This Is What My Days Look Like Right Now

A real day in the life of a stay-at-home mom in this season of motherhood.

What does a real day actually look like in this season of motherhood?

In this solo episode, Jacqueline walks you through a true day in the life — from the moment she wakes up to when the house finally goes quiet at night. Not the highlight reel. Not the optimized routine. Just the honest rhythm of life right now as a stay-at-home mom of three, balancing motherhood, mental load, and creative work.

Jacqueline shares what mornings look like getting two kids out the door for school, how her days shift depending on whether her toddler is home with her or at her school program, and how her work as a podcaster happens in small pockets of quiet time. She talks about the invisible labor of motherhood, the constant emotional regulation, and the tension between being present with your kids while still wanting space for your own purpose.

This episode is for any mom who feels like her days are full but invisible, meaningful but hard to quantify — and who needs the reminder that showing up counts, even when there’s no checklist to prove it.

In this episode, we talk about:

• A real day in the life of a stay-at-home mom
• Managing the mental load of motherhood
• Parenting multiple kids in different stages
• Working and creating during naps and school hours
• After-school chaos, activities, and evening routines
• Why some seasons of motherhood are about maintenance, not growth
• Letting go of productivity pressure in motherhood

✨ Reflection prompt:
What does your day actually require of you — emotionally, mentally, and physically?

🔗 Connect + Resources Mentioned

• Get on the email list
• Follow on Instagram
• Join the Motherhood Intended Podcast Community on Facebook
• Become a member of Your Fertility Village
• Check out Beddy’s and see how much they’ve simplified morning routines and bedtime in this season of life!

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Chapters

• 0:01 Welcome And Mission
• 0:35 Meet The Family And Context
• 2:52 Morning Mental Load Turns On
• 4:22 Neurodiversity And Hard Mornings
• 7:03 Toddler Pace And Food Battles
• 9:12 Quiet Work Windows And Tradeoffs
• 12:05 Caretaker To Creator Gear Shifts
• 13:51 Pickup Chaos And After‑School Energy
• 16:06 Evenings, Activities, And Winter Routines
• 16:51 [Ad] No Silver Spoons®
• 17:35 (Cont.) Evenings, Activities, And Winter Routines
• 20:20 When Plans Break: The Sprained Toe Day
• 23:50 Night Exhale And Mental Debrief
• 25:49 Journaling Prompt And Self‑Grace

