A Day in the Life of Betsy

I'm so excited to share my first guest post ever, as part of the A Day in the Life series. The series will showcase one blogger each week for seven weeks. It's meant to give us a glimpse into each others' lives... the parts we might not normally show or might not fit the 'theme' of our blogs. The series is meant to help us get to know each other even more, to inspire us, and to let us know that life isn't quite as glamorous as blogs sometimes make them out to be ;). The first guest post is Betsy from  The Adventures of an Amateur Housewife. I really enjoyed getting a glimpse into her life! Welcome to A Sunday in the Life of Betsy! 

It’s Sunday morning and my alarm goes off son starts crying at 3:15am – that means it’s time to nurse. He doesn’t usually wake up in the middle of the night, but I’m not surprised he’s awake because for some reason I didn’t have much milk to offer him last night. I think I may have slacked on my water intake. Oops. So here I am nursing Joseph at 3:15am. There are worse things that could happen. About 15 minutes later he finished and falls asleep on my shoulder. This is actually one of my favorite times to snuggle with Joseph. His tummy is full and I can tell he’s so comfortable just laying on me. I hold him and feel his contentment exude from every part of his being. I know I can’t sit here forever because he’ll be ready to nurse again in a few hours and this time he’ll be ready to start the day. So, I sit there for a minute or two before laying him back down in his crib to sleep for the rest of the night.

Sure enough a little after 7am I hear Joseph crying again – he’s hungry and ready to get his day started! Luckily it’s the weekend and on weekends my husband and I usually switch off who gets up first thing in the morning with Joseph (after I nurse him)– and I was up with him on Saturday, so it was Will’s turn. All I have to do is nurse the sweet boy then drag myself back to bed. And that’s exactly what I do. At this time of day when Joseph’s finished nursing he sits up, looks around, smiles and starts bouncing on my legs. It’s pretty stinkin’ adorable, but I’m still tired and can’t wait to get in bed. So, Joseph spends the next few hours playing with daddy downstairs while I get a couple more hours of sleep.

A few hours later I can hear Joseph getting cranky. He’s hungry again. So, I finally get out of bed – for good this time – at 10am. (I make no rush to get out of bed on weekends when I have my husband around to help out.) I nurse Joseph and he’s ready to go down for a nap. So, while he’s napping I have some breakfast and poke around the internet (check email, Facebook, blogs, etc.). Soon enough Joseph is awake again and ready to play!

While he plays I unload the dishwasher – one of Joseph’s favorite activities because he gets to practice pulling to a stand on the dishwasher – and pray. I usually try to do my morning prayer right after breakfast, but our weekends are so relaxed I don’t get around to praying until much later than usual. For my morning prayer session I’m using the book “Small Steps for Catholic Moms” by Danielle Bean and Elizabeth Foss. I really like it because it gives a quote to think about, a short prayer and something for you to do every day. It’s short enough that I can fit it in easily, but gives me a lot to think about so I can turn it into a much longer prayer session when I have the time/energy.

Around 12:30 I start thinking about getting us ready for mass. So, I nurse Joseph then head upstairs to get us both ready.  This includes doing my typical morning routine in the bathroom – brushing my teeth, fixing my hair, putting on deodorant, putting in my contacts, etc. I realize it’s a little crazy that I don’t get around to doing this stuff until this late in the day, but I’m pretty sure other mom’s can relate. I also manage to get both myself and Joseph dressed for mass. Usually Joseph just goes in whatever he’s already wearing, but today I got him into some nice clothes for mass – go me!

By 1:15 we’re out the door and headed to mass, but not just any mass we’re going to the Traditional Latin Mass. My husband loves this mass so we’ve become “regulars” at this particular mass. Honestly, I wasn’t thrilled about the mass at first, but it’s grown on me. I still think I prefer the “Novus Ordo” (as my husband likes to call it) – that’s code for what most Catholics consider a regular Sunday mass – simply because it’s what I grew up with and I enjoy being able to sing along. Really, I love any mass with beautiful music. But I diverge. After mass we attend the “coffee social” before heading home.

Luckily for us, Joseph falls asleep on the way home from mass. This is good because I need to make some guacamole for dinner that evening. So, while Joseph is sleeping I poke around on the internet (again), make some guacamole and even have a little time alone with Will.

That evening we have dinner with some of my former roommates from when I was a Jesuit Volunteer, but before we leave the house I have to pack up everything we’ll need to feed Joseph: a booster seat, bib, spoon, a few containers with his food, and his oatmeal. I also pack the salsa and guacamole I made for dinner.

It is so nice that 4 of my 5 roommates live in the same area as me. We try to get together every couple months to catch up and see how everyone is doing.

We spend a few hours visiting with my roommates and having dinner before we head back home. We ended up leaving a little later than we had originally anticipated putting us home around 8:45 – 15 minutes past Joseph’s bedtime. By the time we get home Joseph is showing clear signs of being tired. So, as soon as we get home we get him ready for and in bed.

Once Joseph is down Will and I have a little time to ourselves. Recently this time has been spent collaborating on which is the best play for any number of my “Words With Friends” games (we both love games but can get a little competitive, so working together in games or with larger groups of people seems to suit us much better). But for some reason I’m worn out from the day, so we don’t stay up too late. We say our nightly rosary, read about the saint of the day then I head to bed. 

Betsy is a stay-at-home mom of one adorable little boy, Joseph. She spends her days playing on the floor and trying to figure out this whole housewife thing all while keeping herself, and her family, focused on God. Check out Betsy’s blog, The Adventures of an Amateur Housewife, to see what’s happening in her world.