Normally, A and I get home from work together.  I mean with Go Trains schedules, 6pm Childcare pick ups and 8pm bed times – we run a pretty tight ship.   Outside of the rare occasion when one of us runs late with a meeting or a work event we make every effort to be home together and spend those 2-3 hours together as a family in the evening. It really is a blessing that we are able to do that, but we both find the balance to make it work.

It’s funny because I really don’t know anything different!  When I was growing up, my parents did the same thing, commute into the city for work and back home to the suburbs.  Other than child care, there was no other help my parents had.  No house keepers, no nanny, no help with the food, no one to shovel the snow, no online grocery services or professional laundry help.  So as much work as it all is, coupled with a commute – it feels pretty normal to me.

On this particular day, A was not going to be home until after the girls went to bed – so that meant I’d be solo parenting that evening.  Which if I am being honest – is always a daunting experience.  We are a team when it comes to the evening routine and all things parenting, so when one of your team mates isn’t there to help out it can be a little scary.

To avoid any anxiety, I prepped the girls dinner the night before, made sure S was fully away of what was going to happen (open communication with her really helps me) and picked up my camera to focus on something other than the clock.  In doing so, I created some precious memories!

Here is how our evenings usually go down:

5:15pm – A and I get off the train and run to our car to get out of the parking lot as quickly as possible.  Completely normal practice for parents with child care pick ups!

5:30pm – Pick up the girls from 2 different places.  Both in the same area and quite close to our home

5:40pm – We get home.  We get inside and get ready for dinner.  Hopefully we have something made already but if not then I quickly put something together :)  The girls will usually play or S will do some homework.

6:10pm – We all eat dinner together.  The girls will probably start eating at the table a few minutes before us.  A and I catchup, S tells us about the day and E for the most part just listens. There is of course the usual “eat your veggies” and related bargaining :)

6:30pm – Dinner is finished, girls have something for dessert.  A and I try to do some quick dishes and put away left overs for lunch. During the warmer months, we’ll hang out in the front yard, ride bikes, go for a walk, talk to our neighbours.

6:45pm – If we aren’t outside, we’ll be hanging out on the floor! We all just pile on to the play area carpet… play with toys, read books, chat some more and S finishes up some homework (if any is left over).

7:10pm – Take the girls upstairs to start bed time routine. If it’s a bath day it goes like this: bath/shower, milk (for E), brush, books, songs and bed.

A and I like to take the rest of the evening to do things to relax.  Whether that is binge watching something on Netflix, going to the gym, cooking, writing/editing photos or catching up on work.