Is there anything more relaxing than starting the morning with a two-year-old pulling on your hair and kicking you in your side? That’s how most of my mornings start these days. I don’t remember how I envisaged life with kids, but I can definitely tell you I was not prepared for the reality of being a mum of three. I currently work from home, whilst looking after my youngest, and the two older children go to school. This is what a typical day looks like for me...
4 am - My two year old wanders sleepily into our bedroom, climbs into the bed, expertly manoeuvring himself between out sleeping bodies, and snuggles himself in between us. Soon afterwards he starfishes, managing to simultaneously kick both of us in the head at once.
7.30 am - My husband leaves for work, and my youngest and I are joined by my six-year-old daughter, who climbs in for a cuddle. I tell myself I need to get up and get ready, but end up having cuddles in bed instead.
8.40 am - I swear living so close to the kids’ school means I am always one of the last people through the gate. The school run sometimes feels like absolute torture, especially when the children refuse to listen to me and get themselves ready.
9 am - Back home with the little one, and it’s time for a quick tidy to try and sort out the absolute tip left from breakfast with three children. I swear I once found coco pops in the washing machine (how?). I try and sort through urgent emails, and write down a to-do list before it’s time for us to head out for a messy play class.
10.30 am - I am the most antisocial mum ever, I swear. I would never have made any mum friends, had it not been for the tenacity of a fellow parent at messy play, who decided to brave my resting bitch face and start up a conversation. We are now firm friends, having discovered that all three of our children were born in the same years, and we both equally dislike other people. I live for messy play, where our children merrily play with rice and foam whilst we catch up on the gossip.
Midday - Lunchtime consists of me trying to ignore the fact that there are more baked beans on the carpet than in my toddler’s mouth, whilst eating my own food at record speed so that I am able to enjoy it before needing to clean him up. Gone are the days when he would have two naps a day, he now frequently goes without any daytime sleep, which makes working from home quite challenging.
1.30 pm - A lot of my job involves taking photos of products. I do this in the conservatory and store everything that needs to be photographed in there until I have finished with it, and it can then be used around the rest of the house. Unfortunately, when it comes to food items, I can’t always store these in there, as it tends to get very hot, and some things might melt. Which is how, the other day, my two-year-old managed to find an unopened, not yet photographed press sample of a large Toblerone and, let’s just say, destroyed it beyond repair... The perils of working around young children.
3 pm - Before we know it, it’s time for the second school run of the day, and I swear, every single contact of mine decides to choose this time of the day to email me with something urgent. I try and manoeuvre my son, who has decided he no longer wants to wear shoes, or walk, and type out a response to the most important emails as I walk round to the school.
4 pm - I put down my phone and spend time with the three children. This more often than not involves being a referee as inevitably they will disagree about something. Usually, two of the children will gang up against the third - apparently, three is the worst number of children to have (I only found this out after I already had three, with no plans to have a fourth). In a bid to try and stop the squabbling, I ask if anybody would like to cook dinner with me, to be met with all three children fighting to be the one to help mummy....
5 pm - My husband returns home and we eat dinner together, before heading out for a walk and back for bath and bedtime. I used to try and stagger bedtime, but it didn’t work well, so now all three children go to bed at the same time but the eldest is allowed to read in bed.
8 pm - With the children settled (don’t get me wrong, this sometimes takes a long time, and a lot of inner strength to get through bedtime), it is time for me to get on with the work I have leftover on my to-do list from the morning. My husband is a maths teacher in a secondary school, so he will often have marking or lesson planning to do as well. Half the time we don’t actually properly get a chance to speak to each other or catch up on our day until around 10 o’clock at night.
10 pm - As we are cosying up in bed to watch the latest Netflix show, I realise I haven’t done the packed lunches for the next day and/or dried my hair after washing it. I’m tempted to leave it until the morning until I remember just how much of a rush I am in every morning already. With a groan, I get up and get on with it. Having, and raising, three children has its downsides, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
