Daily Schedule
Forgetting the baby wipes at home or not packing enough diapers, misplacing my garage remote, or loosing my car keys in my purse for the 100th time! Life as a mom has been.. well busy?
After having my second child, there came a time when my husband had to get back to working more often and helping me less. I had to get back into the routine of cooking, cleaning, running errands, buying groceries, and of course taking care of my babies all on my own. It was very difficult at first, I was tired and felt like I didn't have the energy. I felt overwhelmed.
Well I eventually just had to do what needed to be done. It was tough because I took each day by day with out planning ahead. Leaving the house around nap time when the girls were too tired, putting them to sleep too late, forgetting to pay the bills on time, letting the dirty dishes pile up.. Agh remembering frustrates me.
I would talk to Julian and tell him that I felt so helpless and that I knew something had to change, but I didn't know what it was, and what I was doing wrong. In the back of my mind I knew that waking up extra early before the kids woke up would give me the boost that I needed to start the day off right. Well guess what..?
That didn't work either. With Juliet breastfeeding so often, she'd sense when I wasn't next to her (we co sleep), and so she'd wake up crying looking for the boob. Which would send me back to bed with her.
So, my main problem was everything was late including: Breakfast, outside time, naps, dinner, and of course bedtime! I always knew having a early sleep time was ideal for the kids, so that I can then have the time to take care of whatever else needed to be done.
Okay so, now finally getting to the point, an early sleep time was working. Many of you moms will think "duh", but since I was all over the place it was hard to get this task down.
A routine of some sort is definitely what I needed, and it really worked!
So behold here is my daily routine!
6:00-7:00am: If possible I will wake up before the girls and pay some bills, do some work, get ready and dressed, and begin breakfast. If I need more sleep then..
7:30-8:00am: Wake up! The kids usually get me up
8:00-8:30am: Breakfast. I'm trying to incorporate shorter simpler breakfast, so I don't spend so much time cooking.
9:00-9:30am: Get ready, pack snacks and water, breastfeed.
9:30-10:30 Leave the house. By 9:30 would be awesome! The timing just depends on any tantrums, breakdowns, and organization.
10:30-12:30pm: Park time.We love to meet up with our friends.
We have a snack at around 11.
12:30-1:30pm: Get home and lunch time.
1:00-3:00 pm: Juliet takes a nap. Jane has free time while I clean and prep for dinner, other days she helps me do the cooking and house chores, or she has school/activity time with mommy. During Jane's free time she has some days where I let her have some movie/tv time.
3:00-4:30pm: Juliet wakes up. Snack time. We either take a walk to Trader Joe's (which is our "corner market") to pick up any last minute groceries for dinner, stay in and do an activity, or run an errand (like buy diapers or home essentials).
4:30-5:00pm: Begin dinner
5:00-6:00pm: Eat dinner. Clean up a little, if possible load the dishwasher.
6:00-7:00 If we're not running late and if we didn't take a walk earlier then we walk to the "corner park". Pack a light snack like a banana or pear just in case the extra activity makes the girls hungry.
7:00-7:30 Walk back home and bath time! Get dressed, brush teeth and hair, read bedtime story.
7:30-8:00 Bedtime for girls
8:00-10:00 Clean. Shower. Work on business/projects, or just relax/read and have a tea.
10:00 Bed time
I'd like to add that throughout my whole day I make sure to eat well and drink plenty of water! Especially due to breastfeeding. I make sure the same for my girls.
Also, If we don't get out of the house in the morning then Jane will begin tantrums. She really need to burn energy and get moving in some fresh air. So, that is a must for us. If we skip this step due to delays then our day feels very off,and reminds me of those dark days of chaos in my household.
Now, the schedule above is a structure for how to get by everyday. However, the days of the week come with a different activities.
Mondays we do market. This is a day where I try to be out early by 9:30, so that by 11:30, we can leave the park and head to the market. Then come home for lunch. This is also day where we have park dates.
Tuesdays & Thursday mornings, if we're in enrolled in any, we do classes (gym, ballet, swim,) or we have memberships to the kidspace museum here in Pasadena and we try to do that once a week. In the afternoons after Juliet's nap we sometimes have play dates.
Wednesdays regular park days with our friends.
Fridays we visit Nana's house and hang out with cousins around Jane's age. We also go to the farmers market.We usually spend the whole afternoon and early to late evening in that area.
Saturdays we go to my in laws home and spend the day with grandparents. They have a backyard with a swing set, so no need for park. Or we have parties or events to attend.
Sundays we spend with Daddy if hes available, and try to head to the beach.
On rainy days or really hot days we have the option of heading to an indoor playground in our area.
At least once or twice during the month we try to head to a museum, festival, fair, pumpkin patch (seasonal of course), hike as a family, or other fun activities.
Obviously a lot of what I listed above has to do with our specific life, but it gives you an idea of what our "normal" is, and maybe it can help you figure out yours for your family and sanity.
UPDATE 01/06/17: I wrote the above schedule around summer time of 2016. Things really change in the winter. We don't do parks anymore after dinner instead we try to have outdoor fun after Juliet's nap. We also sleep in a little later. Also, on rainy days park dates become indoor playground or library day dates. Or we just stay home and try to make the best of it; We head outside for a short walk or Jane rides her tricycle inbetween rain drizzle/showers.
Whats your routine or schedule like? Do you not have one yet? Did you find my post helpful at all?
Let me know in the comments section.
Thanks for reading!
