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Welcome to the afternoon shift which is part II to the series of An Average Day as Momma Braga. Hope everyone enjoyed part I 🙂

My husband’s afternoon shift is one of my favourite shifts as its Monday to Friday from 2:20 pm to 10:40 pm.

Our average day starts at 8 am which in my world is the best time ever! At this time our morning routine is already in full swing. My husband takes on making the beds and getting our daughter all ready for the day. I take on the task of the kitchen.

First task is to start everyone’s breakfast and get my coffee ready to help me conquer the day. While breakfast is cooking, I am either unloading the dishwasher or starting to prep food for the day. Once breakfast is all done, my husband and daughter sit down to eat.

On an average day, I am usually eating breakfast while cooking the next meal. The importance of having the meal done in the morning is to ensure that my husband has food ready for him to take to work. During this time my husband spends time with our daughter and my daughter loves this time! Sometimes they are building towers with building blocks or they will be watching WWE wrestling (Yes we love it and our daughter adores it!). This quality time is so important for both of them and I love seeing it.

I think this is what makes this shift one of my favourite ones as we get to spend much more time with my husband. It almost gives us the “weekend feeling” when he is home in the mornings with us. Sometimes I use the mornings for appointments for myself such as doctor appointments or my favourite is taking a long shower which many moms understand how much of a luxury that is J

By 11:45 am, food is usually done and my husband starts prepping his lunch box for work. This is when we start preparing our daughter for dada’s departure. Our consistent message to her is, “Dada go work.” This helps her understand the good-bye and she repeats us, “Dada work.” An hour later, my husband leaves and our daughter gives him many hugs and kisses with “Bye Dada. Dada work.”

Now it is time for Momma Braga and daughter time. Lately we have been introducing different Disney movies to our daughter so she usually picks one to put on. In the last week or so, we haven’t moved passed “The Good Dinosaur.” I put on the movie and we eat some lunch. Once lunch is done, we cuddle on the sofa while we watch the movie and after a bottle of milk, she is fast asleep. I place a blanket over her (which usually ends up on the floor in 10 minutes) and her bunny rabbit by her side. During the afternoon shift, nap time can be anywhere between 12:30 pm to 2 pm which is a great time to nap. Naps last from 30 minutes to 2 hours.

Nap time then becomes mommy time and again this is where I do any social media, articles and most of all clean up. This way I am ready for her when she is awake.

Once nap time is over we usually eat some dinner and then we do a variety of different tasks, depending on the day. Sometimes we go out to do some errands or we make plans to spend time with family and friends. Our daughter loves outings so we usually like doing these in the evening when we are on our own. No matter what we do, I am always constantly teaching our daughter. This means that if we are out, we are pointing things out and learning what each thing is. For example if we are going for a walk we will point to a red car and our daughter will say, “Red Car.” This way our outings are always educational and she is always learning something new.

By 8:30 pm we are ready for bath time and that is always fun. Once bath time is done, the bed routine starts. We pick a few books to read and after a bottle of milk, our daughter falls asleep in my arms. On the afternoon shift, bedtime is earlier than on any other shift as we usually don’t pass 10:30 pm. During the night I do get up a couple of times for milk calling but the nights are a bit better than the night shift nights.