It’s time for another How Does She Do It! We are thrilled to introduce you to Erica Schmidt from North Vancouver, British Columbia.
Are you an Urban or Suburban Mama, where do you live?
Suburban. We moved to North Vancouver almost four years ago from Yaletown so I have definitely switched to being a suburban Mom! Although I miss being able to walk everywhere in Yaletown, I do love the slower pace of life in North Van, the proximity to nature, and really feeling connected to my community and neighbours.
Tell us about your children
We have two sons who are 14 months apart and are great buddies. Although both boys were born 6 weeks premature, that has never stopped them from tackling the world head on. Our oldest just turned 5 and is loving everything about kindergarten. He has started playing hockey this year, and loves Lego. His brother will be 4 in December. He doesn’t go anywhere without a stick or rock in his hand and loves riding his bike off-road in the trails! Both boys love camping and are currently obsessed with dinosaurs. They can easily rattle off a dinosaur for every letter of the alphabet… all the way to Zigongosaurus!
Tell us about your typical weekday
Life in our house is driven by routine and our iCal! I work as a high school vice principal and my husband Jeff is an engineer so we work full-time and juggle the role of being parents. It’s an art to master this juggle and I couldn’t do it without the amazing support of my husband! He does an equal share (if not more) of parenting including: pick-ups & drop-offs, hockey practices, or whatever parenting duty comes our way! Everyone is fed, dressed, and out of the house by 7:30-7:45am, and we all eat dinner together again after work. Although Jeff and I often have meetings or evening work events, we always find a way to make quality time out of the shortened family hours we have together in a day. For me, working closer to home makes it easier to be home for dinner, and play with the kids before bedtime, while still being able to head back to work after should I need to.
Do you have help?
Our boys go to an amazing group daycare which also offers before and after school care. Our daycare is like an extension of our family and our kids love going there everyday! They learn so much here, especially when it comes to socializing with others! We also have a very supportive family, although they don’t all live close, we still see our 3 sets of grandparents, aunts & uncles, and friends in the community a lot! They are always there to spend time with our family and help out when we need childcare. Our kids are pretty lucky to have so many people around them who give them so much love.
Who cooks dinner?
If you had asked me this question a year ago I would have said more often than not my husband cooks dinner, and he is a great cook! Now that I work just ten minutes from home I am home earlier and get to share the cooking more. We both love to cook, but we also order sushi at least once a week or throw a frozen pizza in the oven on nights when we need something quick! We also love to juice with dinner because it is a great way to get our veggies and the kids love helping us and drinking it!
How often do you buy something for just you?
Probably once a month I treat myself to something. Most of my gifts for myself are bought online! It is just easier to shop without kids in tow! I also enjoy the spa and make time every few months to treat myself to some mommy pampering with my girlfriends.
Do you exercise regularly and if so, what and how do you fit it in?
I love to run and I used to have a lot more time for it before kids – competing in marathons and half ironmans. When I had my boys I got connected with some amazing moms who also love to run. On our maternity leaves we spent most of our social time pushing our strollers on runs or doing mommy-and-me fitness classes! Now that I am back at work full-time I still connect with these moms on weekends or evenings to run. We still register in relay races and every year our team (Cougars with Cubs) runs in the 80 km Whistler50 race. Running with my girlfriends is a great way to stay fit an maintain a great network of women in my life.
What clothing lines or stores do you like to buy for your boys?
My sons go through clothing so fast that I try not to spend a lot on clothes. I buy a lot from H & M, Old Navy, Quicksilver online, and utilize online swap and shops on the North Shore. I tend to buy larger sizes so unfortunately for my youngest son, he gets all the hand-me-downs and rarely sees a new outfit (unless off course it is from one of his grandparents who love to buy kids clothes)!
I’m totally obsessed with…
Taking pictures. I am usually the person in our group of friends snapping tons of photos!
Three things in my purse right now …
Kleenex (otherwise my kids would have permanent snot fangs), my cell phone (it is my life line to our schedule), kid snacks (this keeps everyone happy and can usually buy me an extra few minutes).
My favorite drugstore buy…
Aerosol dry shampoo. It makes styling hair so much faster.
My guilty pleasure is….
Mindless terrible television (usually reality tv ) where I can just turn off my brain. Unfortunately these shows waste away hours of my life.
* Photos by SCM photography
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So proud of our amazing niece Erica Schmidt. She’s truly a “wonder woman”!!
Hi Erica, Loved the article!
That pretty well sums up your “Amazing Life!”
Mom xoxo
Great article!
I still don’t know how you do it.
Proud to be a peripheral player on the team.