{a day in the life} Baby Making Machine

Today’s “a day in the life” is Jennifer of Baby Making Machine. Jennifer is another one of the Fisher-Price Insiders, so I had the pleasure of spending some time with her on our trip to New York. She’s talented, smart, and great at capturing memories and moments with her kids — I could definitely learn from her in that regard. 

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Tell me about yourself.

I’m Jennifer! I just celebrated my 10th anniversary with the love of my life. We have two kids who are known on my blog as Lil’ J (4 yrs old) and Big T (20 months). We live in Austin, TX. I love to write and that’s what got me started on blogging. I was writing for my journalism career but I wanted to get creative with my writing. I started Baby Making Machine as a way to document my journey towards motherhood, and it became my journey through motherhood, and has evolved into a blog about making beautiful memories with our families and giving tips so others can do the same.

Take me through your day. 

My day varies depending on what day of the week it is since I work part time, but I’ll try to blend them together as best as I can.

7am: My one and a half year old son wakes me up. I’ll make him a bottle and snuggle with him as long as I can, which is usually about when his 4-year-old sister gets up.

8am: Make breakfast for my kids. Play in the playroom. We usually are playing/ I’m trying to straighten up until my husband wakes up. He works nights so we try to let him sleep in.

9am: Depending on the day I’m usually either dropping my daughter off at preschool, or heading downtown for work, or my husband will take the kids to the gym and I’ll work from home while they’re away. I usually will eat a small breakfast then.

I’ll write articles for different websites, or blog posts for sites I contribute to or my own. Or I’ll edit photos during this time. If it’s Wednesday or Friday I’m downtown, working at my news station filming, writing and editing stories until 5pm.

Noon: Feed my kids lunch and put my son down for a nap. It’s quiet time for my daughter too. If I am caught up or ahead on all of my work I’ll usually do a special craft with her that would be difficult to do when her brother is awake. It usually involves cutting, gluing, and painting.

2pm: My son gets up from his nap and we’ll either go run errands, or play in the backyard if it’s warmed up. My husband is usually leaving for work around this time so it’s me and the kids the rest of the day. I try my best to get us out of the house to tire them out before dinner and bedtime.

5pm: I start dinner around this time. And this is going to sound terrible on a food blog, but my dinners are never anything special. The most spectacular dinners here are like breakfast for dinner because it involves more than boiling water, pre-heating and oven, or using a microwave. It’s hard when I’m just making food for picky eaters and myself.

A goal of mine this year is to work a little less and spend a little more time stretching myself to cook more, and try new things.

6pm: It’s bath time. My son and daughter hop in for the last bit of playing and some scrub a dub cleaning. I let them stay in as long as they want, then get them into their pajamas.

7pm: My son’s bedtime. We’ll read a story and I’ll give him a bottle before laying him down to sleep.

7:30pm: I’ll finish doing my daughter’s hair for bedtime, which usually involved moisturizing and braiding it up. We’ll tell each other our own stories and get some mommy/daughter time before bed.

8pm: This is when I aim to have my daughter in bed, but she likes to negotiate to stay up later.

8:30pm: I’m eating something for myself if I didn’t eat with the kids, and take a quick shower, or long bath depending what kind of day its been.

9pm: I start/finish work. This usually takes me through about 1am, when my husband gets home, and I can talk to him about his day before we both go to bed.

1am: Bed time!

What is your favorite part of your day? Why?

The kids’ bedtime. It sounds terrible, but I love that feeling of “we survived!” and the peaceful look on their faces as they dose off after (what I hope was) a fun day for them. Even though I’m working after that I feel like I can relax a little.

I also love the morning snuggles with my son. I’m not a morning person but getting that one-on-one time with him is fun.

What is your LEAST favorite part of the day? Why?

Dinnertime. It’s the end of the day and I’m constantly reminded that I need to be doing a better job. haha.

If you could choose one room in your house to spend the WHOLE day in, which room would it be? Why?

Our playroom. There’s so much light, and so many things to do for entertainment. Art, blocks, play kitchen. My computer is also in the playroom so if I’m on a deadline I can work while the kids play (a few minutes at a time).

A close second is our back yard. It’s like an additional room with our patio furniture, and when the weather is nice I want to sit out there all day. We have a swing set and a chalkboard mounted on our fence.

If you could choose one room in your house to remodel (on an unlimited budget!) which room would it be and why? 

The guestroom. It’s so BLAH. The most boring room in the house right now. I want to get a Murphy bed, so it can fold up, and we can do other fun things in that space. Not sure what yet.

What is your favorite day of the week? Why?

The day my husband doesn’t have to go to work. It’s nice having an extra set of hands (and ears and eyes) around, and spending time together as a family.

If you had to choose one place to travel to every year, where would it be? Why? Have you been there before?

Disney World! We are going next month and planning the trip has been so much fun. I wish we could go every year.

What is your guilty food pleasure that you’re embarrassed to fess up to? Kraft Mac & Cheese? Spagetti-o’s? Canned cheese? We promise not to judge!

Nutella and bananas on bread! I also can’t eat enough French fries.

What have you learned since you began blogging?

The sky is the limit. I love the opportunities I’ve had, and it’s been amazing to see the possibilities.

What have you found to be the most challenging part of blogging?

It never ends! I have to force myself to take breaks, and when I do it’s hard to come back (like right now). But I try to keep it about having fun.

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Thanks Jennifer! I agree that it’s very hard to create a from-scratch dinner when your husband isn’t home for dinner. Truthfully, I don’t know how you do it every night! But I can’t wait to see you grow in that area!

You can find more of Jennifer and Baby Making Machine on Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and Instagram.

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