Day in the Life of a Working Mama

I finally feel like I’m getting into a groove as a part time working mom. I am home with Emma on Mondays and Wednesdays and go to work Tuesday, Thursdays, and Fridays. I’m grateful to be home with her twice a week and it feels like Christmas every time I see her after work! I feel like my heart grows by the day because I love her more than I can handle! 

When Emma was sleeping through the night, my mornings would always start with an early morning pumping session. I am still exclusively breastfeeding and even though we started solids last week, she is still not a fan of them (I know eventually she’ll get used to it!) But anyways! Emma has not been sleeping through the night for the past month, so since I’m feeding her throughout the night, most mornings I don’t really “need” to pump when I wake up. So usually I sip on my preworkout while doing my devotional and prayer time, and then I press play on my workout! I love working out at  home because sometimes Emma wakes up midway and needs her momma, so I can just pause and nurse/hold her for a bit, then press play and finish it up! So convenient! 

After my workout, (this week I’m doing A Little Obsessed on my Netflix for workouts...SO SORE), I shower then head downstairs to pack lunches for my husband and I, and get Emma’s daycare bag ready (pumped milk, change of clothes, diapers, etc). I also make sure to eat a little something; this morning I shook up my recover protein shake with some collagen peptides, delicious! I forgot to snap a pic but just imagine chocolate milk goodness that is actually good for you! 

I try to nurse Emma before I head to work, but like I mentioned above, if she’s nursed all night and is sleeping soundly, I go to work and pump there rather than waking her up to eat. It’s also easier on my mommy-heart to sneak out while she’s asleep verses having to watch her sweet face smile at me as I walk away...I tear up just thinking about it! 

If I’m still a little hungry, I’ll make sure to grab second breakfast before I head to work! This morning was two paleo muffins, a chocolate zucchini muffin and a pumpkin muffin! I've been cooking through Danielle Walker's cookbooks from Against All Grain, and so far my husband and I have loved every single recipe!

Once I get to work, I make coffee (duh) and see which patients I need to see or who is due for an assessment. I work as a dietitian at a dialysis unit with patients who have kidney failure. It’s pretty busy each day so I make sure to fit in snacks and occasionally some walks to get outside!  

Morning snacks usually consist of carrots, apples with either peanut butter or almond butter, or a Larabar! I make sure to fuel myself well since I push myself pretty hard in my workouts, plus I'm breastfeeding! So many calories being burned all day long!

Lunches have been so fun to pack in these portioned containers my mom got us from Amazon! This lunch was rosemary garlic chicken (I'll post the recipe soon!), with potatoes and green beans. Super simple and delicious!

If I get hungry in the afternoon, I typically have some nuts, but this week I've also been enjoying another treat from Against All Grain...her Real Deal Chocolate Chip Cookies.  My husband has been raving about these and I've already made two batches in less than a week. He says they taste just like the regular cookies I used to bake, but they are Paleo/gluten free and MUCH healthier! I highly recommend this recipe, you won't be disappointed!

Once I get off work, I "safely" zoom my way over to Emma's daycare to pick her up. I get so excited to see her, and she has been smiling and kicking her feet in excitement when she sees me come into the playroom, which melts my heart! We usually get home and sometimes she'll fall asleep in the car, which gives me time to clean out my pump parts and put my milk away (pumping is a full time job in itself!), but most of the time when we come home, we nurse and snuggle and she falls asleep while I make dinner.

Dinners have been simple this week: we've had grass fed beef meatballs, rosemary garlic chicken, salmon, and turkey burgers. I'll make a salad because we have 6 heads of romaine (thanks Costco) that are going bad by the second, so I've been forcing us to have salad each day so it doesn't' go bad because I HATE wasting food! I haven't snapped pictures of dinner because I've been a little distracted during dinner time trying to get Emma to have some solids with us at the dinner table! Last night she tried zucchini, and I think she liked it a little more than sweet potato. I'm getting a little worried that she hasn't been liking foods much, even though I know she will get used to it! It's funny, because I specialized in infant/toddler nutrition when I worked at WIC, and even though I HAVE the knowledge and have counseled others countless times, I'm still worried when it comes to my own baby!

After dinner, we bathe Emma and get her ready for bed. I've been trying to get her down between 7:30/8pm so I can get a few hours of sleep before the night-waking begins. Yes, I've been getting into bed by 8pm because Emma has been waking up at 10, 11:45, 1, 2:15, 3:45...you name the time, she's been waking up. She's going through a huge developmental leap right now, and with that comes a sleep regression. I've decided to roll with the punches instead of sleep training her and just rely on coffee to get through the day (she hasn't been sensitive to my caffeine intake, thank GOD)! Luckily when she does wake up, she typically nurses and goes right back to sleep, so even though I am getting broken sleep, I don't feel TOO terrible throughout the day!

And that has been a typical day in the life on the days that I work! I was telling my husband earlier this week that I am feeling so much happier than I used to feel. As much as I miss Emma and wish I could be with her every day, I've come to accept the working life, enjoy my days at work with my coworkers and my patients, and relish the moments with Emma even MORE. I have also taken much better care of myself and have chosen foods that have supported my mental health and anxiety (look out for a blog post on this later on this month!) I really feel that God is working on my heart, helping me take care of myself so that I can take care of Emma, and has given me a strength that only HE can give. I am so grateful!

And with that, I hope you all have an excellent day, and thank you for reading and following along on this journey with me! I appreciate all of you so much!

