Thursday, June 5

Q & A #10

Today's topic is routines and schedules. Do you have a daily routine? What does it consist of? What ONE thing could you NEVER skip in your routine?

My routine is very loose. We get up around 6:30-7. Breakfast at about 7:30. Leah gets to watch a show with breakfast. (We have been watching Word World, Britt.) We play a bit inside. Erin naps at about 8:30-9. I try to do my daily chores during Erin's first nap. Leah usually helps me. When Erin wakes up is when I do any errands I have to do for that day.

This is where the problem has been. I haven't had any errands so this time is fairly empty. We play inside some more, but we really need to be out doing something.

Lunch is at 12-12:30. Leah can watch a show during/after lunch while I put Erin down for her second nap between 1:30-2 (hopefully). If it is any earlier she has a hard time staying up until dinner. Then after Leah's show, she has rest time in her room for 45 minutes. During this time I try to scrapbook unless I have some other pressing thing I HAVE to do. Many times Leah will be summoned outside by a neighbor right after rest time. We tend to play outside from like 3-4:30pm, unless it is super hot.

Once we come inside, we all play together on the floor for a while, then Erin plays in her exersaucer or jumper and Leah watches her last show while I make dinner. We eat when Mike comes home, generally at 6:15. Then it is straight to bath and bed for Erin. I try to get Erin to bed between 7-7:30. Leah sometimes goes up with her and sometimes gets to swing on the swingset with Daddy for a little while before bed. Leah is usually in bed by 8pm.

Then Mike and I get 2 blessed hours to OURSELVES! We watch TV or do yard work or just swing on our porch swing.I would love to be in bed at 10ish, but it is usually more like 10:30-11.

There is my routine. I would not skip eating as a family. Even though Mike gets home a little later than I would like as far as the girls eating dinner, we just make do because I think it is important for us all to eat together everyday. On wakeboarding day though, we eat out just us girls. I like that time too.

6 comments:

Keri Donald said...

Haha! I love that you consider that a "loose" routine! :)

My "loose" routine is something like this:
Wake up between 7am and 9am. On MTW, take Belle to school by 8:30... or have Keith take her... or ride my bike to take her. Once Corgan has been up for about 2 hours, he goes back down for a nap. If/when I have errands, I try to do them during Belle's school day (which lasts until noon) so sometimes Corgan doesn't get to nap until later because I have him out running around with me. When I pick Annabelle up at noon, sometimes we run errands then too. Naptime for Annabelle is usually around 2pm, but can be as early as 1pm or as late as 4. Belle usually naps for about 2-3 hours. Corgan takes another nap after his morning nap, and I usually try to time it to be during Belle's nap (of course). Keith comes home between 5:30 and 8pm, depending on what's going on at work, if I need him to watch the kids for something, or if he has a sport that night. Corgan usually goes to bed for the night between 8 and 9:30 pm, and Belle goes to bed between 9-10pm. Keith and I usually go to bed between 12 and 2 am. And then we start again...

Eating times are pretty loose too. The only set eating time is Annabelle's lunch at school. Other than that, it's pretty much whenever we're hungry. :)

So, one thing that I could never skip? Double-nap time when both kids are sleeping and I get a little time to myself with peace and quite.

Tiffanyrose said...

I would say that the one thing that I can not change unless we are not home(away from home) is nap for Porter. That little stinker gets mean when he is tired and I don't do mean. Especially since it is so unlike him. But that is it. I am a huge advocate of schedules and I believe in them 10000%. I have to with the gaggle of crazies I have over here every day! LOL

Anonymous said...

I'm a huge fan of schedules too! I think kids like knowing what is expected of them. Our house flows much better when we keep some sense of a schedule :)
I can't live without my workouts right now! It's my only time to do something healthy for myself. Even if it's just a 30 minute run, I feel so much better and I feel like I'm a much better momma :) I also love my evenings with my husband. Our kids are in bed by 8:30 (on most nights) and we have the rest of the evening to talk and catch up. Due to our upcoming move, I just recently quit work so having dinner as a family has been wonderful! I can't wait to continue to do this when we move to Georgia!

Lisa said...

My kids dont have much of a schedule now that they are older. But we do eat dinner together as often as possible. It has been rough lately with hubby and his broken leg. He cant really sit at the dinner table so if we eat something nonmessy, the girls and I sit around the coffee table with him, if it something messy or requiring lots of stuff, the girls and I eat at the kitchen table.

When the girls were younger, I never budged on bedtime and the bedtime routine. I needed that time after they went to bed to myself or with hubby. The ealier parts of the day werent as much set in stone as 4pm to 8pm were.

Nikki said...

Right now Halle goes to school from 9-5 and she naps from 11:30-1:30 at school. When we pick her up at 5, there is no set schedule because our evenings are always different depending on what sport is going on that night, or what other event. I just bought a weekly marker board (as I mentioned on your other post) which has made a huge difference for me. On the nights that we don't have anything scheduled for me or Jason, we schedule in something for Halle or Biscuit. Swimming with Halle is the biggest thing right now, but we also go on bike rides sometimes, especially to the big fun playground down the street. And I just scheduled in taking Biscuit to the park on Sunday, because we haven't done anything fun with her in awhile. Halle goes to bed late too, usually around 10pm. We like this though because she sleeps in til 9 or 9:30 on the weekends and since she's at school all day, we wouldn't get to see her much if she went to bed early. I'm sure this schedule will change drastically once Elena is here and I'm watching Halle all day though. Although I would like to somehow keep her sleeping in til 9:30!

Mirdonamy said...

When I was unemployed, I get up at 9:30am, feed the cats, check job sites, get a shower, eat, watch CNN, eat more, take a walk, play mario kart (wii), check more job sites, work on my website, snack, go to bed

Now that I have a job starting, I'll be getting up at 8am, feeding the cats, showering, going to work, coming home, feeding the cats, doing chores, checking my blogs and email, playing mario kart, then heading to bed.

Ah, what a life! :)