"What do you do?"

I get asked that question fairly frequently (three times this week) and I still never quite know what to say.

Stay-at-home-mom?
Freelance writer?
Nanny?
Amateur athlete?
Personal assistant?
House cleaner?
Chef?
Concierge?

None of those titles cut it.

Here is an "uneventful" day...

Thursday, Feb. 9
6:00 wake up, stumble to the bathroom.
6:15 run out the door to meet up with my two fav running partners, Kate and Anna. We run six miles today, a little less than usual because two of us are racing a 5K the next day.
7:30 jump in the shower. Phoebe wanders into the bathroom, strips down, and joins me while Bruce watches PBS Kids.
7:50 family prayer, then Scott heads off to the lab.
8:00 off to school: Phoebe in the stroller and Bruce on his bike. I walk-jog since he is faster on wheels. Does that count as more mileage? We find two pennies (Bruce and I have an ongoing competition to see who can collect the most change) and dodge several trash cans on our four-block jaunt to school.
8:25 back home again. Vacuum crumbs off the carpet (Miss J is scared of the vacuum, so I do it before she shows up) while listening to NPR.

8:30 finally eat some breakfast: cereal and toast.
8:40 Miss J's mom drops her off for the day. Today she requires an extra hug.
9:00 fully engaged in pretend play with Miss J and a doll house while Phoebe feeds me fake food she cooked up in her play kitchen. I negotiate a fight over a baby stroller.
9:20 feed Miss J a bottle of milk and change her diaper. Phoebe wants to help too - a little too much.
9:40 read three Curious George books.
10:00 girls go down for morning nap. I enter my monk-like state, trying to be quiet while answering emails, paying bills, writing. Today I scan my water bill and coach our new property manager, download videos from camcorder, pay my credit card bill, draft an email to my church congregation (it's my job/calling to send out a weekly announcements email and create the programs for services), read scriptures, schedule doctor's appointments.
11:50 party is over, Miss J wakes up.

12:00 drink my daily ferrous sulfate, heat up lunch. Today it's white bean-arborio rice soup for me and fish-spinach-potato for Miss J. Spoon-feed J and myself.
12:45 Phoebe wakes up, needs snuggling.
1:00 feed Phoebe, do dishes, collect tiny Box Tops scattered throughout kitchen drawer, watch helplessly as bookshelf gets unloaded by Miss J.
1:30 write notes for J's parents. I keep a log of what she eats, things she does, etc. Change a diaper and help Phoebe go potty.
1:50 clean up a few disasters: toys, books everywhere.
2:10 bundle up and load ladies into the double stroller.
2:30 go to pick up Bruce at school and find he has a playdate planned: all I have to do is say yes. I do, and he goes home with a friend and I take the ladies to the park. Then to the store to get diapers (I forgot to tell J's parents I was out - oops). Then to Goodwill to grab some more pants for Bruce (blew out the left knee on three more pairs, got too tall for another two pairs = time for more pants).
3:30 feed J another bottle of milk. She's getting sleepy. We read Poppleton books.
4:15 nap no. 2 for J. I read a few more books with Phoebe while J falls asleep, then we start making dinner. Phoebe washes and hands me the potatoes. I peel them.

5:15 J wakes up. She jumps on the rocking horse.
5:30 J's dad picks her up. I try to give him the highlights of the day while Phoebe yells in the background: she climbed into J's crib and got stuck.
5:50 Scott walks in with post-playdate Bruce. We sit down to dinner: chickenless chicken for me, chicken for everyone else. Mashed potatoes and salad for all.
6:20 head out with Phoebe. We pick up a friend and do our weekly grocery shopping. Phoebe likes to come so she can pick out yogurt and Arthur-shaped macaroni and cheese. She gets orange stickers in the checkout line and covers me in them.
7:30 we finish shopping before our friend and wait in the car. Phoebe eats half a bagel, then bashes her head against the car seat while yelling "nuts!" and then laughing at herself.
7:50 drop off friend and all her groceries.
8:00 carry nine bags of groceries and Phoebe from the car to the elevator. So glad we have an elevator.

8:15 Phoebe is pajama-ed and in bed. She's asleep within two minutes. I put groceries away.
8:30 answer emails, read about Costa Rica (more on this later, but we are going!), post videos from camcorder, clean up junk pile that accumulated on my desk during the day.
9:00 Scott rubs my feet while I eat ice cream and watch TV. Wonder how I got this lucky.
10:00 Head to bed. Wonder how I can race the 5K at this time the following night.

* update: Ran at 10:30 p.m. on Friday's Boston University Valentine Invitational and stayed awake, running 17:43, a post-Phoebe PR!