Daily Manna: Baby Emma updates and eats

Hey there everyone! I hope you all are having a fantastic week. Can you believe we are already in mid-March? Baby girl is due in exactly 2 months, and time is flying by! I am so excited to meet her! She's been kicking like crazy lately, and is also preventing mommy from eating too much at one time. Which is why meals have been often and small. I've been getting crazy amounts of indigestion that have kept me up at night and leave me waking up extremely nauseous. Since my weight gain is below where my doctors want it to be, I am determined to still fuel my body properly by eating smaller, nutrient-dense meals throughout the day! I thought I'd write up what a typical day has looked like for me lately!

4:30/5am: I usually wake up between 4:30 and 5am naturally every day. I love early mornings and am quite motivated to workout, have quiet time with Jesus, pack a healthy lunch, and work on my business before heading off to my day job. Not everyone is a morning person, but I LOVE mornings and have decided that in order to be more productive, mornings are my most prized time of day.

Gluten free toast with some jam before my workout

I seriously throw a party for myself every time I finish a morning workout...I feel so accomplished at 31 weeks pregnant!!

5:30-6am: Workout! I am doing the 21 day fix program right now mixed in with some kickboxing and other maternity workouts. I am loving moving my body and keeping myself health and (hopefully) in shape for labor! Sometimes, I have a quick toast before my workout if I'm feeling hungry! 

6-6:45am: shower and then head down to make breakfast while packing our lunches! Sometimes, I have a Face time date with afellow coach from our team and we chat and have some tea while we get our day started! It's crazy how quickly you can connect and become such close friends with people you have met on social media! I absolutely love it!

Superfood shakes are LIFE

6:45-7:15am: get dressed, hair, make up. I've been trying to spend more time in this department lately...I'm usually a super low maintenance gal, but trying to up my game a bit (I'm 28 years old, it's time lol).

7:30am: head off to work! I usually blend up my shakeo superfoods deliciousness at this point and take it with me to work! Helps start my day with a boost of nutrition, and chocolate! The best of both worlds. 

8-4:30pm: work! I'm a renal dietitian at Davita, so work is full of educating patients, meetings with coworkers, and lots of charting! Today, I was at a new facility so I spent some time getting to know the staff and patients and getting used to the place! I also went on a short walk to get outside and get some sun. I try to go on walks on most days to keep myself a bit active. It's so easy to be glued to your chair at work, isn't it??

I also pack a ton of snacks and food with me at work to keep myself eating every 1.5-2 hours. At 31 weeks pregnant, I have been getting nausea and heartburn and find that if I eat smaller meals more often, my tummy is more settled!  

On this particular morning, snacks included hard boiled eggs and strawbs, followed by carrots, and then polished off by oatmeal bites! Shortly after these (I'm telling you, I'm eating almost every hour! ) I had lunch! Dolma is one of m favorite meals! Stuffed zucchini with beef, rice, and spices! 

More afternoon snackage included an rx bar (recycled picture because I forgot to snap one!) and some nuts that I also forgot to snap a picture of. Sorry about that, friends!

4:30pm: When I got home from work, I was pretty tired but also felt like baking something delicious. I have been SO frugal with our grocery budget, but I was able to whip up this delicious chocolate chip oat bread! That I cut into bars, so I guess they are chocolate chip oat bars! Recipe coming soon! They were DELICIOUS, they are gluten free, and totally a healthy treat! 

5:30pm: I had a busy rest of the evening, with a team video call with our coaching team, then heading off to a Mommy group I was invited too! I had a small dinner during our team call, which was rice, ground beef, and veggies that my grandma cooked up! Grandma to the rescue!

6:30-8pm: Soon after the video meeting, I headed off to the Mommy group. Can I be honest? Being a mommy excites me, but also scares me like no other! I want to make sure I do everything I can to make Emma feel loved and safe. It makes me cry just thinking about it. Going to the mommy group tonight was such a God-thing! They had a speaker come in who discussed everything from parenting to discipline to not passing down your own baggage to your child. It was great! There was also a legit dinner, since the dinner I had at home left me a bit hungry. SO I definitely didn't stick to my gluten free diet and indulged in pasta, a roll, veggies, salad, pound cake (MY FAV) and strawberries! Feeding baby is priority right now!

Speaking of which, Baby Emma and I are doing well! She is a "small baby" according to our high risk doctor, measuring JUST below average but still not too far off! Our doctor did say that could just be because my husband and I are not big burly people, because the nutrition going from the placenta through the cord to the baby is still strong (they measure the strength of the blood flow, so crazy and cool!) 

The doctor DOES want me to eat more protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats. Basically more of everything! Even though I feel like I've been eating SO much food, I am trying to shove a little more in here and there, even with the nausea and heartburn that has come on the past couple weeks! He specifically said not to fill up on junk, because we want GOOD nutrition to go to the baby! So I'm trying to feed myself good, wholesome food, while indulging a bit here and there if a craving hits. I am up 9 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight, which is behind schedule, but I'm trying! Our next appointment is next week to check on her growth progress...prayers would be appreciated! 

8:30-9pm: After the mommy group, I headed home to see my husband and prepared some ground turkey for us for the rest of the week. What a guy! He headed off to the gym and I cleaned up the kitchen a bit and packed my lunch for tomorrow. Packing my lunch took about 5 minutes, but now I'm prepared for tomorrow since I have to be at work crazy early tomorrow! Now, I'm just finishing up typing this post, then headed to bed for some reading, then sleep! Today was such a blessed day filled with a good day at work, good wholesome meals, and meeting a bunch of new, lovely people at the mommy group! I definitely collected on God's manna and blessings! Hope you all have a wonderful night too and get a chance to reflect on your blessings today!