A (work) Day In The Life

Prior to having my daughter, just shy of seven weeks ago, I planned to take the majority of the summer off. Or at least away from physically being in my downtown shop. Being a small business owner means you’ve likely traded in that dreaded 9-5 for a permanent 24/7 position lol. There is always something happening, good or bad. For me right now the good and the bad have collided. We have had such a staffing crisis this summer. A summer I had planned out so perfectly with a slew of wonderful staff. But things happen and unfortunately we have been under staffed and incredibly busy. I will never not be grateful to be busy, but to be busier than you can manage is a rare form of torture for a small business owner. Okay, I think I am rambling now. All of this being said I had not planned to be in the shop so much with a new baby but duty calls and I have been making an appearance regularly and so has Scottie girl. TBH we have the dreamiest baby of all time and she is beyond angelic which makes the challenge of working with a newborn a little bit easier.

I will say when people ask how I manage to have three kids, and work, etc, etc. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes in our lives that no one ever sees. Some of it great and some of it not so great. This summer however I am lucky enough to have my husband off work until September. This has given me the ability to be in the shop without worrying the boys are being neglected or bored or worse, destroying the shop because I had to bring them along. This helps the #momguilt so much. With my husband able to care for the boys I bring the girlfriend to work with me. Now certainly one is much easier than three and a newborn is easier to control than a two year old or a four year old, BUT a full day working with a newborn is not for the faint of heart. At least 5 of you have asked exactly what our day looks like so here is a little look at what a working day entails from start to finish . . .

6AM | Wake up with the homies. We are all early risers, everyone is with children, RIGHT?

7AM | First pump of the day. If you have been following along you know I have been exclusively pump (sigh) and pretty much my entire life revolves around this. I have been able to adjust my pumping schedule a little to work best for our days because thankfully I do have an abundance of milk.

9AM | Get to the shop. We open at 10AM but I like to always arrive at least an hour early to go through orders, organize, figure out what is on the agenda for the day. All that good stuff. I also absolutely got starbucks on the way to work, always leave time for that.

10AM | Open for a day of Chaos.

*** my view while I pump is pretty cute ***

11AM | Pump. pump. pump. If you are unfamiliar with what Pumping entails usually I will feed her before or after (depending on the time of the pump / of course if she is hungry, this girl is really predictable so we feed her a bottle every three hours for the most part). So . . . feed, then pump, then clean all the pumping supplies, diaper change, return to work. I try and make this happen within 45 minutes, that might sound long but sometimes it is much longer. All of it is time consuming to say the least!

12PM | Back in the shop to hang out with Scottie’s fans (ie. at this point everyone is just coming in to see her, probably why we are so busy LOL).

3PM | Pumping party.

4PM | Back to work for another hour. At the end of the day I like to try and clean up so it isn’t as hectic the next morning for whoever is opening / starting the day. I will say we can often be very busy for the last hour of the day so often this is not possible.

6PM | I usually stay for an extra hour and finish up anything we couldn’t get to during the day like packing online orders etc. This is a one family show so sometimes you just have to make it work whatever time. Also 6 o’clock, you guessed it, pumping time.

7PM | Home to kiss the boys and likely have a glass of wine . . .

The rest of our night consists of emails, baby snuggles, and two more pumping sessions at 9PM and 12AM. I do not pump in the middle of the night thankfully but I cannot lie pumping feels like another full time job.

There you have it. When I have to work a full day that is what it looks like!. Many days of course I go in for only a few hours but life is definitely full on right now. I could not do any of this without my massive support system and trust me when I tell you I do not recommend working 2 weeks PP. Working too much is not something to wear as a badge of honour. Make sure you are taking care of yourself and listening to your body. Something I am working on learning and maybe one day I will HA.

I need to add one final thought in here . . . Having kindness in your heart and understanding when small businesses have to close a day or two a week right now (when they normally never would, HI, IT IS US!) is so appreciated. I don’t expect anyone else to work 7 days a week for months on end without a break but for some reason people seem to find it fine to place this expectation on small business owners. We don’t have the capacity to keep up with big retailers and their hours and frankly that is not what people come to small business for. Remember many local businesses are run by just a few people, sometimes less. We are a family operation and we want to have the ability to work hard and service the community while at the same time enjoying our hard work and being with our family. Just a little food for thought when you feel frustrated businesses aren’t all able to hold the hours that might work best for you. We are so beyond grateful for the amazing community we have built and continue to build. Cheers to everyone for loving us both in person and virtually. We are working on some big and super fun things for y’all!

Have a wonderful week babes, see ya on the gram!

xo