July 2026: A Day In The Life of a Former Elementary Teacher Turned Stay At Home Mom
How did you do it?
It’s a question that comes up through every season of our lives.
For me, it’s been…
To the Golden-Apple-award-winning teacher who made her classroom a place students truly wanted to be every day: how did you do it?
In conversation with a stay-at-home mother free to chaperone her elementary student’s field trip with our class: how did you do it?
With the established writers gathered at a national conference for Christian communicators: how did you do it?
And now, in the Bible studies where I sit among other Christian mothers a little further ahead, with children already so confident and yet compassionate: how did you do it?
In every season, we have the opportunity to catch a vision for what our lives could become and draw on the wisdom of the women around us to get there. It’s not about living always a season ahead of our time. It’s not about coveting what anyone else has or thinking we have to do it exactly the same way either. It’s simply about understanding how to steward what we have now to align ourselves for what we still hope for.
We only have this one, wild and precious life, as my girl Mary Oliver likes to remind me. When you wake up every morning remembering this, your days become scheduled with purpose. You live with a different kind of intentionality. I’ve always loved the parable of the ten talents because it reminds me of the reward for this kind of living.
It’s also why I love “Day In The Life” type posts. It fascinates me to see how others live, what they prioritize, and where the Lord can lead them because of it. So, in an effort to offer you the very same, I present a new “Day In The Life” series on the blog. Every month for the next year I hope to release a glimpse into our routines by showcasing one of our actual days from start to finish. Through these posts you will see the balance of biblical homemaking and motherhood, stepping out as a new author and the intentional shaping of an audience, part time work for a homeschool co-op, discipleship of others, and hopefully many fun moments in between. I hope they will inspire you to hold up your own days to the Lord and ask if you are stewarding them well. I also hope there will be ideas for intentional living I’ve gleaned from others that you can now take back to your family too.
So, here we go…
We’re stepping into a Tuesday morning in July. The summer season means all of our regularly scheduled Bible studies and homeschool days are on pause. The days are unscheduled and unhurried. This is perfect for the slow pace the newborn season still requires…not to mention the start of a new chapter for our family as Justin transitions to a new job.
5:17 am : The baby wakes again, though he was just up at 4:47 am. I hear his congested breathing and scoop him up, gently nudging my husband awake and asking him if he can find the nasal suction tool as I change the baby’s diaper. It’s only a few minutes ahead of our 5:30 am alarm, so I watch him roll over and turn the alarm off before standing up. Our toddler sleeps in the room just across the hall so the morning routine is a delicate song and dance to stay quiet for her. I help the baby with his congestion. Warren screams and Charlotte stirs on the baby monitor, but she knows the routine. The room is still dark. It’s not yet time to get up. She lays her head down and falls back to sleep. I throw away the diaper and grab my eye masks to help me wake up a little before I crawl back up in the bed, grab my Bible from my nightstand, and pull the baby to my chest to feed. By the glow of a handheld dimmable nightlight (the egg light- if you know, you know), I read from the Gospel of Luke, as outlined by my Bible reading plan.
6:30 am: I open my eyes to the egg light sitting on top my Bible page and the baby asleep in my arms. “Shoot, I nodded off as I was reading,” I think to myself. I hear the Lord: “Do you really think I’m disappointed in you for falling back asleep? Don’t you know how overjoyed I am that you set this time aside with Me when I know how many times you’re up throughout the night?” I smile, lay the sleeping baby on the bed beside me, and sit up straight to finish today’s reading. The final verse of the reading catches my breath. Confirmation. I have been praying for weeks about how to respond to a question from a Catholic friend about Protestants. I’d thought I’d heard from the Lord the day before about how to best explain my position biblically, but I had still been sitting with it until it was clear He had released me to respond. I can’t wait to text her, but I look at the time- 7:00 am. I know I can’t stop to text yet. I make the bed around the sleeping baby, get dressed, and do my morning skincare routine before sitting on the end of the bed and finally reaching out with my response. It will be another week or so before I hear from her about this. It’s understood in our friendship that we take all things back to the Word before responding, and sometimes that takes a little bit around the responsibilities of motherhood. While I wait to hear from her regarding this, several other quick “in the moment” texts will be shared back and forth. Pictures, funny things our kids say, book recommendations we want to share with someone. I am so grateful for the gift of this friend! 
