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.