A Day in the Life of... Melissa Best

Another Day in the Life of post today!  Want to know why I love these?  We get to see how different our lives as moms can be, how much we can relate to another mom going through similar struggles and stages, and how fun it is to see the daily lives of others.  I desire to bring community among moms, a job which can often feel lonely and overwhelming.  Saying that, if you read a 'Day in the Life of' post from one of the writers joining us here that inspires you, encourages you, or lifts you up - please reach out to them!  They will love it, you will love it...it will be worth it!

Today we have Melissa Best joining us!  Mel is from my own city of Hamilton.  We met in University and recently reconnected because of that common factor...kids.  She is incredibly open, honest, and loving - which you can see especially from her Instagram account found at A Glass of Melk.


Melissa is one of many creative talents!  She shares beautiful images of her life and her family on her Instagram account, she blogs at A Glass of Melk, and she creates embroidered art and more, which you can find at Little Nest Embroidery.  Check her out!


And now for her typical day...


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Hello friends! My name is Melissa Best and I'm honoured to share with you today a window into what a random day in my life looks like. I live in Hamilton, Ontario with my husband Dan, our 2.5 year old Theodore, and am 31 weeks pregnant with our rainbow baby who we've already named Joanie. I would describe myself as thrifty, creative, and social, and have been on a mission since getting pregnant with Theodore to slow down, simplify, and try to do things with intention to build deep relationships with one another in our home, and with friends and family around us. I am a birth and postpartum doula which makes my schedule kind of random, and I don't work typical hours.



I blog at www.aglassofmelk,weekly.com, and my main social media platform would be through Instagram @aglassofmelk


7 am we wake to the sound of Theodore in his room shouting with excitement"the sun, it's awake! The sun is awake!" (he's referencing our new grow clock that tells him when its okay to get out of bed) My husband Dan gets up and takes him downstairs to play and they have breakfast together while I sleep for another hour.





8 am I get up and join the boys downstairs, and spend some quality time together before Dan heads to work at 8:30.

We share a car, so if we plan in advance, he will bus to work so I can have the car to do errands or see friends in the morning. In my "pre-mom" life, I loved going out for coffee at coffee shops, so this is something I've tried to hold onto with friends, except we host each other in our houses with homemade coffee instead. With toddlers in tow, I find our visits to be much more engaging when there is either toys for the kids to play with or cough cough Paw Patrol on TV.




By 11:30 I try to get home, and have Theodore help me make something for lunch. He loves helping in the kitchen, and usually lunch is something simple like grilled cheese and soup, or macaroni. I try to bake with him once a week, or make something like homemade applesauce as these are some of my favourite memories from my childhood. We always make a bigger mess of the kitchen and flour ends up everywhere but the payoff is worth it.

12:30 we head upstairs to his room, read some books together, and I stay to cuddle for a few minutes and rub his back before I leave. Then, depending on how I'm feeling, since this pregnancy, I try to nap when he naps, or on alternating days, I do some of my own nesting activities like sewing baby clothes or being creative somehow. I always find it tough to choose between a)housework b)creative nesting c)doula work or d)napping. I've learned to always prioritize naps, and if I'm not feeling like I need one, then I jump into the other things!





3:00 Theodore wakes up again with the excitement of the sun coming up, and we have 2 hours before Dan comes home for dinner. You'd think in those 2 hours we'd be productive and it would be the perfect time to get a casserole in the oven, but I usually don't think about what's for dinner until about 4:45. Meal planning is NOT my strong suit, and at 4:45 I'm often struggling to either defrost a hunk of meat from the freezer or look at the random assortment of leftovers in the fridge and wonder about what they'd taste like scrambled together in the frying pan.

5:00 we pray and Theodore lists off the things he's thankful for, and we eat our dinner scramble.

After dinner if the weather is nice we go for a walk around the Bayfront by our house, or play a game together before Theodore goes to bed at 7:30. Dan and I take turns putting him to bed, and the other starts cleanup of the main floor that looks like a tornado hit it at this point.





By 8:30 the house is clean, and we will usually sit down to read a book together for half an hour before turning on a show. We swap between parenting books, marriage books, and devotional books. This is not my strong suit either, it is Dan who has a love for reading and he usually initiates this.

9:00 We are ready for our show, and usually snack on either "treat cereal" like Corn Pops or Cinnamon Toast Crunch, or Hummus with Tortilla chips. Every once in awhile through this pregnancy I basically feel ready for another meal around bedtime, so I'll make a full out pan of nachos for myself, or grilled cheese, etc etc.

And then, 10:00 bedtime!!

And then around 4:00 am I wake up from pregnancy insomnia, and I just lie in the bed for awhile trying to convince my body it's time to sleep. I end up coming downstairs for another snack, and reading, browsing through Instagram, or online shopping (most of my Etsy purchases happen at this time of the morning).

So that's a random day in my life. Thanks for reading along, feel free to pop by my social media channels and introduce yourself!




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