Inspired by a series on The Non-Adventures of a Stay-At-Home Mom, I decided to give you a glimpse into my life – possibly not the most exciting of topics but I’m really nosy and I’m enjoying the series so much I thought maybe there are others out there like me who wonder how other moms actually spend their days (besides wiping snotty noses and changing dirty nappies, of course).

I’m not actually a stay-at-home mom but a work-from-home mom but anyone who is a WHM knows that you end up being a bit of both so my days are quite a mix of spending time with J, dealing with life and trying to earn a bit of money.

But let’s look at today and how I (tried to) balance my 11-month old Baby J, my work, and my husband, the Beard:

5.30am Baby J wakes up and so wakes me up. I let him talk to himself for a bit so I can keep my eyes closed for a few more minutes (ok, as long as possible) but when he starts getting antsy I get up and give him his morning milk. After the feed and a nappy change, we go through to the living room/play room. I make myself a cup of coffee and try to wake up while Baby J eats his toys and terrorises the dog.

6.30 Breakfast today is good ol’ porridge. I made banana pancakes a few days ago and we’ve recently done eggy bread and avo and cream cheese so it has actually been a while since porridge. Not such a great idea, it turns out. J is not impressed which means Bacon gets porridge for breakfast and Baby J gets yoghurt.

7.15 Stop J from eating Bacon’s food. Watch him tip over his water bowl instead.

7.45 J goes on a marathon around the house and I follow behind with my second cup of coffee, making sure he doesn’t fall off the stoep or slam his fingers in the security gate.

8.00 The Beard is up and showered (we alternate early mornings) and has some QT with J while I go to the toilet (oh the luxury).

8.30 Naptime. Now I can get dressed. No shower for me today (I showered yesterday and will tomorrow) but it still takes me half an hour to find something to wear because I’m at that awkward stage where none of my clothes fit me but I don’t look that pregnant so I end up just looking fat and feeling even fatter.

9.00 Ester (the nanny/my saviour/J’s second mom) arrives.

9.30 I meet up with a couple of friends for breakfast. Last week the Beard was in Joburg and he’s away for 2 weeks from Sunday so I thought I’d give myself a nice gentle start to the week. Plus J goes to Nanny ‘n Me every Monday morning. It’s unbelievably hot so it’s an absolute pleasure to have breakfast in the little garden at Starling’s cafe.

11.00 Time for errands. I run to the shops to grab the usual nappies, bum cream, nappy rash cream, pregnancy vitamins, snacks for J – I mean, this is clearly my whole life at the moment! Oh, and a waterless toilet cleaner so our toilets don’t smell so bad with so few flushes!

12.30 I get home to make lunch for J. Chicken, pumpkin and sweet potato. Goes down much better than breakfast.

1.00 After lunch J has another play session with Ester until his nap at 2, while I finally get a chance to sit down to some work.  I’m a freelance writer, teacher trainer and blogger so my work could mean anything from writing blog posts, planning training sessions, proofreading or catching up on social media.

1.45 Realise I need to do my tax (which is a total mess) so I make myself a cup of tea, give myself a kick up the butt and sift through all my documents and make a very pretty spreadsheet. Huge load off my mind and I take great satisfaction crossing it off my list. To give myself a double pat on the back I add it to the list again just so I can cross it off again.

2.30 Sort out some general admin for moving house at the end of February. Last week I organised all the Certificates of Compliance to be done so today I’m paying everyone and collecting the COCs and sending them over to the lawyers. Ho hum. More money down the drain.

3.30 J wakes from his nap and goes for a playdate with a neighbour.

5.00 J comes back and Ester leaves. I put away my laptop and watch J while making him supper: fish, potato and pumpkin. J is not a fan of fish and manages to throw most of his food on the floor or smear it all over his face and in his hair. I’m not winning at food today but some days are good and some days are not. I make a piece of toast with cream cheese but he takes great pleasure in throwing that overboard immediately. So it’s yoghurt again. Thankfully these yoghurts are like superfoods so I don’t mind if he eats them all day every day.

5.30 Once I have wiped down what seems like the entire dining room, J and I have some good play time. It’s a beautiful evening so we spend the time in the garden. J is especially fond of eating sticks and leaves while I throw the ball for Bacon.

6.00 The Beard arrives home from work and engages in some rough play with J which has him in hysterics. It’s crazy how no matter how much time I spend with him in the day it takes his dad 5 minutes to have him giggling hysterically – one of my favourite things to watch.

7.00 The Beard puts J to sleep. We put our feed-bathtime-storytime routine into place a few months ago after a number of weeks of really rough nights and it’s something I cherish every day. Bedtimes are (now) such a gentle time for us. Even though I probably just jinxed us by saying that.

7.30 A friend comes round for dinner – Thai food, my absolute favourite.

8.30 I sit down to do some more work while the Beard has a chat and a few more glasses of wine with the friend. Usually at this time we would watch something together on TV – Grey’s and This Is Us currently being our favourites – but some nights I quite like a bit of extra time to finish up some more work.

10.30 Bed. I try to read a few chapters of The Pilgrim but tonight I don’t get past a couple pages. This pregnancy is hitting me like a freight train at the moment and the heat is not helping things either. I manage to fall asleep quite quickly but obviously wake up regularly to go and pee throughout the night.The joys.

And the next thing you know Baby J is squawking on the monitor and it’s 5am again…