A DAY IN MY LIFE

I have been asked to give a rundown of what the typical day looks like for me, so here it goes.

I wake up between 7:30 and 8 AM, depending on when my little girl wakes up. I send my husband off to work, then my daughter and I enjoy breakfast together. Of course, when I say "enjoy," it really means "laugh sometimes or cry sometimes depending on whether her food goes in her mouth, or all over me." She's usually pretty good with breakfast, though, so we rarely have those days where a change of clothes is required every few hours.

After breakfast, I get ready and take stock of the day; what I need to accomplish in each respect of my life that day, the timing needed to get everything done, etc. Planners are essential to keep some order in my life! Then I sit down to the computer. I pray that I have an internet connection (most Mondays I do not, in which case I have to call the maintenance guy and spend the morning doing laundry and working around the house until I do have the internet), and watch my daughter play with her toys in the living room. When I get online, I check my email, both personal and for my Student Rep responsibilities, and send emails out. If other things are required to get some matters of business resolved, I spend about an hour on the phone or sending email back and forth, but if nothing else is needed, I get to the homework portion of the day. Each Monday (after I have the internet) I spend about an hour going through each of my classes and writing down what needs to be accomplished and the corresponding due dates and times. About half-way through this process, my daughter becomes interested in what I am doing (specifically, all the buttons on the computer), and a war of the wills occurs. I try to distract her with other things until I can finish going through the weekly homework run-down, then it is her nap time.

Nap time is wonderful!! That is really when most of my homework gets done. Some days I am able to accomplish more than other days, but it all seems to even out in the end. During my daughter's 1 1/2 to 2 hour morning nap, I concentrate on my homework and try to do all I can. It is really hard to do homework when she is awake, as she becomes extremely interested in tearing my books, eating my papers ("My baby ate my homework" really is a valid excuse for me!), or pounding on the computer keyboard. So once she is up from her nap, which usually occurs at about 11:30 AM, it is my lunch break. I feed my daughter and wait for my husband to come home for lunch, then spend an hour eating lunch, chatting and maybe playing on the playstation.

About a half hour after my husband leaves, it's my daughter's afternoon nap time. We put the toys away, do her naptime routine, and she goes down for her nap. During her nap time, I once again start back on homework and maybe send out a few more emails or plan the month's USU activity. When my daughter gets up from her second nap, I try to finish up whatever task I'm doing (right now I'm finishing up this post while my daughter wrestles my arm for a chance at the keyboard), and put away my homework for the day, checking off on my lists those things that are completed, and making notes as to where I should start the next day.

Then it's dinner prep time. My husband isn't one of those who thinks that his wife should have dinner on the table hot and ready for him when he gets home, but I usually prefer to start preparing dinner around 4:30 just because that's most convenient for my own and my daughter's schedules. So dinner is usually ready around 5:15, which is around the same time my husband gets home from work. The evening is devoted to spending time with my husband and daughter, relaxing from the day's work. My daughter goes to bed at around 7 PM, and my husband and I end the day at around 10 PM.

Two days a week, I have office hours for my student rep responsibilities, which are taken in the evenings when my husband can keep an eye on our daughter, and my husband does a wonderful job helping out around the house before he goes to work so that I can devote more time to my homework. Sometimes I may find that the hours during the day is inadequate for accomplishing my week's homework or student rep responsibilities, and on those days my husband enjoys "daddy-daughter time" so I can get in a few more hours' work.

Although the day may seem quite rigorous in terms of keeping to a rigid schedule, I've found that this is what works best for me and my family. I am able to devote enough time and attention to my daughter while she is awake, to my husband when he is home, and my homework and other responsibilities in my "free" time. I make it a personal rule that I don't do any homework on Sundays, which is wonderful for giving my mind a day's rest and getting it ready for the coming week.