Transcript

Meet The Family And Context

Morning Mental Load Turns On

Neurodiversity And Hard Mornings

Toddler Pace And Food Battles

Quiet Work Windows And Tradeoffs

Caretaker To Creator Gear Shifts

Pickup Chaos And After‑School Energy

Evenings, Activities, And Winter Routines

[Ad] No Silver Spoons®

(Cont.) Evenings, Activities, And Winter Routines

When Plans Break: The Sprained Toe Day

Night Exhale And Mental Debrief

Journaling Prompt And Self‑Grace

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Are you tired of scrolling your feed only to see the highlight reel version of motherhood? If so, then you're in the right place. Welcome to the Motherhood Intended Podcast. I'm your host, Jacqueline Baird, and I'm a passionate mom here to support women like you in their unique journeys to and through motherhood. I have been through it all. We're gonna be talking about things like trying to conceive, infertility, IVF, surrogacy, mom life, and more. It's time to get real about what it takes to be a mom and come together in the fact that things don't always go as planned. So here we go. Hey friend, welcome back to a new episode of Motherhood Intended. Before I dive in, I want to take a minute to introduce myself a bit, especially if you're new here. I'm Jacqueline. I'm a mom of three, married, and we're in a really full season of family life right now. I have two boys, Hunter is eight and in second grade, and Noah is six and in kindergarten. Our youngest Lorelai is almost two. She'll be two in April. She's in that toddler stage where she's curious and very determined and opinionated and needs a lot of hands-on attention. I'm home with her most days, and then twice a week she goes to a toddler program in the mornings, which gives me a small pocket of quiet time to work. I, as you know, host this podcast and I run a community centered around motherhood and fertility. So my work happens honestly, like in the margins of my day. So during naps, school hours, honestly, whenever the house is quiet. My husband works full-time. He is a director of development in the telecom industry, and he has to travel almost every week. And so a lot of the day-to-day logistics fall to me. So when I talk about what my day looks like, that's the lens I'm speaking from. This mix of motherhood, mental load, and creative work all happening at once. With that context, I want to walk you through what a real day looks like right now from morning to night. This idea came to me. I was on Instagram, and everyone's doing the character chat GPT prompt to kind of create this image of themselves at their work or just in their life. And I really liked the image that was created for me. I'm with my podcast mic, with my headphones on, iced coffee in hand, obviously, and then my kids in the background with heart and loves, and it just encompasses why I do what I do and how I do it simultaneously. And everyone loves a good day in the life, right? I'm scrolling TikTok and I love seeing other moms day in the life and see how they manage their mornings and their kids and their work. So I figured I'd give this a shot here on the podcast and see if it translates, but I don't know about you. I like a little peek into somebody's life just to see if there's anything I could be doing better or just for perspective. So I'm gonna walk you through what my day looks like. I would love to say that my day usually starts before the house is fully awake, but that's more of a goal than a reality. Sure, some days I am able to get up and get out of bed and get ready and be downstairs before all the kids wake up. But quite honestly, I'm more known to stay up late, spend time with my husband, get work done then. And then that makes waking up earlier harder. So more often than not, it's one of my sons coming in to wake me up, and that's how my day starts. But before I get out of bed, honestly, my brain is already moving. I'm thinking about school drop-offs, who has what that day, whether it's a day Lorelai goes to her program or stays home with me, what afternoon activities we have, how the evening might unfold. And then honestly, all the other little things going through my head, like, did I sign that permission slip? Did I cancel this appointment? Who's helping me with the kids on this day when Josh is out of town? Like it all kind of comes bubbling out of me first thing in the morning. So I like to start by jotting down a few notes in my phone, checking my email real quick, just my like VIP section. If there's anything super important with the school or work that needs to be looked at right away, I look at that. And then I will get out of bed and start my day. And it's not anxiety. All of this is awareness. It's just that the mental load turns on immediately. And if you're a mom or a busy working woman who has lots of things that you're taking care of, you will understand. The mental load is real. Everyone's talking about it. The invisible mental load of motherhood is real. So then with Hunter in second grade and no one kindergarten, they're at the same school. They need to be dropped off. They start school at 9.05. So the mornings are kind of a mix of getting two boys out the door, backpacks, lunches, shoes, last-minute questions, while also managing emotions and managing sensory sensitivities and setbacks and something as simple as getting dressed and brushing teeth and making a bed, which my kids have beddies. If you're not sure what beddies are, I'll link them in the show notes, but they're awesome. You basically just like zip up your bed. So three simple tasks that should seem