As someone who has worked my entire adult life, I was very excited about becoming a stay-at-home mom, but I was concerned about whether or not it would be challenging enough for me. Ohhh, how naive 2019 Heidi was...
Clark has somehow reached the appropriate age to begin preschool, but thanks to our friend Covid, he will not be attending in person for quite some time. Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I decided that virtual preschool would be a good way to dip our toes into the homeschooling waters... with a newborn... and no teaching experience whatsoever.
Here's a quick overview of our stay-at-home, preschool homeschooling days:
7am: Lincoln wakes from his 8 - 10 hour (thank baby Jesus!) slumber, and is starving to DEATH.
7:02am: Clark comes flying out of his room to race the dog, who is also demanding to be fed, down the stairs.
7:05am: The dog has been outside once and fed, Lincoln has been changed and his bottle is in the warmer, Clark grabs himself a yogurt and heads to the table.
7:08am: Lincoln is mid-feed, and Clark needs a drink right this second or he will faint from dehydration.
7:12am: Lincoln is back to eating, Clark is at the table, and the dog needs out for the second time and is staring me down, daring me to tell her 'no', because she'll just pee on the floor while never breaking eye contact.
7:40am: Everyone except me is dressed, fed, and has used the necessary facilities. So I grab a handful of cheez-its and a diet mountain dew and start our day.
8:00am: Lincoln starts his 3 hour morning nap, Ryan is heading out the door for work, I get a load of dishes put away and another load started as I make a mental note to remember to put away the 2 baskets of folded laundry that have sat in the living room for 3 days, and get 2 additional loads started.
8:15am: Fire up the chromebook to get started on virtual preschool.
9:30am: Still troubleshooting technology issues.
10:00am: Stop working on the chromebook to change and feed Lincoln.
10:45am: Look at the 2 baskets of folded laundry as I head back to work on the chromebook and remind myself that I HAVE to get them put away today.
11:30am: Awaiting my third email from the "technology innovation team" from the school, who think that I am a moron who can't complete basic computer functions.
11:45am: Clark is hungry, but I'm making a little bit of progress logging into his learning system, so I throw a cheesestick in his general direction and silently curse that it's time to prepare lunch.
11:47am: The dog has eaten Clark's cheesestick. She runs upstairs to avoid my wrath while I pick up a sobbing 4 year old off the floor and promise him a new cheesestick.
1:00pm: Lunch has been served, is cleaned up, the dog has been scolded, and Lincoln needs changed and fed.
1:45pm: "After I get Clark started on school, I'll run upstairs and get dressed while I put the laundry away." One of many lies I tell myself throughout the day.
2:30pm: Houston, we're signed in! This is not a drill! Preschool is starting!
2:45pm: I start a video for Clark to watch, and take the first load of laundry downstairs and put it in the washing machine.
3:00pm: Ryan walks in the door to grab a quick and very late lunch before returning to work, but I throw a fussy baby in his arms and try for the 10th time to upload a video of my kid counting to 100 to complete one of the FOURTEEN assignments waiting to be completed on my 4 year old's preschool learning agenda.
3:10pm: Clark is now crying that his counting video is too large of a file to upload, and suddenly can't count to 30 in any of our eight additional video shoots.
3:15pm: Lincoln is screaming and would like to eat 45 minutes ahead of schedule, Clark is NOT going to count one more time, the dog needs her 83rd trip outside, and Ryan never got to eat, but looks at me with my disheveled hair, still in my pjs, and says "I have to head back to work". I apologize profusely about the state of the house and promise to get laundry put away. He sweetly kisses us all goodbye and assures me that he's not worried about anything on my self-imposed to-do list.
4:00pm: Lincoln is asleep again, and Clark is ready to try a few more assignments. I refuse to acknowledge the laundry baskets that I walk past again, but they remind me that I have to switch that load downstairs to the dryer.
4:30pm: We're rocking and rolling on the school work. I'm going to get SO much accomplished after we finish this up!
4:45pm: Clark's hungry. Didn't I JUST feed him lunch?! A quick glance at the clock tells me that his stomach is correct and it's time to prepare dinner, which I haven't considered even once today.
6:00pm: Dinner is eaten and cleaned, and now Lincoln needs changed and fed.
6:15pm: Ryan walks in the door from his late meeting and fixes himself a sandwich, because I didn't make anything for him. He smiles kindly and asks how my day was. I look at myself and realize that I'm still in pajamas. And the laundry baskets have sat in the living room for another day. I'll remember to switch that laundry downstairs as soon as Lincoln is fed.
6:45pm: Lincoln finally finishes eating, just as Clark needs a bath and to start bedtime.
8:00pm: Clark is bathed, has had a bedtime snack, prayers are said, and Ryan put him to bed. He comes to sit next to me for the first time all day.
8:01pm: The dog is prancing around the living room needing another trip outside. Her prancing has awoken Lincoln, and he is PISSED. Ryan and I each take one of the souls needing our attention and silently promise that we'll get to spend some time together right after this.
8:20pm: Both Lincoln and the dog are asleep and Ryan and I can finally chat. 2 more Lincoln feeds and at least one more dog duty ensue, I realize that I never ate dinner and inhale a bowl of cereal, and it's 11:00pm. Both of us are falling asleep as we get Lincoln ready for bed.
11:18pm: Doors are locked, Lincoln is in bed, Clark has been checked on, and we crawl into bed; me still in my pajamas from the night before. I close my eyes, wait for sleep, and sigh in relief that I got everything done. And then it hits me. "$^!@ - the laundry is still in the washing machine!!!!"
The good news is that tomorrow is a new opportunity to get it all accomplished, and we look pretty adorable in the meantime:
