Your daily "routine" - Page 2

[ipfree]

Thank you for this thread it gives me lots to think about. And Moms how do you do it on so little sleep. Do your bones ache?

[krankedyann]

Originally Posted by ipfree

Do I need to be more strict and force us all into a routine?

I would say using gentle persuasion and you ability to direct the day's activities would be better than forcing it. It took us several weeks of me afjusting waking, nap and bed times by 10-15 minutes each day to go from no routine to worked into a routine. From there, we slowly added some components of each day, following 2 hours of hte morning routine or so for hte first few days, followed by adding another hour every few days or so, until we built into a full day routine.

[jennifercp8]

DS is 6 months old

7am - he wakes, and I get up with him to let DH sleep
7:30 - we nurse, change diaper, get him dressed, and I have breakfast
8 - play time - usually I play with him
9am - DS is back down for his morning nap, and I usually workout. I have a half hour Tai-Bo tape that I do, and then grab a shower.
10/10:30 - he is awake, and we go out to do errands. We are usually home by noon
12:30 - he is back down for his afternoon nap, this is his biggest chunk of time he is down, so I usually
* have lunch
* do laundry
* cleaning
* prep/clean any veggies I bought, etc - basically for dinner that night
* sew a little
* read
* internet
* plan grocery trips, etc
(he sleeps in our room, and I try to hang close by so I can hear for him - no monitor)
3pm - he is usually awake, and I strap him on in the MT and we take the dog for a walk (or run any last minute errands). More play time - usually on his tummy, or sitting up on the couch
5pm - back down for one more nap, and I make/eat dinner
6pm - he is awake, and we take a bath, read a book, and do an evening routine
7:30pm - he is usually asleep

DH travels all week for business, so 9 times out of 10, I am doing this on my own. I miss having him around.

ETA: It took me almost 3 weeks to develop this "schedule", and by no means is this concrete. But I can pretty much count on him taking at least an hour nap every 2-3 hours. He still sleeps pretty well at night, too. I sometimes feel like I am tied to the house, but not always. He will sleep in the carrier with no problems, but I want him to take good solid and uninterrupted naps, as well.

[MysteryMama]

me and ds who is 6mo wake up between 4am and 5:30am. i give him a bottle (milk dried up due to pregnancy) and sometimes we then take a bath, especially if im exhausted from getting up so early. then we'll go downstairs and i'll put him in his highchair with some toys or a little snack while i clean up anything left from the day before in the kitchen and make a pot of coffee. if he's being happy and i didn't have much to clean in the kitchen i'll sometimes sit at the table and drink my coffee. when he wants up we go in the dining room and play, which is like a playroom. i try to help him learn to crawl and stuff like that. then we might move to the living room and i'll get on the net for a bit, and then we'll play some more when he gets bored. plus diaper changes all throughout the day of course. then we go back in the kitchen and i make breakfast, usually bacon and eggs, and i'll give him bits of eggs while im eating. afterwards he wants attention by then since i have been cooking and we have been eating. eventually it's time for a bottle and nap (yay!) and i either nap with him if im real tired or clean up a bit or get on the internet. this is pretty much what we do all day. just this and that... play, eat, try and clean, giving ds my time and love as he needs/wants it. on a high energy day i love it and can get stuff done and feel lively for ds. on a bad day im tired all day and feel lazy and don't get much done and don't enjoy playing with him as much but do it anyway. he goes to bed between 7pm and 8pm. usually around 7. sometimes i go to bed right when he does and sometimes not, but i never clean after he goes down for the night and i never stay up longer than 9, usually going to bed earlier.

i guess maybe my day seems pretty boring, but it's what we do.

[shanetedissac]

My life with my boys

I've been reading all your routines. Each of us are so unique. Now, when my dh is home we have NO routine. When he is not here is goes a bit like this, when we don't leave the house.

5:45 dh is up to get ready for work.
6ish the boys wake up. dh feeds them. They entertain themselves.
8ish I get out of bed. Get dressed and make our bed. Put away clean laundry.
9ish I get down stairs. Start landry. Get something to eat for breakfast. Do some dishes.
Between now and lunch we do as much school work as ds#1 will pay attention to. I will do 'school' with ds#2 if he asks. Other wise he is learning so much by watching ds#1. I mix in laundry and dishes in all this as the morning progresses. I also pop on the computer for a minute or two at a time when ds#1 is focused on school work.
12 noon lunch. We all sit together at the table and eat. Now, I sit, they bounce, bop, jump, lie down, go potty, talk loudly and then hopefully eat. :
12:45pm I read them chapter book. We are reading the Little House on the Prarie series. My boys really are enjoying them. I sit on one couch and they sit across the room on the other couch. They each have their own coushin. The fought to much as to who got to sit next to me, so I put them over there.
1pm Quiet time by themselves in each of their rooms. They each have there own room. ds#3 gets some 'snackies' and then they play quietly. ds#3 really does need a nap so I have just started to sit on his toy box after 'snackies' and knit until he falls asleep. Me sitting there keeps him in his bed. Other wise his is up and not sleeping. ds#2 will nap half the time. ds#3 listens to the radio and plays.
2pm Quiet time is over. The sleeping children continue to sleep and ds#1 can come down stairs. They then have free play.
3pm ish I send them outside.
3:30ish The neighbor boy gets off the school bus and comes to play if he can. They play with him and his sister a lot. Daddy also comes home around this time. He is a school teacher, I really loves teacher hours.
4:30ish dinner. DH will then do some form of exercise. He is very dedicated.
Starting last week I am working out of the house at a local grocery store 2-4 days a week. If I'm working I leave soon after dinner. While dh is exercising the boys get to watch TV. New rule, no TV or computer if the school work is not complete. Only a few days now, seeing how it goes.
7pm Bed time. DH (he's been doing it since ds#1 was a baby) takes the boys up stairs and gets them ready for bed and ready stories. If I'm home ds#3 gets his 'snackies'. The boys go to sleep.
The rest of the evening I'm either working or on the computer, dishes, laundry, cleaning, currently painting my downstairs bathroom, trying to read some magazine, write up births that I've attended, look for independent contracting work, cleaning off my desk, watch TV with dh if something good is one, doing some exercise, or whatever else catches my eye. Now I don't do this all at once!

So the only regular routine we have is:
When mommy comes down stairs in the morning she needs to eat.
12noon lunch.
12:45pm chapter book.
1pm rest
4:30ish dinner
7pm bed time.

My boys are just not on to a strict schedule, and then again, neither am I. About sleep, I love homeschooling my boys because getting them ready to leave at 7ish would be a bear!

[Tiffany_PartyOf5]

Okay this is the new routine Im going to start working into on Monday..

7:30 --- Wake up, get dressed, etc..
8:00 --- Breakfast
8:30 --- Clean up breakfast, diaper changes
9:00 --- Outside for a sport activity or running or something VERY active
10:00 -- Inside and diaper changes, wash hands and get cleaned up, put some laundry in the wash, kids free play in playroom while I get a few chores done
11:00 -- We do some type of arts or craft - playdoh, coloring, cutting, pasting, etc...
12:00 -- Lunch
12:30 -- Clean up lunch, diaper changes, etc..
1:00 --- Outside to play
2:00 --- Inside for snack
2:30 --- Clean up snack, diaper changes
3:00 --- Walk to park
3:30 --- Walk back from park
4:00 --- Dad home from work, diaper changes, Relax and free time
4:30 --- Storytime - I read to the kids until time to cook - or on hectic days I put a movie on - :ing::
5:30 --- Cook dinner
6:00 --- Dinner
6:30 --- Clean up dinner
7:00 --- Baths
7:30 --- Read them to sleep
8:00 --- Free time for me and daddy for the rest of the night (well except for Alex since Alex is still too little lol.. he just plays on the floor or with daddy or something until time for us to go to bed, and when we go to bed, Alex nurses off to sleep)

[Tiffany_PartyOf5]

Oh and Btw, Raymond is 3.5 years old, Arianna is 20 months, and Alex is 8 months

[Aldara]

Originally Posted by cbmr777

I'm amazed at you mommas! Anyone NOT a morning person??? We rarely wake before 9am... sometimes it is 10am before we get out of bed. (Yes! And that's with a love-to-sleep 21 month old toddler!! )

We get up pretty late too...around 9 or 10 am
Get breakfast/get dressed
I get cleaning done while boys watch educational show
Eat Lunch
Clean up
Play with boys
Fix supper
Clean up kitchen-boys watch a short cartoon
Play some more, read stories
Bath and Jammies and teeth
Bedtime around 10 to 11 pm
I go to bed around 1 am after hubby gets home

This is an average day but I am hoping to get more organized and give the boys an earlier bedtime so I have more alone (Mommy) time!
Blessings
Aldara

[mightymoo]

I have never been a routine person, but ever since DD started M school everyday, I have found that we have settled into one and I like the rhythm the day has, I find the days so much more manageable now.