simple, but they're not. They're not for someone with a neurodivergent brain. They're not for somebody who is on the spectrum, and they're not easy for somebody who might have ADHD. So our mornings can be very difficult. I will say that I try to almost always do their lunches the day before. We always pick out their clothes the night before, after trial and error, to just really understand that the morning could throw a wrench in our plans. Someone could have a meltdown over what was served for breakfast. That would be my middle son Noah. Or Hunter could get stuck worrying about how his socks don't feel right. And I can't always prepare for those moments, but I have to leave in so much extra time in the event that a shutdown is happening or we are struggling with something that is preventing us from getting out of the door. There's a lot of encouragement, a lot of reminding, redirecting, and a lot of, okay, let's reset. That's our morning, more often than not. And by the time I've dropped them off at school, I've already lived several versions of the day emotionally. If it's a day that Lorelei goes to school, she usually gets there about 10 minutes late based on the fact that both of their schools start within five minutes of each other. That adds another layer with her because I can get her dressed really quickly and she wakes up, she's still in a crib, obviously. So I get her up when I'm ready, get her dressed, brush her teeth, do her hair. But for her, breakfast takes forever. She is not one that can be rushed. She doesn't like to eat without either the freedom of walking away from the table and coming back, or she needs to be like watching a show or something to sit and actually eat. And truthfully, most mornings we just don't have time for that. So usually Lorelai wakes up, has a little bit of milk in her sippy cup, and then she is taking cereal or banana or some sort of breakfast to go because she does not eat fast enough in the morning. What the rest of the morning looks like honestly depends on the day. So on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Lorelai is in a toddler program from 9 to 12:45. Those mornings feel different. They are quieter, they're more spacious. I look forward to them because I know that I will have structured time to myself, whether I need to reset, run an errand, or just power through some work or my favorite record. And so on those days, I pick her up at 12:45. She eats lunch at school, so that's already been taken care of. She is down for her nap by 1.15, and I don't have to leave till about 3.15 to pick up the boys for school. So it's really nice. I essentially have more or less from 9:15 to 3:15 with some intermittent drop-offs and pickups and a nap. But I have a lot more time to work and to feel accomplished for the day. On the days that Lorelai is home with me, the pace is a little bit slower, but the attention required definitely ramps up. Either way, there's no autopilot. She needs presence, engagement, snacks, play, cleanup, and usually wants to do everything herself. So things are slower and they can't be about me right now, even if I want them to. We're not in a phase where she can just play in the playroom and I can sit next to her and work or get something done on my laptop. She will literally look at me and be like, What's happening right now? Or she'll ask for her coconut show a million times over, and I'm not trying to let her watch screens all day. So it's a fine line. We try to go out, we run, she loves running errands, we go to the grocery store. When she's home with me, she loves helping with chores. So I kind of turn things into activities and kill two birds with one stone by doing that. Winter's been hard because we haven't gotten outside a lot. But when it's nice out, that opens up a whole new world of possibilities. Going to different parks and playgrounds and going on walks and stroller rides and all the things. Much, much nicer time spent when it's warm out. So typically, late morning is when I try to work, mostly on the days that Laura lies at her program. This is when podcasting happens. Outlining episodes, recording when the house is quiet, answering emails, planning content. It's never a long, uninterrupted stretch because even if she isn't there, I'm either say prepping dinner or throwing in a load of laundry or making the phone call for a therapy appointment or something that one of my kids needs. That still has to happen. So I don't have like total uninterrupted time, but I'm getting things done in that time, regardless. So it's not a long, uninterrupted stretch, but there's always a clock going in my head that I have so much time, including right now. Like right now, as I record this, Lorelei is napping and I have about 30 minutes until I need to go pick up my sons from school. And there's always a timer running. Some days I get a lot done. And honestly, some days I just keep things moving forward. And I'm really in a season of learning to let that be enough. Not every season is going to be filled with growth and accomplishments and all these things. Sometimes just keeping the wheels turning is enough. So then in the early afternoon, on a typical day, if Laura lies at school, I pick her up. And that's like another transition, settling her in for her nap. And if she's been home all morning, early afternoon is kind of when the energy dips for both of us. So even though she goes down for her nap about 1:30, if I've spent the whole morning with her, it's hard for me sometimes to just snap into creative mode and get things done and create and further my business. Oftentimes