7:30 am: I am dressed and ready for the day, and the baby’s changed too. I think about pulling out my Growth Roots Co. journal– a journal that came recommended by a friend and has been life changing to me- and praying through the prayer requests I’ve written in the coordinating section. I’m trying to become more disciplined about planning specific people and needs to pray over each morning but, after falling back asleep, I’ve left myself no time. I hear my toddler stirring and check the time- right on track. As I make my way to her room, I make the mental note to try to fit those prayers for friends in around the other things I’m responsible for this morning. My daughter helps me “make her bed” (line up her stuffed animals and drape her sleep sack over the crib’s side) and runs to the bathroom to potty and brush her teeth with my help. When she finishes, she runs to my room and climbs on my bed to tell her brother good morning. I take the moment to grab an outfit for her and stuff it in my pocket before we head downstairs. Toddlers are still such messy eaters that it makes more sense to wait to get her dressed for the day until after breakfast. Once downstairs, I turn on our morning worship music playlist and fill the essential oil diffuser before I put the baby in the bouncer and bring him into the kitchen with me. My daughter climbs the kitchen learning tower to help me plate breakfast. In this season of 2 under 2, one being a newborn, I have learned to prepare breakfasts ahead of time and simply reheat them for smoother mornings. She runs to her high chair, overjoyed when she sees she’s having a Dutch baby with berries.
8:30 am: Charlotte is finished with breakfast before I’ve had a chance to sit with mine today. I’ve started both kids’ laundry- my chore of the day- made a latte and my own breakfast plate too. Through it all, I have prayed for a pregnant friend’s upcoming delivery and chatted off and on with Charlotte across the kitchen bar. I remind myself this season is about flexibility as I release the hope of getting to the devotional we’ve been reading at the table together. I encourage Charlotte to play with her toys as I eat breakfast and read from a short devotional book by myself. It’s called I Hear His Whisper, and it’s my favorite. She chooses to crawl up beside me instead and ask for her Bible. We sit and read side by side, and she only tries to steal my blueberries once. That girl and her blueberries, I’m telling ya. I manage to finish reading even as she begins to swing her Bible side to side, pretending Noah’s ark is rocking on the waves of the flood during those 40 days of rain. Our quiet time is not so quiet, but I love it. I talk to her about her Bible story while Warren finishes his nap in the bouncer near us.
10:00 am: After feeding Warren, another round of diaper changes, an impromptu kitchen dance party, and getting Charlotte dressed, we’ve made it to the public library. I’ve used the drive to the library to check in with a friend and to speak with a ministry about some volunteer work I’m doing. Now I make my way to the hold shelf first where the books I’ve reserved for our monthly thematic unit are waiting for me. This month we’re learning all about the ocean. I throw them in the bottom of my stroller and let Charlotte lead the way to the children’s room. She requests a “football book” to read with her Daddy and I take the opportunity to introduce her to the librarian and teach her how to ask for help. We pick out a few more titles before she finds a baby doll and wants to play. For the next hour she meets new friends as she plays with this doll, a play kitchen, puppet theater, and table toys. For a long time, she takes the hand of a sweet 9 year old and leads her around the library as I smile and watch on from the couch where I feed her brother yet again. This is the age I taught for so many years.
11:15 am: Charlotte’s still playing with her sweet new friend so I encourage her to say goodbye and to tell her that she had fun playing with her. She decides that’s a lot of words for what a hug could better communicate anyway. The little girl hugs Charlotte right back- so big that she actually lifts her off the ground. Kids just get it, don’t they? Everywhere they go, everyone they see is a friend just waiting to be made.
I teach Charlotte how to check out her books using the self serve kiosk, then we use the walk to the car as an opportunity to talk about stopping to look for cars, being a good listener, and staying safe. We’ve been playing a simple game of “Go, Go, Go, Stop!” for a few weeks now to teach the skill of listening for my instruction and obeying immediately.
I load the car, I can see she’s tired so I ask Charlotte to help me recall the names of ocean animals we remember from the books we’ve been reading and some of the crafts we’ve done. It keeps her awake long enough to get home and have lunch. I’m thankful we have leftovers from dinner last night to reheat for lunch- salmon and roasted vegetables over rice.
To give myself a few minutes to clean up from lunch, I put on the short playlist of educational videos I created for Charlotte (outlined in this post about teaching the letters without workbooks). I work quickly to load the dishwasher (Justin has unloaded it before he left for work), pull out meat to thaw for dinner, and switch the laundry over.
1:00 pm: Charlotte’s down for her nap and Warren’s ready to be fed. He dozes off as he nurses and I gently lay him down in the pack n play beside me. It crosses my mind that I need to start getting him used to midday naps in his crib upstairs since one day it will be his only nap, but he’s just about to switch from swaddles to sleep sacks. I decide to hold off through that transition first. As he sleeps, I pull my laptop over to me and begin answering emails. From there, I log on to my website to check analytics from the previous days post and get to work writing the first half of this blog. I will keep notes through the remainder of the day so I can write the rest when the kids are in bed or tomorrow during nap time. 
