As of today, Missouri is rolling out Phase I of Opening Up. However, it won’t really change our day to day for the foreseeable future. Nomesie’s daycare still hasn’t decided when to reopen, my husband’s WFH situation isn’t changing, and our favorite SAHM activities (even simple ones like story-time at the library, splitting a croissant at a coffee shop, indoor play-spaces, etc.) are still a no-go.
So, here we are: week eight of shelter-in-place in St. Louis, Missouri. This is what the last eight weeks have looked like, and probably will continue to look like in our household:
7:30AM WAKEUP, BREAKFAST, BLOCKS
Nomesie is still clocking in 12-13 hours of overnight sleep, so she typically wakes anytime between 7:00AM and 8:00AM. My husband gets up before me, and is showered, dressed, and has fed both cats by the time we hear Nomesie calling out for us. He gets the baby out of bed and tackles the first diaper change. That’s when I roll out of bed and get started on a few chores.
I take out the trash, change the diaper genie (as need), scoop cat poop (roughly 3x per week), throw in a small load of laundry in the wash (either sheets, towels, or clothes), put away clean dishes from the dishwasher that ran overnight. Nomesie drinks milk in her highchair while I make us breakfast, my husband is on his own. Nomesie and I either have oatmeal with granola and fresh berries or toast with peanut butter and a banana. Coffee for me, whole milk for her. Once breakfast is cleaned up, we move on to play, leaving my husband in the living room to settle in for a day of work and meetings. Nomesie grabs my hand and leads me upstairs to her room, she’s eager to play with her wooden blocks. They have letters, animals, and numbers painted on them. We stack towers while we name the animals we see on each block and make their corresponding noises – she’s gotten really good and it’s very impressive! We read books and play with her stuffed animals until I’m finished with my coffee.
Afterwards, I lure her into the bathroom with the promise of brushing her teeth, she loves brushing her teeth. She likes to sit on the closed toilet seat and brush while I do the same. If I hand her my electric toothbrush when I’m done, I can buy myself another 3 minutes, which I use to quickly make the bed / tidy up our bedroom. We head back into her room to read and play until it’s time for her morning nap.
10:00AM THE MORNING NAP / MOMMY TIME
Nomesie is still on a two nap a day schedule, 10:00AM and 2:00PM like clockwork, everyday for the last 12 months. Depending on my husbands meeting schedule, I might use this time to run out to the chiropractor. This pregnancy has been rough on my hips, pelvis, and back. Seeing a chiropractor once a week has been wonderful. If afternoon works better for my husband, I use the time to lightly stretch and do very gentle yoga poses geared towards the third trimester. Goal is to keep the pelvis aligned and make sure baby stays head down. I take a nice long shower, throw on mascara and brow powder (super minimalist makeup routine these days), and get dressed. If there’s time left, I read one of my books for a bit – which is a wonderful change from toddler books.
11:00AM PLAY, LUNCH, PLAY
On average, her morning nap lasts about an hour. I change her out of PJ’s and into her clothes for the day, plus a fresh diaper. We go downstairs and play in the living room until lunchtime. We aim to eat at 11:30am everyday. I prep our lunches ahead of time. Our lunch rotation is the following:
- Homemade Salads — spring mix, tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, artichokes, beets, and rotisserie chicken
- Homemade Chipotle Steak Bowls — steak, rice, black beans, peppers & onions, homemade salsa, store-bought guacamole
- Sandwich Day — sweet rolls, deli sliced turkey breast, deli sliced cheese, deli mustard, chips, pickles, and fresh fruit
- Frozen Indian dishes from Trader Joe’s (lamb for my husband, chickpea masala for me and Nomesie) plus naan
- Dinner Leftovers — self explained
I like to keep lunch as easy and mindless as possible. The three of us eat together in the kitchen, mapping out the rest of our day. My husband and I tag team the clean up: I handle the dishes, wipe down counters, put away anything that needs to go back in the fridge / pantry, he hoses down the baby, the highchair wipe down, and the floor. Honestly, I have the easier end of that deal. Especially this late into my pregnancy.
Depending on the day, and if there’s no meeting scheduled, my husband joins us for a stroller walk around the neighborhood after lunch. We come home, play, read, and run around the living room while my husband has a post-lunch coffee. We’ll also try to use this time to call / FaceTime a family member.
2:00PM AN AFTERNOON NAP, MAYBE?