I will try to do anything that requires a lot of brain power, a lot of creativity and thought. I will do those when she's at school in the late mornings when I'm like feeling energized. And then I will do more task-driven things in the afternoon when she's napping, or I will record during that time. It does require a lot of brain power and creativity, but for me, it comes much more naturally because I'm not reinventing the wheel. I'm not creating. I am either interviewing a guest or working off outlines for episodes that I've already created. So the recording part is so much fun. But I'm constantly shifting gears from caretaker to creator and back again. So that brings us to school pickup every day. The winter is a little bit different. So they get out of school at 3:30 and the school is like five minutes from our house. And there's no bus system. They have to be dropped off and picked up. And truthfully, we're like too far from the school to walk. It would be a long walk for both of them, and we'd always be late. So I drive. Now that it's the winter, though, a lot of parents are driving because the snow and the cold, everyone's driving. So in order to park remotely around our school, I have to leave at like 3 p.m. to park by the school without like having to walk really far. And truly, it does matter because I have to pick up one child at a door in the front of the school and the other child at the door in the back of the school. And Hunter always kind of lollygags and it takes a while. So I usually leave about three o'clock, pick them up. They come home hungry, tired, but full of energy, regardless, full of stories and talking nonstop. They do kind of come home and act differently, whereas like Hunter just needs a minute to like decompress. He just wants to hop on a tablet or just like sit and have a snack or something. And Noah is quite literally bouncing off the walls and talking, talking, talking non-stop, telling me everything. But yeah, this is when snacks happen. All the emotions spill out. Some days we'll do homework. I'll kind of assess the vibe. It's only Hunter who gets homework right now, and it's a math worksheet every day. Usually it takes no more than 10 minutes. So if he's feeling it right after school, we get that out of the way. If not, and I can tell he's like in a mood or just needs some time, we'll just save that for after dinner. But it's a time when everyone needs something at once. And oftentimes, if my husband is home, you know, Lorelai's still napping, so he'll stay home with her and I go pick up the boys. When they come home, their energy and noise level, and I'm like trying to shut it down because Lorelai's still napping. And again, this winter has been brutal. But when it's warmer, the first thing they need to do is get outside. Like run it out. Get outside, get your energy out, and then you can relax. Our evenings, they change kind of depending on the day. Because on Mondays, Hunter has a boys' hip-hop class at 6:30. Usually we will eat dinner and then I'll take him to that. And by the time he gets home, it's like showers reading in bed. On Tuesdays, both boys have a piano lesson at five o'clock. So they usually have about an hour when they get home. We go to that. It's only a half-hour lesson. So there's a grocery store right next door to where their lesson is at. So Lorelai and I usually just putz around at the grocery store. If my husband is in town, we'll all go walk the boys into their class and then spend 30 minutes in the grocery store that does have a bar. So we'll get a glass of wine and walk around the grocery store. And then our routine lately has been eating out on Tuesdays. If my husband's in town, we'll all go out to eat just because they get done at 5:30. And it's a lot easier to just eat and be home as opposed to starting dinner at six and just trying to re-acclimate to everyone being home again. Wednesdays and Thursdays now, we have nothing, which is pretty glorious at the moment. For the last six months, Hunter did have his ABA therapy at home on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. And so being discharged from that and having that off our plate, it's felt so nice. So early in the week is a little bit about moving quickly, eating dinner earlier or later than planned, trying to get out the door, sitting in the car, waiting, waiting in the lobby, waiting in a grocery store, whatever it is, letting them do their activities. And then Wednesday, Thursday, we're at home. Fridays feel lighter. Lorelai does have a dance class. It's like a mommy and me class that we do at 9 a.m. on Fridays, which we are like almost always 10 minutes late for because the boys start school at 9.05. And while I would love to drop them off extra early, that just never happens. So I drop the boys off on Friday mornings and then take her to dance class, which is a lot of fun and somehow sets a gentler tone for the whole day. We have a little routine too after her class. We'll get coffee, usually some hash browns from Chick's Fulley. She'll snack on those while we go to Target and get what we need for the next few days. And yeah, it's a nice little morning. Saturdays revolve around soccer. Usually my husband loves to watch soccer games that take place Saturday morning. The boys sometimes join him. And then they're in a season of indoor soccer right now where they play on the same team, and the boys usually have their soccer games around three, rain or shine, because it's indoors. So yeah, the calendar doesn't stop just because I'm tired. There are always a lot of moving parts, which I will say