A day in the life of working mom #IWD2020

Today we celebrate International Women's Day 2020!

I recently featured in the latest edition of the Business Magazine and one of the questions I was asked was 'What inspired you?'

It left me reflecting for a while about how much my life has changed in the past two years. I've always been inspired by women, I'm lucky to be surrounded by strong inspirational woman in my family. I've met some incredible business woman who push the boundaries everyday to succeed and some incredible mothers who dedicate their lives to their children.

Eventually I answered 'since having my son I've met some great women who I see working hard towards their careers while caring for their family'

I was lucky enough whilst pregnant to join a Yoga class run by the hospital where I met a group of ladies who all had babies at a similar time. We went through pregnancy together, shared the dread of going back to work together, had a massive joint first birthday party and now with 20 month old's meet up sharing stories of how much they are growing and learning.

I was the first to go back to work after 6 months off, it was hard and I watched each one of them one by one all go through the same struggle. Yet each one of us just took on the extra load and kept going. I was lucky my job allowed me to go back on reduced hours and pickup bits after bedtime but some of them didn't get that opportunity, they were back full time straight away.

Now my son is 20 months and since IWA2020 was coming up I decided to log a day in the life of one day last week:

5:30am – Woken up by a very happy 20-month-old followed by cwtches in bed. Check emails, sing nursery rhymes and enjoy a bit of CBeebies.

6:30am – Play with dinosaurs and build rockets.

7:00am – Quickly get dressed before Daddy leaves for work.

7:20am – Morning milk.

7:30am – We wave daddy off to work.

7:40am – William has breakfast.

7:50am – Get the dogs fed and sorted for the day.

8:00am – Getting William dressed, usually a very unhappy toddler who doesn’t want to wear his clothes.

8:10am – Get bags and coats together and sort out dog treats.

8:20am – Get in car off to nursery, look for the sheep in the lane and sing old McDonald.

8:30am – Nursery drop off, then off to work.

9:00am – Start work – make coffee.

9:30am – Meeting.

1:00pm – Lunch (most days whilst still working).

3:00pm – Meeting.

5:00pm – Work finish time.

5:30pm – Usually the time I actually finish work.

5:55pm – Get home.

6:00pm – Bath time.

6:20pm – Get William changed for bed.

6:25pm – Sort clothes for nursery next day.

6:35pm – Bedtime milk.

7:00pm – Say night (husband’s turn, we alternate bedtimes) and bedtime stories.

7:15pm – Husband attempts to get toddler to bed.

7:15pm – Go for a run or do a workout.

8:15pm – Toddler finally asleep.

8:25pm – Pack nursery bag for next day.

8:30pm – Eat dinner

9:00pm – Catch up on any work missed due to meetings.

10:00pm – Bath to relax.

10:30pm – Sleep.

I never actually logged any of this before and I was honestly shocked. This is my life, the life I chose for my family, I'm the mom who cares for her son beyond any measure but also shows him everyday the value of working hard to succeed.

Today I want applaud all women making a difference but especially those working moms who I find incredibly inspiring.