a day in the life...

...because I know you were dying to know!

Lately I've been letting myself and son sleep until we feel like getting up, or until Jake wakes us up. So, like, 7. Jake makes breakfast for us during the week (he started that when we were first married for some reason, and I've just let him think it's his job now). I'm a fast eater so while the guys are finishing breakfast, I read aloud one chapter of whatever book we're currently reading aloud at breakfast every day. Then Jake leads a short family devotion.

After breakfast, baby boy practices piano while I generally try to get some exercise or spend time in prayer. Then we start school and go until lunch time. Or maybe we break for chores, or errands, or whatever. But lunch is usually around noon, and he's usually almost done with schoolwork by then.

Then comes quiet time. Moms, you HAVE to implement quiet time if you haven't already. Baby is too old for naps most days - he's 8 - but he's an extrovert and I'm an introvert, so if we skip quiet time, Mama's ears hurt and she gets cranky. Quiet time is until 2, unless we started late for some reason. So it's usually around an hour to an hour and a half long. He can read quietly on his bed, or listen to audiobooks, or occasionally play Legos (but I warn you: you might want to make a distinction between "quiet time" and "independent play", otherwise you'll be the designated playmate for the rest of the day). During quiet time I write, or work on a deep cleaning project, or spend time in prayer if I didn't earlier.

After quiet time, we finish school, chores, or errands. Maybe watch a show on Amazon Prime. Sidebar: I'm pretty strict with the screens. Currently the shows on our rotation are Andy Griffith, Roy Rogers, and MacGuyver. Since he's not in school he doesn't know those shows aren't cool, mwahahaha.

Jake usually gets home by 3 because his job is about 50% from home. He lifts weights in our basement every other day, so baby joins him down there to "lift weights" too (I think he watches dumb shows on YouTube but I have a don't ask/don't tell policy with that). This is when I read some more :) Or maybe engross myself in some sort of project.

I cook supper, we eat, we may play a game or watch a movie as a family - we don't do a show AND YouTube AND a movie all on the same day. He does have a limit - and baby's bedtime is at 8. Jake and I watch an episode of the Americans (um. It sounds like we watch so much TV. I promise we don't!) then head to bed. My bedtime is 9 so that's about all I can handle.

I figure I better explain more about the TV since now I'm paranoid. The rule for baby is roughly an hour a day of screen time. On days we run errands or for any other reason leave the house, we never get around to watching TV. Movie nights are usually reserved for the weekends. Jake and I do try to watch an episode of our show every other night, on average. But there are plenty of days when not one of us turns on the television all day.

And I don't know yet how I'll refer to my son on the blog, so for now he's baby. Because he's my baby, my only one, and I can.

I'd love to hear how other people spend their days. Do you watch more or less TV than you'd like? Are we ruining our kids with too much or too little screen time??