is something you expect, especially when you dream of a big family. And I do thrive on all these schedules and I love being out and about with my kids and watching them enjoy different activities. But on the weeks or the days where I am doing it by myself because my husband is traveling for work, it's a lot. It's a lot of running around and it's a lot of pushing through the tired, and it's a lot of trying to figure out when to do what and reprioritizing all the time. For example, this morning didn't get what was planned at all. This morning was supposed to be me dropping off Noah at school, then dropping off Lorelai at school, then taking Hunter to an eye exam appointment. Then I was taking him back to school. I had an 11:30 blowout scheduled, which little fun fact about me, that is like my guilty pleasure. Like I love going to get my hair washed and blown out and just knowing that it's done and dealt with for like a week. I mean, I truly wash my hair every like six days, and it lasts so much longer when I get a blowout. It's just so nice. And I love sitting there for 45 minutes, just enjoying somebody else doing it for me. I could be on my phone getting stuff done or just not getting stuff done and having like a mental reset. So that was supposed to be the first part of the day. And after my blowout, then I was supposed to go pick up Lorelai from school, bring her home, put her down for a nap, and then I was going to record with my husband for a different episode. Well, the day did not work out like that. Last night before bed, the kids were playing in the basement and they were kicking a soccer ball around. And Hunter, instead of kicking the soccer ball, accidentally kicked the floor and like jammed his big toe. It swelled up. We put ice on it, we elevated, he went to bed. Fine. He woke up in the morning and couldn't put pressure on his foot. He couldn't bear weight on his foot and was like hopping around. And I was like, oh my gosh. Well, that's not what how we started today. So I'm trying to ask him, of course, and I'm trying to assess the situation. Like, is he being dramatic? Is he panicking about this? Or is he actually in that much pain that he cannot walk down a hallway? Couldn't tell. And of course, we're on a time crunch because we got to get everybody to school. So I decided, okay, he's being so distraught that I think the best option is to just take him to urgent care, get an x-ray, and put this to bed and figure out what needs to happen next. So I dropped the other two off at school, went to urgent care. Turns out he sprained his toe, which was the best case scenario because there's just nothing they can do for it. His movement is not restricted. He can just do what he can and tolerate the pain, ibuprofen, and we'll ice it when he's home. So I had to reschedule his eye appointment for next week. And as we're at urgent care waiting for radiology to give us the results, I'm literally just counting down the minutes because I'm like, at what point do I have to cancel or reschedule my blowout, my hair appointment? Because I don't want to pay a late fee for not showing up or canceling last minute, even though this was totally out of my hands. But I also don't know what our next move is. Is he going to school? Is he going home? Are we going to make it in time? Long story short, took him back to school. As the morning went on, he was actually walking much better and totally fine. And he already missed PE for the day. Recess is pretty low-key. And I made it to my appointment, although I was like seven minutes late to my hair appointment, but it all worked out and I got done in time to pick up Lorelai, come home, put her down for a nap. And my husband and I were going to record, but he's not feeling well. And he was gonna power through, but that's not fun. It's not fun to force somebody into a conversation that we record. So that is tabled for another day, but nothing stops. Things shift constantly, but it never stops. And then there's nighttime, right? There's after bedtime. So once the kids are in bed, there's this like quiet exhale from me and my husband, of course. Sometimes I work a little more, sometimes I sit in silence. I will say it's more often that I will work or be productive at night if my husband's out of town. If he's home, we like to relax together. We like to catch up, talk briefly. Sometimes we'll eat dinner when the kids go to bed, depending on how the week's been and how the night's going. It is just way more peaceful to eat our own meal or even like snack when they go home to bed because some days we're just so tired, you're like, I don't even, I don't even care about dinner. And it's like as long as the kids are fed, we're good. But the nighttime is when thoughts catch up. Worries, ideas, reflections. Even though the house is asleep, my brain doesn't always know it's time to shut down. So when I lay down at night, I don't always have a neat list of accomplishments. I'm more just reviewing and thinking about how, well, I showed up. I got everyone where they needed to be. I held space emotionally and practically. And this season isn't about doing more. Honestly, it's about sustaining what matters. If your days feel full, layered, and mostly invisible, you're not behind. You're living in a real life, in a real season, and that counts. The mental load we carry as mothers, though, is very real. I just outlined what a typical day for me looks like. And again, there's small pockets of when I podcast, there's small pockets of when I can be creative and move the needle in my business. And for right now, that's okay