A day in the life of a stay-at-home mother

Today I thought I'd do one of those fly-on-the wall posts for you, to let you know what a day in my life looks like. Here's a blow-by-blow of my yesterday.

8.30am - Woke up super late because none of the kids had woken up yet, Paul's alarm hadn't gone off and I'd been woken several times in the night by one of my kids who was feeling unsettled. (I didn't realise Paul had switched his alarm off because he was sick and staying home for the day - usually it wakes me up at 7am.) Leapt out of bed, woke the girls, jumped in the shower. No time to wash my hair. This was going to be a greasy hair day. Sigh. Dressed super fast.

8.40am - Raced downstairs and chucked ingredients in the blender for breakfast smoothies for the girls. Got popcorn going on the stove at the same time. Packed lunchboxes (with some of the popcorn). Urged the girls to get ready.

8.50am - Walked the girls to school, brushing and plaiting my oldest daughter's hair as we walked. J got to stay home since Paul was home too.

9am - Came home and made breakfast for J. Did the dishes. Put a load of washing on. Got boneless chicken thighs out of the freezer to defrost for dinner. Tidied and vacuumed downstairs. Dressed J in his togs and packed a change of clothes, a towel and goggles in a bag for him, plus his kindy bag and lunchbox.

10am 11.15am - Drove J to his weekly swimming lesson, watched the lesson and dressed J again afterwards.

11.30am - Drove to the mall for an optometrist appointment for me. While we waited, J ate most of the food in his kindy lunchbox.

12.15pm - Bought sushi and a muffin for me and J, to replace J's already-eaten kindy lunch. We ate the sushi in the car on our way to kindy, which was good since I was feeling about ready to pass out. (Realised I hadn't eaten breakfast.)

12.30pm - Dropped J at kindy, passing a big pile of free garden mulch on the way and thought, I really must collect more of that when I remember to put my plastic tubs in the boot.

1pm - Drove home and caught up with my next-door neighbour for a few minutes as I got out of my car. Hung out washing under cover on our deck, since it looked like rain was on its way.

1.15pm - Found a World Organics parcel waiting for me at home, so I unpacked it and packaged up sample products for my friend, Angela. Drove to the post office and posted the package to her. Drove to the library and picked up some reserved books that were waiting for me. Drove home.

2pm - Paid bills online and worked on a writing project on my laptop.

2.55pm - Packed a water bottle and snack bag for L and walked to school.

3pm - Picked S up from school and dropped the water bottle and snack bag to L to eat before her netball practise. Walked S home, where we found Paul cooking poached eggs. He made me some and I ate them while S spoiled me for early Mothers' Day with a lovely card she'd made at school, a footrest, a cushion for my back and a cold drink of water from the fridge. I was feeling the love.

3.20pm - Walked down to kindy and picked up J. Walked him home and dropped him off with S and Paul.

3.45pm - Walked to school to watch the rest of L's netball practice and bring her home.

4.10pm - Washed the dishes. Put frozen chicken stock and rice in the rice cooker on the warm setting. Checked the washing - still not dry.

4.15pm - Caught up with my friend, Charlotte, and her daughter, who popped in for a visit. We hung out for about an hour, chatting and watching the kids jump on the trampoline. I picked Charlotte a bunch of spinach from my garden. (Everyone who visits, leaves with spinach). The catch up was lovely.

5.15pm - Cooked butter chicken with added spinach and rice, which I cooked in homemade chicken stock, for dinner. Listened to L's violin practise as I cooked. J set the table, all of his own volition, and did a fabulous job.

6pm - Served dinner, which amazingly, all the kids ate, despite the slightly green colour. Paul was feeling too sick to eat, but he sat with us anyway.

6.15pm - Put the youngest two kids in the bath. Laid out J's jammies and then left the kids to Paul's care.

6.45pm - Jumped in the car and drove to my friends' Anna and Andy's house to babysit their kids while they went to a parents' group. Brought my laptop so I could do more work on my writing project. My friend, Becky, came to visit while I babysat (with Anna and Andy's permission) and we caught up for a couple of hours. It was so nice.

9.45pm - Becky left to make the long drive home, so I opened up my laptop again and did more work on my writing project, although Anna and Andy's kitten did the classic kitty-cat thing and sat right on my lap, so I set my laptop aside and patted him for a while.

10.10pm - Anna and Andy came home. We chatted for a few minutes while I packed up and then I drove home.

10.30pm - Arrived home and caught up with Paul for a few minutes in his office. Went upstairs to discover L had fallen asleep in my bed. I got ready for bed and climbed in on Paul's side. He came upstairs and squeezed in next to me, but our talking woke up L and she kindly offered to move back to her bed. I shuffled over to my side of the bed and fell asleep.

Honestly. I don't know how mums hold down jobs and look after kids too. If you're a working mother, how do you do it? How?

Also, did you notice how many people I hung out with yesterday, all while feeling acutely aware of my greasy, greasy hair? Real friends don't care. xx