A snapshot of my life with a five & a half year old and mobile ten month old
It's time for another snapshot of my life! I did this when Nolan was first born, which you can read about HERE and once he turned seven months old HERE.
Emily is five & a half years old and Nolan, constantly on the go, is ten months old.
We have fallen into a fantastic, predictable routine that we all benefit greatly from; we all know where we'll be and what we'll be doing every hour of the day. Every hour of every day is jam-packed with school drop-off, naps, diaper changes, breast-feeding, feeding Nolan solids three times a day, free time to just play, walks to get outside, quick errands, baths, and reading books and every day flies by! It's hard to go to play dates at friend's houses as most aren't safe for Nolan and I just can't find a spare moment to meet up with MY friends these days. It can also be challenging to get chores done since Nolan is crawling at lightening speed and cruising along the furniture, requiring closer supervision, but I no longer pressure myself to do it all in one day. As long as I manage to get us all dressed (not always showered!) and fed and we're reasonably happy at the end of every day, I've done a good job.
Just for example, here's how the day went for us yesterday, Tuesday, April 10th:
6:30am - Our alarm went off. I got Emily up and dressed in the clothes she picked out the night before while David got Nolan up, changed, and brought downstairs. While I nursed Nolan, David unloaded the dishwasher, made himself and Emily breakfast, and made sure her lunch, Library book, and donations for the school-wide collage project was in her backpack. Once I was done nursing Nolan, I set him in the baby-proofed, gated off living room to play with Emily and then, got myself dressed in my workout clothes and ate breakfast.
8:00am - I drove Emily to school (we normally walk the .75 miles but it was raining hard) and headed to the gym for my 9:00-10:20am aerobics and body sculpt workouts (I go T, Th, and Sat and workout at home the days in-between). While I was gone, David gave Nolan his breakfast (oatmeal with roasted cinnamon apple sauce), played with him, and then put him down for his morning nap at 8:30am. He's only awake two hours before his morning nap and naps about an hour every day.
8:40-9:35am - While Nolan napped, David showered and got ready for the day.
11:00am - Once I got home from the gym at 10:30am, I showered and got dressed for the day, helped David get out the door at 10:45am and then, nursed Nolan. I changed Nolan into clothes for the day and set him in his jumper so I could clean the kitchen, sweep & mop the floor, make myself lunch and prepare myself a snack to eat later.
12:00pm - I fed Nolan his lunch of sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli then played with him for 20 minutes before changing his diaper and putting him down for his nap at 12:30pm.
12:30-2:00pm- While Nolan napped and Emily was still at school, I cleaned up his lunch mess (sanitizing his high chair tray, wiping down the chair, putting his dishes/spoon in the dishwasher, sweeping under his chair), filled the water pitcher, worked on this post, checked email, Facebook, and Twitter, made an appointment with my Ob/Gyn, paid bills, watched "Smashed", brought in the trash cans, washed and dried a load of towels, and began preparing the mushroom sauce for the Stroganoff we are having for dinner.
2:00pm - David picked Emily up from school (he normally picks her up on M and T to allow me to be home while Nolan naps) and dropped her off here at home. I set up her new glitter glue pens, butterfly foam cutouts, some stickers, and markers so she could make something for her friend's birthday party coming up this month. She had been begging me to let her use her new glitter pens since The Easter Bunny left them for her and since Nolan was still asleep, I took advantage of the time I had with just her to do so.
2:15pm - Nolan woke up from his nap. I nursed him and let him play in the living room while I helped Emily clean up her project and made her a snack. She and Nolan and I play most every afternoon and on days when it's not raining we've been taking the buggy for a spin around the block a few times. Before Nolan got so mobile and was happy to just sit in his car seat in the stroller, we would have an afternoon play date at a friends house and/or go the park. Now, friends have to come here.
3:30pm- I put Nolan in his exersaucer, which is in our kitchen, with a Mum-Mum cracker (he was starving!) so I could get his dinner ready, prepare Emily's dinner and set it aside until she was ready for it, and help Emily with her homework (she does the work at the kitchen bar, I just read the instructions) for half an hour. I'm so thankful the exersaucer can still entertain Nolan for little while, it's my saving grace most days!
4:00pm- I moved Emily to the dining room table to finish her homework so I could feed Nolan his dinner in his highchair which is in our dining room. He loves being able to see her, make faces at her, and giggle in response to all her shenanigans.
4:40pm - I tossed a few Puffs on Nolan's tray so I could sneak away to pop Emily's dinner in the oven (made-ahead & frozen chicken nuggets with some steamed broccoli) and clean up the kid's dinner mess. Then, I undressed Nolan on the way to the bathroom, throwing his clothes up the stairs, for his nightly bath. I have to bathe him every night because he's covered head to toe in food, he sure does love meal times! Emily stayed at the dining room table to finish a drawing she was working on.