When things happen is very flexible
Wake up
Take a shower
Pickup the upstairs bedrooms / bathrooms, gather a load of laundry
Eat breakfast, throw in a load of laundry
Kids play, mommy cleans until lunchtime
Eat Lunch, get ready for school
Take DD to school, DS falls asleep enroute
Put DS down for a nap, Mommy time! (sometimes this doesn't happen)
Pick DD up from school
Kids play, mommy does mommy things or housework
Generally the kids watch a little TV at the end of the day until Daddy gets home if Mommy is overly tired frustrated.
Daddy gets home
eat dinner
play with daddy
kids head to bed
Watch TV, surf online, relax.


I think having to leave the house at noon every day makes a big difference in how well I do overall. The day seems more broken up, less long, etc. I just feel better in general doing it.

[limabean]

A typical day for us (DS is 26 months):

6:00: I get up, shower, and do some work (I work from home as an editor) while eating breakfast

8:00: DS wakes up, we play in his room for a while (blocks, books, tea parties, trains, etc.), then I fix him breakfast

9:30: An outing of some kind -- the library, the park, the zoo, the bookstore, or whatever

11:00: Home to have a smoothie and read books or watch Mr. Rogers

11:30: Naptime, during which I have lunch while getting some more work done

2:30: DS wakes up and I fix him lunch, then we play outside (painting on his easel, chalking the sidewalk, playing basketball, taking the dog for a walk, etc.). Sometime between now and when DH gets home, I usually prepare something for dinner and put it in the fridge so that one of us can throw it in the oven later.

4:30: DH gets home from work and takes over caring for DS so that I can work some more

6:30: Dinner

7:00: Bath and books for DS, then DH puts him to bed around 7:45 and DH and I hang out for the evening, doing laundry, playing cards, reading, etc.

A big thing that I noticed lets us have a nice smooth rhythm to our day is varying where we play throughout the day. We play in DS's room in the morning, then go out somewhere, then play outside after nap, then he plays in the living room with DH in the evening, so he doesn't get too bored with his toys by having access to the same ones all day.

[AngelBee]

:

[mata]

typical day here, with a 3 yo and a 6 yo:

I wake up between 4:30 and 5:00 am-spend half an hour doing yoga, meditation, chi gung, reiki. DD#2 is up at 5-I get her breakfast and drink, and make dd#1s lunch. surf a little in between as dd#2 plays and have a cup of green tea. Dh wakes up-grind and brew coffee for us, and take dog out for a walk. Wake dd#2 up at 7 am, and make breakfast for her-go get myself and dd#2 dressed while she eats. Supervise dd#1 getting ready-load everything up and walk her to school five minutes before eight (I have it timed to the second, lol.) Stay with her until they go into class, then walk dd#2 to the playground or the coffee shop. That takes about an hour-come home and take a shower, etc. Clean up kitchen, then put out crafts or other activities for dd#2 and we'll busy ourselves with that until she gets sleepy. Clean up the house, exercise while she naps. Dh comes home around 1 pm for lunch-start making that about 12:30. Hang out with him a little-at 2 pm walk down to pick up dd#1 from school. Feed her a hot meal. Bring out bikes, scooters and skateboards, and the girls play for an hour or two after school. When they're done, sit down with dd#1 for homework, reading, etc. while dd#2 colors, draws, etc. They'll go play in the backyard (swings, slide, basketball) while I get dinner ready. Dh comes home (when he's here) and we eat-afterward I either take a break and go for a walk, or do the grocery shopping, errands, etc. Then bathtime, family time (play music, games, roughhousing, etc.) and I pass out by 8 or 9pm!

On Tuesdays and Thursdays my 3 yo has 2 hours of preschool-so throw in drop off and pick up for that on those days.

And obviously I take little computer breaks throughout the day-usually after I've completed a task.

[Taryn237]

Just wanted to add one more not morning person in. DS (6 mo.) wakes up about 8ish and plays in bed for about 45 min. at which time I try to nurse him back to sleep. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but I just can't drag myself out of bed right away I need a gradual morning transition. Weekends are the best because DH will take him in the morning and I can sleep in