The Daily Grind

Lately, I have received a lot of questions about our day to day routine. 

Before I lay out our typical day, I want to say that I am a huge believer in making your routine work for you...the mom.  When I was pregnant with Little P, I read something that made so much sense to me.  It said to make your home a FAMILY centered home, not a child centered home. Meaning, as an adult, we have the ability to look at the big picture to see what works for the WHOLE family, parents included, not just the kids.  This means, within reason, mom and dad make the schedule.  That was a huge revelation to me and boy has it changed the way I parent.  Of course, you are going to have your days where nothing goes as planned but on a typical day-to-day basis, mama sets the schedule.

So, our general routine with a 3 year old, a 2 year old, and 10 month old is as follows:

6:30-7:30 They wake up   

       Breakfast

           Get Dressed

8:30-11:00 Mini C's first nap

                                                                Kiddos are usually playing, doing an activity, etc

12:30 Lunch         

              1:00-4:00 All kids are down for nap

5:30 Dinner      

6:00 Bath time  

    6:45 Mini C to bed

               7:30 Little P and C to bed

So, that's it.  Every parent has to come to the point of deciding whether they want their kids to stay up late and sleep in or go to bed early and wake up early.  For my husband and I, we need that time every night to unwind and spend time together.  For others, sleeping in the morning is important.  Its all in personal preference. 

The only point I have to make is that you have recognize that as a mom, you have to take care of yourself.  Make sure your daily schedule works for you and gives you a little break somewhere so you can gather and prepare yourself to finish your day.  You can only put out so much before it becomes too much.  Your glass also need to be filled up...make time for that to happen, even if its 5 minutes.