4:58pm - I made sure to have Nolan out of the bath, lotioned, and dressed in his PJs before the timer went off on Emily's dinner. I set him in the living room to get Emily's plate ready, wrap up her homework and set her down to eat. Then, I nursed Nolan on the couch so I could stay with Emily while she ate.
5:30pm- Emily finished dinner, got her PJs on and went to her room to play with her toys quietly while I took Nolan upstairs to read books and rock in our chair to wind down for bed time. He likes to nurse nearly to sleep and I love our time together!
5:50pm - I put Nolan in his crib drowsy but awake and headed back downstairs to spend an hour with Emily. Nolan was asleep eight minutes later. I helped Emily brush her teeth, finish building one of her new lego Friends sets, and we looked online for a birthday gift for her friend.
7:05pm - David came home and took over putting Emily to bed so I could finish up dinner. He always reads books with her and gives her an airplane ride before lights out.
7:30pm - David turned Emily's lights out but not before I ran in real quick to give her a hug and kiss good-night and then, we sat down to watch our favorite shows while eating dinner.
9:00pm - 10:00pm- I finished up this blog post and spent 45 minutes soaking my sore muscles in a bubble bath and reading my new Real Simple magazine while David cleaned up the kitchen from dinner. Once out, I made Emily's lunch for school tomorrow, brushed my teeth and read a book on my Kindle for 18 minutes before my eyes started to close. I normally am in bed no later than 10:00pm so I can get my 8+ hours of sleep a night.
Emily is five & a half years old and Nolan, constantly on the go, is ten months old.
We have fallen into a fantastic, predictable routine that we all benefit greatly from; we all know where we'll be and what we'll be doing every hour of the day. Every hour of every day is jam-packed with school drop-off, naps, diaper changes, breast-feeding, feeding Nolan solids three times a day, free time to just play, walks to get outside, quick errands, baths, and reading books and every day flies by! It's hard to go to play dates at friend's houses as most aren't safe for Nolan and I just can't find a spare moment to meet up with MY friends these days. It can also be challenging to get chores done since Nolan is crawling at lightening speed and cruising along the furniture, requiring closer supervision, but I no longer pressure myself to do it all in one day. As long as I manage to get us all dressed (not always showered!) and fed and we're reasonably happy at the end of every day, I've done a good job.
Just for example, here's how the day went for us yesterday, Tuesday, April 10th:
6:30am - Our alarm went off. I got Emily up and dressed in the clothes she picked out the night before while David got Nolan up, changed, and brought downstairs. While I nursed Nolan, David unloaded the dishwasher, made himself and Emily breakfast, and made sure her lunch, Library book, and donations for the school-wide collage project was in her backpack. Once I was done nursing Nolan, I set him in the baby-proofed, gated off living room to play with Emily and then, got myself dressed in my workout clothes and ate breakfast.
8:00am - I drove Emily to school (we normally walk the .75 miles but it was raining hard) and headed to the gym for my 9:00-10:20am aerobics and body sculpt workouts (I go T, Th, and Sat and workout at home the days in-between). While I was gone, David gave Nolan his breakfast (oatmeal with roasted cinnamon apple sauce), played with him, and then put him down for his morning nap at 8:30am. He's only awake two hours before his morning nap and naps about an hour every day.
8:40-9:35am - While Nolan napped, David showered and got ready for the day.
11:00am - Once I got home from the gym at 10:30am, I showered and got dressed for the day, helped David get out the door at 10:45am and then, nursed Nolan. I changed Nolan into clothes for the day and set him in his jumper so I could clean the kitchen, sweep & mop the floor, make myself lunch and prepare myself a snack to eat later.
12:00pm - I fed Nolan his lunch of sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli then played with him for 20 minutes before changing his diaper and putting him down for his nap at 12:30pm.
12:30-2:00pm- While Nolan napped and Emily was still at school, I cleaned up his lunch mess (sanitizing his high chair tray, wiping down the chair, putting his dishes/spoon in the dishwasher, sweeping under his chair), filled the water pitcher, worked on this post, checked email, Facebook, and Twitter, made an appointment with my Ob/Gyn, paid bills, watched "Smashed", brought in the trash cans, washed and dried a load of towels, and began preparing the mushroom sauce for the Stroganoff we are having for dinner.
2:00pm - David picked Emily up from school (he normally picks her up on M and T to allow me to be home while Nolan naps) and dropped her off here at home. I set up her new glitter glue pens, butterfly foam cutouts, some stickers, and markers so she could make something for her friend's birthday party coming up this month. She had been begging me to let her use her new glitter pens since The Easter Bunny left them for her and since Nolan was still asleep, I took advantage of the time I had with just her to do so.
