A Peak into My Day...

I wish I had done these every few months from the time Lucy was born so I could have something to look back on and remember our daily routine as she grew up. 

This is what a typical Thursday looks for me....

4:58 AM--Alarm goes off & jump out of bed (seriously, I'm not a snooze button pusher and Todd always jokes that as soon as my alarm goes off, I wake up and yell,  "Hello world, I'm ready to go!")

5:18 AM--I have my timing down to an exact science so after getting dressed, laying out my work stuff, and grabbing my gym bag, I'm in the car and driving to the fitness studio to teach Spin/TRX

5:28 AM--Arrive at the studio, turn on lights, turn off alarm, print class sign-in sheet, get music started, set up my bike, and wait for clients to show up

5:45-6:45 AM--Teach 30 minutes of Spinning followed by 30 minutes of TRX; I've been teaching this class at this time slot for 3.5 years now and absolutely love it!  There's room for 18 in the class but I average about 10 or 11.

Spinning room before class

After teaching once everyone has left



6:50-7:00 AM--Drive home, hoping I hit every green light.  I swear, if I hit one red light, I hit them all and it can set be back almost 5 minutes which trust me, on these mornings, I need those 5 minutes!

7:00-7:16 AM--Like I said, after 3.5 years, I have my timing down to a science.  I literally have 16 minutes to get in the door, say good morning to Lucy (Todd gets her up on these mornings and takes her to my parents' place for my mom to watch her), shower, get dressed & do my make up, and leave. One benefit of curly hair is that I just let it air dry so I don't have to waste time styling or drying it.  I'm actually pretty proud of myself that I can get ready in such a short time and still look good for work.

7:16-7:45 AM--This is the most stressful part of my day as I sit in traffic.  I hate the main road I have to take to get to the interstate.  It takes me almost 20 minutes to get to the interstate (which is probably about 4 miles from our house) and then only 10 minutes to get the rest of the way to work (which is about 10 miles from our house)

7:45 AM-1:00 PM--Work! Well, first I eat breakfast at my desk and then I work. I work as a Clinical Exercise Physiologist for a local hospital system and primarily do fitness testing for city and surrounding township firefighters and police officers.  I've been at this job for 7.5 years (I was lucky to start working after grad school) and switched from full-time to part-time once I came back from maternity leave at the end of last year.  I'm scheduled to work 20 hours/week and generally work Monday-Thursday from 8-1 and have Fridays off.  It's honestly such an ideal situation and I truly feel like I have the best of both worlds...still working but also I still get to be at home quite a bit too with Lucy.  During my normal work day, I'm administering VO2 tests on the treadmill, monitoring EKGs, taking blood pressures, measuring body compositions, administering flexibility and muscular strength & endurance tests, filling out paperwork, creating workouts for the firefighters I train at their fire station every other week (this is my off week) or for some of the companies/school districts we do group workouts for, and working on presentations.

My desk

Just your normal office selfie



1:00-1:30 PM--Depending on our patient load at work, I get done anywhere from 12:30-1:00 PM on most days and drive to my parents' to pick up Lucy.  I usually stay for 10-15 minutes to catch up with my mom and see how Lucy was that morning

1:30-3:00 PM--My parents live 1.5 miles from us so it's a quick drive home.  Once we're home, I unpack from work, change into comfy clothes, and play with Lucy. 

Digging around for toys

She loves the music and the air that shoots out the top of the elephant

Attempting to do a puzzle...she moves from toy to toy rather quickly



3:00-4:30 PM--Lucy's naptime which means it's finally lunch time for me! Most days I have a huge to-do list and today was no exception.  I ate lunch and then did a load of laundry, unloaded the dishwasher, and worked on a new Spinning mix for class.  I always attempt to relax during this time but then feel guilty when there's other stuff that could be done. 

Look like Lucy is up from her nap and playing with her socks



4:30-5:30 PM--Once Lucy is up from her nap, I get her a snack and we play until Todd gets home from work.  If it's nice outside, which those days are few & far between now, we might go for a 30 min walk around the neighborhood. 

Snack time!



5:30-6:30 PM--Todd used to get home a lot later but started to go into work earlier and get home earlier after I had my second back surgery since I wasn't allowed to pick up Lucy and he's still kept somewhat of the same schedule (plus, they cut back on his overtime at work...which is good and bad) so he's usually home between 5:30-6:00 PM now.  I know he likes being home earlier to spend more time with Lucy.  I usually start dinner once he calls me to let me know he's on his way home from work (it's a 40 min drive) and we typically eat around 6:15 or 6:30 PM.

6:30-7:30 PM--Play with Lucy some more and try to teach her new "tricks"

7:30-8:00 PM--Bath time for Lucy and then off to bed for her.  Our bedtime routine for her is just a bath and then right into her crib.  We never really got into the habit of rocking her or reading her a story and I think she's totally fine with that.  She never fusses once she's down and she's usually asleep within a few minutes, typically by 8:00 PM at the latest.  Once she's down, we won't hear a peep from her until we wake her up the next morning. 

8:00-9:00 PM--Todd & I hang out on the couch, usually watching TV together or he's watching a show and I'm messing around on my iPad

9:00-9:30 PM--I'm usually starting to fall asleep on the couch around this time and Todd & I  have always gone to bed at the same time so we head upstairs and I'm usually asleep by 9:30 PM.