I do my yoga/fitness routine and have a bath/shower. After that, we watch some Netflix and crash.

How I'm Doing on My Resolutions (Spoiler: it's amazing)

Let's take a short walk down memory lane to the resolutions I set for myself in December. In a nutshell they included:

- Job success
- Focus on healthy living
- Being good to others & Being good to myself

If you can believe this, I've done very well! Halfway through February and I'm already giving myself a pat on the back.

The biggest news is... an incredible promotion at work. Honestly, I'm floored. I am so happy. Beginning on the 22nd I will be "Coordinator of Food and Nutrition Services". Truly, a giant goal of mine achieved. Needless to say I'm feeling like a million bucks about it.

This is me before one of my interviews - showing a friend the nylons I chose with my dress.

As far as healthy living, I've had quite a few really good days sugar-wise, but a handful of real bad ones too. For example, today outside my office there are cookies, brownies AND cupcakes and I don't forsee being able to resist them much longer. Overall, if you look past the time we ate pizza for dinner three nights in a row, we're doing well. And from a fitness perspective I'm better than ever. Yoga just wasn't physical enough for me anymore so I've been doing a lot of more "work out"y work outs, if that makes sense. I'm now the proud owner of a body that can easily pump out 50 pushups (real ones), 50 squats, a 30 minute youtube work out video of my son's choosing... I feel really strong.

I think I'm being good to others! I'm signed up for a charity walk next weekend with the kids, to raise money for homelessness in our city. I'm really making an effort to be honest and positive, my two most favourite things. I have to give myself credit for the number of times I've left my phone in another room and just snuggled/tickled/attacked Dakota for hours on end. I think I've ditched my phone more these past few weeks than ever before. And I've been great to myself. I've been playing guitar DAILY (it's been a long time since I could say that) and I've been snuggling every baby I see. If I can keep up this level of guitar-playing and baby-snuggling I'm going to live a very happy life.

And then my predictions...

Word for word I said: "2016 will see my daughter as a two year old, and my son turning five mid-way. It will be my six year wedding anniversary. At the end, I'll turn 29. I'll have been with my current workplace for three years. And we'll celebrate two years of living in this house. I'll renew my licence plate again, probably break a few wine glasses, cry when the Leafs are mathematically out of the playoffs, and go on a family vacation to somewhere warm. I'll get max two hair cuts, I'll be convinced I have a broken rib at least once, I'll be told by a doctor I need antibiotics but not actually fill the prescription, and I'll stop at a yellow light that I should have driven through upwards of 500 times - these are guarantees."

Two year old Dakota: check. She had her birthday on Jan 27.

Six year wedding anniversary: check. it was on Feb 5th, we went to Toronto and had such a good time. We saw the Revenant and then argued forever about who is better: Leo or Tom Hardy? The fact that this is even a question astounds me.#teamtomhardy

I've already broken 1 wine glass, after I'd had a bit to drink I attempted to run a cooking show for my friends, with a New Zealand accent, and smashed a glass in the process. Blood everywhere. Was funny though. 10/10 would do again.

The Leafs have made me cry, of course. Stamkos anyone?

We went on a family vacation to Paradise Island, Bahamas. It was glorious.

I have not cut my hair, no surprise there. Should probably dye it though.

I haven't convinced myself of any major health concerns. I'm sure it's coming.

I've been pretty good about driving through yellow lights when appropriate, especially when it's so snowy out.

So, yeah, 2016 is a pretty good year so far.