I really don’t know what we do, but we somehow manage to kill time between lunch and the afternoon nap. We’re usually back in her room reading books or playing with blocks. But if she seems bored, we’ll go on another stroller walk, just the two of us and an audiobook. We switched Nomesie into a toddler bed recently, so her afternoon nap is very hit or miss now that she can get in and out of bed on her own. Either way, I try to nap myself, because third trimester. If not, I’ll bake, prep food, read, blog, or watch Netflix. I know I’m spoiled, and it’s rare for toddlers her age to nap twice a day, but I’m 33+ weeks pregnant and have no interest in changing up this schedule.
When she wakes from her afternoon nap, we do another diaper change, and she asks for a snack in sign language. After her snack until the end of my husbands workday is the hardest part for me. I’ve hit a wall and cannot muster the enthusiasm and energy it takes to read the same baby book 15 times in a row. Or create any of those neat toddler sensory activities that are plastered online. Or do anything. And that’s OK. I have to remind myself that she’s safe, she’s well fed, she’s healthy, she’s happy, she’s a well-adjusted baby. I’m doing enough. And that’s enough.
4:30PM END OF THE DAY FAMILY WALK + DINNER
My husband usually wraps up around this time and rain or shine, and we go on a family walk. One loop around the neighborhood is about 25 minutes, sometimes we go for two neighborhood loops, other times just one. Either way, we end up at the tennis courts / playground. We let Nomesie run around the tennis courts collecting balls and run around on the grass. The playground is suited more for bigger kids so there isn’t too much she can do on her own at this stage. We head home around 5:30pm / 5:45pm so I can get started on dinner. I cook almost every night, it’s extremelly therapeutic and I consider it my ‘me time.’ I plug in my headphones, boot up an audiobook or podcast and get to work while my husband and the baby play in our basement. We’ve settled into a good meal rotation, it makes it easy to shop for. I aim to have dinner on the table between 6:00pm — 6:30pm. My husband and I LOVE our family dinners, and having our goofy toddler join the conversation and laughter is the definition of happiness.
Same clean up system for lunch. I tackle dishes and the counter, my husband has the baby, the floor, and the highchair. The two of them go upstairs for Nomesies bedtime routine, which currently consists of: a bubble bath, a cleaned up bedroom, fresh diaper and PJ’s, hair brushing, a bedtime story, and a bedtime song. Meanwhile, I head downstairs to feed the cats their dinner and bring up a basket of clean laundry that was put into the dryer at some point. I head back into the kitchen to clean up whatever else, tidy up the living room toys and books, vacuum as needed, clean the two lower level bathrooms as needed, and make two cups of tea while my husband wraps up bedtime. Nomesie is in bed and asleep around 7:10pm, and we enjoy tea and dessert (we rotate between ice cream, homemade cookies, and Trader Joe’s cookies) together on the couch. We are dead exhausted. But the tea is calming, and we reconnect as adults. When our tea is finished, my husband usually dives back into work, and I’ll either read or soak in an epsom salt bath (if I didn’t have time to shower earlier in the day / my hips and pelvis are getting achy). I try to fall asleep no later than 10:30pm or 11:00pm. And we start the exact same routine in the morning.
I know how incredibly lucky we are during this time. I understand this post can come across as privileged — we have a steady income, we have a roof over our heads and food on our table, we have our health, we have each other. We only have one, very easy going toddler to care for. We don’t have to homeschool or work on a math problems. We don’t have to juggle two adult work schedules while caring for our child. We have nothing to complain about, especially when so many others are suffering. We are very fortunate, and we don’t take any of it for granted.
I simply wanted to document our current reality. If anything, it’s been a joy having my husband home to help out diaper changes, post mealtime cleaning, and just being here. Other than our walks, the baby doesn’t leave the house, and neither do I, other than a quick grocery store trip and the chiropractor (essential). We’re enjoying these last few weeks as a family of three, but it’s still tough. This pregnancy has been tough. It’s filled with anxiety and uncertainty, on top of being physically demanding. COVID-19 makes this weird time to be pregnant and logistically brings a whole new set of challenges for the arrival of a new baby. But it is what it is, and we’re making the most of it.
Despite pregnancy concerns, I’m grateful that this time, as strange as it is, has given us the gift of living S-L-O-W-L-Y. I definitely understand why there’s been a movement towards slow living.