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My day

  • 8:00 Time to get up. First thing first, before Yilin wakes up, I have a few minutes to prepare her breakfast. Fortunately, this is done with my mom's help.
  • 8:10 Yilin usually starts her day at this point, which leads to diaper changing, cloth changing, running and chasing, etc.
  • 8:20 - 9:20 A full hour can slip so quickly, when it's time to feed Yilin. Again, my life would be much more painful if my mom weren't here. Sometimes I take chance to have my breakfast, sometimes I miss.
  • 9:20 It's time to take Yilin to day care. It's already late since the morning activity time is from 9AM to 10 AM. If lucky Yilin can enjoy the sunshine for 30 minutes.
  • 9:50 - 10:30 After good bye with Yilin, finally it's time to take a bus and go to work. This 40 minutes is one of my most relaxing time in a day. Sometimes I pick a book to read. But more and more often, I play little games on iphone.
  • 10:30 It's an awkward time to come to office and start work this late. However I'm used to it, and colleagues seem to be used to me as well.
  • 10:30 - 12:00 My job isn't easy. Other than things I sign up to do or others expect me to do, the meetings, emails, emergencies, random discussions pop up and takes 80% of my office time. Usually I can't really start working before 12:00.
  • 12:00 Time for lunch, but things are still piling up in front of me. Fortunately, the cafeteria downstairs allows customer to order online. It only takes 30 seconds to order a lunch, then I can continue work.
  • 12:40 Here's a little excise in the middle of the day. Running to the cafeteria, locating my order and taking it back to office, only takes 5 minutes for a fit person like me.
  • 12:45 Lunch is done with typing and discussion at the same time, usually.
  • 13:00 My lunch is officially finished. This experience occasionally becomes much better, or more like normal lunch, if my friends invite me to go out.
  • 13:00 - 18:00 This part of me is the working me. Again, 80% is taken away by unplanned meetings, discussions and accidents. But the good thing is, 20% times 5 hours, is still a lot of time for me to actually work and make progress. Aside from that, I have a little dark secret why I don't fall behind the schedule. Again, if my mom weren't here, I'd worry who's gonna take Yilin back home now.
  • 18:00 - 18:40 Another wonderful 40 minutes bus time. However this 40 minutes is less enjoyable than the one in the morning, since it's right in the rush hour, and bus looks pretty much like a can full of salmon slices.
  • 18:40 - 19:40 Another round of diaper changing, chasing and feeding. If I'm lucky I can have a dinner meanwhile, otherwise I'll have cold dinner after Yilin sleeps.
  • 19:40 Every night I bath Yilin. It's a important step to make her sleepy. If this step is done incorrectly, she could be an excited little girl for hours.
  • 19:50 - 20:30 Yilin is born an energetic child. It's like a battle to calm her down and help her sleep. I've done it for hundreds of times but I still don't know a shortcut.
  • 20:40 Finally it's time for my blood pressure to back to normal. At this point the apartment often looks like a ruin. Food is everywhere on carpet and wall, and a hundred dishes are waiting for wash. Luckily, I can take all the time it needs to clean everything up patiently.
  • 9:30 - 11:30 Sitting on the couch, this part is the best part of my day. I often wonder, what would I do if I have two hours for my own. However answer is usually the same, catch up the work, reply the 200 emails that got missed in the day, and do not get fired. The two hours here is my little dark secret. It's my secret why I only do 1 hour for real work at office and still can catch up projects and keep my job.
  • 11:30 - 12:00 If I sleep right after work, I always get insomnia. 30 minutes relax time, meaning music or video game, is very necessary for me to have a normal sleep like a sane person.
  • 2:00 Yilin still can't sleep through night. It's the time to feed her. It's not a horrible thing to come up at 2 AM, as it might sound to be, since I've done so many times, and I can wake up and go back to sleep like nothing happened.
  • 5:00 Another feeding.

This is my day, my standard weekday that I've been living for many months. It's occasionally better when my wife comes and help. But more often than not, it's a nightmare when she can't and mom has to leave, or something worse than a nightmare when Yilin is sick at the same time.

My day isn't an easy one. Once a while I think about it, likely on a bus by the way, I'm surprised that I managed to deal with it and keep myself entertained.

Comments

Mind is flying said…
You are a strong daddy. Really admire.
8:52 PM
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