3:30 pm: Both the littles are awake. Warren is doing tummy time and Charlotte sits at her toddler-sized table with a snack and the new jumbo crayons she’s coloring a picture with. I use this moment to begin folding laundry, taking breaks between articles of clothing to rub Warren’s back and encourage him. Charlotte leaves her picture to run over and slap the laundry piles- something that has become the funniest tradition in our house. She thinks that slapping the folded piles is part of the laundry process somehow. One day I’ll be able to explain to her that the slap was because I was always diving to save my freshly folded piles from her knocking them to the ground. As she finishes her snack, I set some of the ocean themed books out near me and we begin to read together. Once the laundry is finished, I put the laundry stacks back in each kids’ basket and line them up on the stair landing. I’ll put the clothes away in a few hours as Justin bathes Charlotte. She’s excited that she now has my full attention, and I pull her onto my lap to read through a few books very intentionally.
4:30 pm: It will be time to start dinner in the next 15-30 minutes so, even though he hasn’t cried yet, I offer Warren another opportunity to nurse while Charlotte and I finish up our books. He takes me up on my offer. Then I put him in the bouncer and bring it to the kitchen with me. He’s less than thrilled to be set down, but I use my foot to keep him bouncing as I prepare tonight’s spaghetti and Caesar salad dinner. Charlotte has transitioned to playing with a reusable ocean sticker book on the kitchen rug at my feet. I glance over my shoulder every now and then to ask her about one of the ocean animals. She beams as she finds each one I ask about and holds it up to show me. A couple times she scrambles up onto her kitchen stool to see if there are any cooking tasks to help with. 
We only ran out of the postpartum freezer meals I prepared a few weeks ago, so I’ve been keeping dinners simple until we get our routines down and cooking feels easier. This is also Justin’s first week at a brand new job and he’s getting home much later. It’s a big adjustment for us already. I turn from the stove top to the pantry to get my spaghetti noodles and realize… there are none. Oh no. After a loss in the family and a busy weekend because of it, we missed our usual Sunday grocery shop. I had thought spaghetti was a safe bet to get us by since I usually keep spaghetti noodles in bulk. I call Justin on his way home to tell him of my mistake and ask if he’ll pick me up some. Dinner is slightly delayed, and Charlotte knows it as she grows hungry and impatient.
6:30 pm: We’re finishing up dinner as a family and Warren is getting cranky. For as laid back a baby as he is, he is serious about being swaddled and in his bassinet by 7:00 sharp. It’s about the only thing he’s insistent on, and I love that for us. The leftovers from dinner have already been put in the fridge so all that’s left to do is put the plates from dinner into the dishwasher and run it for the night. We leave them behind for now as we both make our way up the stairs with a child. While Justin bathes Charlotte, I bring Warren with me to put away the laundry in both kids’ rooms. We finish right around the same time and meet back in our own bedroom, each with a child and a pair of pajamas to put them in. Our master bed is pretty much one big changing mat these days. Once they’re dressed, Justin takes Charlotte to brush her teeth while I feed Warren one last time before bed, then we switch off. He rocks Warren to sleep while I take Charlotte to read bedtime stories.
This is one of my favorite parts of the day with her because it’s the only one-on-one time I have with her. We spend an hour reading through books and talking about them before we finally shut the lights off and settle down to pray. She lays her head on my shoulder and we recount each part of our day as we thank the Lord for it. Sometimes I also use this bedtime routine to reinforce expectations or reteach behaviors that came up during the day, but tonight there is nothing. She’s dozing off in my arms now so I allow my prayers to slowly transform from the kid-friendly prayers I’m modeling for my child to the honest, heartfelt prayers I’m declaring over my child.
8:30 pm: I gently lay Charlotte back in her crib, surrounded by the little stuffed animals she’s been accumulating. I used to wonder how children’s beds ended up this way, but I’ve been watching it happen in real time now and it makes me laugh. One plush at a time that becomes special enough to her to join the bedtime ranks. I go straight from her bedroom to mine to get ready for bed.
Recently I’ve been brushing my teeth and doing my skincare routine immediately so that I’m not tempted by a late night treat. It also helps me to avoid having to get back up and do it groggy and annoyed if I fall asleep while still working. I come downstairs to meet Justin who has been loading the dishwasher and picking up a few last toys in the living room since laying Warren down. We debrief each other from our day, and I check if he needs any last things done before I head back upstairs again. I sit on top my bed to respond to a few texts and then pull my laptop onto my lap to try to finish this blog post. My plan is to finish quickly and then read a few pages of the Wild and Free Family- a book that’s been taking me a lot longer than usual around a newborn, book edits, and blogging- before going to sleep.
11:00 pm: Justin comes upstairs to find that I’ve fallen asleep mid-writing… blue light blockers and hair clip still on. He gently wakes me so I can get comfortable and takes my laptop from me to set on the dresser. Warren hears Justin and stirs a bit so I pull him over to me, both of us still so groggy, feed him quickly and and lay him right back down. It’s a quick feed, but it’s enough to get us by for at least a couple more hours. I look at him in his bassinet from where I’m laying in bed and make the mental note to spend more time tomorrow just looking into his eyes and talking to him. He’ll be 3 months tomorrow. It’s all going by so fast.
I’m up another two times throughout the night before our alarm goes off at 5:30 am again.
Another day, doing what I love.
