My husband, Joe, and I were both shocked when we found out we were having twins but it has been the best thing for us! Our girls, Giada and Rossella, were born August 17, 2013 after a mostly uneventful pregnancy. The most excitement we had was the day the girls were born when I had pre-eclampsia, which really moved things along quickly. When the girls were born, I was so grateful that my husband was able to take six weeks off before leaving me to finish out my maternity leave with the girls. I was able to be off with them until they were 3 ½ months old before returning to work. I absolutely loved being home with them but Joe and I both knew that I would return to work.
We both work in the mental health field doing quality management. My husband works Monday through Friday, 9-5 and I work Monday through Friday, 7-3. I was very fortunate to be able to change my hours at work once the girls entered daycare, which is really helpful for our family and has us settled into somewhat of a routine. The girls just recently started daycare but made the transition really well. So this is a glimpse into our day at 13 months old…
5:30am-I wake up to start getting ready for the day. The girls will wake up within the next five minutes and my husband will let them play in our bedroom while I get ready.
5:50am-I’m ready for work and take the girls to the kitchen to give them some milk while I start breakfast. Today they are having French toast so I start soaking it while I take the girls to change diapers and dress them for the day.
6:15am-We head back to the kitchen and I make the girls their breakfast while I make my lunch for the day, most typically a mason jar salad that I prep on Sundays. Today Rossella just stands and waits while she drinks her milk. Giada likes to follow me around crying until I finally pick her up and carry her with me while finishing everything up.
6:35am-I get the French toast cut up and wait for it to cool off before giving it to the girls. Giada always wakes up ready to eat so she hates waiting for breakfast and either snacks or cries, like she is today.
6:45am-I get ready to leave for the day. I take the girls lunchbox for daycare and my own things to the car. I switch the car seats to my husbands’ car and leave the girls lunchbox in the car for him so it’s easier for him to get out of the house with the girls.
My husband puts the girls in their high chairs for breakfast while I leave.
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I leave for work and once the girls finish breakfast, Joe will get some toys from the playroom and let them play until it’s time to leave. We only bring a few toys in in the morning to avoid the girls trashing the entire room before we have to leave so it can be easily straightened up.
7:00am-I get to work, make a cup of coffee and have my breakfast while I check emails and get settled for the day. My day at work pretty much consists of reading paperwork, staff training, and other projects.
8:00am-Joe changes the girls’ diapers, gets their shoes on, and loads them up for daycare.
8:30am-The girls get to daycare. Joe carries them and all of their things inside and gets them settled for the day.
They will have snack around 9:15am, playtime or crafts until lunch at 11:15am, and then nap time from 12:15-2:15pm. After that, they have playtime and then snack. I usually pick them up right around finishing snack.
3:00pm-I leave work to pick the girls up.
3:30pm-I sneak into daycare to load the girls’ car seats and lunchbox up in the car before I bring them out. I try not to let them see me because once they do, they’ll cry hysterically if I leave them there! Now that the girls are old enough, I let them walk to the car, which has made things so much easier because I don’t have to lug around two car seats or try to carry them both.
3:45pm-We’re loaded up and ready to head home.
4:00pm-I unload the car and then bring the girls inside. The girls are thrilled that the cat is waiting for us when we get home and they chase after her. Even though they just had snack before I picked them up, they like to have a little snack when they get home too. I give them some cereal and milk and unpack our lunchboxes while they eat.
4:15pm-The girls are occupied playing in the kitchen so I get an early start on dinner prep and lunch prep for the next day. I make the girls a quesadilla for their lunch the next day and pack all their snacks and milk. I pre-label a whole box of sandwich baggies so that I don’t have to label everything as I put it together, it really does save so much time on busy weeknights. I feel like I spend a majority of my time doing meal prep or cooking for us and the girls! They get sent to school with milk, water, three or four snacks, lunch, and usually a back-up in case they don’t like what I packed. Seems like a lot to me but the teacher assures me that it doesn’t seem like too much.
4:45pm-The girls are a little restless so the rest of dinner prep has to wait for my husband to get home. I chase them around the living room and change diapers. They are having so much fun today playing with the cat and jumping on me.
5:00pm-Daddy’s home. My husband comes in and takes over so that I can prep dinner. Tonight is meatloaf that comes together quickly. Joe sits with the girls and watches a movie. They watch 20 minutes of the same movie every single day and the girls love it. They actually run into the living room when they hear the theme song!
5:30pm-Dinner’s ready. The girls love meatloaf so thankfully I don’t need a back-up plan tonight. When they finish eating their dinner, they have a piece of fruit for dessert, which tonight consists of a banana.
5:50pm-Joe cleans up from dinner and the girls and I play in the living room for a little while.
6:10pm-I get the bath ready while the girls watch the tub fill up. Joe will finish up the chores in the house-put the toys away, clean the kitchen floor, and vacuum. We try to alternate bath time so that we share the chores in the house as much as we can.
6:20pm-Bath time, which the girls love. They love to be silly in the tub, splashing and pointing to their bellies. Bath time is also the beginning of their bedtime routine.
6:40pm-I get the girls ready for bed in their room. I do diapers, lotion, vitamins, and pj’s. Then we read a story while they have some milk and look at their books. They are so active now that they don’t always like to just sit while I read to them so I found that letting them play with their own book while I read a story works really well.
After story time, we say “night night” to all our books and straighten up the girls’ room before getting sleepy.
Joe is still finishing up putting the girls toys away and starting laundry.
7:00pm-Joe takes Rossella to the living room to get sleepy and I take Giada to our room. When we sit on the bed, the cat comes up and Giada gets so excited to pet her before she gets sleepy.
7:40pm-Both girls are down and I get ready to workout-by now the girls messes are all cleaned up. Tonight I’m going for a run since the weather is pretty mild.
8:20pm-I get home and Joe is watching TV by now. I take a shower and then sit down with Joe to watch some TV. I try to play with the cat for a few minutes too.
9:00pm-Joe and I head to the bedroom. Joe watches TV for a little bit before bed and I get caught up on social media or read some blogs.
I started a strict no phone policy when I’m with the girls because I noticed that many times when I was home with them, I was distracted, either looking at social media or texting. I was embarrassed to admit that I was so busy looking at what other people were doing; I wasn’t 100% present in what I was doing. I love my time with the girls now and keep it as uninterrupted as possible and that has been really helpful for me.
9:30pm-Giada wakes up for five minutes before going back to bed. Joe goes to bed and I sit and watch TV for a little bit.
10:00pm-I head to bed.
2:55am-Rossella stirs a little bit but in five minutes is back asleep.
So that’s a glimpse into our typical day. For the most part, our weeknights don’t change much, except maybe what activities need to be done once the girls go to bed. As the girls get older, we are noticing that we have more free time at the end of the day, which we are still adjusting to-in a good way! I realized writing this makes my day sound so structured and calm, but it feels quite the opposite! I guess without the soundtrack of screaming, yelling, giggling babies, it feels a little different.
This does seem very calm. haha! My girls are 15 months (and a 4 year old) and my husband and I both work. We pretty much got to bed every night with the house a disaster, dishes hardly done and utterly exhausted. I'm trying to find the right balance but it is so hard. Keep up the good work.
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