for me. Every year is going to look different. And right now, I'm managing a lot for my family. Everything from logistics to emotional regulation. I'm constantly encouraging, negotiating, redirecting, and it's a lot. But I do find peace in the evenings because for me, they're kind of about survival and connection. Dinner, baths, pajamas, bedtimes, reading, all those routines. It is a point in the day where I'm reminding myself to slow down, to soften my voice, and to choose connection even when I'm exhausted. I love reading with my kids. Even when they were babies, I started reading to them. Now the boys are older, and in this new year, we've started giving them the option to tip typically bedtime is at eight o'clock. And so at eight, they can choose to go to bed or they can choose to stay up and read as a family for 30 minutes. It started off with them being so excited to stay up that they always chose reading and now. They're pretty like half and half on how they're feeling that day. But the reading together has always been fun for me. Whether I was reading them a quick book or we're all sitting next to each other on the couch after Lorelei goes to bed with the fire on and just reading her own chapter books, it's pretty relaxing and amazing. And I love hearing what they're reading about. And so no matter how chaotic the day feels or how crazy our schedules seem, I love relying on that evening routine of connecting and being calm and slowing down. And by the time the kids are in bed, my body is tired in a way sleep doesn't immediately fix. I have like this strange mix of relief and heaviness once the house is quiet. Which is why sometimes I feel like even though I've been tired all day, and I know moms can relate to this, I feel energized and I'm like, what am I gonna do with my time alone or my time with Josh? Like, are we gonna watch something? Are we going to talk? Should I get some work done? Do I want to read? I just get way too excited, but also feel exhausted and reflective, and then I just think about everything times a million. So I definitely need my time when the house goes quiet because that's when those thoughts kind of catch up to me. Like the worries, any ideas I might have, like I said, reflecting on the day. Because even if the day's over, my brain doesn't always know that. If your day looks like this, it's full and it's layered, you're living a real life. So here's a journaling prompt for you. What does my day actually require of me? Emotionally, mentally, and physically. Jot down what comes to mind when you hear that. What does my day actually require of me emotionally, mentally, and physically? Sometimes just by being aware of how we're feeling in our day-to-day and what is required of us can give us a better idea of how to do things differently, or how to give ourselves grace, or how to fit in more me time. Whatever it is, writing it down and looking at your day can be really helpful. I know for me in this season, I had to take a real good look at why things weren't working for me professionally. Meaning at the beginning of this school year, I somehow felt like I lost my flow, my podcasting flow. I had this whole thing going where I was like excited to launch new seasons and I knew how I did things, how I booked interviews, how I scheduled everything, and what programs I used and what I wanted to do going forward, I had this whole plan. And then life was requiring so much more of me outside of my work, between the different therapies and diagnosis of autism and ADHD and my toddler and all the things that came into play for my family. I was just being stretched too thin. So figuring out what my days actually required of me, both emotionally and mentally and physically, really was an eye-opener to look at, okay, you know what? I am busy. I am doing something that's fulfilling, I am being my best self. I am just reprioritized in this season because my family needs me more. Before I wrap up, I just want to say this. If this episode felt familiar, as always, no you're not alone. So much of motherhood happens quietly in routines, in repetition, in moments no one sees. And if you're in a season where your days feel full but invisible, I hope this reminded you that what you're doing matters. Thanks for joining me today as I talked about what my days actually look like right now. Not the highlight reel, not the productivity version, just the real rhythm of life in this season. For myself, I always find it very beneficial watching reels or TikToks on a day in the life of another mom just to feel that, like, oh, their mornings are as mundane as mine, or their nights are as chaotic as mine. Or maybe I'm realizing, oh, that's when they get their work done, or that's how that happens. With a highlight reel, you're not getting all of that. You are thinking that moms are just doing it all, and we all know there's an invisible load. Moms carry a really big invisible load, and we're doing all the things. So if your days are full and you're feeling invisible, just know we're all here for you and what you're doing matters. If you want to stay connected, you can find me over on Instagram and you can also join my email list. That's where I share more reflections like this, upcoming episodes, and what's happening inside my community. Soon we will have virtual and in real life events popping up. All of those links are in the show notes. Thank you for being here, for listening, and for letting me share a piece of my real life with you. Wherever you are right now, I hope you give yourself a little grace today. I'll talk to you again soon.