Tim Riddles has been married to his wife J’Layna for 12 years, and they have two “beautiful, healthy, sweet” little girls: Ella, 4; and Lily, 2. Tim works in sales at Standard Steel Buildings in Rockwall, and his favorite time of the day is any time with his girls.
3AM My youngest daughter Lily wakes up early most every morning screaming, “Daddy! Daddy!” I know why she’s screaming; she wants another Band-Aid. But I’m waiting to see if she’ll go back to sleep. She’s adorably persistent, so I go upstairs half-awake and find her pointing to her arm, knee, foot or face saying she has another boo-boo. I mend her imaginary boo-boo, give her a kiss, lay her back down, and off to bed I go.
5AM Ella, our oldest daughter, usually comes downstairs about this time to crawl in bed with my wife and me. She always wakes up my wife for help getting into the bed, but it isn’t long before I’m awake too.
7:40AM My wife, who is already dressed for work and ready to walk out the door, wakes me up. I should say, she tries to wake me up. After several failed attempts, I start to hear the frustration in her voice and reluctantly drag myself out of bed, careful to not wake up Ella, who looks so peaceful and angelic while she sleeps. To the bathroom I go to shower, shave and dress for work.
8AM Ella is still comfortably sleeping in our bed. I brew a pot of coffee and catch a few minutes of the national news before it’s time to wake her up and get ready for preschool. I’m hoping the little one will stay asleep just a little longer, but my short break ends abruptly when I hear Lily sweetly singing “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” on the baby monitor. I go up to get her out of bed, sit her down on the potty to do her business, then carry her downstairs and sit her on the couch. I turn the channel to Disney Junior so she can watch Doc McStuffins and head to the kitchen to make her chocolate milk.
8:15AM While Ella may look angelic when she’s sleeping, she’s anything but when I try to wake her. She whines a little, may pitch a fit and pull the covers back over her head, but I understand she needs just a couple of minutes to wake up. I check on Lily in the living room. She’s still sipping chocolate milk and watching her program.
8:20AM Ella has gotten out of bed, has already used the potty and is waiting for me at the bathroom sink so I can dress her and pull her mess of beautiful curls up into a ponytail.
8:30AM My mother, who has lived with us for nearly nine years, comes downstairs to help out with the girls so I can finish packing Ella’s lunch for school and have a protein drink. I pour lukewarm coffee in my thermos, grab Ella’s backpack, kiss Lily bye-bye and tell her I’ll be back at lunchtime. Ella and I load up in the car, and off to preschool we go. Lily is now in my mother’s good hands.
9AM I get to work and start drinking my coffee while I check emails and voicemails. I review building plans, work on quotes and send out as many as I can before lunch to make for a less eventful afternoon.
2PM I pick up Ella from school. The ride home is always filled with non-stop chatter. She loves school and does a very good job of remembering most details to share with me, including who got stickers on the board, who had to sit in time out and who she played with during recess. She got to reach in the grab bag for being a good student today.
2:15PM Ella and I are home for lunch, and Lily is eagerly waiting at the door for us. Ella gives Lily her treat, and they start running around the house chasing each other. My wonderful mother made me a healthy lunch. I call Lily “my little lunch buddy,” because when I sit down in the recliner to eat, she’s right there with me.
2:45PM It’s time to head back to work, so I kiss the girls goodbye. As I back in to the street, both girls are waving to me from the front door. I roll down my window and blow kisses. My wife calls again to make sure I got Ella home OK and to ask if we all had a nice lunch together. She works close to home at a State Farm agency but doesn’t have as long of a lunch break as I have.
3PM I’m back at work. More building plans to review, more quotes to run, more phone calls to return, but at least I only have three more hours to go before I can see my girls again. They make my stressful day worth it.
5:15PM My wife calls to tell me she’s home from work and feeding the girls. She’s promised the girls a trip to the yogurt shop if they eat all of their dinner. It’s a must that I leave work promptly at 6pm, because the girls will quickly lose patience waiting for me. I drink a protein shake so I’m ready to exercise when I get home from the yogurt shop.
6:15PM Off to the yogurt shop. Ella picks a different flavor each time, and Lily always says, “I want pink!” They pick out rainbow sprinkles, gummy bears and marshmallows for their toppings.
7:15PM We’re back home, and it’s time for me to exercise with what little energy I have left. My wife bathes the girls and gets them dressed for bed, which usually doesn’t happen until around 10pm. Both girls are night owls, just like me.
8PM The girls quickly grow bored with the movie I’ve put on for them and join my wife and me in the living room, where we’re trying to catch up on each other’s day at work. The girls bring us book after book.
10PM It’s easier to get Lily in bed than Ella, so my wife and I play rock, paper, scissors to see who gets Lily. We make her use the potty and put her to bed. With Ella, it’s an event. She wants to eat more, wants another story, wants to sit with my mother for a little while and wants a few songs sung to her once tucked in.
11PM Girls are in bed; my wife flips through the movies to find us something to watch. I feed the dog, check to make sure the fish is still alive and crash on the couch with my wife. I’ll go to bed soon, and I know it won’t be long until I hear Lily screaming, “Daddy! Daddy!” because she wants another Band-Aid.