2:15pm - Nolan woke up from his nap. I nursed him and let him play in the living room while I helped Emily clean up her project and made her a snack. She and Nolan and I play most every afternoon and on days when it's not raining we've been taking the buggy for a spin around the block a few times. Before Nolan got so mobile and was happy to just sit in his car seat in the stroller, we would have an afternoon play date at a friends house and/or go the park. Now, friends have to come here.
3:30pm- I put Nolan in his exersaucer, which is in our kitchen, with a Mum-Mum cracker (he was starving!) so I could get his dinner ready, prepare Emily's dinner and set it aside until she was ready for it, and help Emily with her homework (she does the work at the kitchen bar, I just read the instructions) for half an hour. I'm so thankful the exersaucer can still entertain Nolan for little while, it's my saving grace most days!
4:00pm- I moved Emily to the dining room table to finish her homework so I could feed Nolan his dinner in his highchair which is in our dining room. He loves being able to see her, make faces at her, and giggle in response to all her shenanigans.
4:40pm - I tossed a few Puffs on Nolan's tray so I could sneak away to pop Emily's dinner in the oven (made-ahead & frozen chicken nuggets with some steamed broccoli) and clean up the kid's dinner mess. Then, I undressed Nolan on the way to the bathroom, throwing his clothes up the stairs, for his nightly bath. I have to bathe him every night because he's covered head to toe in food, he sure does love meal times! Emily stayed at the dining room table to finish a drawing she was working on.
4:58pm - I made sure to have Nolan out of the bath, lotioned, and dressed in his PJs before the timer went off on Emily's dinner. I set him in the living room to get Emily's plate ready, wrap up her homework and set her down to eat. Then, I nursed Nolan on the couch so I could stay with Emily while she ate.
5:30pm- Emily finished dinner, got her PJs on and went to her room to play with her toys quietly while I took Nolan upstairs to read books and rock in our chair to wind down for bed time. He likes to nurse nearly to sleep and I love our time together!
5:50pm - I put Nolan in his crib drowsy but awake and headed back downstairs to spend an hour with Emily. Nolan was asleep eight minutes later. I helped Emily brush her teeth, finish building one of her new lego Friends sets, and we looked online for a birthday gift for her friend.
7:05pm - David came home and took over putting Emily to bed so I could finish up dinner. He always reads books with her and gives her an airplane ride before lights out.
7:30pm - David turned Emily's lights out but not before I ran in real quick to give her a hug and kiss good-night and then, we sat down to watch our favorite shows while eating dinner.
9:00pm - 10:00pm- I finished up this blog post and spent 45 minutes soaking my sore muscles in a bubble bath and reading my new Real Simple magazine while David cleaned up the kitchen from dinner. Once out, I made Emily's lunch for school tomorrow, brushed my teeth and read a book on my Kindle for 18 minutes before my eyes started to close. I normally am in bed no later than 10:00pm so I can get my 8+ hours of sleep a night.
That is a very full day, but you seem to have a great routine! I really need to revamp our routine I'm actually working on posting about this soon. I'm so nervous about the new baby coming this summer and my 2 toddlers going to preschool. My husband usually leaves the house by 7:30 and isn't home till 7:30, I'm exhausted!! You are lucky your hubby can help out, I'm jealous!
ReplyDeleteYou are super busy, Mama! I'd forgotten how much things change when a baby becomes mobile. You have such a great routine down, though, that it sounds heavenly to me. It also sounds like your husband is fantastic at helping out and being a big part of the daily routine with the kids. That's so nice!
ReplyDeleteJill - Oh my gosh, yes, EVERY day is FULL with all those little things that are required for the next meal, the next day at school, and just trying to keep ontop of the clutter. I'm not sure my house is ever really "clean" just picked up. ;) And, we just sort of fall into a routine with each new phase the kids go through to get through each day, does that make sense? What I am able to get done (chores,bills,etc.) depends on when the children don't need me! ha I promise that you, too will wall into a routine, even from day one, that will revolve around the Preschool hours and newborn's needs and I can't wait to read about it! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteSarah - Oh boy, do things ever change when they become mobile. No longer can I just walk away from Nolan to use the bathroom, fill up my canteen, grab a snack and he's no longer content for 30+ minutes in his exersaucer and jumperoo as he'd much rather be free to cruise along the furniture to explore. :) Is your new house baby-proofed? Henry is going to be mobile before you know it!
And to both of you, I'm BEYOND grateful that not only does my husband help but his job is so flexible that he can stay home in the mornings to help with the getting-to-school rush OR go to work early and get home earlier to help with bedtime (which was more necessary in the beginning when Nolan was a newborn and couldn't just be set in his crib to fall asleep on his own).