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This is how I do it – Katie

21 Apr posted by

Hey all! Welcome to another week in the guest blogger series! I am excited to introduce you to Katie. I have followed her blog since she was pregnant with the adorable Addie. I loved reading her post and am SO inspired by her weight loss!

My little family


Hey there! This is my first ever guest blogging experience, and I am pumped to have my first time be with Jenn. I mean, on Jenn’s blog.

Anyway…my name is Katie, I blog over at I Thought I Loved You Then , it’s a little ole blog, but it’s my little ole blog and I like it that way. I have been married to Justin for almost 3 years and we have an adorable daughter Adeline. We call the Midwest home and spend our free time hanging out as a party of 3, mostly at the park, or on our driveway with sidewalk chalk, or sometimes even having dance parties in our living room. I have been a Pediatric RN since 2007. I worked at a local Children’s hospital for 3 years and just last fall made the switch to school nursing. My husband Justin is a sheet metal worker, which means he completed a 5 year apprenticeship and does mostly construction type things which sometimes involves dangling from 30 story buildings.


Adeline cruising in her coupe.


Due to circumstances beyond our control, Justin has been laid off since September, so our average day is not quite the typical 2 parent working outside of the home scenario. But…it goes like this:

5:00 am-Alarm goes off, snooze a bit.
5:20 am-Roll out of bed and head to basement for either 40 mins on the elliptical or a pilates video. I work out at least 4/5 mornings a week, it’s important to me to work out then so I can spend my evenings with Adeline and Justin. I have recently lost 42ish lbs, exercise has become something I love doing…yes even at 5 am :)


6:10 am-Shower/hair/makeup/ pack lunch
7:00 am-Some mornings Addie wakes up around this time and I spend a little time with her and Justin before I have to leave for work
7:15ish-I head to work, Justin and Addie start their day. I call my Mom on the way to work..every day.
8:00 am-4:00 pm- I perform miracles with ice packs and bandaids, and so much more.

4:00-4:15pm- Commute home, thank God for a short drive home
4:15-5:30- Sometimes I cook dinner, but most of the time Justin cooks dinner or we pick something up that is healthy/WW friendly.
5:30-8:00-Eat dinner. Some nights we then run errands, or go visit my Mom or Justin’s parents. Other nights we play outside as a family or take a walk. Addie gets a bath 3 times a week, (thank you eczema!). Justin and I take turns reading a bedtime book and singing songs with Adeline and around 8ish down she goes.
8:00-10:00-Pick up daily clutter, do a load of laundry, catch up on blogs, snuggle with Justin.

Justin and I make a great team, I know things will be different when he gets back to work, but for now we have a good balance. We both clean and cook and do laundry, some weeks I do more, some weeks he does. He does all of the yard work, trash and takes care of the pool. He usually cleans the main living areas on Fridays and I take care of the rest on Saturday mornings, whilst dancing with Addie to our favorite songs. It’s usually not too bad because we both try to pick up throughout the week. I made a list when I was pregnant of which things need to be cleaned in each room. We both just try to clean and mentally cross things off that list as the week goes on. Since Justin is home with Addie while I am at work, he obviously does the majority of taking care of Addie, but when we are both home it’s pretty 50/50.


The weekends are my saving grace. It’s hard being away from Addie 5 days a week, even though I get to spend mornings and evenings with her, I still miss her little face! We cook breakfast and hang out in jammies for the morning sometimes. I try to give Justin some self time out of the house, and that gives me one on one time with Adeline, a win for all three of us. About once a month Justin and I try for a date night or night out with friends to keep that spark alive.

The hardest thing about being a working mom is the guilt I sometimes feel. I worry about what I am missing out on, I worry that she is missing me, wondering where the heck I am.

I don’t think I have any secret to making it all work. Honestly I kind of feel like I won’t know what it’s truly like to be a working Momma until Justin is back to work. It’s super easy to leave my baby at home with her amazing Daddy. It will be a much different experience to have to take her to daycare and add more travel time to the day.

I would absolutely stay home if I could! In fact, I did stay home with Addie for the first 10 months of her life, in part because of an extended medical leave due to postpartum depression. I loved being home with her full time, which is why my job as a school nurse is the best of both worlds for now. I have a couple weeks off for Christmas, a week for Spring Break, snow days, every weekend off….not to mention that little ole thing called Summer Break where I will be off with Adeline for 10ish weeks!

I can’t choose just one recipe, but we cook almost exclusively from skinnytaste.com. She has WW friendly recipes that are seriously delicious. You have to check it out!

Thanks to Jenn for letting me participate in her Working Momma series. Come check out my little family sometime. I haven’t been the best blogger lately but I promise there are more cute pictures of Addie, even squishy newborn Addie!


Thanks again Katie!

If you are working momma and would like to participate in this series send me an email to jenn(at)pdxmomma.com

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All photography, writing, and other content is created by and copyrighted by Jenn Pfaus. While I would encourage you to share content, please only do so if you acknowledge the source. I can be reached through the CONTACT tab above if you have any questions.