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I know this blog has been getting a little attention, maybe even enough that some of you reading this don’t know the author - my wife Joanne - that well. I thought I might give you a sketch of one of Joanne’s typical days, as a way to impress upon the readers what a monumental task it is that she has undertaken for this year.
Joanne wakes in the morning sometime between 5:30am, when my alarm goes off, and 7:00. Usually either our son, who is nearly three, or our daughter, who is seven months will half wake up during this time, to be soothed, and taken or sent back to bed by Joanne. When I call from my job at the post office around 9:00am, she is up and showered, and has both our children dressed, and usually just finishing up breakfast. Shortly after breakfast, it’s time for our daughter to be soothed down for her morning nap, and (assuming she DOES nap), Joanne uses the time to wash dishes, and play with our son, as he has to share the attention all other times of the day. As the baby wakes from nap, it’s usually time to prepare lunch, which is usually sandwiches with meat, cheese, and cut up vegetables; luckily our son will sometimes play quite happily on his own, and even help entertain his sister. I arrive back from work near the end of lunch or shortly afterward, and it’s time to take both children to bed for afternoon nap which, as all parents will know – can be a long ritual! I spend the nap time policing the sleep and doing some computer work, while Joanne will often grab her chance to go to the gym for some exercise.
She gets back home at the end of nap or shortly after, and our daughter usually demands some exclusive mommy attention. I play with our son, and our daughter, while Joanne prepares supper. Let me emphasize this – every night she prepares a full nutritious supper for the two of us, and our growing toddler, AND special mashed foods for the baby, which she feeds to our daughter as she has her own supper. After supper, she puts our girl to bed for the night, while I get some extra play or reading time with our son. Later, while I put him to bed, Joanne begins some miscellaneous chores, like dishes, cleaning, organizing, trips for groceries, etc. I come down and help finish the chores, and then we usually have time to sit, and maybe watch television for an hour or 30 minutes before we stumble off to bed.
Did I forget something? Don’t forget, Joanne is also painting a canvas, photographing it, and blogging about it EVERY SINGLE DAY! Where does she fit this in? Rarely in the afternoon, but usually she paints during our “sit-down time”. I try to stay awake and supportive, but I am often asleep by the time the photographing, writing and uploading is finished. And she does this each and every day, not even mentioning the hundred of other projects, outings for the kids, etc, that are always of the go. I hope everyone reading this can see what a labour of love this is for Joanne, and help out by spreading around some good thoughts, and publicity for the blog. Thanks for reading (and thanks for all you do Joanne)!
Nice post, Chris. :)
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